Based on the (hilariously, psychotically, masochistically Nintendo Hard) 1984 game series, The Tower of Druaga This anime broken into two seasons, 'Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk and The Sword of Uruk, follows the story of Jil, his older brother, Neeba, and their two groups as they climb The Tower in search of the fabled Blue Crystal Rod.The titular Tower of Druaga is a monster-infested tower that stretches above the clouds. Although the sheer amount of monsters normally there make any attempt to ascend it near suicide, once every few years the Summer of Anu comes around when the monsters weaken and Climbers, as the opportunists and adventurers who commit themselves to the task of becoming rich from taking artifacts and treasures from the Tower are called, gather in force and try to reach the summit to claim the mystical prize of the Blue Crystal Rod, a magical staff that will grant a single wish to the person that finds it.Not to be confused with Tower of God.
Animation Bump - Occurs in a few shots in the final fight between Neeba and Jil. Comes off oddly due to the last two episodes having noticeably worse quality than the rest of the series.
Babies Ever After - Though its not for certain that the kid is his, Neeba and Succubus seems to have a half-demon little girl in the epilogue.
Bait-and-Switch Credits - The opening credits seems to suggest some sort of Slice of Life show about school children, with subtle references to what actually happens in the anime and most of the characters cleverly hidden in plain sight.
Black Magician Girl - Since the characters seem to resemble set RPG Classes, there are a few of these like Fatina.
Blessed with Suck - Gilgamesh is immortal, but it's eating away at his soul as the burden of being king piles up while being subverted by his own shadow.
Watching his son die and his wife soon after due to grief does not do well for his sanity. His wife got better though, kinda.
Calling Your Attacks - Parodied in the first episode, when Jil derides another character for doing this, then does it himself later on in his dream. Averted for the most part in the series proper.
Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp" - Most of the monsters are your average fantasy types with different names. Minotaurs are called Kusarakks.
Chekhov's Gun - Ahmey's Spear. And a recent season 2 episode shows us the contents of those coffins brought by Pazuz.
Also from season 2, Neeba's Void Arrows.
Not so much a Chekhov's Gun as a Chekhovs Event, but when the characters visit the "House of the Dead" the only human to not have someone they care about appear is Uragon.
Chekhov's Gunman - Most of the surviving troops from the army become major characters later in the show. The least distinctive member of Fatina's party later ends up with her.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder - Neeba has betrayed more than just his previous party. Also inverted, Jil has been on the receiving end of many betrayals.
Deep Immersion Gaming: The story often shows two-dimensional mazes from the game (including a hot spring scene).
Cute Bruiser: Fatina, as shown within the first episode of season two, where she kicks over one guy, and punches another behind her (who looks about twice her size).
Enemy Within - Gilgamesh, to the point where he wants to kill himself to stop it, but he can't due to his Immortality.
Even the Guys Want Him - Surprisingly, Utu. When Jil first sees him without his helmet on, he blushes and says he didn't think Utu would be that good looking.
Guide Dang It - Lampshaded in the Anime where the cast actually use a guide to help defeat the original tower.
The Gunslinger - Henaro uses a gun that shoots magic bullets shaped like little plunger-things.
Hallucinations - One episode of "Sword of Uruk" features hallucinations of fallen loved ones as the main puzzle on the floor for the climbers to overcome.
Half Truth - Kaaya tells Jil that her reason for climbing was to get the blue crystal rod since it might be able to cure her little brother from an otherwise incurable disease. Just replace "little brother" with "great-grandfather" and you have her entire reason for climbing. She even says "I lied" followed by a "Just kidding. Its the truth."
Hey, It's That Voice! - Gilgamesh (Gil) is voiced by Tomokazu Seki, who also voiced another Gilgamesh. Both are based on the legendary Sumerian King, the latter far more than the former.
Improbable Weapon User - Mages sometimes use weird devices in their magic spells. Melt uses Lighting magic with what appears to be a set of medieval golf clubs, Fatina uses Fire magic with what seems like a flame thrower/gun, Henaro uses magical crossbow that fires out plunger arrows, etc.
Let's not forget a certain warrior's drillspear (I guess you'd call it), and Kaaya's weapon.
King Incognito - Kaaya is the granddaughter of King Gilgamesh and Ki.
Konami Code: Kaaya's minigame sidequest involves one of these (though it's not the original code)
The Lancer - Ahmey, both figuratively and literally, to Kaaya. Also, Fatina to Neeba and Ethana to Kelb.
Lightning Bruiser - Utu wears heavy armor, is quite fast and can mow down hordes of Mooks with his ax.
Lost Superweapon - Two or three of them, in the same episode (the battle vs Druaga).
Lotus-Eater Machine - After a fashion. In a certain level of the tower, people can meet with those who have died but they still want to meet. While they make no active attempt to hinder people, it's still tempting for some to just stay.
The guy deflects an arrow, several arrows, a ballista bolt, and finally a catapult launched boulder in succession in the start of season 2. Being Made of Iron kind of comes with the territory of being a guardian (aka Tank), but seriously, boulders?!
He's this even without his armor. During a fight in the second episode, some thugs bash him in the head with a large rock. Not only does the rock break, he doesn't even notice. Though he did pass out later from blood loss.
Mauve Shirt - One of Kelb's subordinates reappears in Season 2. Its only passingly mentioned that his name is Cumu, and only once in over six episodes.
Mood Whiplash - The series became more serious from when Kally dies in episode 9.
Some people also establish that that was when the series got better.
The second episode has a similar effect to some, considering the first was a brightly coloured gag episode, and the second had a decidedly more somber tone.
Not that later episodes aren't chock-full of parodies too, they're just not as hilariously blatant.
Non-Lethal Warfare - Within the second season (where a lot of the enemies were also human), one character picks up a weapon before joining the main cast.
One-Winged Angel - Neeba starts to become the next Druaga during his fight with Jil. This allows him to pull Duraga's arms and stinger out of hammerspace.
Percussive Prevention - Played for laughs in the first episode. After Neeba suggests that he stay behind to hold off pursuers and allow Jil to advance alone, Jil punches him out, leaving him unconscious in the face of the advancing enemies.
Pintsize Powerhouse- Coopa. She doesn't fight with her fists or anything, but she can lift enormous loads without breaking a sweat.
Pretty Spry For A Dead Guy - One of the big reveals at the end of the first season is that Druaga was indeed dead all along, it is just a mindless Guardian zombie that is created as the 'guardian' of the middle of the Tower.
Put on a Bus - Cumu decides to stay with an illusion of his dead sister.
I think I saw him in the ending credits, although that could just be another gold-armoured night with brown hair. And since the tower got destroyed....
Recursive Reality: Okay, here's a bit of Mind Screw. The anime world is based on a game (which is at one point played by the party). Now, outside that is the "real world" which the characters live. Now, to say nothing of Jil's dream at the first episode, there is an outer world where Gil's consciousness and other weird things reside. Also, if the opening credits are to be believed, since this was in fact based on a video game, it's possible these are Real Life online gamers. And then, you, the audience, is watching this show...And then...
Red Oni, Blue Oni - Jil and Neeba. The color connection comes from which of the ghosts of the tower appear to them.
Retirony - Parodied (among other tropes) in the first episode.
Redshirt Army - The army of Uruk and the Climber parties. Not as bad as many of the other examples of the trope, but still not as good as the heroes.
In season 2, the Golden Knights could be easily swept aside by the main characters. Sort of justified as the knights don't have much fighting experience, and they're basically going against the guys who defeated Druaga.
That and they're wearing golden armor. It could just be gold-plated, but still...
Replacement Goldfish - Fatina and Jil sort used each other after Neeba and Kaaya's betrayal.
Schmuck Banquet - A rare non-food example. In the second series there is a mansion that gives the visitors cherished things they have lost in the past, from childhood toys to brining back their lost companions from the dead. Everyone figures out right away that it is an illusion and a trap to make them stop their quest, but a mauve shirt even ends up choosing to stay anyways.
Ship Tease - Jil/Fatina and Jil/Kaaya. There was also some Kelb/Ahmey, supposedly before she quit the army.
There's also a little bit of Utu/Fatina. He doesn't have a pretty face like Neeba and Jil so it doesn't look too good for him at first but there's some hope there, especially since Jil rejected her for Kaaya and Neeba straight up rejected. Utu and Fatina still climb together in the epilogue.
Shout Out - To the game, where they encounter the actual tower Gilgamesh himself went in. In the second season, episode 3, 24 and The Great Escape both get significant Shout Outs.
The first episode features a dragon with a glowing tail named Quokks, apparently named after the dragon Quox from the Oz bookTik-Tok of Oz, who had a lightbulb on the end of his tail.
The dragon in question was also previously an enemy character in the original game. Moreover, its name was originally written as "Quox" in official materials for said game; "Quokks" was used specifically for the subtitles in the anime.
Soundtrack Dissonance - The end of season one. Fatina seems to be dying or at least seriously injured in Jil's arms, you don't see what happened to the others, Neeba (although you know he's not a good person by the time this happened) and Kaaya pulled a Face Heel Turn, and it turns out they didn't really kill Druaga, just a guardian of the tower. And they can't follow Neeba and Kaaya 'cause they're up in the sky or something. Touchousha-tachi plays right after all this has happened, during the credits, which show pictures from the show, etc. By this time, you probably don't want to be reminded of what happened, though.
Super Strength - Coopa could carry Utu (while he's still in full armor) and Melt's golf clubs with little problem.
Season 2 has her be able to lift her cage while injured and pull up all of her True Companions from a dangling cliff.
Jil is also pretty strong. In episode 2, some thugs try to steal the sack containing his armor, only to find it too heavy for them to lift. Jil then effortlessly picks up the sack with one hand and walks off.
Time Skip - Over half a year have passed since the end of the first season.
Token Mini-Moe - Coopa and Arca. Spirit Ki may also count.
Took a Level in Badass - Jil is hopeless at the beginning of the series. By the end, he's beaten the entire tower like ten times over, and is pretty much unstoppable.
Trick Arrow - Neeba mixes it up a bit here and there.
Was It All a Lie? - The survivors of Neeba's group to Neeba, as well as Jil to Kaaya
What Happened to the Mouse?: Uragon suddenly disappears at the end of the series. After he stabbed Gilgamesh in the back, one would think he'd be seen.
Uragon is seen in the last episode, after everyone returns to the bottom of the tower, still upset over Might the Fool's destruction.
Year Inside, Hour Outside - Episode 8 reveals that although seven months have passed since the first season, Neeba and Kaaya have been in the upper part of the tower for only three weeks.
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