UPDATE:

Nevermind on all this. Turns out half this series is just a bunch of incredibly on-the-nose callbacks and cameos to Rikudou's previous works, and that weird Yugioh monster is no exception (and the other half is a surprisingly captivating story for what's nothing more than a yuri magical girl manga written by a dirty old man).

It's a shame this forum died before this series really took off, I would have loved to see what people thought about it. Personally, those first few volumes were excruciating in how saccharine and one-dimensional everything was (especially the protagonist), but it kinda started to grow on me once the story started having an actual plot around volume 5 or 6. It's so weird, but really fun in its own little way.

Man these theories are craazy.

Well, turns out Tenmangu is actually Il Palazzo's second personality. And he took Miwa with him to the ruin, and left Sanshiki (the fake Miwa, the perfected Ropponmatsu) behind to take good care of Shiouji. Given that Sanshiki is a giant pervert, it's likely that she had a replica of Fio's core implanted inside her, just like Excel and Ropponmatsu, and that ended up influencing her personality somehow. I really doubt that's actually Fio who's in control of her, but who knows?

As for what the real Miwa did after Tenmangu's disappearance... I think she helped Piola / Tenmangu make Excel, Hyatt, and Elgala.

This sounds incredibly far-fetched, I know. It's never directly stated, let alone hinted at, but given that in Vol. 16 it's mentioned Miwa is an expert bioengineer (by contrast, Sanshiki took on computing or machinery or something like that, something she's more familiar with) and we know for certain those girls were artificially made, it's not that hard to make the connection.

Thematically, I think it fits.

So I was just mindlessly checking out Pandora in the Crimson Shell, since I hear it's ending now or something, and I find this little funny detail here on one of the pages. Seems like Rikudou might be once again making another crossover with Excel Saga. Always kind of wondered if he was, just based on some of the art he'd post on his Twitter, but now here's concrete proof of it.

...I think I may need to read this series now.

Thanks fren it was heartbreaking seeing his dead forum defiled so terribly.

Download for all you broke bois: https://mega.nz/file/3gsXRIxY#YcJ9sD_DQKWKuBTfuVfJ1_KFCAPXoCkGgQqn1kOVfo8)

(image source: https://mega.nz/file/b0FAUSSC#fZx5_PToi3XUtkFpVCGcVUFcXRJSvJLOMmlSxbO1euA)


Just got my copy earlier today. Scan turned out much better than the commemorative book. And, as I had guessed, this book was a reprint of the 25th anniversary comic, so that made my job much easier.

Anyway, about the book. First 15 pages are entirely new content. Something about the girls preparing for an "event" by making prints of Il Palazzo. Nice callback to Excel's inability to draw from whenever that was mentioned. Rest of the book is the 25th anniversary comic -- something about making a viral video. I imagine this would be really funny if I could understand what they were saying, but alas... And there's some note at the end by Rikudou Koushi about comiket and some sketches.

Also, it seems like Rikudou's art style has evolved after all this time. I can't exactly place it, but there's a noticeable difference between this and volume 27 for instance.

By itself it's nothing special. But this is, to my knowledge, the first new Excel Saga content in a long time. It's almost melancholic, seeing them all still getting into wacky situations long after the end.

Overall, it was well worth the $40 I spent on it.  :lordilsmile:

Uh, so this is my first post. Guess I should say hello to the five or so people who still care about Excel Saga. Excel Saga is by far the best manga I have ever read. Rikudo Koushi is an absolute genius of a writer. And I really hope I have the ability to give this old series back the love, (loyalty), and attention it so rightfully deserves.

:excel_fall:

Anyway, I managed to find and scan a copy of the elusive commemorative book. It's not the best or anything, but the text is at least readable, and it's far better than the only other scan of it on the internet (that I've found anyway).

Here's the .cbz file: https://mega.nz/file/X4NWBCJD#vcOkP1TP6h-wgvtD65NAywxZIhOOLR-uFZl3hbNEjgE

Here's the original 300 dpi scans: https://mega.nz/file/X4NWBCJD#vcOkP1TP6h-wgvtD65NAywxZIhOOLR-uFZl3hbNEjgE

Hope you all enjoy.