You know, if I hadn’t gotten so lazy, I’d do a write-up on this series. RPG to anime series conversions always suck right?
This one didn’t. It really didn’t.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s no Divergence Eve. During its first 2/3 it’s often silly, prone to making me groan with Jil’s idealism, and the first episode wasn’t serious at all, being a reasonably funny parody of fantasy RPG’s in general — as well as Druaga’s take on the much more famous SHnY first episode. There’s even a second sorta-parody episode later in which Jil becomes the main character of the original game for a bit. (The series is set 80 years after the time of the game). Many of the characters are from the Standard Book of Clichés (none moreso than Jil, unfortunately).
Jil: Idealistic wannabe hero. Very high con score; he becomes the tank.
Kaaya: Cute priestess. High charisma score, manipulative, has secrets. Healer and buffer.
Ahmey: Woman-at-arms, silent but big eater. Off-tank; reasonably high Dex for someone in armor.
Melt: Impoverished nobility; mage. Ingrate, grumpy. Definitely low Cha.
Coopa: Cute and feisty loli assistant to Melt. Impossibly high Str for such a small girl. Doesn’t fight.
We also follow a second party:
Neeba: Jil’s older half-brother. Famous, deadly with a bow, cold and somewhat calculating. Ranged DPS
Fatina: “Gun mage,” material girl, terribly attached to Neeba, who doesn’t seem to care. Ranged DPS.
Utu: Big tough fighter in armor. High Str and Con; tank. Running joke is we never see his face.
Kally: Wiry and fast, bit of a joker, knife fighter. High dex, Melee DPS.
Others:
Sir Kelb: leader of the army sent by King Gilgamesh to invade the tower.
Iriri (I think, might have this name wrong): Assistant to Sir Kelb.
Pazuz: evil sorcerer, planning something mysterious but very not good. Eliminating the competition as he goes.
But like a certain silly fanservice show involving 500 maids, at about the 2/3 point it turns serious. And once it turns serious, it does so quite well. I can’t say that it “develops” a plot as it had one all along; but the one it has suddenly starts getting a lot more convoluted. The mystery quotient goes up a few notches, but it doesn’t appear that they’re just making things up. Unlike a certain trainwreck of a mecha/high-school/intrigue/revolution/harem show, every time there’s a new revelation, it’s consistent with what went before. Note however, that you can’t count someone as dead until you see the body.
Another thing is that the 12th episode does not resolve the series — which is a good thing, as the second series has been announced for 2009 (or possibly a movie, not sure). I knew going into the last episode that it wasn’t likely to be resolved, owing to the announcement. But I really didn’t expect the twist ending. I expected something, and I got it, even from whom I expected it. I just didn’t expect the second half, nor the curlicues that came with it.
Three betrayals were prophesied. We’ve seen two of them…
