Damn, must watch this, I believe Gonzo made it, plus those who had an account with Bost aleady get the first 2 episodes free.....lucky bastards

the animation for this looks alright...I'm not one who goes for raws since I lack the ability to read moonspeak.

@ManjiKengo: and knowledge to translate the speech in mah brains. cause you know...reading moonspeak really helps when watching a raw japanese cartoon.

@ManjiKengo: the internet simulcast is subbed, just in case

But are they ALL that painfully hilarious? If not, I don't care.

"She's been captured!"
"Wait a second."
*tentacle monster starts coppin' feels*
"She's in DANGER!"
"Just watch!" :D
*girl moans, monster gets worse*
"BUT!"
"JUST WAIT A MINUTE!" @_@
"GET ME DOWN, YOU PERVERTS!"

CrunchyRoll and YouTube are also being granted the legal privilege of streaming this series, but for free! In addition, CrunchyRoll has an option to take your money and you'll get a DRM-free file in different sorts of setups for your viewing pleasure on either PC, PSP or iPod, but this differs based on how much you "Donate."

GONZO is definitely doing things the right way, this season, and The Tower of DRUAGA -the Aegis of URUK- has certainly been a sleeper hit, slapping us in the face with some great comedy and parodies of adventure cliches.

+ Watch video

If it wasn't for Namco X Capcom, I wouldn't know what the hell Druaga was (at least not this Druaga). I heard about the anime on ANN awhile back. Meh, If it's just some cookie cutter shonen series, count me out. I don't want to ever see another MÄR, Beet the Vandel Buster, or Ragnarok the Animation again.

@KeroseneClimax: cookie-cutter shonen? I'd hate to read what you think of Busou Renkin.

That said, I'm a huge fan of all things Druaga, spent hundreds of hours playing the PS2 version. Looking forward to this anime, but not the MMORPG. Just give me a sequel to Nightmare of Druaga and I'll be busy for the next couple of years.

BTW where did you get that interesting bit about reusing Pac Man code?

There's some talent behind this production, hopefully it's more interesting for people that haven't played the series than the Tales of Symphonia anime adaptation was (sure I would have been all over that had I played the game).

From what I've heard Druaga had two different versions...
(dunno if this is gonna be a recurring thing)

Gil's dream sequences which was the 'normal' version that aired on television stations and ended up streamed… and another version which got streamed through the lonely GyaO (the Japanese partner for Gonzo's video streaming plan) for reasons which nobody seems to understand...

If you got a NicoNico account you can stream it here: [www.nicovideo.jp]

Beware of moonspeak.

It was another schoolboy romantinc/comical series with the same jokes that you can saw in others series 23157203175023 years before this... the tentacle joke its so cliche... maybe the only original joke was the Nicovideo thing that almost no one will understand here.

So sad... i was waiting some type of Loddoss Wars type series.

I thought it was pretty good. Comes out hours after the Japanese broadcast and to watch it streaming is free. Can't go wrong.

So it seems Druaga had two different versions (for the first episode).

There was the main character's dream sequences which was the 'normal' version that aired on television stations and ended up streamed.

... and this version: [www.nicovideo.jp]
(if you have a NicoNico account, if not, beware of moonspeak)
Which got streamed through the lonely GyaO (the Japanese partner for Gonzo's video streaming plan) for reasons which nobody seems to understand....

You could say someone made a mistake and they aired the second episode or something… but it was marked as episode 1.

It takes place alongside the dream episode… you see the main character guy (Jil/Gil?!) multiple times, asleep, and babbling lines from the other (normal episode).

Dunno if this is gonna be a recurring thing or not...

Even if this show sucks it will be win.

I'd watch it.

@Taiyz: Ooh, thanks for the link!

It's also available streaming for free on Crunchyroll and YouTube. Crunchyroll also has a HQ downloadable version that you can get if you donate at least $0.01 (which has to be by credit card, apparently).

With both Crunchyroll and BOST, if you pay for the episode, you get copies for iPod and PSP as well. (The BOST versions are slightly higher-res than the Crunchyroll ones.)

The accompanying online game The Tower of Druaga ~recovery of BABYLIM~ [www.druaga-mmo.com] isn't too bad concept wise, but the execution leave a LOT to be desired.
The lore they've affiliated into the beta is pretty interesting (of what I can understand), but it's graphically dated, and the gameplay is slow-moving, whilst simultaneously never cresting beyond your run-of-the-mill free-moo Hack>Slash>Collect>Turn In>Repeat mnemonic.

@half-beast: Free MMO...
this has little to do with cows.

this is awsome. I still remember playing namco museum vol 3 on the psx and using the mining pick cheat to go into the secret druaga room. I though their art was fantastic for its time.

@Aethyr: Okay I'm watching this, and I CANNOT STOP LAUGHING oh my god.

I've never heard of this before (game or anime), but I just watched it and it's pretty durn funny.

Oh, right. This is part of the initiative to get anime out to the English world quicker. Same day as airs in Japan, but subbed legally rather than fansubs. The downside being that unless you pay money, you won't get a permanent high-quality (well, regular quality, but better than streaming) episode to keep.

Didn't Baten Kaitos do something with Druaga?

A simulcast? heh, that's a good step in the right direction -- hope that's taking back some of the crowd that say 'oh I watch fansubs because it takes forever to wait for the series to come stateside.'

The other new series GONZO are doing this with, Blassreiter, is on youtube. The episode's supposed to be good other than the lame CG.

+ Watch video

I don't even like anime, but I'm intrigued by this.

I hope more anime starts coming in this form.
Anime episodes cost 1-2 million yen to produce, so adding another channel to market them is necessary. At non-ridiculous prices, that is. Play-asia was selling Clannad for $60/episode...
At $0.50/episode, medium-quality, I think just westerners will be enough to cover all the production costs. If there's an audience of 20,000 willing-to-pay viewers, that is. The more paying viewers, the cheaper "renting" an episode can be, thus more paying viewers thus cheaper renting... Any statistics on how many Americans and Europeans watch anime? I guess dozens of millions?

Gonzo's out of luck, I still haven't received my renewed credit card (it's a weekend...) XD

BTW, there's two different versions of the 1st episode: the free subbed one on Crunchyroll and YouTube, and the Japan-only episode on Gya0, which is for paid customers. You can find the Japan-only episode on Nico Nico, though it isn't subbed.

@somarix: Correction, an anime episode costs 10-13 million yen to produce, with several expensive exceptions as Ghost In The Shell series.

Well some many series operate on a much lower budget(most anime), for example evangelion had a total operating budget of 6.5 million yen, gurren lagann 11 million yen , eureka seven 23 million yen, even Ghost in the Shell SAC had an operating budget of only 30 million yen.

lol some do, many series.. etc

This is the smart business choice in terms of marketing strategy. They basically cut off the subbers since the sub is available right away. Less people will be inclined to get the sub since a lot of people like to get anime right away and look for subbers to get their fix. It won't get rid of the piracy completely but people will have fewer reasons to do so.

@FatCatLim: Any idea what the difference is?

Anyway, the anime sounds cool, and so far I'm a pretty big fan of the stuff GONZO does (wierd crazy stuff).

By the way, who called the tentacle monster scene a cliche?

Yeah its good that it seems more anime companies are willing to try out a new method of distribution via the internet.

Its even better that Gonzo decided to go the route of simultaneous release with the Japanese broadcast. Granted it doesnt stop people from still recording it and putting it on the internet, it still helps those who are still "loyal" to supporting the industry to have a chance watch the shows in a "proper" manner.

If anything hopefully more companies will follow.

@Metacore: Apparently the other episode is like showing what went on outside of the dream or something, from the view of one of the other party members.

Havent seen it myself yet but thats what I heard from a friend.

I may check it out (anime doesn't interest me like it used to), but I'm a little leery since it doesn't LOOK like Druaga. The color palette and design is just so...boring and generic.

@Antlio: Its a story that takes place with a whole new cast after the original Druaga, where the hero of the original story is now the king of the nation.

CrunchyRoll seem to have it right in offering a download and what is *almost* a reasonable minimum (the "other amount" option doesn't seem to work for me). I'd looked at BOST previously and the online streaming restriction just makes it a joke (all my anime goes onto my linux/freevo HTPC) but a reasonably priced download....well I'll buy that for a dollar (if I get the other amount option to work).

Onto the anime : This might be GONZO but given the train-wreck that was "Dragonaughts: The Juggling" (an anime so bad that you're rooting for the bad guys to wipe out the protagonists) thats sadly no guarantee of quality. We can hope but just be prepared for the worst...(if anything could be worse that Dragonaughts that is)

Nice, that was pretty funny :)
Oh and if you add &fmt=18 at the end of the url to the youtube video, you'll get better quality.

I don't think the higher quality works with the embedded youtube link in comments though, so...
y outube.com/watch?v=-vgQ6WJ8zhQ&fmt=18

Still praying the ending won't suck like how GONZO works usually ends up

@Metacore: Basically it shows what the rest of the cast members were doing when they were running away from the pack of monsters while he was knocked out. It also showed a few other side characters in the series who were not in the Tower of Druaga.

It's unclear whether they'll show alternate POVs throughout the series, or whether it's just only for the first episode.

This isnt the whole episode.

Just a minute and a half.

@HayamaAkito: Lodoss Wars (ova) is probably the best example of a fantasy genre anime and no other show has come close to it imo. I also would never want anything else to try to emulate it because I'd just end up hating it. A better comparison for Druaga would be Mahou Senshi Louie or Slayers since they occupy the fantasy/comedy genre.

So far I can say that I enjoyed the first episode but with that "twist" at the end it's hard to tell how the series is going to pan out. I also hate to admit it but I found the opening to the show to be a premise that I'd rather watch...

I found the first episode was pretty hilarious with plenty of videogame and Anime references. The download from crunchyroll is pretty good quality and also getting an iPod/PSP version when you pay $2 or more $ is a good deal.

If the rest of the show is this funny I'll stick through to the end, and I hope more companies try and do more stuff like this.

Just to inform anyone who's interesting in this show and possibly Blassreiter, you can stream both shows for free off of youtube and crunchyroll.

I like, I like. Some might call it cliche but I thought it was awesome in a cheesy sorta way. It all came off very tongue in cheek to me so I was able to lighten up and really enjoy it.

I like the idea of this Day 1 availability in the west. This is certainly a step in the right direction in pushing forward the anime industry in particular where the fansubbers seem to be the root of all evil if you listen to what some out criers say.

I like Gonzo's forward thinking attitude. It turned something that might have flown completely under the radar and gave it an audience.

If the series is as good as the first episode... I might have to pay to get this!

Kinda like to the tower of aruk better than the other one, I'll see, when I get me a new IPOD as a possible.