<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/2011-05-1561bz9783XtL._SL500_AA300_.jpg">
<b>Review of The Tower of Druaga by Raz112</b>
The Tower of Druaga was originally a maze-based action role playing game released for arcades by Namco in 1984. It would become the first instalment of a series of games known as the 'Babylonian Castle Saga'.
In the game, the player assumes the role of the golden knight hero, Gilgamesh, who battles his way up all sixty floors of the 'tower' to rescue the maiden, Kai, from the demon, Druaga.
The creators of this anime series decided to use this as a backdrop to a new and original story set eighty years after the game's events, with an all new set of characters taking centre stage.
Sixty years after Gilgamesh destroyed the Tower of Druaga by himself, the tower inexplicably reappeared, terrorising the land which Gilgamesh now rules over once again. Twenty years have passed since, and the people have learned to cope with the Tower by their side. As the story starts, the 'Season of Anu' draws near. Occurring once every five years, the monsters of the Tower are temporarily weakened, and many adventurers known as 'Climbers' attempt to climb the tower and defeat the mighty demon Druaga in order to claim the Crystal Rod, which is said to grant any wish.
A young man named Jil is tagging along with a group of warriors in the lower floors of the tower, led by his brother Neeba. Whilst dreaming of becoming a strong warrior, slaying the evil dragon and becoming the saviour of the land, he actually jeopardises the group's lives by not being very effective in battle. After being saved by an intervention of the King's troops, the group leaves, and Neeba is forced to fire Jil for his incompetence. Jil, though initially disheartened and depressed, still intends to climb the Tower and defeat Druaga himself, and prove to himself, to Neeba, and to everyone that he can become a strong warrior and a man, worthy of respect. He winds up in the company of a girl named Kaaya, who eventually helps him form his own group of warriors, consisting of himself, the white mage Kaaya, a stoic former Knight of the Royal Army, Ahmey, a penniless, charismatic aristocratic black mage named Melt and his loyal and reliable servant/sidekick, Coopa. Together they reenter the Tower, as do Neeba's group, all aiming to kill Druaga for very different reasons...
The story is split into two series: the 'Aegis of Uruk' and the 'Sword of Uruk', with each series contrasting the other.
The Aegis of Uruk begins in stupendous fashion, with a comprehensive comical parody of all the conventional tropes of RPGs. Everything from character types, job classes, parties, items, power-ups, monsters, ally deaths, and even tentacle rape [more a hentai fantasy than an RPG standard] is covered here. However, the success of some of the jokes varies due to trying a little too hard for laughs, and thus it depends on some open-mindedness from the viewer and one's familiarity with video games of this nature. Nevertheless, with this unexpected and quite bizarre opening, it's clear that the first series does not take itself too seriously, recognising the formulaic and genre-bound nature of its source material, and poking fun at it throughout the series. It's quite refreshing to see, and there are some very funny moments [apart from the first episode of course] peppered throughout the series. Particular mention goes to episode 5, which is devoted to traps, one of which reverts the animation to the 8-bit graphics of the original game. Another excellent example is episode 8 where it skilfully parodies the original game where the protagonist is trapped inside an arcade machine; the very arcade game the series is based upon. To escape, one of his companions must guide him up the tower by controlling his actions through the arcade, whilst following the meticulous instructions of a walkthrough to ensure they find the hidden treasure box on every floor to ensure Druaga appears at the very top.
Despite this delightful jesting at times, and the new story and set of characters, the ultimate fear of the restrictions of the RPG game genre still exists, and the series does not escape from them. In fact, the story ingredients and events parodied within the first episode [bar the tentacle rape] actually come to pass along the thirteen episode series. And all the stereotypes and tropes are still there in the main storyline, leading to a general criticism of it being yet another generic fantasy story. However, this is where Druaga's strength actually lies. It is by not trying to break these constraints but by embracing them instead, creating an original storyline that hits the emotional high notes that RPG plots can give, where Druaga succeeds.
Therefore most of the credit should go to the writing staff for taking all these hallmarks of a generic fantasy RPG story and skilfully weaving together all-out parody and cute charm with an intriguing storyline, complete with interesting and likeable characters with involving relationships and agendas, full of twists and turns. This impressive feat is made even more apparent when you consider that the initial plot is about a ton of warriors climbing the same tower, floor after floor, fighting monster after monster, to reach the top and defeat the head demon Druaga to claim your wish granted through the Crystal Rod. It doesn't escape this monotony at times, but on the whole still provides an entertaining story.
The second series, The Sword of Uruk, starts six months after the dramatic finale of the first series, and to the dismay of anyone watching Druaga for the humour, it adopts a much darker tone as the true motivations of the characters unravel, leading to a fair amount of intriguing plot twists and development, as well as a lot of drama. Though some may argue that the shift to drama is a bad choice, the plot ensures that this is the natural direction of the series. That is not to say that the creators forget about the comedy, but there is undoubtedly less of it in the second series.
The animation is mostly decent, with nice, clean drawings and a colourful palette. The action is mostly well choreographed, with director Koichi Chigura (Full Metal Panic, Last Exile) providing ample amount of tension and excitement, supported by a decent musical score by Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy XII, Valkyria Chronicles). However, there were some flaws in the monster designs, which were often uninspired and devoid of adequate detail, making them appear out of place when in front of their human adversaries.
Two more drawbacks are the amount of fan service in traditional sense (i.e. nudity) and the use of CGI. Though provocative female clothing is also a common feature in RPG games, nudity is usually not, and there was an unnecessary amount of it in the series. The amount of CGI on the other hand, is very low. But the issue here is not its abundance, but its quality. The CGI is very patchy in this series. While the armies and the enemies in the second series look fairly decent, Druaga looks terrible. The decision to use CGI in a mostly 2D animated series is quite baffling, and rarely works well. It is simply a shame that the main monster of the series turned out so bad. Still, at least the action which Druaga is involved in is decent.
Finally, there is the animation of the openings and endings. The openings are again a quite bizarre affair, in that they do not depict the main crux of the anime at all. Instead they show the characters living in the real world, with the animation rushing from one place to the next, trying to keep up with the fast nature of the accompanying SKA rock tune. It is quite unexpected and refreshing, and shows yet again an opportunity the staff took to show some light comic relief that undoubtedly puts a smile on the viewer's face. Oddly though, there are no subtitles to the first opening, which is quite bizarre when they are readily available on Funimation's Youtube channel videos. The endings unfortunately don't fare so well with all of the effort having been invested in the openings, resulting in less memorable, uninspiring sequences and songs, particularly for the second series ending.
The audio again is a mixed bag. Some of the delivery of the English dub seems a little off. It appears that both language tracks decided to tailor their voices around different traits of the characters, resulting in different intonations in delivery and tone, which leave a slightly different impression of the characters to the viewer depending on which version they watch. Furthermore, although small changes to the English script are usually understandable and welcome, there were instances where it was detrimental here; specifically the absence of formal language in the speech of the knight Ahmey and the servant Coopa. It's by no means an awful job, and some of the character interactions and relationships work very well in both languages, particularly between Melt and Coopa. However, I do suggest trying the Japanese dub first if you can handle subtitles. As is the norm, the English dub has the benefit of 5.1 surround sound, allowing you to appreciate Sakimoto's score a little more.
The extras, despite that none are really necessary, are very poor, especially when you consider that the American version had more. They consist of just two very self-involved commentaries, and an alternative episode, all on the first disc of the series. The alternative episode is very good and quite important in that it depicts what actually happened at the beginning of the series, whilst Jil was knocked out and dreaming. What's more, you can use the video-in-video function to view both episodes side by side, tracking the events and the funny hijinks that ensued. It is only offered in English, though this is of no real consequence here, so shouldn't be too much of an issue.
In sum, Druaga is a heartfelt love letter to a game series that is nostalgic to many Japanese gamers, but not so much for Westerners. What is special about this series is that the creators were able to create a story out of nothing. It proved to be an entertaining affair, creating an interesting array of characters and some beautiful landscapes from time to time. It may be generic and formulaic, but there's a reason why such formulas and genre conventions exist; they work. Druaga may not be the pinnacle of the fantasy genre, but it is very watchable, and can be very enjoyable if you let it to be, especially with the uniquely funny touches of game parody and the more entertaining banter between characters. With the accomplished talent behind the series, they ensure that you'll remember The Tower of Druaga for those moments, and provide a satisfying enough story in the process.<br>
<b>Final score: 7 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2011-05-15vlcsnap-2011-05-15-23h49m49s112.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2011-05-15vlcsnap-2011-05-16-00h13m01s245.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2011-05-15vlcsnap-2011-05-16-00h22m48s203.png">
<b>Review of The Tower of Druaga by Raz112</b>
The Tower of Druaga was originally a maze-based action role playing game released for arcades by Namco in 1984. It would become the first instalment of a series of games known as the 'Babylonian Castle Saga'.
In the game, the player assumes the role of the golden knight hero, Gilgamesh, who battles his way up all sixty floors of the 'tower' to rescue the maiden, Kai, from the demon, Druaga.
The creators of this anime series decided to use this as a backdrop to a new and original story set eighty years after the game's events, with an all new set of characters taking centre stage.
Sixty years after Gilgamesh destroyed the Tower of Druaga by himself, the tower inexplicably reappeared, terrorising the land which Gilgamesh now rules over once again. Twenty years have passed since, and the people have learned to cope with the Tower by their side. As the story starts, the 'Season of Anu' draws near. Occurring once every five years, the monsters of the Tower are temporarily weakened, and many adventurers known as 'Climbers' attempt to climb the tower and defeat the mighty demon Druaga in order to claim the Crystal Rod, which is said to grant any wish.
A young man named Jil is tagging along with a group of warriors in the lower floors of the tower, led by his brother Neeba. Whilst dreaming of becoming a strong warrior, slaying the evil dragon and becoming the saviour of the land, he actually jeopardises the group's lives by not being very effective in battle. After being saved by an intervention of the King's troops, the group leaves, and Neeba is forced to fire Jil for his incompetence. Jil, though initially disheartened and depressed, still intends to climb the Tower and defeat Druaga himself, and prove to himself, to Neeba, and to everyone that he can become a strong warrior and a man, worthy of respect. He winds up in the company of a girl named Kaaya, who eventually helps him form his own group of warriors, consisting of himself, the white mage Kaaya, a stoic former Knight of the Royal Army, Ahmey, a penniless, charismatic aristocratic black mage named Melt and his loyal and reliable servant/sidekick, Coopa. Together they reenter the Tower, as do Neeba's group, all aiming to kill Druaga for very different reasons...
The story is split into two series: the 'Aegis of Uruk' and the 'Sword of Uruk', with each series contrasting the other.
The Aegis of Uruk begins in stupendous fashion, with a comprehensive comical parody of all the conventional tropes of RPGs. Everything from character types, job classes, parties, items, power-ups, monsters, ally deaths, and even tentacle rape [more a hentai fantasy than an RPG standard] is covered here. However, the success of some of the jokes varies due to trying a little too hard for laughs, and thus it depends on some open-mindedness from the viewer and one's familiarity with video games of this nature. Nevertheless, with this unexpected and quite bizarre opening, it's clear that the first series does not take itself too seriously, recognising the formulaic and genre-bound nature of its source material, and poking fun at it throughout the series. It's quite refreshing to see, and there are some very funny moments [apart from the first episode of course] peppered throughout the series. Particular mention goes to episode 5, which is devoted to traps, one of which reverts the animation to the 8-bit graphics of the original game. Another excellent example is episode 8 where it skilfully parodies the original game where the protagonist is trapped inside an arcade machine; the very arcade game the series is based upon. To escape, one of his companions must guide him up the tower by controlling his actions through the arcade, whilst following the meticulous instructions of a walkthrough to ensure they find the hidden treasure box on every floor to ensure Druaga appears at the very top.
Despite this delightful jesting at times, and the new story and set of characters, the ultimate fear of the restrictions of the RPG game genre still exists, and the series does not escape from them. In fact, the story ingredients and events parodied within the first episode [bar the tentacle rape] actually come to pass along the thirteen episode series. And all the stereotypes and tropes are still there in the main storyline, leading to a general criticism of it being yet another generic fantasy story. However, this is where Druaga's strength actually lies. It is by not trying to break these constraints but by embracing them instead, creating an original storyline that hits the emotional high notes that RPG plots can give, where Druaga succeeds.
Therefore most of the credit should go to the writing staff for taking all these hallmarks of a generic fantasy RPG story and skilfully weaving together all-out parody and cute charm with an intriguing storyline, complete with interesting and likeable characters with involving relationships and agendas, full of twists and turns. This impressive feat is made even more apparent when you consider that the initial plot is about a ton of warriors climbing the same tower, floor after floor, fighting monster after monster, to reach the top and defeat the head demon Druaga to claim your wish granted through the Crystal Rod. It doesn't escape this monotony at times, but on the whole still provides an entertaining story.
The second series, The Sword of Uruk, starts six months after the dramatic finale of the first series, and to the dismay of anyone watching Druaga for the humour, it adopts a much darker tone as the true motivations of the characters unravel, leading to a fair amount of intriguing plot twists and development, as well as a lot of drama. Though some may argue that the shift to drama is a bad choice, the plot ensures that this is the natural direction of the series. That is not to say that the creators forget about the comedy, but there is undoubtedly less of it in the second series.
The animation is mostly decent, with nice, clean drawings and a colourful palette. The action is mostly well choreographed, with director Koichi Chigura (Full Metal Panic, Last Exile) providing ample amount of tension and excitement, supported by a decent musical score by Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy XII, Valkyria Chronicles). However, there were some flaws in the monster designs, which were often uninspired and devoid of adequate detail, making them appear out of place when in front of their human adversaries.
Two more drawbacks are the amount of fan service in traditional sense (i.e. nudity) and the use of CGI. Though provocative female clothing is also a common feature in RPG games, nudity is usually not, and there was an unnecessary amount of it in the series. The amount of CGI on the other hand, is very low. But the issue here is not its abundance, but its quality. The CGI is very patchy in this series. While the armies and the enemies in the second series look fairly decent, Druaga looks terrible. The decision to use CGI in a mostly 2D animated series is quite baffling, and rarely works well. It is simply a shame that the main monster of the series turned out so bad. Still, at least the action which Druaga is involved in is decent.
Finally, there is the animation of the openings and endings. The openings are again a quite bizarre affair, in that they do not depict the main crux of the anime at all. Instead they show the characters living in the real world, with the animation rushing from one place to the next, trying to keep up with the fast nature of the accompanying SKA rock tune. It is quite unexpected and refreshing, and shows yet again an opportunity the staff took to show some light comic relief that undoubtedly puts a smile on the viewer's face. Oddly though, there are no subtitles to the first opening, which is quite bizarre when they are readily available on Funimation's Youtube channel videos. The endings unfortunately don't fare so well with all of the effort having been invested in the openings, resulting in less memorable, uninspiring sequences and songs, particularly for the second series ending.
The audio again is a mixed bag. Some of the delivery of the English dub seems a little off. It appears that both language tracks decided to tailor their voices around different traits of the characters, resulting in different intonations in delivery and tone, which leave a slightly different impression of the characters to the viewer depending on which version they watch. Furthermore, although small changes to the English script are usually understandable and welcome, there were instances where it was detrimental here; specifically the absence of formal language in the speech of the knight Ahmey and the servant Coopa. It's by no means an awful job, and some of the character interactions and relationships work very well in both languages, particularly between Melt and Coopa. However, I do suggest trying the Japanese dub first if you can handle subtitles. As is the norm, the English dub has the benefit of 5.1 surround sound, allowing you to appreciate Sakimoto's score a little more.
The extras, despite that none are really necessary, are very poor, especially when you consider that the American version had more. They consist of just two very self-involved commentaries, and an alternative episode, all on the first disc of the series. The alternative episode is very good and quite important in that it depicts what actually happened at the beginning of the series, whilst Jil was knocked out and dreaming. What's more, you can use the video-in-video function to view both episodes side by side, tracking the events and the funny hijinks that ensued. It is only offered in English, though this is of no real consequence here, so shouldn't be too much of an issue.
In sum, Druaga is a heartfelt love letter to a game series that is nostalgic to many Japanese gamers, but not so much for Westerners. What is special about this series is that the creators were able to create a story out of nothing. It proved to be an entertaining affair, creating an interesting array of characters and some beautiful landscapes from time to time. It may be generic and formulaic, but there's a reason why such formulas and genre conventions exist; they work. Druaga may not be the pinnacle of the fantasy genre, but it is very watchable, and can be very enjoyable if you let it to be, especially with the uniquely funny touches of game parody and the more entertaining banter between characters. With the accomplished talent behind the series, they ensure that you'll remember The Tower of Druaga for those moments, and provide a satisfying enough story in the process.<br>
<b>Final score: 7 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2011-05-15vlcsnap-2011-05-15-23h49m49s112.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2011-05-15vlcsnap-2011-05-16-00h13m01s245.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2011-05-15vlcsnap-2011-05-16-00h22m48s203.png">