Title: The Tower of Druaga
Published by: Siren Visual (Australia / New Zealand), Funimation Entertainment (North America)
Based on: The 1984 action RPG game under the same title released by Namco for Arcades and the Famicom
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy and Romance
Audio: English and Japanese Dubs
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Full-frame, Original Ratio
Runtime: 550 minutes
Cost: $79.95
Classification: This title has been classified M for Medium Level Violence
Blurb: What is the best means of delivering the storyline of a game almost three decades old then to release an anime series on the series. Taking place many years after the events of the game where Gilgamesh conquered the original tower and brought peace to the world, the tower has since reappeared only much bigger and many groups of heroes trek it in order for profit or peace. The storyline is a mixture of game cliches, comedic episodes and more serious ones that proves a rewarding watch – however the first 12 episodes are stronger in storytelling then the final 12. Design manages to capture some of the elements from the original game such as repetitive monsters and so forth but is of a suitable quality. The English dub is also rather good.
Special Thanks: Siren Visual PR Team for providing me with a review sample of this title.
Released in July, The Tower of Druaga Complete Collection consists of both seasons of the anime, the original Aegis of Uruk season which consists of 12 episodes alongside the Sword of Uruk which also consists of 12 episodes and takes place 6 months after the events of the first. Considering the source game was released 30 years ago and now only available on the Wii Virtual Console, you are not expected to have any indepth knowledge of the game, but you should be able to appreciate it even more if you have some knowledge of it. Of course, the games dialogue was limited so if it would be any help I am not too sure. Anyway, if you are interested, please read on for my review of The Tower of Druaga, released by Siren Visual in Australia.
Eighty years after the hero Gilgamesh single-handedly destroyed the tower, it has been rebuilt as a stronghold for the evil Lord Druaga and his dark minions. The armies of Uruk have secured the first floor of the tower, building the stronghold city of Meskia. Through the power of the benevolent god Anu, the strength of Druaga’s demonic army wanes, and Uruk’s soldiers – along with adventurers from many lands, drawn by the promise of glory and rumors of great treasure – gather to continue their floor-by-floor siege of The Tower.
It is the third “Summer of Anu”. Jil, a young adventurer, departs from the safety of Meskia, into the dangerous bowels of the tower. The quest: Druaga’s Lair on the top floor, where the evil lord himself stands guard over the legendary Blue Crystal Rod.
You might think that a game with very little source material let alone dialogue would result in a decent anime. Instead the move to have the anime take place 80 years in the future and focus on both the aftermath of Gilgamesh’s climb and a new set of characters who begin their journey was actually very clever. It is a mixture of both clever storytelling that remains faithful to games of the genre and comedy which remains plentiful throughout the episodes. The first episode alone targets the comedy aspect and sets it to maximum, dealing with every trope and cliche a game can handle – from the inn-keeper who mysteriously appears out of nowhere to the power of love and friendship being the key to victory and even some tentacle rape which I am sure would appeal to some viewers and targets the fanservice element many games try to throw in nowadays. Sure I was a bit confused where the series was going from that episode alone, but hey – it has worked for series such as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, so why not The Tower of Druaga?
Of course, this is not the true series, and you soon realize this first episode was all taking place inside Jil’s dreams, whilst his temporary party members try to travel through the dungeon with his unconscious body. The series follows a completely different set of characters who Jil teams up with to traverse the tower – Kaaya (The “Oracle” Class)), Ahmey (The “Warrior” class), Melt (The “Mage” Class) and Coopa (Doesn’t have much responsibility in battle but acts as a caddy to Melt). You cannot blame this series for being ambitious. With the exception of a couple of episodes, namely at the start and end of each season, they are all individual and range from your typical heroic tasks of surviving the towers many traps and defeating a dragon with the assistance of every other climber, to more parody related episodes such as a shortcut filled with magical traps to a complete parody of the original Druaga arcade game.
The storytelling works well in both aspects and does contain many tragic and serious moments that may have left this series feeling half-hearted if they were not included. If anything, you should enjoy it for either aspect even if it does not have a storyline I would consider top notch. The storyline does get more serious as the episodes progress into the second season, where unlike everyone almost working together to achieve the goal of defeating Druaga, the group has been separated both through the ending of the first season and betrayal and through their quest (Featuring a new set of main characters) they are under attack from all sides with many new and old characters wanting to see them not reach the top of a secondary tower or to have a mysterious young girl in their possession. Whilst I appreciate the second season for taking itself more seriously and thankfully avoiding the climb of the first tower again, some of the episodes do drag on a bit. Either way, you will have Jil as a main character, who like almost all cliche RPG heroes, has strong affinity towards justice and making it well know, alongside a cast of fairly diversified characters.
Games involving tower climbing have generally had to cut the differentiation of floors by design for the sheer fact of time and effort, such as the original game where only a single tileset was used for the whole game – and even more recent games such as Persona 3 were only able to change floor designs every 40-50 levels. However, this flaw does not exist in anime and I am happy to report that I was very impressed with the diversity in designs they included. You may actually forget the characters are in a tower, especially in the second season where environments are more fantasy-based, however the environment designs range from your ordinary brick walls with vines (Such as pictured above) to entire towns built into the tower. Character designs are also well included and cover your normal design expectations for RPG characters and do not really degrade in quality as the episodes progress. This is aided by the fact there is a sizable collection of characters in the anime, and they generally change slightly in appearance between the first and second seasons to give some diversity. In terms of battle animation, it was above average but remained unmemorable for the most part, with the final battles against Druaga being the highlight of them.
Opening Sequences
1. Swinging by Muramasa☆
2. Questions? by Yu Nakamura
Both of these songs are of a good quality, with a overall nice tone and pacing to them. What I think you will appreciate more is the animated sequences for them. For a series about character in a game world, what better way to both confuse new viewers to the series and offer a different perspective then having the sequences take place in the real world, the first one involving travel to school and the second one taking place at a school baseball game. I thought these were a very unique means of adding all the characters to a single sequence.
Ending Sequences
1. Tōchōshatachi by Kenn
2. Mahōtsukai Desu Kedo by Fumiko Orikasa
Both of the songs included in the sequences were not half-bad, but at the same time lacked the strong animation of the opening sequences to warrant more then one watch.
The music included in the episodes were well suited to both the serious, violent and comedic aspects of the series, and despite nothing really sticking out from the batch, it did a suitable enough job. As you all should know by now, I primarily focus on the English dubs of a series, as that is what I watch them in. This series has a remarkably strong English dub cast provided you can get past the generically heroic voice acting of Jil (Todd Haberkorn) which may get on your nerves. The voices whilst using the tones suitable to the “gaming world” environment, do not go overboard. Monica Rial as Coopa and Chuck Huber as Melt are without a doubt the most memorable voice cast in this series, with their often “Going at each others throats” verbally due to disagreements working well in a comedic way. Having taken a quick listen of the Japanese dub, this is one series where I feel that the English dub lends itself better to the respective characters then the original one.
As this is a collection of two previously released volumes of the series, both of the DVD covers remain the same as they were originally, only this time around housed in one of Siren Visual’s mega slipcases as pictured above. The main slipcase cover does a good job at showing off all the main characters from the first season and despite what some may consider awkward layout of the text on the back cover, should provide a great storage means for your DVD’s. DVD case covers themselves are brilliant, each showing off a creative piece of artwork showcasing the main characters from the respective season. The DVD’s themselves retain the same theme for all six discs, however could have used some differentiation of characters on three of the discs, with duplicates of each Jil, Neeba and Kaaya. In terms of extra contents, it is a mixed bag. The Aegis of Uruk season collection has the most to offer, with not only the normal trailers and included commentary but a bonus “Hidden Episode” showcasing the events that unfolded during Episode 1 whilst Jil was passed out. This is also one of the few times you will ever use the angle feature on your DVD player (At least from my experience), allowing you to switch the visuals and dubbing between the original and hidden episodes (So for example, you can see and hear the hidden episode events whilst in the corner of the screen, the original episode is playing out – or one of many other combinations).
In the end, I was personally happy with the experience I had watching The Tower of Druaga. Whilst some points in the series could have perhaps been done better, I enjoyed how they set themselves out to be different from your ordinary hero anime series. If you are after an anime in the genre that is perhaps a bit different then usual but still enjoyable, I would happily recommend this.
Final Score
Storyline/Character Development: B
Design: B
OP/ED Sequences: B+
Music/Voice Acting: B+
Packaging/Extras: B
Personal Opinion: B
Overall Score: B
