The Tower of Druaga ~the Sword of Uruk~ – 04
Jil and company have reached the spot where they fought Druaga last time, but they’re unsure of what to do next. That is, until Druaga appears again. This Druaga, however, is a lot weaker than the previous one, so Jil, Utu, Fatina, and Henaro attack it head on. The main challenge comes when it fires an energy beam from its mouth, and when Jil regains consciousness, he finds himself in a white world with Ki. She’s returned to her adult form and explains that although her real body was destroyed, her spirit lives on. Ki reveals that she was awakened half a year ago and was given the task of helping him to the top of the Tower, but she hadn’t wanted to back then, and neither did Ishara. Ishara is also known as Kaaya, and she’s the only person in the world who has both Ki and Gilgamesh’s blood. On the mention of Kaaya, Jil asks about her and Neeba’s goal, so Ki finally tells him. At around the same time, Amina is telling Ethana the same thing, except that she’s explaining it from the point of view of Gilgamesh’s immortality. Kelb meanwhile hears the explanation from a priest at the abbey where Ki and Kaaya studied.
As the story goes, Gilgamesh was cursed by Druaga with immortality, and since he’s unable to die, Gilgamesh had to watch all of the strife and death around him as the years passed. Ki describes him as tired and at his limit, but the even bigger secret is that there are two of him: one in Meskia and one at the top of the Mythical Tower. Defeating the latter will get rid of the curse and prevent the darkness inside Gilgamesh from making him into a tyrant, and Kaaya is trying to do just that. Ki, however, warns that there is no way back once someone enters the Mythical Tower. She runs out of time though before Jil can get any more of his questions answered, and when Jil regains consciousness, he’s finishing off Druaga. Just like last time, defeating Druaga produces a key to the Mythical Tower, but before Jil, Fatina, and Utu can do anything about it, they discover that Henaro and young Ki have been captured by a woman named Gremica. Gremica wants to revive the Sumar Empire and needs Ki to do so, so she takes Henaro and Ki hostage as she heads up the Mythical Tower. Before Jil can give chase, he remembers how Ki had warned him that there was no returning, and he realizes that this is why Kaaya had left him behind. He warns Utu and Fatina of the same thing, but they decide to go with him anyway. Unbeknownst to Jil and company, they are followed by Uragon, Melt, Coopa, and the Golden Knights. Melt tries to keep Coopa from having to go, but Uragon insists on it, and the group heads up the Mythical Tower.
Well how about that – one episode and suddenly everything starts making sense. There wasn’t anything groundbreaking (especially not the whole immortality-as-a-curse thing), but we now know what Kaaya is after and what’s up with Gilgamesh. The biggest surprise was that there are two Gilgameshs, and this would appear to explain the other person in the vision that Ki gave Jil back in the first episode. The goal for everyone is now to reach that other Gilgamesh, but the question I have now is what Kaaya has been doing in the six months since the end of the first series. If she was after him, wouldn’t she have long ago gotten around to trying to kill him? Why hasn’t she, or has she?
The other thing that I found odd was the inclusion of Gremica and the Sumar Empire stuff. It feels like something tacked on so that they could add some extra conflict as Jil and company try to reach Kaaya and/or Gilgamesh. The only way I can think of it being related to something in the plot that’s been previously established is if it’s related to Neeba’s objective. I’m sure we’ll be finding out more about them since there are still quite a few episodes left, and, as the preview hints, it doesn’t appear that reaching the top of the Mythical Tower will be an easy task.