| The Tower of DRUAGA -the Aegis of URUK-, Episode 1: The Great Tower of Druaga |
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| Thursday, 10 April 2008 | |
 Is it serious? Is it a parody? Fantasy, or some bastard mix of genres? I honestly don't know. I just know that I'm confused, and I don't like it. The cause of this consternation? The first episode of The Tower of DRUAGA -the Aegis of URUK-, GONZO's other foray into the legal downloads fray...The legendary Tower of Druaga, home of he evil Dark Lord Druaga, is rebuilt eighty years after the hero Gilgamesh had destroyed it. In order to defeat Druaga once more - hopefully permanently this time - the Kingdom of Uruk dispatches its troops to the tower, but they repeatedly fail in their efforts. Time for Plan B, and so a young man named Jil, who has the blessing by the goddess Ishtar, is given a suit of brilliant golden armour and a sword from Gilgamesh to help with their quest, and sent off to deal with Druaga. Accompanied by archer Neeba and mage Fatina, he heads for the Dark Lord's Tower...   I have to point out up front: this episode doesn't appear to be representative of the series as a whole - it's a dream sequence, taking part almost entirely in the head of one of the lead characters. Think along the same lines as the first episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and you'll get the idea. The net effect of that is that, even though I'm going to score this episode horribly, I don't know how it shapes up against the proper story, as that only makes an appearance at the very end of the episode and doesn't give you enough to go on. This episode is a constant stream of parodies, some easy to spot (Star Wars), some less so (I think I saw an Evangelion-inspired scene or two in there). Parody is difficult - if you're well-enough versed in the shows they're ripping off, it's great fun trying to spot them all, but if you're not - and that seemed to be the case for me here - then it just becomes tedious. Or perhaps it just genuinely wasn't funny. The style of the humour is very direct and slapstick, with no real subtlety, as the gags just get put down in front of you almost with big flashing arrows to say "This is a gag. Laugh now." - all that's missing is the light breeze and tumbleweed, as for the most part it's just not funny. But you do at least get the general premise of the show laid out for you: evil demon lord has revived and our heroes must go and kill him. Said demon lord, Druaga, hides out in his tall tower (the epomymous Tower of Druaga), and the episode ends with the gang entering the bottom of the tower and preparing to fight their way to Druaga's lair at the top. Perhaps someone should introduce them to the joys of dynamite or some other high-explosive... I didn't enjoy this one at all (a tentacle scene being the possible exception), but as I said I doubt it's going to be representative of the show as a whole. It could be equally bad, but it shouldn't be as parody-heavy, at least...  |
