But some wishes just aren’t meant to come true.
Tower of God is an anime that’s grown in popularity due to the unique fact that it’s one of the first Korean web comics to receive a television adaptation. And with the added bonus that the source material is highly revered, what could possibly go wrong? Bad direction apparently. Despite having several upsides and what I believe to have the potential to actually be something great, there’s one major flaw I have with this anime that kept it in the realm of mediocrity in my eyes.
I just don’t get it.
Now at the time of writing this review, I have not read the source material. And as an anime only watcher, I expect this and any adaptation to be able to properly present a story that’s concrete, understandable, and doesn’t require prior knowledge of the source material to actually comprehend. This is where Tower of God failed miserably for me. From the presentation of episode one alone I knew that I wasn’t going to like the direction of the anime. Things are constantly being thrown at viewers literally every episode without nary an explanation on what they mean in regards to the narrative. I’m still perplexed about seemingly basic things such as what the heck this tower is and how it fits into the world of Tower of God. Yeah, I know I’m not the brightest bulb in the batch, but I’m usually not this confused. I mean for example, how do people exactly get chosen to participate in the tower? Do they all come from the same planent, or different ones since there are multiple (and horribly designed might I add) species present? Is the tower just a training ground for people to rank up, or is it actually its own little world since there seem to be sentient lifeforms living in it? Can someone please explain ANY of the numerous powers that the characters have and why? Who the hell thought a fisherman was a good title for a class? Why the heck is Bam the most generic character in existence?
Ok, the last two are more personal gripes, but you get the idea. And it isn’t just these broad ideas that have their issues, but many smaller ones that really detract from the anime, which usually comes in the form of trying to explain who characters are and their motivations. The most insight we’re ever given are brief backstories for some characters that are so abrupt that they didn’t really leave much of an impact. Now I understand that it’s good to have mysteries surrounding one’s story. It’s usually a good thing to keep a lot of information in the dark and to casually reveal parts of it to viewers over time for an enhanced effect. However, Tower of God doesn’t do this properly as it’s such an expansive world with a lot of details yet has basically neglected to explain ANYTHING of any importance until the 13th episode which…was actually really good. But too little too late honestly.
I know one common argument against this is “Hey, just read the source material! It wil fill in the blanks and make you enjoy the anime more.” No, it unfortunately won’t for me. In my mind, an anime has to be able to get by on it’s own merits without having to rely on the source material for viewers to fall back on, and Tower of God fails at this. And to the shock of no one, it is in fact possible to make an anime adaptation of a lengthy story that works perfectly well on its own. HunterXHunter, an anime that Tower of God seems to get compared to, did this just fine among others. Then again, Tower of God’s direction is so bad that it actually makes me want to read the web comic just to see if it’s better like many claim, so maybe the anime accomplished what it set out to do in my case!
Anyway, the narrative itself is pretty simplistic. It’s set up sorta like a battle royale where a group of characters must rise through the levels of the tower and enhance their abilities, all while losing the weaker contenders along the way. I’m a sucker for tournament themed shows, so I’ll admit that I have been entertained throughout watching the anime. Bam is your typical super overpowered protagonist who doesn’t actually understand his powers, and the story revolves around his journey. Bam face several test along the way, such as some crown game and a variant of tag. These tests honestly aren’t the most exciting, but they generally serve their purpose. The real highlight of Bam’s quest and one of the better portions of the show would be character relationships.
Yes, I don’t like Bam. But there were some characters that I actually thought were appropriately handled. Khun is the cool bro character, and while I wasn’t really impressed with his “schemes” since I don’t really find them to be all that impressive, I still ended up liking the dude nonetheless. The two characters who I thought were the best were Anak and Endorsi. I just really liked their chemistry and enjoyed watching their development over the course of the anime. Speaking of development, I’m a sucker for when a group of characters are at odds with each other in the beginning but end up forming close bonds in the end, and this was handled quite well in Tower of God. I guess I’ll give Bam credit for something, as he was the cornerstone that really brought this group together.
The final character that I want to mention is Rachel. Now the vast majority of people seem to hate Rachel. I for one really like her. Of course what she does to Bam wasn’t really a surprise since just about every web comic reader spoiled it in every single forum, but it was still interesting and I really like what it did for her character. Episode 13 ended up being far and beyond the best episode for me simply because it took Rachel’s perspective, showed her true persona, and actually explained some things. Yeah, that last part really came as a shocker. So hats off to Rachel for actually being a layered character! (*cough* unlike Bam *cough*)
I did really enjoy the soundtrack and it was probably the highlight of the anime for me. I just have a thing for eerie chanting I guess. Stray Kids performed the opening theme, and it went straight to the TOP of my favorites for the season. They also did the ending theme, which was definitely no SLUMP like many EDs tend to be. The visuals are definitely unique, but not to my liking. A lot of the character designs felt really laking to me. Battles were often short, but the animation used for them seemed to flow just fine in my mind.
Tower of God ended up being a mixed bag for me. The last three episodes were actually pretty good, but they were just brought down by their mediocre, and in some cases bad, predecessors to the point where I was beyond really caring, which is unfortunate. And I haven’t mentioned it yet, but holy crap, the comedy is abysmal. Jokes were often cringe and horribly timed. Sorry Rak, but you just didn’t do it for me! Of course comedy is subjective, so you might enjoy it, but…I just thought it was unredeemably bad. This anime was definitely saved by character interactions, and I honestly did enjoy watching the characters bond throughout the episodes. But in the end, the direction and world building were completely botched up, which unfortunately ruined this show for me. It's a shame, because this issue could have been completely avoided with some better decision making. Why did the directors do this?
I just don’t get it.
