Tower of God

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I was introduced to Tower of God through the recent introduction of its anime adaptation. I hadn't heard much of it before that and what I did hear was always positive so I delved into the anime with pretty high expectations. I was immediately drawn in by the setting and world of TOG. The story follows the mysterious protagonist, Baam, into the Tower of God and follows his journey of climbing the tower. The world building is compelling, and the story pulls you in with its unanswered questions. Which is why its so dissapointing to say that after reading almost 400 chapters of TOG, I ... can say that those questions I had? Are still unanswered. All of them. This story doesn't go anywehere.

Story: 3/10

Ignore what I said earlier about the TOG being compelling. This is your run-of-the-mill typical shonen story. There's a bit of momentum carrying it forward at the beginning with the main protagonist being thrust into an unfamiliar environment. I even think the first season ends off on a pretty strong note. But then season 2 hits, and my mind goes blank if you try to ask me to mention anything of praise from there. At the end of almost every arc, I had to ask myself: what was the point of all that? Couldn't we have just skipped all that and the story would have been left unchanged? And the answer to that question is almost always yes. The second season goes on for 300-something chapters and I can think of one, ONE, major plot development. An entire 8 years worth of chapters could have been replaced with a single arc, and nothing would have changed. And this isn't even mentioning the metric tonne of dropped plot threads, half due to the ever fattening amoeba that is Baam's team of forgettables (more on that later). The whole story is littered with random developments, that serve nothing to the overarching plot, and seem to be made up on the go and are later dropped, never to be heard from again. It was pretty evident to me when reading, that the author had no clear direction when writing the story, and each story arc seemed to be just a way for the protagonist to get a cool new powerup, without anything really happening.

Art: 5/10

I'll be lenient here and just ignore the quality of the art from season 1. I almost dropped the manhwa because the quality of the art was so off-putting. The art does significantly improve in later chapters, but just know, that if you're a stickler for good art, you're going to have to wait a hell of a long time before it even resembles anything mediocre. There isn't really anything significant to be said about the art to be honest. At best its meh, and at worst, it puts a grimace on my face. The backgrounds and landscapes lack any modicum of detail or thought. Typically just two-color blue or grey blurry images that hide behind the characters (which is really unfortunate, with a world as much potential as TOG, the background scenes could have been a very strong tool and medium of storytelling). The fight scenes are confusing, as I don't understand what's going on half the time beacuse they consist of 4 consecutive panels of random splashes of colour which do nothing to explain what the heck is happening. Overall, the art isn't unbearable, but it certainly isn't anything noteworthy.

Characters: 2/10

This is easily where TOG falls flat on its face. It's amazing how many characters are in the story, and yet at the same time there are no characters. Rather than developing a few characters to push the narrative forward, the author seems to be content throwing a bunch of flat, one-dimensional characters in your face, telling you to look at the cool special ability they have. Even the characters that do get some development are half-baked at best and are later forgotten about like the rest of the crew. And there are. So. Many. Of. Them. Almost all the characters are just props in the story, that serve as "friends that the main character needs to protect". And they just keep coming. With each new arc, a whole slew of new randoms get jammed into the already conflated cast, and some old ones are thrown in the dumpster, never to be mentioned again. You know, your story has too many characters when you could cull half of them, and the story would remain completely UNCHANGED. And don't even get me started on our beloved main hero, Baam. This boy is one of the most generic, self-insert, boring protagonists, bordering on Kirito levels of blandness. His whole character boils down to "I have to get stronger to protect my friends". I can't even give you an accurate description of his personality, because he flip-flops so much throughout the story for no apparent reason like a moody teenager. He has no clear and consistent motivations to drive the plot forward, no real conflicts that enable character growth, not even a BACKSTORY to relate to. Everything about Baam screams blank, power fantasy character with the depth of a kitchen sink. The story is filled to the brim with characters like these, who serve as action figures to play out a scene, rather than as actual people who drive the plot. The only reason this doesn't get a 1 is because I think some of the character designs are pretty alright.

Enjoyment: 4/10

Despite everything, I still think there are things that the 14-year old shonen lover in me found enjoyable. If TOG has anything going for it, its the interesting and unique concepts that it presents to the reader. However filled with inconsistencies, and underdeveloped those concepts may be, it was still cool to read.

Overall, I'm pretty disapointed with TOG. I wanted it to be good, because the concept on paper was compelling and filled with potential. But alas, what we got was a half-baked mess, filled with logical inconsistencies, unfinished plot-threads, and a bland cast of characters. I can't find myself recommending this to aynone, unless your a fan of the shonen formula and have a lot of free time on your hands.

I started reading tower of god pretty much when it was at about 50 chapters, and have been reading it on and off since then, sadly with every time i go back to reading it i enjoy it less and less, after over 400 chapters it feels like little to no development has been made no matter the training or hardships the MC always feels like he's lacking, which translates to him constantly in need to be saved by someone/somehow which makes accompanying his story very disappointing, at times the highlight of the story is the side characters which do feel unique but are just ... thrown always/forgotten and with the vast amount of characters being introduced if you end up liking a side character it might take over an year to see them again, with more and more manhwas being introduced, tower of god has not been innovating/making a good story/ character/progress to justify picking it over something else. Overall all the best part of TOG was the first season and it's been very downhill from there, on a positive note it does have a good first few chapters and art.

The story is not unique. It is very boring and repetitive. I love this genre but not this manhwa. The art style doesn't fit the story. The artwork is objectively bad. This isn't my personal opinion I'm simply comparing it to the minimum standard found in other Manhwa. The characters are not well-rounded. All the characters are shallow and one dimensional. You can predict everything that happens because nothing happens. There is no suspense here because there is no plot. There is no reason to read this because it has been done much better in other stories. The action is crude and simplistic. If you ... want to read something fun with interesting characters then try Naruto.

I started reading this manhwa because I saw it was getting an anime adaptation. Before I watched it I wanted to give it a go on its original version (and it's the first time I happen to cross a manhwa adaptation in a japanese animation).

So, well, the first season is perfect. Neverending suspense, touching characters once you come to know you're bound to, schemings behind hidden plots, a lot of humour and the right amount of action.

I can't, however, bring myself to draw the 10/10 perfect score because of one thing, happening mostly in the second season I'm currently reading: it gives me headaches. Because ... it is confusing. Focusing on the suspense, the actions are chaining really quickly and that's great for the heart-pounding feeling. But, the backfire is that I can't process all the consequences of the informations provided and add them up to those I've gathered. So, for those who don't look more into it, everything's fine, but as I need to stop every 5 chapters to fathom what just happened, who's who, who betrayed, who joined, and why's that, and more importantly what does it implies for the coming next floor, I can't say it's perfect.

Why did I give such a hign score though? Well, the story is very unique and as I can't bring myself to not read it every day since I started, it shows I'm hooked. I'm worried because I still have some spare chapters because I catch up to the latest release, and I'm already unable to sleep without brainstorming about the schemes and motives of all the characters.

So prepare yourselves before you start reading it, because it won't release you until you've reached the end. But, you shouldn't miss such an opportunity. And finally I'm not sure I'll see the anime version, it could be too weird for me as I'm very wary of adaptations.

I'm currently still reading Tower of God and it is no where near its end. So take what you read below with a grain of salt. Also no spoilers.

This series took forever to end up on MAL because what MAL attributes to an actual series is something that is published/aired on TV/showcased in a theater. Dumbasses.

HOWEVER we now have this series on MAL and a freaking anime adaptation coming out soon to boot.

Until the series has concluded, I'm just going to write down my current thoughts on the series so far.

Tower of God has been, for the past 4 or so years, been ... my number one shounen story. Yes, this Korean Manhwa is very much a shounen. It showcases the struggle of one boy as he continues to hone his skills. He meets many friends whom he, at many points in the story, helps on their journey to the top of this crazy ass tower. That's a fucking shounen dawg.

Speaking of the tower, the world in general in this story is crazy detailed amazing. The world building is absolutely top notch. Even in sections where the author isn't going out of his way to fully flesh out the surroundings, you pick up on it whether it is the artwork or dialogue from the characters.

The artwork starts out dog ass. Yes it isn't that appealing to look at for the first 50 or so chapters. SIU, the creator of this story, obviously had growing pains with the artstyle for a good while. However, it very much improves over time and from season 2 onward, the artwork is fantastic.

The character designs are amazing as well. Each character looks so unique and they match the tone they are expelling in all scenes.

I'm like, super deep into the chapters (I tend to catch up, wait a year, then re-read all the way up to the current chapter) and I can say that this is my most favorite written media thing that I've read in the past 10 or so years. It does drag a little bit towards the middle/end of season 2 but not at all enough to make me bored of it all together. This really is a fantastic piece of work and anyone who loves shounen anime/manga owes it to yourself to read this.

Many people recommended this manhwa but i never picked it up before since i didnt really like the art style, and i can travel back in time, i'll slap my past self for reading through 400 chapters of it just because some random guy said it gets better. Sure, it does get better, but its only better because the first season is just so horrible that it makes even mediocre seasons after it become somewhat better. Even among manhwas, its far from being one of the best, there are a lot of better manhwas than it, even the isekai/resurrection manhwas with around ... 20-30 chapters have more plot than it.

Story 3/10: the author had a good start with our protagonist being mysterious and all to get people to keep reading to find out his past, but from there on, it just keeps going downhill, i've read 400 chapters and still dont know anything noteworthy, the storytelling is poor, the author tries to tell us the stories of so many characters and trials/trainings at a time, and surprisingly none of them is interesting, and then the main plot never gets anywhere because all of these side stories keep overwhelm it.

Art 7/10: the art at the start is also horrible, the characters look like theyre made on MS paint, but it does get better after some 100 chapters or so, and its also the only thing that rly gets better in this manhwa, although the character poses are still stiff even after 400 chapters.

Characters 3/10: the worst part of this manhwa, the main character of the story is mysterious, and he remain so even after 4 seasons, we dont know anything about him aside from a few things from his past, he started off as the "i will get stronger to protect all my friends" protagonist just like in shounen manga, but he never gets anything more than that, he rarely shows emotions and rarely says anything. The main antagonist is even worse, for a bad guy, the main antagonist of the series have the worst reason ever to become a bad guy, and just like the protagonist, we rarely know anything about her except for her being mediocre. All characters other than the main guy and the main bad guy are basically there to be part of the crowd, even though the author tells a lot of side stories about these characters, we never even get a chance to get attached to them, because when the author is done telling their stories, they're thrown away to make room for new side characters, this thing happened every season.

Enjoyment 3/10: i read this because i ran out of manga to read and thought that it was a good time to start reading this, and that was the worst decision of my life, i forced my way through 400 chapters of this manhwa and barely gets any enjoyment, everytime something promising happens, the author just start to ruin it like the way he did in the last season, by introducing "new" characters, telling "new" stories, that somehow just end up like the last season, everything leads to a big battle at the end and protagonist end up having to leave his friends behind to find a way to get stronger and somehow gets new friends in the process.

Overall 4/10: main plot is barely developed even after 400 chapters, all the side plot are not intersting and the author just keep going in this pattern, art is somewhat bearable, characters are just bland and shallow even when a lot of the plot focus on their stories in stead of the main characters.
I know that everyone have different tastes, but for me this manhwa is even less interesting than some isekai/ressurection manga/manhwa/manhua by some nameless authors that only have about 20 chapters overall, even those kind of stories have more plot than this.
Dont let anyone trick you into reading this manhwa saying that it gets better, it actually doesnt.

It was, (seemed like), a masterpiece, the trailer and aesthetic from the anime is what pulled me in. I was so excited to read the Webtoon.
It sucked.

The premise was really good, with a tower that you have to climb and you have anything you want yada yada. It seems good, but it isn't.

(minor to kinda important spoilers)
It keeps you reading on and on, and people say it gets better on episode 500, (essentially chapter 500 on Webtoon). They're probably right, but getting through the torture of looking at such, (no offense), terrible art and anatomy, a horrible tedious story filled with filler, bland characters (not ... with common tropes sometimes, which i have to commend siu for), and the battle scenes although kinda good, are hideous compared to other Webtoons'. (sorry for that run-on sentence), I can't read it anymore. I just can't. The story doesn't progress from what i can see, and i waited at least 30 episodes from the announcement of the devil train, to even SEE the devil train by the protagonists. ALSO, I had to wait episodes, (a little less than 100 episodes), to see Rachel and Hazelnut, (im sorry i forgot his name), to even interact or be in PROXIMITY.

tl;dr; tog seems good, and if you are fine with slow pacing, and spending days just trying to get to season 3 or minor plot points, or if you're just generally a saint, then it is good for you
if you are a normal person, & don't have the time or patience just to read 500 episodes, then it is NOT for you

I have read it at Webtoon. Season 1 (before time jump) was good there is direction where the story was going. A good introduction to the characters and story. It doesn't fill like dragging and almost every chapter have purpose to the plot.

Season 2 (after time jump) is where the problem begins, it starting to lose direction, too much added character that is not important to the plot and will not appear later on, starting to have some character that straight out copy paste from another series (there is a discount Killua)

I was hoping that it will get better in the later chapters but it ... keeps dragging on that I have to dropped out

Tower of god is a fantastic and amazing story siu is one the most creative Mangaka out there today. The story may be a little hard to follow at first but be patient everything will be explained in time. One of the primary things that attracted me to tower of god was it’s amazing cast of female characters the majority of the primary female characters are bad ass unlike Sakura from naruto or Orihime from bleach they actually have value and can fight and have a personality. Overall this is probably most diverse cast characters I’ve read in awhile. Now the power system is ... like nen from hunter x hunter but a lot stronger the tog universe in terms of power scaling is way stronger than let’s say naruto one piece etcetera but not as Strong as dbz or toriko. The world building is truly Fantastic and has a great deal of mystery involved the only story that compares would probably be one piece and hunter x hunter. The artwork in the first season is average but becomes amazing in the next 2 seasons. Overall the people who dislike this series are people who are either too dumb to understand it or did not give it a chance. Be patient and you will love this story. The characters are amazing the world building is outstanding and again the female characters are by far the best I’ve seen in manga webtoons manhua you name it. The only cast of female characters that can compare would be claymore. When you read tog I also highly suggest reading the wiki for it will help you gain more insight into the tog universe. The only story that compares imo is hunter x hunter. At first I thought tog was gonna be weird it turns out as was wrong when you finally decide to read tog prepare yourself for a legendary experience.

So ToG is series that will take hours of your life to read 500chapters in order to get to know what's going on, but you're ending with lack of that knowledge.

Story and characters are connected. The problem is that story is developing too slow - first chapters are short and laters are long and... empty.

Let me explain what this series is - it is about Boy called 25th Bam who has enterned to mysterious Tower. He has some purpose that forced him entenring there. In first or Second Chapter it was explained that when you enterned a Tower you have to climb on ... it's top where you can :
- find any treaure
- satisfy any need of yours
- find something that transcendents those above

It was said that through time in Tower was created a political system with King and Nobles.
At moment of begining of series there is a Royal Family and 10 Great Families - those guys seem to keep rule in Tower.

So you know something about Tower! Well let's talking about why ToG is empty and characters weren't fully used. That will include also Art of series.

Our main Character - 25th Bam from begining was meeting those guys from 10 Great Families and even has met members of Royal Family. They even became his companions...
What could go wrong? Author has focused on making Shounen from this Series.
I mean there is way too much fights. Author created good universe (Tower) where he can add everything. And here those characters from 10Great Families can help to improve series - Explaining, talking more about the Tower, it's system, rules or whatever they were teached. And not only those guys from Nobility - every character can add something - rumors, own experience.

After 10 years of publishing author keeps doing one thing - you won't know about something until that thing will be involved in MC's way.
One thing was in Season 1, then it was more explained in late Season 2, and after that... still waits to be explained,

Also fights are big problem - they're exist just to cover a website. On begining They're good but in Season2 there is one pattern :
- drawning Character A in left up corner
- drawning Character B in bottom right corner
- they're shouting names of their attacks
- then between them draw a white rays like those on Jesus' portrait or other Deathstar's laser or whatever to cover space between them.

Only because that late chapters are long - few infomation about Tower/world/characters and tons of Lasers/holy rays.

Art of characters - here you can see Authors evolution! While on begining it was not interesting in Season 2 it is absolutely Beautful!!!


At now I'm confused - on the one hand we have got a tons of characters who can be developed and wait what will be done with them. Also same goes with world of Tower where still a lot of things have to be explained.
On the other hand there's tons of unused characters and occasions. Lot of empty chapters and following overused schemes.

However I was still enjoying - these series has given me what I like the most. A new universe where I'm flooded with informations about it, then imagine and whinking about all this World.

ToG is legit one of the best graphic novel ever created. The intricate writing Siu displays in such a complex & lore filled world is quite convincing. No character goes to waste no moment meaningless albeit it's defo a slow burner since the setting of ToG is so abstract and different that people will naturally have a hard time getting into it so it's understandable if people didn't like the first part. ToG is a series where everything is explained progressively while the story goes on and some people don't like this kind of organization in a series. If you want to be satisfied while ... reading/watching ToG, you need to wait the time when something in the series changes and the things bagin more clear and that happens step by step. Overall 10/10

If you like shonen and lore, this is the perfect Manhwa for you.

This is like One Piece, a lot of lore, depth, foreshadowing and not to mention epic characters like Urek Mazino ( Shanks person of TOG )

The level system is like HxH with lots of exams.

Story is not very predictable and you'll see a lot of characters die.

Power system is a bit vague but that's how it is in most of the fiction works.

... The character development is great for the characters.

This story does a great job of moving along multiple plots in parallel.

Enjoy the masterpiece

What about this manhwa, other than that it's just one of the best comic books that I have the opportunity to read so far.

Once I pass the first few chapters which for my taste start slightly, but still allow us to admire the amber, dark and original style of this new universe, we are entitled to a story that is incredibly addictive.
Indeed, the seemingly ordinary scenario turns out to be of a completely different kind because the main objective of climbing the Tower takes a step back (while remaining ubiquitous), to become a backdrop on which the true story unfolds.
It is full of humor and ... rebound to the point that it manages to surprise the reader several times.
The almost total lack of information given to the reader as to the characters, which could be taken first and foremost as a weakness, turns out to be on the contrary a great scripting force. Each climbs the Tower, without really knowing what it is and what it contains.
The characters are very well developed and become very endearing because of their diverse personalities, forged by their past and determining their goal within the Tower.
Trials and battles are well worked but are not a goal in themselves because they are more often intended to serve the scenario, and not the opposite.

I read TOG for a long time between, I wanna say around 2016/2017 to 2020 - not because it was particularily good, although I imagine I enjoyed it in the beginning, but rather because I was very bored at the time and had nothing better to do than to play videogames, watch anime and read manga.

The number one issue this manwha has is the fact that the tower is way too fucking tall, and despite the fact that there is an ungodly amount of content to get through, the chapters are nonetheless paced like if something tied cement bricks to a sloth and then ... broke its kneecaps. I have only taken a glimpse at the newest chapters, and I imagine that if the story is to finish within -idk- like the next millennium or so, then it cannot continue at the pace it is currently going at.

The number two issue is that the art is extremely homogenous; it's just panel after panel after panel of yellow, blue, green and red lightbeams, over and over and over again, in perpetuity. Like fuck me, how is there so little going on on screen? It's so monotenous. And all the backgrounds are the exact same flavor of uninteresting temples and floating islands, or alternatively a matrix of anime action lines and led colours. If someone put me in an interrogation room for a day, showed me random panels from this manwha, and told me I would be liquidated on the spot if I couldn't correctly identify which 10 chapter selection at least 50% of the panels were from, my brainmatter would undoubtedly be splattered on the walls come Monday, even if I were to read the entire manwha over again the week before.

The third issue is that all the characters have paper-thin personalities. Baam is the most boring protagonist in any shonen-esque show I have ever seen or read. He has close to no personality besides mildly content and slightly disturbed. The whole point of shonen protagonists is that they're exciting, and that they make you want to root for them. Baam has got the whole overpowerdness of the male power fantasy down without any of the excitment to go along with it. Like what's the point?

I don't remember why I stopped reading TOG, I think it just got super uninteresting to me at some point, and I realized that I was wasting my time. So please head my advice: if any of you are considering reading TOG, read something else instead. There are probably thousands of better manga out there.

***Tower of God: A Big Disappointment**

Sui's original webtoon "Tower of God" has received wide attention and praise for its complex worldview and mysterious story. However, as an avid reader and fan of the genre, I must express my disappointment with this series and its glaring flaw: the constant introduction of new characters at big events.
You ... might think that introducing new characters would add depth and complexity to the story, but in Tower of God, it turned into a chaotic mess. With each major event, readers are exposed to a barrage of strange faces vying for attention and relevance. This constant influx of characters dilutes the narrative focus and makes it difficult to transfer emotion to any one of them. Rather than allowing existing characters to grow and develop, the narrative always revolves around these new additions, making established characters feel neglected and underdeveloped. It's frustrating to spend time and energy trying to connect with certain characters, only to find them fade into the background as the story unfolds in a confused ensemble of unknown faces.
Additionally, the pacing of the story is disrupted by the introduction of this excessive number of new characters. Tower of God often suffers from information overload, requiring readers to absorb vast amounts of new information about each character's backstory, abilities, and motivations. The story loses momentum, bogged down in presentation, leaving little room for further development of the actual plot. The negative effects of this constant influx of characters are evident in the overall webtoon cohesion. Tower of God started with a promising premise and interesting worldbuilding, but has fallen into chaos that struggles to maintain a clear and compelling storyline. Too many characters hinder the author's ability to effectively develop the characters, and lack the reader's emotional engagement.
In summary, Tower of God is disappointing due to the constant introduction of new characters at major events. This decision stunts character development, disrupts the pacing, and ultimately makes the series less interesting. As a reader, it's disappointing to see webtoon potential lost due to such obvious flaws

I really don't feel like continuing to read anymore...
Although it just kept on going downhill since the start of season 3, I just couldn't drop it because I invested so much time into it ( read 500+ chapters )
One of the basic reasons why I began losing interest in this overrated manhwa is "THE GAME SYSTEM" IT JUST FUCKS UP EVERY HYPED FIGHT!

At first I really was enjoying every second of reading it, but then the hype dropped gradually till it became just a task to read it.. I don't read it for enjoyment rather I read it to just not drop it after losing ... so much time reading it at the first place

TOG is a manhwa filled to the brim with interesting characters, with one of the biggest and most mysterious worlds to serve as the setting. Once upon a time this was my favorite story, and I still love it dearly, but I haven't been keeping up with TOG as of late. The reason is very simple, the story is too long, to the point where it's starting to get frustrating, and SIU (the author) keeps expanding the world by introducing new plot related questions and mysteries every new arc, while ignoring questions and mysteries that are over a decade old, since they were introduced in ... season 1, therefore in 2010.

The reason why this frustrates me is that by keeping a lot of stuff a secret I don't feel like I'm getting rewarded for keeping up with the story, because I know that I won't get the answers to my questions anytime soon. Thus I'm stuck not even knowing basic background information for my favorite characters, which is honestly absurd. I understand keeping some of the background of the main character a secret, but nearly every single character in this story has a mysterious background that isn't expanded upon EVER! There's literally a single info-dump arc in the entire series, and it's not even a full arc but 2-3 chapters, with all the info being related to the main character.

With all of that being said, I'm going to rate this 9/10 because of nostalgia. Not only nostalgia for TOG but nostalgia for making me feel like I'm watching Hunter x Hunter as a kid again. Objectively though, I think that if you turn off your brain, don't worry about theory crafting, and read TOG to see how a boy with a mysterious background gets stronger and fights opponents way above his league, with many of them being literally thousands of years old, you'll enjoy it.

Tower of God is one of the grandest, most ambitious, and engrossing comics I have ever read. However, it has many flaws that prevent it from being one of the greatest fantasy comics.

First, let's focus on what the series is doing right. Tower of God has one of the most interesting and vast worlds I have seen in a fantasy story. The concept of a massive tower-like structure with each floor being a world is novel and damn cool. The way the world of the tower is introduced and set up is interesting as well. It is evident that the author put a lot ... of effort and passion in creating such an ambitious world. The titular Tower is full of mysteries and the societies present within it are engaging as well. The various politics and groups add up to make a world that feels alive in many ways. The many tests and trials the characters go through are also unique and fun. It reminds of Hunter x Hunter and One Piece in the way it's structured. The artwork starts rough, but over time it becomes quite good. The panel layout utilizes the scrolling of digital manwha well and the character designs are all very unique as well. Overall, it has an interesting world, lore, and presentation.

However, I have many issues with this series. The characters can be quite lacking for example. Many have cool designs, origins, and abilities but tend to one note, forgettable, and undeveloped. It also does not help that there are so many characters. Even the protagonist, Baam, can be dull and bit uninteresting. The series also has immense power creep and anyone who is not a main character will have a hard time keeping up. My final critique is that the story does not utilize its interesting setting to its full potential. The many societies, races, and people of the tower tend to lose focus as the series goes on.

Overall, Tower of God is an enjoyable and engaging series despite its shortcomings. It has a cool premise and setting but has issues in its character writing and worldbuilding. A fun read but not as great as it could be.

This is enjoyable to read, but do not buy into the 10/10 ratings. Not even the best stories in the world are 10/10, and this does not meet those standards, anyway.

The story has an interesting premise with Rachel leaving to climb a tower, and the main character, Bam, following after her. This plot point is fine for the start, but I found it takes too long for the character to get any other motive for climbing the tower. He is pretty much obsessed with this Rachel for about 90% of the chapters that I have read. I won't spoil it, but considering what happens ... earlier in the story, this should have been sorted out far earlier. The pacing was pretty poor for this point and resulted in a lull in the middle of the story, and turns Bam into a dislikeable idiot who will sacrifice anything and everything for quite some time. And yet his friends still stick with him, despite him preferring to continue chasing Rachel even if they all die. There is no reason for his friends to stick with him.

There are some decent characters in the story, but some of them become tiring. One character (a giant lizard) keeps repeating the same joke for 500 chapters. It becomes pretty boring to read. His character has not actually changed since the beginning, and this is a problem for quite a few others. There is not enough development, and quite a lot of them feel like throwaway characters. Another character that they make quite a fuss of in the first season sort of disappears, but shows up very randomly.

The main character, Bam, has ultimate plot armour. In fact there is a story device in it that explains his plot armour, which means you will never feel that he is ever threatened. Everything will always work out for him due to his powers continually adapting to save him from any situation. This limits the quality of the story and renders it into a power-growth fest. His plot armour is part of the lore.

Pacing is a real issue with this story. There are some plot lines that have seen no development for 300 or so chapters. You would think the writer has maybe changed his mind about them and just brushed them under the carpet, but references appear every so often to these plotlines that show they are not dead. He still plans to do them, but it has been so long that I do not care about them anymore, nor the characters related to them.

The art style starts off alright at the beginning, but it improves a lot later on. A massive improvement happens after season 1, so do not hold the art against this. It is one of the major reasons I have given this a 7. It makes it an enjoyable and semi-mindless read. With lesser art, this would be a six as the story is average.

Tower of God is a manhwa that was supposed to be written with a manhwa style but has instead turned into a shounen style of writing and has caused the story to worsen over time. It seems that the effect of the shounen writing has not fully done its harm and is still making the story worse and worse. A big problem is that the first season which was great overall and is supposed to act as the foundation ends up messing with the rest of the story that was written with a completely different writing style. This has basically become a shonen instead of ... a manhwa. The author has changed his plans because of criticism from fans and unfortunately does not always do what he had originally planned to do.

Lots of the lore is still hidden and purposely hidden in a pretty dreadful way. Not much can be said about the story yet since there is still so much we don't know. The execution of plotlines has had it's up and downs but has been mostly okay so far in my opinion. The characters are pretty poor and one of the characters that is the fandom's most hated character is a protagonist of the story and actually the author's favorite character. There seems to be a lot of division on whether or not the main character Bam is a good character or not, but I would say he's weird overall. There is no romance and it seems that there never will be any significant romance. Character development seems horrible too especially with the fact that characters can live for centuries and does not appear to be getting any better, but actually worse.

The story has amazing worldbuilding and the greatest worldbuilding I have seen so far in any series, even one piece. The story is at a strange place right now and it is hard to know for sure where it's going to go. If you dislike the story during season 2, it is probably best to drop the story since the beginning half is the best part so far. The fights are not that great, and the lore/worldbuilding seems to be what attracts most people to the story. The art is pretty bad, but it gets WAY BETTER in season 2. Overall a 6/10.