On their journey Jil and the others pass a signboard indicating a shortcut. But the “shortcut” turns out to be a series of different traps that hinder their efforts to go forward. While one of the traps causes their gender to switch, the other forces them to wear animal costumes. Subsequently they arrive at the final gate. But getting through that exit door turns out to be harder they had ever imagined!
While not exactly finding a balance between the humor and serious episodes, the series plays happily on the comedic side to great effect.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
When the series first started, I absolutely adored its sense of humor and then got into its more serious side as it progressed. What become apparent as it went along was that it wanted to bring in more of the humor but in a way that was appropriate. The introduction of Melt and Coopa brought that into play but this episode goes back to some of what made that first episode so much fun to watch.
While the party made their entrance into the Tower in the last volume, things take a different turn in this episode as it primarily follows Jil and his group as they enter an area known for traps laid by Ziusudra. Offered the choice between going through the lengthy detour or the shortcut, Jil and the others opt to try their luck at the traps since they need to build up their skills and work as a team. The traps certainly aren’t what they expect though as they’re pretty wacky and outlandish. Watching one of the military groups that’s going through the area, they see them transform into what could be described as lemmings at that point. Neeba’s group has gone through the same area and they’ve been transformed into anthropomorphic cats. Which is quite amusing as the guys in Neeba’s party become fascinated with his swishing tail.
When it comes to Jil’s party though, they have a lot of fun in messing with the cast as they try to get through the shortcut. The most amusing of them is when Melt accidentally triggers a gender switching trap which radically transforms all of them. The girls end up as guys and the guys as girls and the reactions are pretty typical. Melt turns into a classy looking blonde and he’s besides himself with pleasure over how he looks, enough so that he does his best to get away from everyone so he can explore himself. Jil is actually quite surprising as he gets a Sailor Moon style outfit and he becomes entranced by his quite sizeable breasts. The girls turned guys are pretty amusing as well, especially as Coopa gets teased about the fact that she’s just as flat as she was before.
While the episode doesn’t really advance the story much, it does have some good character moments that help solidify things. The best of it comes in that we see a bit more of the connection between Jil and Neeba through the final trap that they must get through. A brief flashback to their past with their father is just perfect and it says a lot about how the two of them grew up with each other. Of course, it’s also just funny to watch as well which certainly helps. The last trap just brings out a whole lot of bad comedy and the style of the episode works perfectly for it as everyone gets quite dirty throughout it.
In Summary:
While I didn’t expect the series to be quite the comedy that it was in the first episode, I didn’t expect it turn as serious as it did for the next couple of episodes. While it started to introduce more of the humor back into it as it went along, this episode is closer to the first episode than anything else without quite going as far and while doing it in a way that made sense. Shifting the characters into the classic RPG game mode and being away that they were all “boxy” is just priceless. So few shows actually have me laughing out loud that it’s really noticeable when they do. The Tower of Druaga is simply tickling my fancy in every way, from when it’s a straightforward serious fantasy show to when it hits up the comedy from mild to strong. This has been a great show to watch, one that I can’t wait to watch again in higher quality someday.
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