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 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".