I have noticed a lot of the reviews on ‘Kami no Tou’ tend to be misleading and have an implied bias towards what the show “could be” to what it is. Much of this relies on the supposition you are an avid follower of the web manga (from which this adapted from) of the same name.
The narrative seems to be that Kami no Tou “could be” one of those epics which take many, many chapters to create on the levels of the “Big Three”: One Piece, Bleach and Naruto (I can’t believe this comparison is being made). But if this series is going to reach levels of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and the likes, it could start by passing the “three-episode rule”. And at the least, if it does not we viewers should be placed with an idea of what the story could become beyond. Does it do this? No.
This series falls short beyond the promises of its fans, and on so many levels.
Just on my background writing this review: I have not read any of the web manga. If your first impulse is to castrate me because you rate the anime (not the web manga) highly, why? Why should we judge adaptations by what hasn’t been released yet? None of the “Big Three” had as monotonous premises in the first three episodes, as Kami no Tou. No, they had us wanting more.
Anyways, by comparing it to the “Big Three” I am doing a grave disservice to them. I will stop it there.
Onto the actual review, I will start by discussing the story. You can read the synopsis, so I will not bore you.
I think the first three episodes are a good place to start, given I have talked about the how these should suffice to determine a viewer’s expected enjoyment for the rest of most series.
The story’s premise is generally interesting: Complete some “tests”, level up. Many forms of this have been done previously, so what can go wrong? The problem is, there is no explanation for the solution for any of these “tests”. It leaves the audience to guess the intent of all these “tests”, to stand at the “top of the tower”. This is poor leverage of the Mystery, Fantasy and Adventure themes and besides some weakly displayed “world-building”, it does not add much sense of purpose to the goals of our main characters.
The problem with starting without giving character purpose like this is obvious, in that the anime does not give viewers any emotional attachment with our characters or enough to continue the series. The only incentive to continue that we get is to recover the sunk cost of time, clinging onto the fans hopes “Oh, but it’ll get better!", "Just get past the first season!", "Kami no Tou is a long epic!”. But therein lies the problem, and as usual, by trying to recover sunk costs we get nowhere.
If you thought to watch Kami no Tou intrigued by how our characters solve any of these “tests”, walk away from this anime and stop reading now. The events of our characters passing these has thoughtless solutions, sheepishly poor tension-building, and when solved, leaves miniscule satisfaction for viewers.
I will introduce our main characters. Bam is depicted as the “weak” character who enters the tower for no other reason but to skirt chase and gets trusted with an exclusive, godly weapon for convenient reasons. I will add that the ways he “solves” the test in the first episode and the two after that, is uninteresting and stale. Next Khun, the cunning, cool character yet distrusting having been betrayed by his sister, he enters the tower for… revenge? Why should I care? And Rak, who is used tactlessly for comedic relief and called “the gator” to no end in search of dull giggles. It got immediately boring the second time.
For the viewer, try to empathise with any character in isolation as much as you want, you will not find a reason to.
On pacing: Even for a “very long” series, it takes far too long for the author to get to a small satisfying "conclusion". As a result, if you watch this, you are in at a snail’s pace. There is not enough material covered to make you want for more.
I will go towards some of the good points. I think the art style was crisp. If nothing else, I enjoyed this aspect the most, and appreciate the animation. I think about what a waste it was to spend it on this. And I think it definitely was a waste when viewers were constantly being bombarded with Rak’s “angry” emoji.
In addition, the soundtrack was generally good. I enjoyed both the opening “TOP”, despite it signalling the slowest of burns that were to come. And, was relieved by the ending “SLUMP”, which told me I’d finally finished another nonsensical episode where nothing got done.
And that ends the “good points” part.
Hopefully, by now I have made my grievances clear. Whatever good elements Kami no Tou has, it does not come close to hiding its flaws.
When I climb the Tower, I will ask who decided to adapt Kami no Tou, a “very long series”, into thirteen episodes.
This series rocketed off into excruciating slow mo.
