The Tower of DRUAGA - the Aegis of URUK - Episode 08 (of 13)

By: Chris Beveridge
Review Date: Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Release Date: Friday, May 23, 2008



What They Say
Kaaya is stricken by some unknown illness. The party is puzzled by this illness whose name and symptoms seem rather sketchy. Jil, in all his naïveté, sets out to search for the cause of this mysterious ailment. They finally arrive where the answer supposedly lies. Only, the place turns out to be nothing like any other floor in the Tower they have visited so far! What are the challenges that await Jil and his friends in this strange and unknown area?

The Review!
Taking a bit of a side story that sets up more of what's to come in the final episodes, The Tower of Druaga - the Aegis of Uruk - hits up some fun material as it tackles the video game world again.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As The Tower of Druaga - the Aegis of Uruk - progresses, I'm waffling between wanting the show to be an immersive game as the opening seems to imply and it being actually real. Each has its own appeal and there is certainly a lot of room to maneuver with each, but I keep leaning towards wanting this to be a pure fantasy world while realizing that it can't be. Thankfully though, the video game aspects and origins of it all are very amusing and are blended into the fantasy elements wonderfully which gives it a great feeling.

The eighth episode of The Tower of Druaga - the Aegis of Uruk - isn't exactly a side story since it does set up more plot elements for the remainder of the series, but it is pretty self contained as most of the episodes have been since the party entered the tower. The balance between the serious and the comedy hasn't exactly been smooth for a bit as the comedic elements have been stronger in recent episodes, but they do manage to make it enjoyable without overdoing it. At least in some weird way it doesn't feel like it's overdone, which may just be because of how the first episode of the series was so far over the top in what it did. After that, everything else seems tame. Of course, some of this is also just apparent from the opening sequence as to what all this may be and that helps to alleviate the "issue" somewhat as well.

The fun with this episode involves Kaaya doing her best to manipulate Jil into doing what needs to be done. And that's something of a quest that involves him heading into a special level wherein the original sixty level Tower of Druaga is located. Kaaya pulls off an incredibly bad piece of acting about having an incurable illness and that the only chance she might have lies at the top level of that Tower. Jil of course races into it since it's not a terribly tall Tower and he's gotten quite confident and cocky since becoming known as the Dragon Slayer. Where the show goes into the fun zone is that Kaaya sits down at a tabletop video game and inserts coins to control Jil inside the tower.


Having never played the original game, I can't say as to how well it represents it, but the way it plays out is positively hilarious. Jil often finds himself starting over and even Neeba's party shows up to make a few well timed comments. Jil finds himself failing a number of the levels repeatedly, which has him doing the level over and over again. It all has a very strong gaming feel to it, especially in how everyone around Kaaya plays with it. From drinking bottles of Ramune to the coins being used for it and the snacks, it's got such a classic feel that the old school gamer in me really appreciates it, even with the Japanese bent to it. And how can I not like an episode that lets Kaaya have fun with it all, especially with her bad acting? Coopa fans will be mildly disappointed with her lack of screen time however.

In Summary:
I don't know how The Tower of Druaga - the Aegis of Uruk - stacks up against other shows out this season in Japan, but it's one of the more enjoyable shows I'm watching right now in general. The series has a great flow to it and a wonderful visual approach. There are enough things that have me wondering where it's really going to end up and how much that opening is playing with me. The characters are all fun and enjoyable, the animation is solid and it has a lot of inside jokes that you can get even if you never played the game before. From the moment that the opening sequence hits, this series has me smiling and glued to the screen until it's over. This is a series that has a good bit of replay value to it and I'm already looking forward to watching it again on a larger screen some day, hopefully dubbed as well as an English cast could have a lot of fun with this.

Features
Japanese 2.0 Language,English Subtitles

Review Equipment
Dell Inspiron 1720 Laptop Running Windows Vista