Ask John: Please Explain the Tower of Druaga Opening Animation

Question:
Can you please explain the opening credit sequence of Tower of Druaga? I love the series so far, but I really don’t see the connection between the modern setting of the opening and the fantasy setting of the actual series.

Answer:
In case you’re not aware of this bit of trivia, Gonzo’s Tower of Druaga anime television series is based on a 1984 arcade game created by Namco. The original Tower of Druaga game is something like a fantasy version of Pac Man in which the player has an overhead view and must navigate multiple floors of a maze-like tower, avoiding or fighting the monsters that roam the corridors. The game was successful enough to launch a franchise that includes multiple video games, an upcoming online multi-player game, and, obviously, an anime television series.

The opening animation of the Tower of Druaga TV series depicts the show’s characters inhabiting and merging with the everyday life of modern Japan. This summary, in essense, explains the meaning of the opening animation. The creative license used to combine fantasy heroes and monsters with commuter trains and Japanese high schools deftly illustrates the way the sword and sorcery concept of Tower of Druaga interacts with, and is a part of, real life; an artistic extrapolation of the way a fantasy video game exists as a physical machine in an arcade that people interact with.

Observers with a penchant for literary interpretation can also develop a number of other views on the show’s opening animation. Similar to Namco’s .Hack fantasy RPG franchise, and particularly its anime adaptation, the characters in the Tower of Druaga opening animation can be perceived as the actual human players that literally role play as fantasy characters in video games. Viewers watching the Tower of Druaga opening animation are treated to a view of these people as they perceive themselves and the world through their affection for fantasy and fantasy games.

Alternately, one could argue that the Tower of Druaga opening is also a parallel to the “Someday, Somewhere” epilogue of Gall Force: Eternal Story that depicts what the lives of its characters would be like if they lived in a very different world.