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Excel Saga is a manga series by Koushi Rikudou, and a TV anime series based on it and directed by Shinichi Watanabe (pictured). Both the anime and the manga are absurdist comedies following the attempts of the "secret ideological organization," Across, to conquer the city of Fukuoka as a first step towards world domination. Excel, the title character, is a key member of Across and ranks below only the organization's enigmatic leader, Ilpalazzo. In both the manga and anime, the city is defended by a shadowy government agency led by Dr. Kabapu, whose subordinates engage Excel and her junior officer, Hyatt on several occasions. The manga focuses on the development of its principal characters by means of satirizing life and culture in Japan. The English-language reception of the Excel Saga anime was generally positive, likening the humor in nature and quality to the works of Tex Avery and Monty Python. The Excel Saga manga began publication in Japan in the mid-1990s, serialized in Shonen Gahosha's Young King OURs, and as of August 2006 sixteen collected volumes have been published.