How Il Palazzo Really Feels About Excel
Heh. Way to pick the hardest essay, you guys. But it's also one I've been wanting to do for a long time! And I think I've finally worked up the courage to tackle it! So here we go~!
Il Palazzo bitches about Excel all of the time.
I thought I'd start with a nice, cheerful point!
But actually, this is only half-true; he only does it in the anime. In the manga, he chastises her when she pisses him off directly, but he also compliments her when she pleases him. He's a great deal kinder to her in the manga in most ways, but I don't take it as a sign of him actually liking her better... he's just smoother and more charismatic. Anime!Il Palazzo stabs you in the front, and manga!Il Palazzo stabs you in the back. Yes, that makes my bi-canon Il Palazzo double-penetrating.
ANYWAY. In the anime, if he's going to say something to or about her, it's going to be something mean, and he even does it behind her back. Like when he first hires Hyatt and she's too weak to even walk, he's all, "Hmm. She'll be more comptent than Excel." You could look at it as overcompensating to hide his real feelings, and maybe it even is a little, but mostly I think he's just a grumpy old man. That and anime Excel is pretty fuckin' annoying.
ALL THAT HAVING BEEN SAID. He does not like it when other people diss her. Because she is HIS subordinate and that reflects on HIM and...
Excel belongs to Il Palazzo and NOBODY ELSE.
You know, it's possible I'm reading into the deranged thoughts that go through Il Palazzo's head in the Key episode. It could be that he just hates Key, and indeed, the actual things he's thinking wouldn't contradict that ("Don't act cool when you're just a poser. I'll kill you. I'll definitely kill you. Quit putting on shows, you narcissitic bastard! Nar-nar-bastard! Disappear! Die!). And yes, there is a lot for Il Palazzo to hate about Key - the message he brings, his ability to play guitar, etc. But the fact remains that you don't see him start thinking these things until after Key starts hitting on Excel. Like, immediately after. This episode starts out with Il Palazzo actually prompting her to kiss his ass; combining that with the sheer rage he shows tells me that his reaction to Key is nothing less than petty, bitter, insecure jealousy.
In the manga... well, he's not like that at all. The closest thing he has to anything like this happening is when Watanabe is seducing Hyatt and Il Palazzo just shows up like, "lol cockblocked," and he just kinda ignores Watanabe entirely. Even when Watanabe comes out brandishing a baseball bat, Il Palazzo just gives him a, "Are you still here?" sort of look. D'aww, manga!Il Palazzo is actually secure in the loyalty of his subordinates.
So, yes, technically I would extend this jealousy to his Hyatt and Elgala as well. HIS WOMENS. >| But the essay's not about them, so there.
Il Palazzo has a history with Excel, and a specific purpose for her.
I play Il Palazzo mostly anime (he's really hard to characterize just going from the manga!), but this is one of the things that really sticks out in my mind. You know why he hired Hyatt (to help Excel) and there are some reasonable assumptions one could make as to why he must have hired Elgala, but you get nothing for Excel. It's pretty clear that's going to be a big plot point when it's revealed, but that'll be like 20 years from now, so... yeah.
And all my wacky theories aside, there's no denying that they've known each other for a long time before the start of the manga. I wrote about this in my big, scary, spoilery essay of doooooom (which I'll be redoing next month when vol 15 comes out, so don't even bother reading it now!), but flashbacks and some of the other things she's casually dropped have more-or-less confirmed it.
As for the specific purpose... hell, I dunno what it is. BUT THERE IS ONE. I can tell. And I'll essay about that someday, 'cause I loves me some essay, but today is not that day. NEXT TOPIC.
Il Palazzo does not want Excel to die.
Another mostly-anime thing, but I think there's a little bit of a basis in the manga, too. Il Palazzo has never killed or attempted to kill Excel in the manga, not even when he decides to replace her. Which is actually crueler, if you think about it, but shh.
In the first episode of the anime, Il Palazzo shoots Excel in the face a couple of times for shits'n'giggles. (He then tells her not to rely on the Great Will's resurrections so much, heh.) Twenty-two episodes later, he hires assassins to actually kill her, and when she disposes of them, shoots her himself. I'm not sure if I'm adequately explaining it for someone who hasn't seen the series... but there is a very big difference between killing her for comedy and actually trying to kill her. You could take the logical route and point out that the universe-reset function had obviously been turned off for a good two episodes by that point, but the true reason you know it's for real is because of the ZOMG DRAMA scene where Excel bleeds and cries and flashbacks and stuff. Excel Saga is just that sort of anime.
Anyway! Thinking Excel is dead, Il Palazzo totally snaps. He starts fighting with his shadow (the manifestation of his inner asshole) and feeling all guilty, and he eventually admits to himself that he is lonely without her around. When he sees Excel again, he tries to get her to kill him.
Point is, Il Palazzo can't really imagine his life without Excel in it. Even in the manga, after he ditches her, he still replaces her with a fresh new Excel. If you asked him, he might have some fancy things to say to you about the opportunities camp conquest, but in reality, Il Palazzo came to camp looking for her.
He has killed Excel in camp a couple of times, but it's a rare occurance. If he does kill her, it's because he has to prove to himself (and anyone else who might be interested; like once he shot her just to irk Buffy), that he can do it, and that it doesn't bother him. But it does. It does, and if he thought she wouldn't come back to life, he wouldn't do it.
But he will never stop roping her. Not ever. ♥
Sometimes a rope is just a rope
This is almost a different topic, actually, but it doesn't warrant its own essay and it sort of fits in this one... basically, I just thought I'd say that the way I see it, pulling the rope doesn't correspond with how he feels about a person at all. And okay, sometimes I joke about it being a metaphor for sex (particularly since he only ever ropes his subordinates in canon), but all it really is - and the way I am definitely playing it - is a way to vent his frustrations.
This isn't love, love isn't this.
Having addressed that Il Palazzo goes out of his way to act like he doesn't care, but he's definitely never setting Excel free (at least not in camp), it's time to ask the $$60,000,000,000 question... which is, of course:
Does Il Palazzo love Excel?
Heh.
Well. I will say this - you can make a good case for him having a tiny, denial-smothered love for Excel in the anime, but that's only the anime. And MANGA IL PALAZZO IS DEAD ON THE INSIDE D: I am bi-canon. So...
The answer is no, of course he doesn't. He doesn't love anything but himself and his conquest... and sometimes I even wonder about the former.
Il Palazzo bitches about Excel all of the time.
I thought I'd start with a nice, cheerful point!
But actually, this is only half-true; he only does it in the anime. In the manga, he chastises her when she pisses him off directly, but he also compliments her when she pleases him. He's a great deal kinder to her in the manga in most ways, but I don't take it as a sign of him actually liking her better... he's just smoother and more charismatic. Anime!Il Palazzo stabs you in the front, and manga!Il Palazzo stabs you in the back. Yes, that makes my bi-canon Il Palazzo double-penetrating.
ANYWAY. In the anime, if he's going to say something to or about her, it's going to be something mean, and he even does it behind her back. Like when he first hires Hyatt and she's too weak to even walk, he's all, "Hmm. She'll be more comptent than Excel." You could look at it as overcompensating to hide his real feelings, and maybe it even is a little, but mostly I think he's just a grumpy old man. That and anime Excel is pretty fuckin' annoying.
ALL THAT HAVING BEEN SAID. He does not like it when other people diss her. Because she is HIS subordinate and that reflects on HIM and...
Excel belongs to Il Palazzo and NOBODY ELSE.
You know, it's possible I'm reading into the deranged thoughts that go through Il Palazzo's head in the Key episode. It could be that he just hates Key, and indeed, the actual things he's thinking wouldn't contradict that ("Don't act cool when you're just a poser. I'll kill you. I'll definitely kill you. Quit putting on shows, you narcissitic bastard! Nar-nar-bastard! Disappear! Die!). And yes, there is a lot for Il Palazzo to hate about Key - the message he brings, his ability to play guitar, etc. But the fact remains that you don't see him start thinking these things until after Key starts hitting on Excel. Like, immediately after. This episode starts out with Il Palazzo actually prompting her to kiss his ass; combining that with the sheer rage he shows tells me that his reaction to Key is nothing less than petty, bitter, insecure jealousy.
In the manga... well, he's not like that at all. The closest thing he has to anything like this happening is when Watanabe is seducing Hyatt and Il Palazzo just shows up like, "lol cockblocked," and he just kinda ignores Watanabe entirely. Even when Watanabe comes out brandishing a baseball bat, Il Palazzo just gives him a, "Are you still here?" sort of look. D'aww, manga!Il Palazzo is actually secure in the loyalty of his subordinates.
So, yes, technically I would extend this jealousy to his Hyatt and Elgala as well. HIS WOMENS. >| But the essay's not about them, so there.
Il Palazzo has a history with Excel, and a specific purpose for her.
I play Il Palazzo mostly anime (he's really hard to characterize just going from the manga!), but this is one of the things that really sticks out in my mind. You know why he hired Hyatt (to help Excel) and there are some reasonable assumptions one could make as to why he must have hired Elgala, but you get nothing for Excel. It's pretty clear that's going to be a big plot point when it's revealed, but that'll be like 20 years from now, so... yeah.
And all my wacky theories aside, there's no denying that they've known each other for a long time before the start of the manga. I wrote about this in my big, scary, spoilery essay of doooooom (which I'll be redoing next month when vol 15 comes out, so don't even bother reading it now!), but flashbacks and some of the other things she's casually dropped have more-or-less confirmed it.
As for the specific purpose... hell, I dunno what it is. BUT THERE IS ONE. I can tell. And I'll essay about that someday, 'cause I loves me some essay, but today is not that day. NEXT TOPIC.
Il Palazzo does not want Excel to die.
Another mostly-anime thing, but I think there's a little bit of a basis in the manga, too. Il Palazzo has never killed or attempted to kill Excel in the manga, not even when he decides to replace her. Which is actually crueler, if you think about it, but shh.
In the first episode of the anime, Il Palazzo shoots Excel in the face a couple of times for shits'n'giggles. (He then tells her not to rely on the Great Will's resurrections so much, heh.) Twenty-two episodes later, he hires assassins to actually kill her, and when she disposes of them, shoots her himself. I'm not sure if I'm adequately explaining it for someone who hasn't seen the series... but there is a very big difference between killing her for comedy and actually trying to kill her. You could take the logical route and point out that the universe-reset function had obviously been turned off for a good two episodes by that point, but the true reason you know it's for real is because of the ZOMG DRAMA scene where Excel bleeds and cries and flashbacks and stuff. Excel Saga is just that sort of anime.
Anyway! Thinking Excel is dead, Il Palazzo totally snaps. He starts fighting with his shadow (the manifestation of his inner asshole) and feeling all guilty, and he eventually admits to himself that he is lonely without her around. When he sees Excel again, he tries to get her to kill him.
Point is, Il Palazzo can't really imagine his life without Excel in it. Even in the manga, after he ditches her, he still replaces her with a fresh new Excel. If you asked him, he might have some fancy things to say to you about the opportunities camp conquest, but in reality, Il Palazzo came to camp looking for her.
He has killed Excel in camp a couple of times, but it's a rare occurance. If he does kill her, it's because he has to prove to himself (and anyone else who might be interested; like once he shot her just to irk Buffy), that he can do it, and that it doesn't bother him. But it does. It does, and if he thought she wouldn't come back to life, he wouldn't do it.
But he will never stop roping her. Not ever. ♥
Sometimes a rope is just a rope
This is almost a different topic, actually, but it doesn't warrant its own essay and it sort of fits in this one... basically, I just thought I'd say that the way I see it, pulling the rope doesn't correspond with how he feels about a person at all. And okay, sometimes I joke about it being a metaphor for sex (particularly since he only ever ropes his subordinates in canon), but all it really is - and the way I am definitely playing it - is a way to vent his frustrations.
This isn't love, love isn't this.
Having addressed that Il Palazzo goes out of his way to act like he doesn't care, but he's definitely never setting Excel free (at least not in camp), it's time to ask the $$60,000,000,000 question... which is, of course:
Does Il Palazzo love Excel?
Heh.
Well. I will say this - you can make a good case for him having a tiny, denial-smothered love for Excel in the anime, but that's only the anime. And MANGA IL PALAZZO IS DEAD ON THE INSIDE D: I am bi-canon. So...
The answer is no, of course he doesn't. He doesn't love anything but himself and his conquest... and sometimes I even wonder about the former.