I am sorry, but this is gonna be a very stan moment for me. That's still cutting it short. This is literally my damn One Piece of the webtoon world, and my passion for Oda-sensei masterpiece work knows no bound. So I am about to burst from utter excitement as my body is unable to contain. I can't believe my favorite webtoon of all time is getting that much-needed and deserved anime treatment. This will be my first impressions as an avid webtoon reader who has experienced Tower of God inside and out, top to bottom, and so forth. I am not going to deny this might be very bias-y, but hear me out on this one. You should not be sleeping on ToG. If God forbid, the anime flops. You should pick up the webtoon, and most of you, I can confidently say won't regret it.
If you are looking for a highly complex epic fantasy tale that only gets better, polished, and more fleshed out as it goes on. Then I can without mulling wholeheartedly recommend Tower of God for you. It starts out very simple and straightforward. But most stories start out that way and gradually gets more engrossing and compelling as elements of the story get revealed over time. I can see many not liking, Bam, who is one of the many main characters. It's understandable but entirely explainable for why he seems to emotionless, naive. Bam had only Rachel when he was stuck inside that dark and gloomy cave and only knows what she thought him and nothing else. She is the light who took him out of the darkness.
Bam, as a result, is not aware of the outside world, the emotions a person feels. What's right and wrong and so forth. It's all the effects of being enclosed from the outside world for who knows how long. Bam does get a ton of development as he climbs the tower, but just like us, the audience who are unaware of the wonders of this mysterious place. Together with Bam, we will slowly discover new things and see this boy grow from this naive little boy into adulthood and get a ton of growth along the way. Did I forget to mention, it's a great thing he is flawed? It makes him feel more genuine, and all those heartwrenching, bittersweet victories and losses will make a much more significant impact on you.
Tower of God is not a story that will give Bam every damn thing on a silver platter. Sure, it seems that way now, but then again. You always have to give some big weapons to the main character to throw the world out of balance and plant the seeds for an extraordinary tale. It won't last, Bam will suffer both losses and victories, and SIU-sensei is not one to shy away from tragedies and scandals. This story is not your typical shounen, and if I could make some sense. I would say it's a mix of both shounen and seinen. SIU-sensei is not afraid to play around with many other demographics, and most of all, your feelings. This tells you that ToG will have all kinds of dark and gritty directions. Not everything will be rainbow and sunshine. There will be all kinds of nasty business and people in the world, like an organization that does human trafficking or manipulate the public to their own tune and so forth.
So don't drop the story if Bam is your problem as they are many other things you should be on the lookout for. Even while Bam slowly develops and experience all kinds of emotions climbing the tower. There is a huge cast following behind who get their own set of story and growth segments. Above everything else, there is this incredibly complex and ever-expanding world you can witness bloom into such a huge spectacle. Inside the tower there is also a unique and advanced power called Shinshoo. This is literally the heart and spirit of the tower and can be used for literally anything you can think about. More will get revealed as we climb the tower, but like most stories, there will always be some even bigger mystery of the world, which will be kept under wraps untill much-much later. In One Piece, one of those is devil fruits or the titan's origin in Attack on Titan to give an example.
When it comes to the anime adaptation so far from the episodes that have been released. It's been a truly outstanding ride for me, at least. I am not the first person to admit I have a bias. Being a webtoon reader and all. But honestly, Telecom is doing more than enough to make more people notice the wonderous of Tower of God and SIU-sensei incredibly brilliant mind. Let's talk about production value, which is quite solid and very unique. Telecom is paying homage to the author's original artistic art-style but managed to add their own flavors to truly make the experience more fulfilling in the anime. In the webtoon, the art-style is one of the few things that might turn you away from the story. It's not the best and is very rough around the edges and so forth. But you can tell SIU-sensei is putting in his best amount of effort with each panel. Why do I know and say that? It's obvious because the art-style improves at a rapid rate and gets incredible-looking.
If you have read Solo Leveling, then you know how gorgeous that it's one the most gorgeous art-style out there, colored top to bottom. The author knows how to create fight scenes where you can smoothly imagine how the events play out. The same goes for SIU-sensei. I swear some of the depictions of the action is out of this world, and it feels so natural when the scenes are playing seamlessly in my mind. That's right, Tower of God has seriously one of the best art-work periods and the biggest cherry on the top is the fact it's colored. I can't forget mentioning that SIU-sensei consistently at one point weekly gives out chapters with over 100+ pages of rich and tasty content. This has become the norm. Many even say it's only a matter of time before ToG standard for the page count for a chapter becomes 200. This just goes to show how SIU-sensei imagination runs wild all the time, and he can't stop pouring out new ideas left and right. One of the best authors for sure.
I got a bit sidetracked, so let's touch upon the animation for the anime. It's honestly has a touch quirky and uniqueness to it, and you won't see these kinds of visuals everwhere. Among others, in the fourth episode, the way some scenes where animated just felt so fresh and the love was pouring out from each and every single frame. If you have seen the fourth episode, you should know the way that weapon was moving was funny and very exciting at the same time. How about the comedic moments with a flexible art-style to get a bigger laugh out of you and make sure you are enjoying yourself? Of course, all these elements are subjective, but you must be blind if you call this poor in terms of production value. Telecom is seriously pulling out all stops and doing a great amount of justice to the source. There is more to an adaptation than just giving out 1:1 story, panel by panel. If they went that route, it could turn into a huge problem since ToG, as stated before, is rich in content and dialogue. So inevitably, there will be things that will be cut out to make places for materials that are necessary at that time.
This is not a bad thing either if you know what to do like Telecom has shown so far. Too much could overwhelm the anime onlies and make them lost track of what's happening. And we want none of that so Telecom did a solid by doing these changes for better or worse. Some of the details won't be more prominent before many episodes down the road or seasons later. So there is more than enough time to hint at those elements and close down the plot-holes before they even have a chance to become a noticeable problem. As far as anime adaptation with only 13-episodes. I think Telecom is doing the best they can do with what they have, and you can tell by the deep passion they have put here. They seem to care about every type of fan in this story. They are catering to not only the anime onlies but also webtoon readers and giving them a more fruitful experience by adding some original content and making it work damn well.
We can't forget about the simply amazing soundtrack composition of Kevin Perkins, which an absolute blessing to the ears. It's so unique, and it has all the right tunes to make it fit perfectly with Tower of God's deep atmosphere. I seriously love his work so much, and it's an honor to have him with us for one of my favorite stories ever told. Then there are all those absolute top-notch voice actors and actress alike who adds even more spice to everything. I don't think I have found one VA's so far out of place, and everyone seems to be more or less a perfect fit for their own respective characters. On top of all that, the background always looks so utterly stunning and artistic. Suffices to say, studio Telecom is doing an incredible job so far all-around. But my brain hurts trying to comprehend what people find terrible from this adaptation in the production value area. Some just want things to nitpick on that's, to be frank silly beyond belief.
I want each and every one of you who are going to judge a show based on the first few episodes. When it has literally not even begun, think a moment to realize all those other stories which start out slow but become more with each passing chapter or episode. Tower of God is a classic fantasy tale that never stops growing. I have implied before, it has tons of variables and not just one goal. It's not only driven by its cast of character but the world, politics, and so much more. Much of the story is hidden in mystery, and you will have to guess and predict the story and see if the conclusion you come to makes sense with what's already been established. For me, I personally love to predict and theorize, one of the reasons I love One Piece so much, which has a ton of lore, lots of myth, histories, and a limitless world you can speculate about without getting bored. That's why if you feel the same, you might enjoy Tower of God. It's an incredibly fun and massive emotional rollercoaster of a ride that never feels the same and is always evolving into much bigger and greater things.
