An Anime Review of 'Tower of God'

Tower of God is a Korean manhwa that is published on Webtoons by the author SUI. While there has been an adaptation of a Webtoon in the form of Noblesse in the form of an OVA/ONA. This is the first time that we have received a full series that is based on a Webtoon. In addition we actually have The God of Highschool airing in the Summer anime season of 2020, with a full series adaptation of Noblesse on the way. This marks an important point in the anime adaptation space and what we can expect to have broadcast to a worldwide audience.

The story revolves around Bam and his friends who are all trying to climb the tower so that they would have their own wish granted. Bam’s goal is to find his friend who entered the tower before him, Rachel. This season of the anime adapted the first season of the Webtoon, which in itself is merely the prologue to a sprawling tale that is still ongoing. The world is fascinating, and one gets the feeling there is so much more to come, not only when it comes to the various regions outside the tower, but also the laws and politics that take place within the tower itself. There is a lot of intrigue throughout, and I cannot wait to explore more of the world that has been created. From the manner in which this season ended, there is the definite feeling that the show left itself very open for it to have a season two, however as of the writing of this piece there has not been a season two announced by Crunchyroll at the moment.

As far as the two main characters go, Bam and Rachel are the least interesting of the cast that have assembled in the tower. To me they are the Naruto and Sasuke of the show where they are the least interesting part of it while the support are far more interesting. That being said, while the characters themselves are similar, one more thing that is similar is the intrigue created by the journey that they would undertake in order to reach their end goal. The narrative and the lore of the world is expanded by the backstories of the supporting cast, and the comradery that they form through the show is organic as a result of their interaction, and you find yourself rooting for the group as a whole. The moments in the show that I loved the most was when the characters were interacting with each other in groups as we get to see the various personalities and how it is that they react to one another. Khun, Rak, Endorsi, and Lero Ro are particular favourites of mine, alongside Yuri Jahad of course.

From a visual standpoint the show really stands out by how colourful it is, in fact it is quite vivid, and saturated. In addition it has a pencil drawn like style to the outlines that makes the aesthetic really pleasing to look at. The character designs all standout in a way that makes them all distinguishable at a glance, as opposed to them having generic designs that make each one blend into each other, this combined with the strong character writing make them all the more interesting. The landscapes are all interesting, detailed and varied so that you have a sense of scale as they progress through the tower. An area where the show does not live up in the way the fights are portrayed, they lack much energy, and the amount of animation present is limited, however the quality of the writing, once again, more than makes up for this shortcoming.

The soundtrack is for lack of a better way of saying it ‘fire’. The opening and endings by Stray Kids are so addictive to listen to that they have been my go to tracks whenever I have a heavy workload to get through, and even the original soundtrack by Kevin Penkin is fantastic. Once again, something that I have been listening to on loop.

This is a show that I would highly recommend you to watch, and it is available to watch on Crunchyroll.