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Will the ‘Real’ Fatina Please Stand Up?

It seems there’s still some confusion about what Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk’s OP means. Is it a hint as to the real nature of the world: are they all actually just playing an MMORPG? I think that’s a brilliant idea, but unfortunately I’ve decided that it’s nothing more than a gimmick.

You probably want proof right? Go watch the OP again, and pay attention to the texts that aren’t credits.

Had a go? Still no idea? Well, let’s take a look at the following screenshots:

If you don’t have at least some rudimentary knowledge of Japanese and seiyuu names (or the Wikipedia page open), what’s going through your mind right now is probably “Just fucking tell us already!” If you do, you may notice a number of funny things about the texts in those screenshots.

The books in the first one all have interesting titles. From top to bottom, they are: “Druaga Daily Conversations” (basically a language book), “Druaga Encyclopedia” (which you can’t see in this screenshot) and “The History of Meskia”.

The other screenshots all share one thing in common: names. More specifically, the names of the seiyuu who voice each character.

  • The first one has KENN (a.k.a. Jil), Minori (Chihara Minori, a.k.a. Coopa), Risa (Mizuno Risa, a.k.a. Etana, the second-in-command of the army) and Terasoma Masaki (Terasoma Masaki, a.k.a. Kelb, the commander of the army in the Tower) written on the wall. Terasoma gets his last name in because he’s the “dad” in the family.
  • The second one has Risa on Ahmey’s tracksuit. Guess what Ahmey’s seiyuu’s name is? Hayamizu Risa.
  • Finally, we have a shot of Fatina doing a high jump in an athlete’s uniform. Anyone wants to take a guess at what the kanji on her back says? If you guessed Horie, then you’d be right. Horie Yui voices Fatina.
  • Now what do all these things tell us? Quite possibly absolutely nothing. On the other hand, I think what the OP does is show us who the characters really are in this world. The characters have their seiyuu’s names attach to them, to show who the characters are played by, and who they are really in this world. It is not, as some assumed, indicative of a world-within-a-world setting.

    I’d love to proven wrong by GONZO though. The setting of a world-within-a-world should be far more interesting than a straight up fantasy.

    6 comments

    6 Comments so far

    1. DrmChsr0 May 13th, 2008 4:38 pm

      There’s another version of this show but it’s Japan-only.

    2. Hoshi May 13th, 2008 7:35 pm

      LOL. i’ve never noticed that? hopefully, though, the OP should have a more deeper meaning than this

    3. zqube May 13th, 2008 8:02 pm

      I always thought that the OP meant that they are all actors in a movie. The last shot with Kaaya and Jill on a bench shows a movie poster with the Tower of Druaga characters on it.

      Having all the soldiers on the train could be like extras going to work.

      Or maybe my assumption is what they want me to think and I should stop looking into it.

    4. otou-san May 13th, 2008 8:31 pm

      To me it always just seemed like a clever way to show credits, but the textbooks are pretty interesting… perhaps there’s something there.

    5. Nekonron May 13th, 2008 9:46 pm

      From what we’ve been shown so far, I really doubt they are really playing a game or that everything we’ve seen isn’t real. But I wonder if we’ll ever get to see any of the character’s lives or history outside the tower other than those tiny bits of flashback.

    6. Kururu May 14th, 2008 11:29 am

      Yea, the opening is really nothing, but a gimmick. We are like already halfway through the show and there hasn’t been any hints of it being a game. But anyway, I like the opening, one of favorite anime openings for the spring season. =)

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