When I first gave Tower of Druaga: Aegis of Uruk a try, I didn’t think it was that great. The joke first episode (Jil’s dream episode) wasn’t that great and next few after that were kinda boring. However, once we started getting some mystery and betrayal, I got really interested in the plot, and now I can’t wait for some Tower of Druaga: Sword of Uruk in the future. Besides, how could I resist an anime that has this many sea slugs?
Story
Tower of Druaga covers the journey of Jil and Kaaya’s party, Jil’s brother Neeba’s party, and the Uruk army up the Tower of Druaga to beat the evil god Druaga. Although it feels like your standard RPG story, the amount of betrayal in the story really gives the series a great undercurrent of tension, especially upon repeated viewings. I liked where they went with the two ghostly girls, Gilgamesh, and Neeba. I figure Kaaya is going along for some noble purpose, so I don’t really find that quite as interesting. The way the 12th episode ended with everyone shocked and stranded in Meskia while Neeba ninja-looted the mini-rod and stole Jil’s girlfriend was so totally awesome and yet so believable. Damn that bastard Neeba, I will follow you and flame you on the forums of whichever realm you transfer to!
Another aspect of Druaga that really stands out is the humor. I know everyone points out the first episode, but I thought a lot of those jokes were very cliche (though once you know the characters it gets a bit funnier). However, episode 5 was awesome with all the mage cosplay traps and the roper dance. I also thought episode 8 was both strange and brilliant, with the completely unexpected Jil-arcade. At that point, however, I knew Kaaya was evil because she had to follow the walkthrough word for word.
Characters
Not all the characters stood out, but several were quite lovable. I really favored the typical funny straight character of Ahmey, and I liked how they handled her (though I was still saddened by her fate). Kaaya was cute at times and oddly manipulative, but her lies were amusingly see-through. Jil himself was ok, and I liked that he wasn’t super-powerful. Still, he had pretty awesome aggro skills and his resiliency was befitting of a shounen hero and/or tank. Melt and Coopa kinda annoyed me, but I did find the golf mage archetype to be rather unique.
I didn’t care much for Neeba’s party, and neither did he. Fatina is your typical tsundere with really crappy DPS. Utu was funny, but I was so sad that he had to switch to ranged exploding hammers for the final battle. As for Kally, he was pretty useless. It’s no wonder Neeba spent most of his time chatting with Succubus (whereas Jil usually spoke with Ki after everyone went to sleep). As for the Uruk army, Kelb and Ethana were great. Ethana fills in my spot that Ahmey was holding, and the time she asked Kelb for a hug was totally awesome.
Tilt
The production values were very good and consistent throughout the series. The battle choreography wasn’t anything special, but those grindy first levels rarely have anything good anyway. It was amusing that Neeba’s party mostly relied on stock footage attacks whereas Jil’s party had to kite just about every single enemy group. The best battle was definitely the last one against Mid Boss, and I giggled at how the three groups stole moves from the Star Wars movies in trying to take down Druaga like he was an AT-AT or AT-ST.
As for the music, I didn’t think the BGM, OP, or ED were that great musically, but I absolutely loved the animation of the OP. The juxtaposition of the Tower of Druaga world with real life was really super, and it got better with every episode as I got to know the characters better. If only every OP was this much fun to watch! It’s going to be so great when Neeba and Kaaya have to confront the new couple of Jil and Fatina with things being all awkward because of the step-brother and ex-boyfriend/girlfriend vibes.
Verdict
Tower of Druaga really surprised me and exceeded my low expectations. The early episodes were mostly mediocre and kinda boring the way I expect most RPG adaptations to play out, but the second half of the series built up the mystery and tension very skillfully. Although the loose ends did not get wrapped up, by the time I finished episode 12, I was totally amped up for the sequel. That’s something I would never have predicted when I first heard about this show.
Kabitzin’s Rating: 4/5
4 Comments
Tower of Druaga really exceeded my shallow expectations too… Up until the ending and all bets are off till the next season as to whether or not the series meets my ‘exceeds expectations’ grade or not -_-”
Yeah I heard a lot of people say the same thing, and I did too — that it exceeded my not-too-high expectations. Like issa-sa says, we’ll have to see with the sequel if it holds up, since now we’re all expecting something a little more.
But I ended up very surprised by the end at how well Druaga managed to balance the funny with the dramatic, and even more surprised when the end threw the light-heartedness out the window. The action seemed to be the weakest part, but I guess it didn’t bother me that much. I guess Gonzo put their action team on Blassreiter.
Ditto your opinion on the fun and creative OP.
Well, the jokes are supposed to make fun of cliches, so were they meta-cliche? I myself would have liked more episodes, so the Sword of Uruk should be fun for that reason. I wasn’t quite as affected by the drama as I probably should have been though. :P
uguu~ SEASLUGS!!1
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