It’s a commonly heard criticism - “show x didn’t do anything for me, it was just another —— show”. Sometimes there’s an suggestion that the genre itself is to blame for being inherently rubbish, often it’s more a criticism of a lack of imagination, the show failing to find its distinct identity. I imagine it’s the bane of many a genre craftsman. And there’s one obvious way out for the writer.
Shows which subvert themselves allow the writer to reassure the viewer that they too are genre-literate. It’s like saying “look, I watch these shows too, and this is an attempt to engage with the genre and with you, the fan”. It undercuts that rude implication from the critics - that the writer is just a drudge, churning out replicas. And, obviously, this self-awareness can be made funny. But winking at the viewer is like winking at a child in a swimming pool, it has implications.
The Tower of Druaga succeeded in attracting much attention (including my own) when it turned out to start up with a colossal pisstake. It was, in a way, a statement which said more about what the show wasn’t trying to do than anything else. It lampooned plot conventions, exaggerated already silly things to magnificent degrees, it was crap fantasy driven to extremes. It felt like something made by fans, according to that old adage that to really satirise something you first have to love it.
As has become rapidly apparent, the series proper is a fairly straight fantasy quest, it is marching into well trodden territory, trying to milk it for a bit more quality. And the writers chose start out by taking a potshot at their genre tools. It knows there will be cynics, and takes a chance, goes for the wink.
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu also tried winking. Except that where Druaga countered expectations Haruhi pre-empted them. Before the series could reveal its supernatural elements it was making a parody of magical girl nonsense. Of course this parody got its laughs from being slipshod more than from being absurd - which I didn’t find all that funny. The intro also functioned as a genre-aware curveball, but instead it ended up being used an attempt at enticing the viewer through its ambiguity, in contrast to Druaga’s transparent satire.
Rather oddly, whilst I found Druaga’s opening much funnier, it was Haruhi’s which augured for a true sense of playfulness. It wasn’t such an explicit statement, just the first of many slices of peculiarity woven into the fabric. Both shows are, at their heart, sincere. Druaga is turning into an honest questing show, Haruhi had a genuine central message. But Druaga’s reality turns out to be rather close to what it lampooned. It has the odd joke (e.g. Jils’ choice of weapon in eps 2 and 3), but doesn’t follow the model of ep 1.
It’s much safer for a show to demonstrate self-awareness by being only partly genre-aware - taking the piss out of the marginal aspects (Haruhi’s espers), and leaving core ones sacred. Letting the winks at the audience serve as a playful aside. Rather in the way that Love Hina invites the absurd with gusto but tries to retain the integrity of the love story at its heart.
Incidentally, the Druaga hero Jil, as seen in episode 1, is a daydreaming deadringer for Keitaro. By episode 2 he’s moving away from this clutziness toward a more serious character (although he does successfully walk in on a naked girl by accident (”S-such talent for awkwardness, you must be…. the chosen one… the protagonist!”). I can understand why he’s started heading in a different direction, nobody needed to give Keitaro a sword. Before this character shift, I was concerned for the integrity of that inevitable climactic moment when Jil comes face to face with Druaga, gulps, leans in gently, blushes, and stabs him in the face.
It was nice to see a well deployed piece of parody, frankly I wouldn’t have bothered with the show had it not been for the buzz about episode 1. But I’m still unsure whether it has any lasting purpose. I kind of hope that the rest of the show will prove to be a blown up version of ep1 - pretending to be sincere for a minute or two before going oddball. If that’s the case, as the OP might suggest, then all power to team Druaga. Otherwise that opening feels unnecessary, because it isn’t simply humorous, it’s satirical - and so rather out of touch with the following action.
If I have a preference it’s for shows to be a only slightly self-aware. It’s one thing to have a laugh by taking on the generic a tad cock-eyed, but a thorough demolition of genre as seen in Druaga’s ep1 changes my expectations. It makes me expect a similar boldness to run through the rest of the writing, whereas instead we have only the odd laugh. A great opening operating within a generic framework reinforces my faith in the viability of a genre, a wink makes me wonder why the writer is calling attention to their own presence so loudly.
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