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Excel Saga?


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ran_chan



Joined: 01 Aug 2005
Posts: 18
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 2:56 am Reply with quote
I've just watched excel saga! (subbed) and it was really good! i was wondering wether it has been dubbed yet? and what everyone thought of it?!
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Steventheeunuch





PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 3:03 am Reply with quote
Excel Saga was dubbed several years ago, and just last year a boxset was released containing all six discs.

The dubbed version, for what it's worth, still held much of the same stupid, hyperactive "comedy" that was in the subtitled version, so it's really not that bad.
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ran_chan



Joined: 01 Aug 2005
Posts: 18
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 3:23 am Reply with quote
thanks! im thinking of getting the dubbed box set now! are the voice actors good?
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Ramadahl



Joined: 14 Dec 2004
Posts: 325
Location: MK, UK
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:32 am Reply with quote
I couldn't stand the voice actor for Excel, but I think she was supposed to sound annoying (personality thing). I guess if you really like the series and have the cash spare it could be worth getting...
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biliano



Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 956
Location: Cleveland, OH
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:46 am Reply with quote
If you really want to appreciate Excel Saga, you're better off reading the manga. The Excel anime is OK, but I found the characters more obnoxious than how they were displayed in the original manga. The stories in the manga were more structurally sound than in the anime, whereas I found the stories in the anime too fast-paced and hard to follow.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18450
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 10:42 am Reply with quote
Really? I've read a couple of volumes of the manga and was not terribly impressed. Besides, the manga doesn't give you the great opener and closer or the jokes in the credits.

Concerning the original topic, the dub is a bit inferior to the sub because it's really hard for an English-speaker to keep up with such fast-paced speech; Jessica Calvello, the original dub actress for Excel, had to quit after the first three volumes because of how rough it was on her voice, although the actress who replaced her managed pretty close to the same voice. They do give an honest effort, however. Also, some of the jokes are a bit different in English than they are in the subtitled version, although they're just as funny.

The other advantage to getting the dubbed version is that you also get the American-release DVDs, which are loaded with extras. Some of the DVDs have "Easter eggs," most of them have jokes in the menu screens, heck, even the legal warning is worth reading because it's got jokes in it, too! One of the DVDs has a bonus game, and all of them have this ADV Notes feature, which when turned on gives you pop-up notes on the screen which explain jokes and cultural references in each episode which may not be clear to a non-Japanese viewer. Arguably the best extra ever put into an anime DVD, IMO.
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Dranxis



Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 591
Location: Ohtori Academy
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 11:19 am Reply with quote
Yeah, the Excel Saga series is definetly worth getting on DVD if you love the series. I have the box set and couldn't be happier. The extras are really great, although I don't like cultural notes because a joke that's explained is never funny. Besides, I'm understanding more of the references as I'm becoming more of an anime fan.

As for the dub, yeah, it portrays the characters pretty well, but to be honest I couldn't stand Excel's voice for longer than fifteen minutes before I had to switch to subs. Some people love the dub, though.

As for the manga, I'd recommend it. However, don't expect the same kind of humor you get in the anime. The anime is hyperactive and relies more on anime parodies and random humor. The manga, however, is more snide and tends to satire Japanese culture more than anime itself. The jokes are much more biting and sarcastic, and while the anime features crazy characters in crazy situations, the manga follows crazy characters in normal situations. Excel, Hyatt and the gang have to deal with paying the rent and finding temp jobs. Of course, they deal with it in their own screwed up way. Very Happy
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7994
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:09 pm Reply with quote
I love Excel Saga I bought it on a whim and wasn't disappointed in the slightest, probably the most hilarious show I've watched. I'd definitely recomend the boxset.
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6900
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 11:45 pm Reply with quote
Dranxis wrote:
The extras are really great, although I don't like cultural notes because a joke that's explained is never funny.


Maybe not to you, but I found Excel Saga highly amusing thanks to all the notes. For instance, I've never seen that much Dragon Ball Z, so when they busted out with the "Nabe-hame-ha" attack, I was grateful for the note explaining the DBZ "kame-hame-ha" attack connection. Of course, it's entirely possible that I'm the weird one. To the OP, I'd definitely recommend the box set, not only because of the high value, but because downloading anime is, uhh, bad, mmmkay? I bought it for $60, and you can probably find it for $60-80. At $10 per DVD, that's definitely a bargain, considering all you get.

Also, from what I've heard, the Japanese VA for Excel is supposed to sound annoying (to the Japanese, whether or not she does to us is a different matter), so the English VAs went for the same effect.
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Abarenbo Shogun



Joined: 19 Jul 2005
Posts: 1573
PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 2:55 am Reply with quote
Key wrote:
Also, some of the jokes are a bit different in English than they are in the subtitled version, although they're just as funny.


Daiteizen......Fredericks!! Laughing
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Haru to Ashura



Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 617
Location: Termina
PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 3:03 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Also, from what I've heard, the Japanese VA for Excel is supposed to sound annoying (to the Japanese, whether or not she does to us is a different matter), so the English VAs went for the same effect.


Alas, there's a difference between the slightly irritating Japanese voice as opposed to the migrane-inducing English one. It literally gave me headaches.

But as for the dub, I really enjoyed what they did with Nabeshin's voice. They strayed from the original quite a bit, but it really helped pull off his sparadic humor.
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cyrax777



Joined: 05 Mar 2003
Posts: 1825
Location: the desert
PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 7:15 am Reply with quote
the pop up notes are also geared towards the jp sound track. since some of the jokes are jp word puns.
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ran_chan



Joined: 01 Aug 2005
Posts: 18
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 2:49 am Reply with quote
hi! i just watched the excel saga dubbed trailor! the voices are very weird excel's isn't too bad but hyatt's voice is really really creepy its really high pitched and doesn't suit her character! and in the dubbed version did they keep nabeshin's song for when he went on holiday?? that was such a cool song! and also how did they in the ep where they go to america how did they pull off the joke about excel dressing up as sailor moon and saying about how she (quote)"i used to be kicking but with that catchphrase years ago" after doing the sailor moon pose!?? because in the subbed excel voice was done by the original subbed sailor moon voice actor?! did they still keep that in or did they change it??
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7994
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 2:27 pm Reply with quote
Haru to Ashura wrote:
Quote:
Also, from what I've heard, the Japanese VA for Excel is supposed to sound annoying (to the Japanese, whether or not she does to us is a different matter), so the English VAs went for the same effect.


Alas, there's a difference between the slightly irritating Japanese voice as opposed to the migrane-inducing English one. It literally gave me headaches.

But as for the dub, I really enjoyed what they did with Nabeshin's voice. They strayed from the original quite a bit, but it really helped pull off his sparadic humor.


They're both really annoying and that's all part of the joke Excel is supposed to be an annoying character. Also before you go insulting the English VA's performance I'd like to hear you talk that fast for so long, with nothing to go on but a script and watching the original actor's performance, that takes some skill and practice. English is kind of a slower spoken language compared to others and not everyone is used to speaking that rapidly. She gets lot of kudos points in my book for doing a good job of trying to keep up.
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kazumatheshellbullet



Joined: 10 Jul 2005
Posts: 45
PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 4:33 pm Reply with quote
Its been dubbed but i heard that the voiceovers get thrashed a lot but i dont mind it all and subbed i think might be hard to read because excel talks pretty fast. However, I didn't laugh a lot watching it hte only time i remember me laughing was probably spoiler[when excel was in the hole and drew a picture of Ilppalazzo and rubbed her face on it saying " i Love you so [expletive] much]
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