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110-412: This list contains the primary and notable secondary characters of Excel Saga , a Japanese manga and anime series. The Excel Saga anime characters were designed by Ishino Satoshi. Excel ( エクセル , Ekuseru ) , the title character , was initially the sole officer of ACROSS. Excel approaches her work with an excess of determination and enthusiasm, but a lack of foresight and understanding. She

220-433: A cyborg ("cybernetic organism" or "bionic man") would be a creature that is a combination of organic and mechanical parts. The term " droid ", popularized by George Lucas in the original Star Wars film and now used widely within science fiction, originated as an abridgment of "android", but has been used by Lucas and others to mean any robot, including distinctly non-human form machines like R2-D2 . The word "android"

330-470: A broader spectrum of realized technology in the near future. Now Saya is working at the Science University of Tokyo as a guide. The Waseda University (Japan) and NTT docomo 's manufacturers have succeeded in creating a shape-shifting robot WD-2 . It is capable of changing its face. At first, the creators decided the positions of the necessary points to express the outline, eyes, nose, and so on of

440-411: A caricature of Rikdo giving "Nabeshin" permission to diverge from the source material, hence the anime's "Quack Experimental" tagline. Rikdo would later become influenced by the anime series due to its quick broadcast in comparison to the monthly schedule of the manga. The anime makes frequent use of parody and in-jokes as comedic devices , with each episode having a genre -based theme. This extends to

550-448: A certain person. The robot expresses its face by moving all points to the decided positions, they say. The first version of the robot was first developed back in 2003. After that, a year later, they made a couple of major improvements to the design. The robot features an elastic mask made from the average head dummy. It uses a driving system with a 3DOF unit. The WD-2 robot can change its facial features by activating specific facial points on

660-718: A companion for the young and the elderly. Assoc Prof Gerald Seet from the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and the BeingThere Centre led a three-year R&D development in tele-presence robotics , creating EDGAR. A remote user can control EDGAR with the user's face and expressions displayed on the robot's face in real time. The robot also mimics their upper body movements. KITECH researched and developed EveR-1 , an android interpersonal communications model capable of emulating human emotional expression via facial "musculature" and capable of rudimentary conversation, having

770-771: A continuation of the long tradition of men attempting to create the stereotypical "perfect woman". Examples include the Greek myth of Pygmalion and the female robot Maria in Fritz Lang 's Metropolis . Some gynoids, like Pris in Blade Runner , are designed as sex-objects, with the intent of "pleasing men's violent sexual desires", or as submissive, servile companions, such as in The Stepford Wives . Fiction about gynoids has therefore been described as reinforcing "essentialist ideas of femininity", although others have suggested that

880-590: A cost of 500 billion won (US$ 440 million), of which 50 billion is direct government investment. The new robot city will feature research and development centers for manufacturers and part suppliers, as well as exhibition halls and a stadium for robot competitions. The country's new Robotics Ethics Charter will establish ground rules and laws for human interaction with robots in the future, setting standards for robotics users and manufacturers, as well as guidelines on ethical standards to be programmed into robots to prevent human abuse of robots and vice versa. Walt Disney and

990-541: A face similar to Golgo 13 and their English voices have them sound like Saddam Hussein , although special Puchuu have unique faces and other voices. When their main fleet, led by the Puchuu overlord, arrives in Earth orbit in episode twenty-two, it is repelled by an alliance of Puchuu rebels led by Excel. Debris from the decisive space battle falls to Earth and utterly annihilates F City. First encountered in episode eight, Sara

1100-475: A fashion. Hyatt, though, more intently views Menchi as a ration. In the manga, Menchi gains an apparent ally in Elgâla, only for her to come to view the dog as an emergency food supply as well. Several anime and manga plots, notably episodes ten and nineteen, revolve to some extent around Menchi, her past, and her quest to escape Excel. Uniformly depicted as a horrible, lecherous doctor, Dr. Iwata owes his prominence in

1210-567: A gigantic removable mustache, Kabapu occupies a position of extreme and shadowy power which is never fully explained, but municipal leaders defer to his wishes, and he has no qualms about silencing dissent by violence. This zeal is a result of his genuine desire to protect the City from all dangers. His trump card is his newly founded Department of City Security, the civilian front for his Municipal Force Daitenzin , into which Watanabe, Iwata, Sumiyoshi, Misaki, and Ropponmatsu are recruited. In later volumes of

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1320-457: A mask, with each point possessing three degrees of freedom . This one has 17 facial points, for a total of 56 degrees of freedom. As for the materials they used, the WD-2's mask is fabricated with a highly elastic material called Septom, with bits of steel wool mixed in for added strength. Other technical features reveal a shaft driven behind the mask at the desired facial point, driven by a DC motor with

1430-451: A multitude of different parody-esque outfits throughout the course of the series, which regularly proves to be a source of irritation to her crush and employer Shiouji. Umi's first appearance is Volume 12 of the manga, but does not become a prominent character until volume 15, when she becomes the caretaker of the amnesiatic Excel (given the name Teriha Shiouji.) Umi Rengaya only appears in the manga. Rikdo Koshi ( 六道神士 , Rikudō Kōshi )

1540-491: A photo of their face is projected onto the 3D Mask. Prof Nadia Thalmann, a Nanyang Technological University scientist, directed efforts of the Institute for Media Innovation along with the School of Computer Engineering in the development of a social robot, Nadine. Nadine is powered by software similar to Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana . Nadine may become a personal assistant in offices and homes in future, or she may become

1650-503: A plot that is engaging if only for how weird it is make for a thoroughly enjoyable comedic experience". A contrary opinion is expressed by Joel Pearce from DVD Verdict, who says the series is "occasionally clever and funny," but that "much of it is gratingly obnoxious". Many reviewers express displeasure with middle and later episodes, saying they were "more of the same," that they had stale humor, that they were tiresome, or even painfully unfunny. Episodes fourteen through sixteen, starring

1760-522: A position of inscrutable power in the city, and is able to bend its political establishment to his will. Despite his power, he is an object of ridicule among most of his subordinates due to his appearance, mannerisms, and seeming disregard for lives and laws. Unfazed by this, he informs the six members of the Department that they are to assume the role of the Daitenzin , a sentai fighting force . One Daitenzin

1870-452: A reasonably normal guy, his appearance and personality change drastically in the manga after his plans to marry Chihaya (Hyatt) are ruined by Il Palazzo taking her back. He ends up being very withdrawn, spiteful, and cynical; and takes up playing S&M video games. Norikuni Iwata ( 岩田紀國 , Iwata Norikuni ) is a brash, self-centered employee of the Department of City Security. Heavily infatuated with Matsuya and Ropponmatsu Unit 1, Iwata

1980-404: A robot with a female appearance can also be referred to as a gynoid . Besides one can refer to robots without alluding to their sexual appearance by calling them anthrobots (a portmanteau of anthrōpos and robot; see anthrobotics ) or anthropoids (short for anthropoid robots; the term humanoids is not appropriate because it is already commonly used to refer to human-like organic species in

2090-484: A separate entity, and sends her to go after Ishiki. Gojo Shiouji ( 四王子五条 , Shiōji Gojō ) is the brilliant creator of the Ropponmatsus and of Kabapu's "mecha." Excel Saga , the anime, constantly suggests that he is a pedophile, but the manga later expands on this to reveal a much more complex back story. Gojo's father, Tenmangu Shiouji, was lauded as one of the world's most foremost scientists, but vanished when Gojo

2200-460: A simple pulley and a slide screw. Apparently, the researchers can also modify the shape of the mask based on actual human faces. To "copy" a face, they need only a 3D scanner to determine the locations of an individual's 17 facial points. After that, they are then driven into position using a laptop and 56 motor control boards. In addition, the researchers also mention that the shifting robot can even display an individual's hair style and skin color if

2310-479: A staff of Imagineers created Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln that debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair . Dr. William Barry, an Education Futurist and former visiting West Point Professor of Philosophy and Ethical Reasoning at the United States Military Academy , created an AI android character named "Maria Bot". This Interface AI android was named after the infamous fictional robot Maria in

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2420-525: A tendency to fail in the course of their duty, due either to extreme mass (Unit 1) or lack of appropriate functionality (Unit 2). When Excel and Elgala are lost at sea, Il Palazzo creates the ILL Corporation and takes over much of the city's business and resources. He names Excel the president of the corporation, but she is actually Ropponmatsu I, renamed Isshiki. She runs the business until the Department of City Security starts to regain power. She still has

2530-418: A time. Excel and Hyatt live in an apartment building in the city, along with their pet dog Menchi , who they have deemed their emergency food supply. Excel and Hyatt are later joined by a snobbish but equally clueless rival officer of Across named Elgala . Living in the neighboring apartment are three guys: Iwata , Sumiyoshi and Watanabe , who along with apartment neighbor and co-worker Matsuya , work for

2640-480: A variety of subjects. She uses AI to process and synthesize information to make her own decisions on how to talk and engage. She collects data through conversations, direct data inputs such as books or articles, and through internet sources. Maria Bot was built by an international high-tech company for Barry to help improve education quality and eliminate education poverty. Maria Bot is designed to create new ways for students to engage and discuss ethical issues raised by

2750-647: A vocabulary of around 400 words. She is 160 cm tall and weighs 50 kg , matching the average figure of a Korean woman in her twenties. EveR-1's name derives from the Biblical Eve , plus the letter r for robot . EveR-1's advanced computing processing power enables speech recognition and vocal synthesis, at the same time processing lip synchronization and visual recognition by 90-degree micro- CCD cameras with face recognition technology . An independent microchip inside her artificial brain handles gesture expression, body coordination, and emotion expression. Her whole body

2860-429: A wholly organic, yet artificial, creation. Other fictional depictions of androids fall somewhere in between. Eric G. Wilson, who defines an android as a "synthetic human being", distinguishes between three types of android, based on their body's composition: Although human morphology is not necessarily the ideal form for working robots, the fascination in developing robots that can mimic it can be found historically in

2970-458: Is Excel's frail junior officer, with a tendency to cough huge amounts of blood, drop dead and suddenly spring back to life in quick succession. In the original manga, Hyatt joins ACROSS by simply answering an advert placed by Il Palazzo; the anime, meanwhile, states that she is a mysterious princess from space (supposedly) with a connection to the Puuchuus and Space Butler. Her curious medical condition

3080-436: Is Tooru Watanabe, who pins his hopes for a romantic relationship with Hyatt on his position in the civil service but grows despondent as the nature of his employment becomes clear. Another is Daimaru Sumiyoshi, who is a voice of reason in the Department and is represented as communicating through free-floating text. The third, Norikuni Iwata, is generally disliked for his boorishness but tolerated by his co-workers. Misaki Matsuya,

3190-463: Is a manga series written and illustrated by Kōshi Rikudō . It was serialized in Young King OURs from 1996 to 2011, and its individual chapters were collected and published in 27 tankōbon volumes by Shōnen Gahōsha . The series follows the attempts of Across, a "secret ideological organization", to conquer the city of Fukuoka as a first step towards world domination . The title character of

3300-405: Is a Colombian immigrant living in F City. Having died while working on a construction project, he wanders the Earth as a spirit, trying to return to his "sexy wife," who has shacked up with Gomez, Pedro's ostensible friend and co-worker, who is really That Man in disguise. Nabeshin later explains that Pedro's ultimate purpose is to become an "Afro-Warrior" under his tutelage, and to fight That Man for

3410-470: Is a cute, pink-haired, child-sized assassin, who disguises herself as an eight-year-old girl to facilitate her work. Taken with Hyatt, she views Excel with derision. Sara was orphaned earlier, and became an assassin to survive. The Great Will takes pity on her and resets her mother at the end of the episode. However, in episode twenty-six, she becomes a special member of ACROSS, having learned that she could not so easily forget her bloody past. In this episode, it

List of Excel Saga characters - Misplaced Pages Continue

3520-522: Is a voice of reason and understanding in the Department, although he is often the butt of jokes. His most notable quirk is his dialogue, which in the original manga is rendered as text that is unconstrained by bubbles or captions, and simply floats by his head, in comparison to the normal speech balloons used by all the other characters. The anime rendered this unusual trait by making the character mute, with his dialogue appearing as written text that hovers beside him. He communicates with an Okayama accent in

3630-520: Is able to choreograph its motions and gestures with its voice. The Intelligent Mechatronics Lab, directed by Hiroshi Kobayashi at the Tokyo University of Science , has developed an android head called Saya , which was exhibited at Robodex 2002 in Yokohama , Japan. There are several other initiatives around the world involving humanoid research and development at this time, which will hopefully introduce

3740-423: Is also revealed that she may be an adult midget, and not a child in a scene where she is revealed to be extremely well endowed and hirsute- "I'm a G-cup!", she joyously yells as her previously strapped-down breasts burst explosively free of their confines. Although in episode twenty-six, she repeatedly refers to herself as being nine years old, creating ambiguity as to her actual age. That Man ( あの人 , Ano Hito )

3850-446: Is below her, these thoughts are often of the disparaging variety and frequently irritate Excel. Elgala has refined, and expensive tastes, which does not suit the austerity demanded by Excel, leading to frequent conflict. Adding to tension with Excel is the secrecy surrounding Elgala's missions for Il Palazzo. Elgala only appears in the manga. Paralleling Il Palazzo's Across is Kabapu 's Department of City Security. Kabapu himself occupies

3960-439: Is both impossibly lucky and unthinkably unlucky, yet she never manages to complete a mission without help, and even her successes are usually attained by happenstance. In the anime, she has a tendency to speak extremely quickly. She displays a schoolgirl crush towards Il Palazzo that borders on fanatic obsession, even going as far as to converse with a picture of him while home alone. For an extended period of time in later volumes of

4070-464: Is generally disliked but tolerated by his neighbors and co-workers. His tendency to make inappropriate statements towards women and his rivalry with Ropponmatsu Unit 2 often lead to him being physically assaulted. In volume eight of the manga, Iwata suddenly dies of colon cancer, but is promptly resurrected as a cyborg, with his brain placed into an android replica of his normal body, as created by Shioji. Daimaru Sumiyoshi ( 住吉大丸 , Sumiyoshi Daimaru )

4180-548: Is infatuated with Hyatt, who seems unaware of his advances. In order to impress her, he claims to be a civil servant and undertakes a position at the Department of City Security to redeem his lie. Much to his consternation, Iwata and Sumiyoshi are hired by the Department at the same time as he. Watanabe is extremely irritable and often reacts to situations with over-the-top emotions: e.g., in the manga allows his feelings for Hyatt to repeatedly compromise his career. He pretty much rues his roommate Iwata's existence. While he starts off as

4290-481: Is made of highly advanced synthetic jelly silicon and with 60 artificial joints in her face, neck, and lower body; she is able to demonstrate realistic facial expressions and sing while simultaneously dancing. In South Korea, the Ministry of Information and Communication had an ambitious plan to put a robot in every household by 2020. Several robot cities have been planned for the country: the first will be built in 2016 at

4400-447: Is never explained in detail, neither in the manga nor in the anime (although later volumes of the manga hint that Il Palazzo has implanted something in her body that is causing it—and it is implied in the anime that, as she is from Mars, Earth's atmosphere is bad for her lungs). In both the anime and the manga, she is noticeably Il Palazzo's favorite officer, usually receiving lighter punishment and higher promotions than Excel. Despite this,

4510-504: Is now eighteen years old, and lacking in the innocence of her youth, so Gojo has turned his attention to other young girls in the hopes of recapturing that spirit of purity and inspiration. In addition to the main cast, Excel Saga features a wide array of secondary characters, and among the most important are the anime's director Nabeshin and the Great Will of the Macrocosm. These two have

List of Excel Saga characters - Misplaced Pages Continue

4620-424: Is often seen pursuing surprisingly ordinary hobbies like learning to play the guitar and arranging domino blocks. These foibles notwithstanding, Il's yellow, cat-like eyes and seemingly supernatural powers illustrate his superhuman nature, and both manga and anime make it clear that Lord Il Palazzo suffers from severe psychological disorders, most notably multiple personality disorder . Hyatt ( ハイアット , Haiatto )

4730-547: Is the author of the Excel Saga manga, but he has only one appearance in the story proper of the anime - namely, when he is killed in the first episode by Excel under orders from Lord Il Palazzo. He does, however, narrate the beginning of every episode, voluntarily—usually—giving his approval to the episode's ostensible genre. Also, as a parody of the struggle manga artists often find themselves in with anime adaptations of their work, Nabeshin and Rikudo come to blows, especially towards

4840-441: Is the leader of ACROSS. Lord Il Palazzo often prefaces his orders and speeches by proclaiming, "The world is corrupt!" He has little patience for Excel, often assigning complex operations to Hyatt. While presented as a mostly dark and serious character in the original manga, the anime lightens the tone with the recurring gag that, despite all his scheming, Il Palazzo really has nothing to do while Excel and Hyatt are out on missions: he

4950-487: Is the most powerful leader of ACROSS, and Pedro's and Nabeshin's nemesis. "That Man" poses as a friend to Pedro and seduces both Pedro's sexy wife and the Great Will. That Man is part of the ACROSS Six, the governing body of ACROSS, and longs to use "the power of the Great Will and the devilishness of the woman" to take over the universe. Excel Saga Excel Saga ( Japanese : エクセル♥サーガ , Hepburn : Ekuseru Sāga )

5060-547: Is to the older Ropponmatsu 1. He is also a friend of Shiouji's, the two bonding over their love of dating game image files. Misaki Matsuya ( 松屋美咲 , Matsuya Misaki )  : The attractive and intelligent recruit to the Department of City Security, Matsuya is pragmatic and fiercely independent. She is also talented and vicious at repelling Iwata's frequent leers and advances. The manga reveals that she and Iwata were college classmates and that, to her embarrassment, she bears him some genuine affection. She grows closer to Iwata as

5170-427: Is used for the actuator. As a result of having an actuator controlled precisely with air pressure via a servosystem, the movement is very fluid and there is very little noise. DER2 realized a slimmer body than that of the former version by using a smaller cylinder. Outwardly DER2 has a more beautiful proportion. Compared to the previous model, DER2 has thinner arms and a wider repertoire of expressions. Once programmed, it

5280-464: The human condition and what it means to be human. One aspect of writing about the meaning of humanity is to use discrimination against androids as a mechanism for exploring racism in society, as in Blade Runner . Perhaps the clearest example of this is John Brunner's 1968 novel Into the Slave Nebula , where the blue-skinned android slaves are explicitly shown to be fully human. More recently,

5390-406: The power to alter or "reset" the storyline , and Excel and others often appeal for them to do so. Other cast additions in the anime include Pedro and his son Sandora, who both suffer cruel turns of fate and eventually become Nabeshin's students. Their objective is to defeat That Man , who desires to become a god by seducing the Great Will and Pedro's "Sexy Wife." Another prominent force introduced by

5500-537: The 1927 film Metropolis , as a well-behaved distant relative. Maria Bot is the first AI Android Teaching Assistant at the university level. Maria Bot has appeared as a keynote speaker as a duo with Barry for a TEDx talk in Everett, Washington in February 2020. Resembling a human from the shoulders up, Maria Bot is a virtual being android that has complex facial expressions and head movement and engages in conversation about

5610-529: The Department of City Security. The Department's leader, Dr. Kabapu , also has a grandiose plan on stopping Across; he has the City Security workers dress in Super Sentai -like uniforms and sends them on different missions. Supporting Kabapu is an inventor Gojo Shiouji who likes little girls , and his gynoid Ropponmatsu , who later is deployed as two models. The series follows the daily interactions among

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5720-491: The English cast to be pretty bad and its Excel to be "dental drill shrill". Akadot's reviewer of the manga writes that "some of the strange events go on a little too long and do not have the impact that they do animated," but that Rikdo's Excel Saga is "graced with fantastic visuals and a hilarious story," and that the English edition is "a masterpiece of the translator's skill." Barb Lien-Cooper from Comic World News concurs that

5830-601: The ILL Corporation. Massive amounts of money is spent on elections and politics. Eventually the members of Across begin making appeals directly to the City's citizens before Il Palazzo publicly declares the existence of Across and its intentions to the public. Hyatt is captured and Excel and Elgala are later held in an immigrant detention center before being rescued by Il Palazzo, who begins the new phase of his plans. The anime adaptation introduces some original characters: immigrant worker turned wandering spirit Pedro ; alien mascot-like creatures called Puchuu ; and The Great Will of

5940-515: The Iwata, Sumiyoshi and Shioji families. Particularly notable is Shioji's mother Miwa Rengaya, whom Kabapu views as key to finding Shioji's mysteriously vanished father, Tenmangu Shioji, but who clearly has a secret enigmatic agenda of her own that is at cross purposes with Kabapu's own desires. Menchi ( メンチ , lit. "mincemeat") is Excel's "pet" dog that also fulfills the role of "emergency rations". Despite numerous threats, Excel comes to care for her after

6050-622: The Kokoro company demonstrated the Actroid at Expo 2005 in Aichi Prefecture , Japan and released the Telenoid R1 in 2010. In 2006, Kokoro developed a new DER 2 android. The height of the human body part of DER2 is 165 cm. There are 47 mobile points. DER2 can not only change its expression but also move its hands and feet and twist its body. The "air servosystem" which Kokoro developed originally

6160-428: The Macrocosm , the last of whom occasionally resets the storyline. The anime director Shinichi Watanabe cameos as an afro-wearing guy named Nabeshin , and a caricature of the manga artist also makes appearances. The series was created by Rikdo Koshi and based on a dojinshi he had previously created while in high school named Municipal Force Daitenzin ( 市立戦隊ダイテンジン , Shiritsu Sentai Daitenjin ) . Excel Saga

6270-472: The PKD android won a first-place artificial intelligence award from AAAI . Androids are a staple of science fiction. Isaac Asimov pioneered the fictionalization of the science of robotics and artificial intelligence , notably in his 1950s series I, Robot . One thing common to most fictional androids is that the real-life technological challenges associated with creating thoroughly human-like robots — such as

6380-432: The Ropponmatsus, bear the brunt of this criticism, but several reviewers consider episode seventeen, Animation USA , to be one of the best. Reviewers also agree that the series suffers from too much filler in its later episodes, with Crandol describing the show as spinning its wheels. Yegulalp reserves his harshest words for the unaired Going Too Far , calling it "pure, idiotic, wretched excess." He goes on to say that

6490-568: The WABOT-1, the first android, a full-scale humanoid intelligent robot. Its limb control system allowed it to walk with the lower limbs, and to grip and transport objects with hands, using tactile sensors . Its vision system allowed it to measure distances and directions to objects using external receptors, artificial eyes and ears. And its conversation system allowed it to communicate with a person in Japanese, with an artificial mouth. In 1984, WABOT-2

6600-474: The World to be corrupt, the secret organization Across plans to conquer the world. The first step in the plan for world domination is to begin by focusing on one city in order to minimize setbacks. Across consists of the leader of the organization, Il Palazzo , and his young adult officers: the enthusiastic and energetically devoted Excel and the soft-spoken Hyatt , who is prone to fainting and losing lots of blood at

6710-403: The androids Bishop and Annalee Call in the films Aliens and Alien Resurrection are used as vehicles for exploring how humans deal with the presence of an " Other ". The 2018 video game Detroit: Become Human also explores how androids are treated as second class citizens in a near future society. Female androids, or " gynoids ", are often seen in science fiction, and can be viewed as

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6820-571: The animation, with several characters designed in the style of other works, such as those by Leiji Matsumoto . Kotono Mitsuishi was chosen to play the role of Excel, and Watanabe was impressed with Mitsuishi's rapid delivery of her lines, saying that "she really pushed herself to the limit and beyond". He also says, "at times she was too fast, and there was plenty of time left to match the lip-synch". In such cases, either he would add new material or Mitsuishi would ad-lib . At first Rikdo felt stunned and uncomfortable at hearing Excel speak, but he called

6930-456: The anime (produced before this revelation occurred in the manga), has the Ropponmatsus appearing as two distinct entities who frequently cooperate on important tasks. Although they have a tendency to be destroyed on their missions, Shiouji keeps a lot of spares, which play a large role in the penultimate episode of the series. The vast difference between the units leads to some tension between Kabapu and Shioji: both incarnations of Ropponmatsu have

7040-538: The anime are the Puchuus, a race of insidiously cute aliens competing with Across for world conquest. Dr. Sekifumi Iwata (who the manga reveals is a cousin of the Daitenzin Norikuni Iwata) and his associate, Nurse Shiki Fukuya, provide some comedic interludes in the anime but make more substantial appearances in the manga. Finally, Rikdo spends several chapters of the manga introducing and developing other members of

7150-428: The anime's end. The Great Will of the Macrocosm ( 大宇宙の大いなる意思 , Daiuchū no Ōinaru Ishi )  : The Great Will of the Macrocosm, appears in the form of galaxy with arms (and lips, when necessary), and has the power to reset or alter the storyline . In later episodes she is torn between her love for Pedro and the power over her held by That Man. Episode nineteen reveals that she and Pedro's sexy wife are actually

7260-464: The anime. This competent nurse spends most of her time trying to prevent or punish Dr. Iwata's malpractices and misogynies. The manga reveals that she was assigned this role by the Iwata family to guard it against embarrassments caused by Dr. Iwata. She appears along with Dr. Iwata in his cameos in the anime. A distant relative of Sekifumi and Norikuni Iwata, Hiyoko has a short attention span and often wanders away from her bodyguards. She appears only in

7370-546: The anime. ( Excel Saga - Original Soundtrack Experiment 1 ( エクセル・サーガ ― 大いなるサウンドトラック実験1 ) ) was released on January 1, 2000. The album was later released in North America on August 9, 2005. This was followed in Japan by ( Excel Saga - Original Soundtrack Experiment 2 ( エクセル・サーガ ― 大いなるサウンドトラック実験2 おまけ 寸止め海峡 ) ) on March 23, 2000. A North American release followed on November 1, 2005. Since its August 2003 release in North America,

7480-475: The assimilation of two concepts: simulacra (devices that exhibit likeness) and automata (devices that have independence). Several projects aiming to create androids that look, and, to a certain degree, speak or act like a human being have been launched or are underway. Japanese robotics have been leading the field since the 1970s. Waseda University initiated the WABOT project in 1967, and in 1972 completed

7590-530: The cast to possess an ounce of sense." On the volume 15 inside cover, Koshi describes her as being "hard on the outside, soft on the inside... tsundere ?" Ropponmatsu, Units 1 and 2 ( 六本松1式・2式 , Ropponmatsu Ichishiki・Nishiki ) The Ropponmatsus are gynoids designed to be a general-purpose, if beautiful, tool for Kabapu. The original Ropponmatsu is a full-figured woman, however, her material density gives her an extremely large weight, and she fails her first mission in bomb disposal. A second Ropponmatsu, Unit 2,

7700-508: The casting "amazing" and was pleased to hear his favourite voice actors read lines from his work. The series began serialisation in Japan in 1996 in the monthly anthology Young King OURs and finished in August 2011. The individual chapters began being collected and published in tankōbon format by Shōnen Gahōsha in April 1997 and volume 27 was released on October 29, 2011. A 60-page one-shot

7810-415: The context of science fiction, futurism and speculative astrobiology). Authors have used the term android in more diverse ways than robot or cyborg . In some fictional works, the difference between a robot and android is only superficial, with androids being made to look like humans on the outside but with robot-like internal mechanics. In other stories, authors have used the word "android" to mean

7920-469: The creation of strong artificial intelligence —are assumed to have been solved. Fictional androids are often depicted as mentally and physically equal or superior to humans—moving, thinking and speaking as fluidly as them. The tension between the nonhuman substance and the human appearance—or even human ambitions—of androids is the dramatic impetus behind most of their fictional depictions. Some android heroes seek, like Pinocchio , to become human, as in

8030-511: The distinction between mechanical robots and fleshy androids was popularized by Edmond Hamilton 's Captain Future stories (1940–1944). Although Karel Čapek 's robots in R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (1921)—the play that introduced the word robot to the world—were organic artificial humans, the word "robot" has come to primarily refer to mechanical humans, animals, and other beings. The term "android" can mean either one of these, while

8140-462: The episode has "the feeling of trying to deliberately enrage the audience by resorting to the only tactics left: genuinely offensive subject matter." Joel Cunningham at Digitally Obsessed disagrees, saying that the episode succeeds just in time, "with one of the series' funnier sight gags". The series generally receives high marks for technical aspects. Cunningham feels the animation is flat-out gorgeous, but Crandol considers it merely above average. In

8250-444: The fate of the world. The Puchuu ( プチュウ , Puchū )  : Aliens from outer space who invade Earth in the second and twenty-second episodes, with other frequent appearances. Physically very weak, and shaped like teddy-bears, Puchuu rely on their cuteness to lull potential victims before attack—only Excel and Misaki are depicted as being immune to their cuteness. Once struck with enough force and/or defeated, they are shown to have

8360-576: The film Bicentennial Man , or Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation . Others, as in the film Westworld , rebel against abuse by careless humans. Android hunter Deckard in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and its film adaptation Blade Runner discovers that his targets appear to be, in some ways, more "human" than he is. Android stories, therefore, are not essentially stories "about" androids; they are stories about

8470-527: The first full-body walking android in history. Hanson Robotics, the FedEx Institute of Technology, and the University of Texas at Arlington also developed the android portrait of sci-fi author Philip K. Dick (creator of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , the basis for the film Blade Runner ), with full conversational capabilities that incorporated thousands of pages of the author's works. In 2005,

8580-425: The fourth, is an attractive but ruthless young woman who provides much of the group's leadership. The final Daitenzin are two android bomb-disposal experts called Ropponmatsu Unit 1 and Ropponmatsu Unit 2. Other associates of the Department are Kabapu's assistant Ms. Momochi, and the lolita complex -stricken Gojo Shioji , designer of the Ropponmatsus. Kabapu ( 蒲腐 ) is a large man with a very strange hairstyle and

8690-559: The increasing presence of robots and artificial intelligence. Barry also uses Maria Bot to demonstrate that programming a robot with life-affirming, ethical framework makes them more likely to help humans to do the same. Maria Bot is an ambassador robot for good and ethical AI technology. Hanson Robotics, Inc. , of Texas and KAIST produced an android portrait of Albert Einstein , using Hanson's facial android technology mounted on KAIST's life-size walking bipedal robot body. This Einstein android, also called " Albert Hubo ", thus represents

8800-666: The late 1700s, "androides", elaborate mechanical devices resembling humans performing human activities, were displayed in exhibit halls. The term "android" appears in US patents as early as 1863 in reference to miniature human-like toy automatons. The term android was used in a more modern sense by the French author Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam in his work Tomorrow's Eve (1886), featuring an artificial humanoid robot named Hadaly. The term made an impact into English pulp science fiction starting from Jack Williamson 's The Cometeers (1936) and

8910-568: The latter's opinion, its quality wanes as the series progresses and increasingly relies on super-deforming the characters for comedic effect. ADV's release earned praise for the quality of the video transfer and the DVD extras (particularly the Vid-Notes). Reviewers especially appreciated the English voice acting: Crandol calls it brilliant, and several note that Calvello and Wolcott were each able to capture Mitsuishi's Excel. Pearce, in contrast, found

9020-520: The manga and in the Kansai dialect in the anime. These are respectively rendered as the Geordie dialect of England and American southern accent in the English translations of the manga and anime. The manga showcases Sumiyoshi's hobby and greatest feat: documenting all dating simulation games on his complex PC system. The anime, showing his fondness for Ropponmatsu 2, hints at his interest. The manga also features

9130-512: The manga cannot keep pace with the anime, but she finds Excel herself to be wittier in the manga and that the manga's plots make more sense than the anime's. A reviewer of the French edition also praises Rikdo's work, noting that it is an "...easy read without problems of clarity". Android (robot) The Oxford English Dictionary traces the earliest use (as "Androides") to Ephraim Chambers ' 1728 Cyclopaedia , in reference to an automaton that St. Albertus Magnus allegedly created. By

9240-402: The manga has been among the 50 top-selling graphic novels on three occasions. The English-language reviews of the Excel Saga anime were broadly positive and enthusiastic. Mike Crandol of Anime News Network puts it in the same class as Airplane! , National Lampoon , Tex Avery , and Monty Python , adding that the "combination of character-based humor, outrageous slapstick farce, and

9350-510: The manga, Excel suffers from memory loss, and lives with the Shiouji family under the assumed name, Teriha Shiouji, while Ropponmatsu , disguised as Excel herself, takes her place in the ACROSS ranks. In the English dub, voice actress Jessica Calvello damaged her voice after the 13th episode, and was replaced by Larissa Walcott for the second half of the series. Il Palazzo ( イルパラッゾ , Iru Parazzo )

9460-561: The manga, Kabapu reveals himself as a survivor of an ancient city called "Solaria", similar to Atlantis , which had brought about its own downfall. He proclaims that his mission is to destroy any remaining Solarian technology so humanity can't misuse it. Both the anime and the manga suggest that he and Il Palazzo are old acquaintances. Toru Watanabe ( 渡辺通 , Watanabe Tōru ) is a Japanese twenty-something, Watanabe lives next door to Excel and Hyatt, and close to Norikuni Iwata and Daimaru Sumiyoshi, men whose company he at first detests. Watanabe

9570-534: The manga. The 18-year-old cousin of Professor Gojo Shiouji (the creator of the Ropponmatsu units), and serves both as his intern and lab assistant. Absent minded, easily flustered, and accident prone Umi is nevertheless very kindhearted, and hardworking; although her personality combined with her general clumsiness amounts to a great deal of trouble for the Professor, and his work. Umi is an avid cosplayer, being shown in

9680-470: The medical profession mostly to family influence. His most distinct physical feature is the X-shaped scar across his entire face, which was given to him by a four-year-old Norikuni Iwata, his cousin, whom he has come to hate since then. His likeness and character are parodies of Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack . Although several chapters of the manga revolve around him or his hospital, he only has cameo appearances in

9790-436: The opening theme Love (Loyalty) ( ｢愛(忠誠心)｣ , Ai (Chūseishin) ) were written "on the train, five minutes before the deadline". The closing theme was Menchi's Bolero of Sorrow ( ｢メンチの哀愁のボレロ｣ , Menchi no Aishū no Borero ) The two themes were released together as a CD single on November 3, 1999. A twenty-sixth episode, Going Too Far , was deliberately created to be too violent and obscene for broadcast in Japan and

9900-495: The publisher's request, the anime series follows a different storyline from the manga, however Rikdo was pleased with the adaptation. Victor Entertainment produced the music of the series, which was composed and arranged by Toshio Masuda and directed by Keiichi Nozaki. Director Shinichi Watanabe wrote the lyrics for the opening and closing themes,. The opening theme which were performed by Yumiko Kobayashi and Mikako Takahashi who were credited as The Excel♥Girls . The lyrics for

10010-430: The rest of his family. His 13-year-old sister, Kanal, also speaks in floating text, but is adorable and looks nothing like Daimaru. His mother and father also appear, his father appearing normal but with an accent, and his mother looking very much like Daimaru but speaking normally. He also has an ambiguous relationship with Ropponmatsu 2, spending a great deal of time with her, and being much more affectionate to her than he

10120-450: The role after episode thirteen after Calvello had damaged her voice during production. In North America, ADV released the series on six DVDs between June 11, 2002, and April 8, 2003. A complete collection of the series was released on July 6, 2004, as Excel Saga - The Imperfect collection and re-released in different packaging on August 1, 2006, as Excel Saga - Complete Collection . In the UK,

10230-540: The same being. Nabeshin ( ナベシン , Nabeshin ) , also known as Afro-man and the Director, is dressed in the likeness of Monkey Punch 's Lupin III and sporting a giant afro . Like the Great Will, he is a walking deus ex machina , and appeals are often made to him in that capacity, but apart from cameos in the main storyline he keeps himself to his own subplot with Pedro and That Man. Pedro ( ペドロ , Pedoro )  : Pedro

10340-418: The same limitations, especially her weight, when her power fails, she almost breaks Elgala's back. She is extremely powerful, but will stand down if the situation is not threatening. The Department of City Security tries to retrieve her in the later chapters, as she is somehow linked to Iwata's life, however, Excel surprisingly switches bodies with her. In the later chapters, Shioji is able to restart Nishiki as

10450-428: The series premiered on TV Tokyo in 1999. TV Tokyo only aired twenty-five of the series' twenty-six episodes, with the finale having been intentionally made too violent, obscene and long for broadcast on Japanese TV. As such, it was only included in the DVD release of the series, although it has since been broadcast in other markets. The series has enjoyed some critical success coupled with respectable sales. Believing

10560-407: The series progresses, striking him far less frequently than normal. The only time she seems to feel the need to do so is when Iwata is being idiotic even by his standards, such as trying to track down Excel by telling a young woman that he's looking for "Naked women". Excel Saga English manga adaptor Carl Gustav Horn notes that she "carries the sobering responsibility of being one of the few people in

10670-545: The series was first released between May 19, 2003, and March 15, 2004. A complete box set was later released as Excel Saga - Complete Box Set on July 2, 2007. The UK license for the series expired in January 2008. The series was broadcast on UK TV channel Rapture TV from January 2, 2007. On October 30, 2010, Excel Saga was re-licensed in North America by Funimation , who re-released the complete series to DVD on May 17, 2011. Several albums were released featuring music from

10780-442: The series, Excel , is a key member of the group who is working towards completing this goal, while the city is being defended by a shadowy government agency led by Dr. Kabapu . The manga was adapted into an anime television series by Victor Entertainment , which was taglined Quack Experimental Animation ( へっぽこ実験アニメーション , Heppoko Jikken Animēshon ) . Directed by Shinichi Watanabe and featuring animation from J.C.Staff ,

10890-416: The two companies approached Rikdo. Shinichi Watanabe was chosen as director. Watanabe added his own alter ego, Nabeshin, and expanded several elements. He says that the Great Will in the manga was "conveyed just as words", and he himself developed its appearance, eventually settling on the "swirling, talking cosmos". He also increased Pedro's role in the story from a single frame in the manga. Watanabe says he

11000-410: The two girls usually get along just fine, and Excel even calls her "Ha-chan" while Hyatt calls her senpai . Elgala ( エルガーラ , Erugāra ) Elgala is the third agent of ACROSS and Excel's rival for Il Palazzo's affections. She is cursed with the inability to maintain an internal monologue , constantly speaking aloud her innermost thoughts and feelings. Since Elgala is a snob who thinks nearly everyone

11110-434: The two groups. Il Palazzo would send the girls on their missions but the results are usually a failure with some explosive or catastrophic damage to the city. Kabapu would send the City Security workers on some equally ridiculous assignment which would also go wrong. Eventually Il Palazzo and Kabapu become aware of each other's manipulations and escalate their plans. Excel finds herself being replaced by an impersonator who heads

11220-591: Was changed as a result. Volume 27 was released on January 14, 2014. The Viz edition includes a section called Oubliette , which consists of a sound effects guide and production and cultural notes. The series is also licensed for regional language releases in France by Kabuto and in Italy by Dynit . An anime adaption was produced by J.C.Staff and directed by Shinichi Watanabe . Twenty five episodes were broadcast on TV Tokyo between October 7, 1999, and March 30, 2000. At

11330-459: Was created as an evolution of Daitenzin in order to develop the character of Excel, as well as to laugh off the vision of a depressed and pessimistic view of the world. Excel Saga is set in Fukuoka City and the names of characters and organisations are derived from local locations and buildings. Victor Entertainment contacted Shōnen Gahōsha about adapting Excel Saga into an anime, and

11440-502: Was created in the form of a lightweight perky, young cat-girl . In the manga, only one Ropponmatsu unit is active at any one time; the reason for this is later revealed to be that there is only one central "core" that is switched between the two bodies. Kabapu attests that the core contains the soul of the princess of the lost civilization of Solaria, and he has had the Ropponmatsu body created to house it as part of his plan to destroy all remaining traces of Solaria's technology. Conversely,

11550-652: Was instead included as a DVD bonus. Watanabe commented that it "felt good to go past the limits of a TV series", although he thinks it "is not something that you should do too often". In Japan the series was released on 12 DVDs between March 1, 2000, and January 24, 2001. The series was licensed for an English language release in North America and the United Kingdom by ADV Films and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment . The English adaptation initially starred Jessica Calvello , with Larissa Wolcott taking over

11660-403: Was pleased with that aspect of his work, noting that "Pedro's situation was considered unsuitable for broadcast in Japan". The anime production staff was given the freedom to do anything they wanted as long as they kept the theme of the series intact, and Rikdo requested they created a separate timeline; this departure from the original work was acknowledged in-story, with each episode opening with

11770-483: Was publishes in Young King OURs on December 28, 2021, to celebrate the series' 25th anniversary. Viz Media licensed Excel Saga for an English-language release in North America and the first volume was released on August 13, 2003. Initially the series was published on an approximately bimonthly schedule, however the series had caught up with the Japanese release and the publishing schedule for volume 12 onwards

11880-439: Was revealed, and made a number of improvements. It was capable of playing the organ. Wabot-2 had ten fingers and two feet, and was able to read a score of music. It was also able to accompany a person. In 1986, Honda began its humanoid research and development program, to create humanoid robots capable of interacting successfully with humans. The Intelligent Robotics Lab, directed by Hiroshi Ishiguro at Osaka University , and

11990-550: Was used in Star Trek: The Original Series episode " What Are Little Girls Made Of? " The abbreviation "andy", coined as a pejorative by writer Philip K. Dick in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , has seen some further usage, such as within the TV series Total Recall 2070 . While the term "android" is used in reference to human-looking robots in general (not necessarily male-looking humanoid robots),

12100-408: Was young. His mother, Miwa Rengaya, suffered a severe behavioral change after Tenmangu disappeared, becoming overtly sexual and showering affection on Gojo, imprinting on him a distorted perception of women. This perception was shattered when Gojo met his young cousin, Umi Rengaya, and was inspired by her purity and innocence. Unfortunately, Umi - who now works as Gojo's laboratory assistant and intern -

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