By Rikdo Koshi. Released in Japan by Shonen Gahosha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young King OURS. Released in North America by Viz.

There’s not as much revelation in this volume of Excel Saga, Rikdo-san preferring to riff on his basic themes for a bit, having introduced most of the main cast. We do get another suggestion that Il Palazzo’s memory has huge gaps in it, and that he may even have some sort of split-personality problem, but it’s merely a tease here. We do get a nice surprise at the end, though…

However, the predominant theme is satirical humor. Excel Saga was originally created, Rikdo once said, to riff on the Japanese economy and the collapse of the bubble boom back in the mid to late 90s. Hence Excel and Hyatt’s desperate attempts to ward off poverty, and their endless string of part-time jobs. Note Excel moaning about the lack of stores willing to give out daily wages (which would make stealing from them and then vanishing a lot easier…)

Of note, by the way, is that this is where the adaptation really starts to come into its own. Carl Horn and Dan Kanemitsu, the translators and adaptors of these early volumes, make no bones about the fact that they are dedicated to making this as funny as the original, not necessarily as accurate as the original. So we have Excel quoting the Geto Boys here, something that is not from the Japanese, but still manages to get the point across. They also give you the original jokes in the copious endnotes.

There’s a chapter looking in on everyone’s dreams, where we see the little subconscious fears and hopes that most of them have. Excel’s self-confidence, or rather the lack thereof, is a plot point that will be touched on through the entire manga, but Hyatt’s dream is perhaps the only time we ever see her yearn to be a normal healthy and athletic young girl. And we get some lovely foreshadowing at the end of the chapter, showing Il Palazzo and Kabapu, in their respective lairs, plotting and scheming instead of sleeping.

Having introduced most of the regulars, Rikdo begins to get into a pattern he would continue for most of the early part of the run, which is cutting back and forth between Excel and Hyatt’s missions/part-time work and Iwata & Co. attempting to figure out what their government jobs *are*. We also find (and really, they look so alike that we should have guessed) that Iwata and the insane Black Jack parody doctor are cousins.

All of this is setup for the big event in this volume, the sewer infiltration. The anime actually used the basic plot behind this in one of the episodes, but as usual added even more craziness (you’ll note that the manga features no Puchuus). Kabapu sends his crack security team to investigate the suspiciously clean and wide sewers under the city, and Il Palazzo sends Excel and Hyatt to the security room to stop them. The security system, of course, being filled with unlabeled ropes and pullies (some of which actually set off traps within the room itself), and the team being led by Iwata, with a dangerous prototype laser gun. Chaos ensues.

In the end, the base’s secrecy is safe for another day, though Excel and Hyatt almost drown, and then find themselves falling unconscious when they enter a suspicious room… a room that Il Palazzo is very surprised to find that Excel can even open. Excel Saga’s myth arc doesn’t so much get exposition as much as Chinese Exposition Torture, with perhaps a tiny hint per volume that there’s more going on here than meets the eye.

Of course, that will change with Volume 4, where Rikdo really turns on the mysterious. But that’s for another review. The main reason to read this volume is, of course, the biting satire and nonstop gags. Oh, and the North American-only cover has Excel in a hat that looks remarkably like the hat I was wearing when this volume first came out in 2003. So for that, it gets extra points.