The Tower of DRUAGA - the Aegis of URUK - Episode 07 (of 13)

By: Chris Beveridge
Review Date: Friday, May 16, 2008
Release Date: Friday, May 16, 2008



What They Say
The Uruk Army led by General Kelb is unable to move forward as a single-winged dragon suddenly appears before them. Inside the Tower, there is an unprecedented militant atmosphere as the Uruk Army's anger reaches a crescendo at the total annihilation of the Scout Regiment by the dragon. Jil's party and Neeba's party observe the army as they prepare for the upcoming battle against the dragon. Jil tries to persuade Neeba, who is also known by some as "Neeba the Dragon Slayer", that the Climbers need to work closely with the Uruk Army to defeat the dragon. Will he succeed in getting his party and Neeba's party to join the Uruk Army in their quest to slay the dragon...?

The Review!
Forces collide within the Tower and Jil finds himself in the unusual position of becoming important as the threat of a dragon rises up.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The Tower of Druaga - the Aegis of Uruk - continues to find its balance with this episode as it does its best to figure out how much humor it wants to bring into the storyline. While the show had hooked me hard with its opening episode that was all about the humor, it was the follow-up episodes that went in the complete other direction that made me adore it all the more. As it's progressed, the humor started to make its way back into it while still keeping more to the serious side. The previous episode was a bit of an exception though.

With the seventh episode of The Tower of Druaga - the Aegis of Uruk -, the series manages to work that blend quite well as the story builds on everything that's come before while also making sure that we laugh along the way. What's amusing is that the humor is a bit more focused onto Melt and Coopa with the way they interact with each other as well as how the party in general works with all they come across. This episode has the background storyline involving Kelb and his Uruk army making their progress throughout the Tower and running into the sizeable issues that they have to deal with. Their progress has been halted a bit by the fact that a rather powerfully large red dragon has decided that they're going to cross paths with each other.

Jil's perspective on things is that he needs to help make sure Kelb and his army don't get destroyed utterly by the dragon. Unfortunately, even though he goes through the proper procedures, Kelb and the others just don't pay him much mind at all. That leaves Jil trying to rally all the Climbers that he can to help out. The downside is that they're a very self serving lot so they will only help out if there's something in it for them. Jil's not exactly persuasive when it comes to them but thankfully he's part of a party and everyone else is rather good at it. Coopa knows how to speak to people in the right way to get them to see her point of view and even Ahmey has the right idea as she basically gambles her way into getting people to help out. There are a lot of light moments to the pre-fight events, including one piece where some of the female Climber's are convinced that the dragon's scales can help their beauty.


Not unlike some things in the past episodes though, it's the little moments that sell this completely. Neeba's reactions to seeing what Jil is going through and what he accomplishes is spot on, especially as he's being tweaked by the blue haired girl who knows all about him. After we had seen how their father had treated them differently, and the way that Neeba has been working so hard to make progress through the Tower, seeing Jil actually coming into his own is a moment that's both great and depressing for him. While Jil hasn't changed dramatically since we were first introduced to him, he's been growing slowly into a stronger person as defined by the experiences that he's having. It's easy to understand why Neeba booted him from the party, but it's also not going to be a surprise if Jil really does surpass him quickly.

In Summary:
While The Tower of Druaga - the Aegis of Uruk - doesn't exactly make any serious progress in terms of the overall storyline here, it's another solid character and team building episode that continues to push the larger narrative about the world. The various factions that are operating within the Tower are getting closer to each other as well as their paths cross. Kelb and the Uruk army has been fairly weak but this episode gives them some positive screen time while letting everyone else get in their little moments as well. The ensemble nature of the show is both a strong point and a weak point as the show progresses since the characters are all so much fun but there isn't enough time for some of them to really shine. There really just needs to be a Kaaya spinoff or OVA...

Features
Japanese 2.0 Language,English Subtitles

Review Equipment
Dell Inspiron 1720 Laptop Running Windows Vista