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 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.