By Rikdo Koshi. Released in Japan by Shonen Gahosha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young King OURS. Released in North America by Viz.
And at last, we have the final piece of the Excel Saga puzzle, as our last major character is introduced. We’ve had hints as to her identity for some time now, but we finally get to meet Shiouji’s mother, Miwa, in the flesh. And there’s certainly a lot of flesh to meet. Rikdo is having to pay for gradually introducing more and more busty women, as he needs Miwa to be bigger than all of them. Her proportions verge on the unrealistic at times, even for manga. But her personality stands out just as much as her bosom.
Miwa is an unrelenting force on this manga. She’s cleverer than her son, she knows a lot of answers but refuses to give them away… and she also used to be a shy and meek woman, and ‘changed’ after her husband disappeared 20 years earlier. There are many amusing fan theories about this. She makes everyone uncomfortable – her son, Dr. Kabapu, Umi. Heck, she even grabs Misaki and crushes her face to her chest. Misaki! Certainly she makes a more convincing evil mastermind than Kabapu or Il Palazzo, even without actually doing anything evil other than suggest she has secret knowledge.
Of course, Il Palazzo is stepping up his game as well. As we saw in the last volume, he seems to be letting the ‘evil’ personality (as opposed to his default ‘deadpan’ personality) take over, and now starts to actually do things himself, utilizing the awesome secret technology at his disposal. Appearing as a giant hologram over the entire city is a way to make them sit up and take notice, even if they think it’s just a movie.
And speaking of secret technology, Kabapu finally decides the time is right to tell his team the big picture. That’s right, we finally get backstory at last! … Can we take this backstory seriously, though? Certainly Misaki and company seem to regard it as ludicrous (you know your secret origin is silly when even Iwata stares at you blankly). That said, certain flashbacks we’ve been privilege to thanks to seeing Excel and Il Palazzo’s memories imply that the kingdom of Solaria might not be ENTIRELY in Kabapu’s head. (Though it’s certainly enough to try to get Misaki to flee the country, and realize that she can’t.)
The most important scene in the entire book is Misaki’s meeting with Shiouji in the park. First off, aside from a few token mentions, Shiouji’s pedophilia is quietly dropped about now. Secondly, the two of them form an alliance of sanity that not only helps when one needs a break from the zany antics of the other, but also let Rikdo do giant infodumps with relative ease. His description of how Ropponmatsu’s stunningly advanced abilities are not so much due to a superior robot brain as a superior POWER SUPPLY are fantastic. And help to tell us that there is still a lot we don’t know about Solaria/Kabapu/Il Palazzo. Kabapu notes that Ropponmatsu’s core is, in fact, the RULER of Solaria… something that will become far more important in a volume or two. (You must be bored with me saying that.)
The volume isn’t *just* an infodump, mind you. Although there’s not as much action as usual, we have our usual dose of hysterical Excel Saga humor. All of Excel and Elgala’s attempts to capture Ropponmatsu. (“It’s a miracle! She must have remembered to bend her knees!” “Yeah, a lot of people would forget that after the first twenty stories…”) The director of the idol show that Excel and company end up working for (who is clearly a parody of someone). Everyone’s reaction to Kabapu revealing he’s thousands of years old and part of an ancient civilization. Umi’s reaction to Misaki arriving at Shiouji’s lab (and her outfit). The only letdown, humor-wise, is the side story AU at the very end, a parody of hospital drama and Resident Evil that allows him to draw Dr. Iwata being appalling, but isn’t as much fun as previous side-stories. It does have an “Acchon-burike!” for Black Jack fans, though.
An essential volume for information, and I’m sure that next volume will get us back on track regarding breakneck action. There may also be some gratuitous nudity.
