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R2 DVD Reviews
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Tuesday, 17 May 2011 11:40 |
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Page 1 of 5
 Not often that you get a box set that has two complete shows in it, but that's what we have here, with both seasons of The Tower of Druaga (The Aegis of Uruk and The Sword of Uruk, for the uninitiated) being packed together in a surprisingly reasonably priced set that makes it hard to pass on...
There being two seasons here, the logical thing is to treat them both separately, so that's what I'm going to do. That they're slightly different beasts in tone and style (the second season is noticably darker, and works much better as a result) makes that an even easier decision. First up, then, is The Aegis of Uruk...
The legendary Tower of Druaga, home of the 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. That makes it 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...
Or at least, that's how Jil's dream of the mission - handily visualised in episode one - goes. The reality of the mission (which takes up the rest of the season) goes rather differently, even though the faces are the same. That first episode was almost a series-killer for me - think along the same lines as the first episode (in TV order) of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and you'll get the idea. It really doesn't give you an accurate impression of the rest of the series, and that's something that I always think is a little bit risky.
The episode is a constant stream of parodies, some easy to spot ("Jil, I am your father!!"), 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, most of the time - 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 - back "in real life" now - entering the bottom of the tower for real and preparing to fight their way to Druaga's lair at the top. Although I couldn't help but think that dynamite or some other high-explosive would be a far easier solution...
Jil's first problem in the real world is that he's really not a very good adventurer - he's on the team more-or-less because his brother, Neeba, has taken pity on him. None of the other adventurers in the group want him there (especially object-of-his-affections Fatina), and a life-threatening error soon sees him sent home. As he's not lacking in determination, though, Jil sets about creating a new party of his own, which leads to him being introduced to mysterious magic-user Kaaya; her warrior partner Ahmey; mage Melt; and his cute and feisty assistant Coopa. A more mismatched party you couldn't hope to meet, and as the group begin their ascent of the tower they also get caught up in the political intrigue and conspiracy that surrounds certain other events on the ground - it's safe to say that the tower, and the rewards for conquering it, aren't all they appear to be. Add in a healthy dose of betrayal, and the stage is set...
The real story of the climb is Jil's development as a person - he starts the season as a bit of a wimp, frankly, but under the influence of the others (mainly Kaaya) he soon begins to grow into someone far more dependable and useful, so that by the end of the season he's ready to make the real climb, which comes in the second season. Most of the humour comes from Melt and Coopa, whose antics are almost always over-the-top and consistently funny. Kaaya ends up providing the love interest, with Jil falling for her hook, line and sinker despite several clues that her motives in pairing up with him aren't quite as pure as the driven snow; while Ahmey becomes the mother hen and protector of the group, with her long years of battle experience proving invaluable to the group on several occasions. On paper, they should really have no chance of a successful climb of Druaga's tower, but put them together and it's a classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, as they keep overcoming the obstacles thrown in their way.
All this is wrapped up in the rather bizarre confines of the tower itself. It's portrayed at the start of the series as a deadly place, where only the foolhardy or terminally brave should tread - but by episode one we're introduced to an entire city that's been sited there, and as we go on we find mazes laid by mischievous mages (gender-change traps? Check!), and other unlikely locations, to go along with the more-expected hordes of monsters. It almost feels as though it's been based upon an old video game - and that's because it has (although you'd need to be a real retro-gaming fanatic to remember the Druaga game - a 1984 Namco arcade game that was subsequently ported to the PC Engine console). That adds to the rather strange feel of the show, although not in a bad way (although that may simply be because I remember that era. Yes, I'm getting old).
Overall, I genuinely liked The Aegis of Uruk, despite that first episode. Its heart is in the right place, and a good cast of characters gives the series the people it needs to mix and match with the tone of the episodes, from serious, through mushy, to outright comedic, without any of it ever feeling out of place. It ends on a cliffhanger, of course, that sets things up nicely for the second season, so without further ado let's shuffle onwards to The Sword of Uruk...
Kaaya may have moved on from her journeys with Jil and the others, but the nature of their parting seems to be bothering her. Still, she has her mission with Neeba to complete - whatever that is. Back at Meskia, the gang's journey up the Tower has at least left it free of monsters and safe enough to be turned into a tourist trap - a tourist trap that Fatina's making full use of - but something here doesn't feel quite right. The King has taken credit for defeating Druaga, the Tower is now known as the Tower of Gilgamesh, and there are some rather disgruntled Climbers in town - not least Jil, who's turned into a beer-swilling hermit since Kaaya's betrayal. But a chance encounter with a young girl who's wanted by the authorities sets Jil and Fatina on course to a new adventure...
So, in the gap between seasons, Fatina has become a tour guide, and Jil has turned into a breathing lump of self-pity. Neeba and Kaaya are in places unknown (glimpsed briefly in the pre-credit sequence, but not seen again), while the rest of the two teams that dominated the first season are nowhere to be seen. Time has passed since they returned from the Tower, and with King Gilgamesh no longer quite himself, those who now run the show have covered up their return, credited Gilgamesh with "Druaga"'s demise, and turned their attentions to other things - and so now, the Golden Knights, who act in Gilgamesh's name but seem to be answerable to no-one, are on the lookout for something - or someone.
Which is where Ki comes in. In the form of a child for most of the time, there's more to her than Fatina and Jil assume - the Queen's daughter, First Priestess of Ishtar, and possessed with more than her fair share of special abilities, she's also the one the Golden Knights are looking for, and there's the distinct feeling that they're not really concerned about her well-being. With her being linked to the Mythical Tower - the true destination of Kaaya and Neeba, amongst others - you can just see the plotlines being drawn early on, with Jil and Fatina about to be drawn back into the questing business.
But then, plot subtlety was never something that The Tower of Druaga ever even tried. This season is quite up-front about where it's going, in a refreshing and enjoyable kind of way, and I'm not going to criticise it for doing that - as we get going, it's just good to see Jil and Fatina back in action, while the other members of the original cast (along with a few newbies) show up as the series progresses. Jil's got a bad case of obsession with what's happened to Neeba and Kaaya, and now thanks to Ki he's got his excuse to go after them - that's his motivation, far more than any desire to get away from the trouble that Ki's attracting, or from any desire to help her. Fatina realises this, and that's why she initially refuses to go along with him - she wants him for herself, for him to put the Tower behind him and start over, and Ki's arrival on the scene has just blown that dream out of the water.
But Fatina's nothing if not a realist, and soon gives in to the greater storyline. Along the way we get contributions from Kelb and his tavern staff (sadly, he doesn't seem to be joining the climb this time around), and the introduction of new member of the group Henaro, a young druid who gets caught up in the adventure entirely by accident, and brings a useful does of magic to the quest.
The series kicks off with a couple of episodes that reintroduce the gang to each other and have a little fun along the way. Unsurprisingly, it's Melt and Coopa who get the best of this - Melt's gone into the tourist resort trade, and Melt being Melt, he's not running an entirely honest business operation. Looking for a claim to fame? Pay a nominal fee and he'll write you into the tale of the army of heroes who defeated Druaga (a happy band that currently numbers 100+). Need something done? Just ask the army of Ropers that he's brought in to help run the place - and don't ask them how much they're being paid. They aren't. And let's not forget the pyramid scheme he's set up to fund the place - and which is about to come collapsing down around his ears in much the same way as an avalanche. Yes, Melt has been a bad boy, and Coopa's protests about his behaviour have fallen on deaf ears. Jil's arrival is well-timed, then, and gives Melt and Coopa someone to escape with when the excrement hits the air circulation device. Comedy gold.
The series soon takes a serious turn, though - between the increased hazards of climbing the Mythical Tower, the trouble that Ki's bringing the gang, and some shenanigans going on back in Meskia, the world is rapidly becoming a difficult place. Tower of Druaga is still a comedy at heart, but in this season the comedy has to take a back seat far more often in favour of trying to resolve little story details - and that's a definite improvement over season one. In some episodes the story goes so far as to create some quite significant body counts - as befitting of something with the reputation of the Tower - and the gang's process of working out how to survive can get surprisingly dramatic. That includes the scenes where the two brothers, Neeba and Jil, are finally reunited.
Their reunion is probably one of the more awkward family reunions that you'll ever see in anime - Neeba's simply not happy to see Jil, while Jil knows exactly what his brother thinks of him and goes straight into "justify your existence" mode - in this case, that's mainly an excuse to hit the flashback button and take us back to when the brothers were still young, to see how each of them turned out the way they have. To Neeba, Jil is easily mislead and dishonest with himself about his motivations. Not that Neeba's been remotely honest with many people himself - but still, Jil doesn't like being belittled in this way. Proving Neeba wrong was a large part of him becoming a Climber in the first place, and he still doesn't feel as though he's properly proved himself, despite having cleared the Tower last season. As it turns out, some of the mistrust on one side of the relationship is fully justified, as the climb heads into its final stages and betrayal becomes the order of the day.
Different in tone from the first season, then, with more of an emphasis on action and story than on comedy - I did miss the laughs, but the series does come out better for the change in tone. This season will stand up better in the long term for being far more focussed on what it's trying to do. There are a few genuine surprises thrown in there as well, along with a few surprisingly moving an emotional scenes.
Either season is an entertaining watch on its own, with the second having the lead overall. Put the two together and you get a show that is well worth watching.
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