Sometimes Your Party Members Select You

Before Departure

It’d certainly be nice to be able to get a higher resolution and quality video from BostTV as well as no logo in the corner when making a purchase to download. These two things are likely to make me not purchase episodes for other series in the future. I’d rather buy a series on DVD and get DVD quality, and the ability to turn off subtitles. Since I don’t expect The Tower of DRUAGA to be a series I look back on from time to time, not having it at a decent quality isn’t a big deal for me. For a series such as Petite Princess Yucie, which I’ve watched through three times, DVD quality is the only way to go for me.

That aside, the series is pulling me in more and more. It’s starting to bring up a good number of questions for me. There’s something about Gil and Ki from 80 years prior. After the prior episode, I gathered Jil and Ki would be the past heroes reborn, but if Gil is Gilgamesh, then that causes trouble with that idea.

The curse spoken of must be that Gilgamesh lives as long as Druaga’s tower stands. This is corroborated both by Neeba saying Gilgamesh “should be over one hundred years old by now” and Gilgamesh surviving the stabbing. He can’t die in either of those ways. Or perhaps he essentially is dead, but continues on by the curse.

If Kaaya is a reincarnation of Ki, and if Gil was unable to save Ki on that one visit to the tower, that would explain Gilgamesh choosing Kaaya to give the sword to. If he believes Kaaya’s party, lead by Jil with Gilgamesh’s sword, has a chance to destroy the tower, then he’s basically given his blessings to removing the monsters and ending his own overdue life.

I imagine Kally helped set up the meeting between Neeba and Pazuz, as that seems like Kally’s territory. At first I figured Marf knew about Gilgamesh’s inability to die, but after learning Pazuz was working for Marf, I’m not so sure. Neeba knew Gilgamesh wouldn’t die, but how? Did Pazuz know? Marf knew. He gave no reaction to Gilgamesh’s “waking”. Was Marf having Gilgamesh’s inability to die simply be tested, to know where things stand? Did Marf tell the others to keep quiet about the murder because he knew about Gilgamesh’s unending life?

Kaaya also said everything would be all right, so what does she know? Her knowing something could be why she prevented Jil from trying to turn himself in. Ahmey’s reaction was along the same lines as Jil’s: she expected the town to be in unrest over word of the king’s death. The part that bothers me, however, is Gilgamesh’s saying Ki’s words were true. The tower saved him from the dagger–is that it? Does this mean his age is normal? Does it mean he cannot be killed, but only if he’s in the tower? Does this mean he gets one stay-alive event, but the next time he won’t be so lucky? Kaaya confirms to Gilgamesh that “she knows”, and the conversation does seem to suggest the end of the tower will be the end of the king’s life.

So far, Jil is ready to do everything the honest way. Currently he’s as goody as they get, but fails at many things. He has the ability to be a good warrior, but needs the experience to show him how to hone his skills. His righteousness probably won’t wane any time soon, so he should grow into a valorous warrior within the series. Either that, or he’ll keep bungling things right to the very end.

Although Ahmey was looking to be the strong, silent type, she’s already proving to me more than that. With her recommendation of adding an offensive magic user to the group, she’s showing that she knows a thing or two about strategy in battle. Not only can she handle the brute force aspect, but she knows the limitations of a physical fighter. Some fights you simply need to bring out the magic, and Kaaya’s healing and putting to sleep aren’t exactly the most effective for taking down a magical beast.

I’ll reserve judgement on Coopa until I’ve seen more of her personality. Whereas Belbel in Petite Princess Yucie was cute with they way she spoke, Coopa has the potential be to a bore. I think the difference is that Belbel’s way of speaking and her personality worked well together. I haven’t yet seen evidence in Coopa’s personality supporting how she speaks, but her position as a maid for a rich family could have lead to her way of speaking.

Finally, there’s Melt. On one end of the party, you have Jil, bright-eyed, enthusiastic, overzealous, passionate about his work, so much that he easily loses in battle. On the other side, you have Melt. He stands to be the cynical guy who’s been here and there, lived a spoiled life, then lost it all in his excessiveness. Maybe learned magic as the hobby of a rich, young brat, but without the experience of battle.

Overall, the party of five looks like they can build a decent synergy, outside of battle as well as within battle.

This summer of weakened monsters, more monsters than usual are falling to Meskia. Are they weaker than usual, making it harder for them to keep from falling, or is something else causing the increase? With climbers leaving the city quickly to climb the tower, I take it there are Guardians who remain in the city, as well as the king’s army, to handle the falling monsters.

This is one of those series which I think could benefit greatly from a good English dub.