The anime adaption of Tower of God was met with a lot of hype, both from the fans of the webtoon as well as a good portion of the anime community in general. It was the first real adaption of a Korean manhwa (disregarding the couple OVAs Noblesse got. It’s getting a proper anime adaption later this year too) and its success could likely open the floodgates to a world of new content that’s ready to be adapted from manhwa.
So, did the adaption of Tower of God live up to the hype? I would honestly say it did not. In fact, it falls way short. ... It’s nowhere near how good it could’ve and should’ve been considering the content that was to be adapted. Most of the reception to the anime as a whole has been fairly positive over the internet, but for someone who’s been a fan of the webtoon, it turned out to be a massive disappointment. When I first read the webtoon, I was sucked in by the dark environment, intriguing character motives, the ruthlessness of the world and the massive and unexplored world that was the tower. One of the selling points of the webtoon is the mystery surrounding everything and the fact that details and lore are revealed bit by bit in a complex manner without any sort of spoonfeeding to the audience.
The anime lost most of this and more.
Even after complaining so much, why have I given it a rating of 7? Well, even though I am extremely let down by the adaption, it still is a pretty decent anime. Yes, it’s not nearly as good as it could’ve been but it still entertains for the most part, and if I look at it from the eyes of someone who hadn’t read the manhwa beforehand, it’d be a very enjoyable show.
The story starts off with Rachel wanting to go up the tower to see the stars that she’d always dreamed about and Bam following her like a dog follows his master. But I can understand why Bam does this. Rachel is such an amazing person: tender, selfless, compassionate, kind and to top it off, she’s pretty cute in the anime too. Why wouldn’t anyone not want to follow this Goddess?
On a more serious note though, she’s the only person Bam has known his entire life so when she enters the tower wanting to fulfil her dreams, he follows after her. Simp is a word that’s been associated a lot with Bam these past 3 months. Tell me, do you call a child who’s crying for her mother and only smiles when he sees her close by, a simp? If you do, then I think you have more important things that you need to get sorted first. Anyways, Bam is that child whose mother has left him, and he’s trying to go after her. An understandable objective I believe.
Once Bam enters the tower in pursuit of Rachel, we’re introduced to the rules and workings of the tower along with Bam. The floors, the tests that are supposed to be passed in order to climb them, the hierarchy of the tower and the motivations of the characters wanting to climb this dangerous tower are revealed little by little. As Bam learns more and more about the tower, so does the audience. But this is also where one of the major problems with the anime begins to surface. Some of the explanations about the concepts and functionality of the tower are either cut-short or in some cases, completely omitted. This leaves a viewer who hasn’t read the webtoon and doesn’t have a clear idea about these things, confused. The webtoon explained these things in a much more comprehensible manner. Oh, and I’m not talking about the mysterious lore here. I’ve heard a few complaints about people saying answers are not provided immediately. Well, those are important mystery elements that are answered bit by bit as we move further along in the story and something that I consider one of the charms of the series. So, don’t expect every secret of the tower to be just told to you right then and there.
Even though the anime does sacrifice the dark atmosphere of the first season of the webtoon, I felt that they still did a fairly good job of creating tense situations, especially in the first half of the season. They retained the ruthless vibe of the tower during the first few tests and even though there were elements that were left open to criticism, they did a good job of it by and large, for the first half, bar the first episode of course. The first episode was a mess. The pacing was all over the place and the less I talk about the directing, the better. After the first 6 episodes, I was feeling hopeful that this would turn out to be a pretty good adaption because episodes 2-6 had been pretty good and almost every episode was turning out to be an improvement over the last. However, this all changed in the following episodes. There were some very important character interactions that were left out, some that were replaced by anime-only scenes which served no purpose but to enrage the source readers, and one of the most hyped and compelling tests in the webtoon to date, was but a mere shadow of what was expected and what it should’ve been. It was plagued with all the issues that I have with the anime all at once: bad pacing, important dialogues being cut and changes made to some of the best parts of the test that were uncalled for.
When it was first announced that the first season was only going to be 13 episodes, doubts had already begun to surface in the minds of most of the readers. The first season of the webtoon had 78 chapters and there was no other stopping point except the end of the season. So, everyone knew that there was going to be content that was going to be removed. And that would’ve been acceptable. Not many would’ve complained if they only cut some of the less relevant content and dialogues, but they didn’t only do this, they also removed some of the best and most important scenes that play a major part in the development/decisions of the characters, not only in the first season itself, but also later in the further seasons. To add to this, they put in some anime only things that enhance nothing in the anime at all. If anything, some of the anime only scenes contradict the personalities of the characters. This is purely bad directing and there’s no excuse for this. Cutting some parts in order to fit the season in the limited number of episodes? Absolutely understandable. Removing important moments while adding in some irrelevant and stupid scenes? I’m sorry, Telecom Animation, but that’s not gonna cut it.
Yeah, the anime as a whole suffers from pacing issues, but I genuinely feel that there was a much better way of handling it. Some things being sacrificed was inevitable given that they were adapting 78 full length chapters into 13 episodes, but this is where intelligent directing was required. Alas, good directing was asking for too much, I guess.
Yes, Bam is a blank-slate MC and he doesn’t really have a personality. I won’t even argue if you say that he’s bland to begin with. But then again, what do you expect from someone who’s only known a single person his entire life and has been living in a cave which has nothing. His personality is shaped with the experiences he has in the tower, and it changes over time into something that turns out to be relatable. Yes, his naivety is annoying at times, but it’s very understandable why he acts the way he does. He’s just a genuinely nice guy who doesn’t know any of the evil in the world. He doesn’t even understand his own actions. He’s seen as the odd one because of how kind-hearted he is, and is the source of self-reflection for some of the people around him. That innocence is what leads to him being so pivotal in shaping the characters and influencing their decisions.
And the first person with whom that happens is Khun Aguero Agnis: the star of the first season of Tower of God. The genius from one of the most prominent families in the tower who was abandoned because of an incident in which he betrayed someone close to him, only to be betrayed by the person whom he gave up everything for. His backstory reveal in the anime is honestly one of the very few things that I thought that the anime actually enhanced from the webtoon. It’s what’s eats up at him and what influences a lot of his early season decisions. He’s the most interesting character in the season. His intellectual brilliance paired with unshakeable confidence (apart from a couple moments) and the change in his mental state from lacking trust in others to having faith in certain individuals around him, make him a delight to watch.
“What? Is it his mating season? Bring him here! I’ll pull out his banana!”
Who else could say this but Rak Wrathraiser or Alligator/Crocodile as Khun likes to call him. A ruthless, proud hunter who picks Bam as his ultimate prey. But on the inside, he’s a big softie and is likely the second most “innocent” character in the season next to Bam. His eyes see everyone as a turtle and his love for chocobars has no end. He’s one of the primary sources of humour in the first season and while they changed some of his gags in the anime, it still didn’t stop him from being hilariously entertaining. I will say though, some of his most humorous moments were cut short or changed. Unfortunately, that quote I’ve mentioned above is from the webtoon and was removed from the anime.
Shibisu, the other comedian, Hatz the chivalric swordsman, stupidly powerful lizard girl Anak, the cold-hearted yet beautiful Endorsi, round off the rest of the main cast. They all have goals that they wish to achieve by climbing the top of the tower and some of them are prepared to do so no matter what kind of cruel or underhanded tactics they might need to use. All of them had their characters explored through the season. To an extent, at least. But for Endorsi, some of the defining scenes that fleshed out her character even more in the webtoon, were once again, cut. I will never understand why because they play such a major part in season 2. Another thing that I disliked later in the season was some friendship crap that was pulled. The webtoon is mostly devoid of the power of friendship shit. Though it can be a good addition at times in anime, the use of it towards the fag end of the show was not just pointless, it actually contrasted the personalities of those characters, in the anime season as well as what we have in the source. It was pulled out of nowhere and I imagine it was done to appeal to the younger audience more. And they couldn’t have handled it any worse if they’d tried.
I hated the changes in character interactions that they made and that’s one thing that happened mostly throughout the season. I was more forgiving and willing to overlook these in the beginning, but as the season went on, the changes became more and more apparent, and a lot of them were absolutely cringeworthy.
The artstyle at the beginning of the season had mixed reception, with some people loving the different feel as compared to other anime while some just couldn’t get used to the change. I, for one, liked that they stuck with the original artstyle of the webtoon. It could have been more polished at times but it wasn’t too bad. The animation doesn’t leave much to speak of. It was solid without being spectacular. If I was to put in on a level, it would be on a higher level than most anime that come out every season yet wasn’t at the level of things that I’d call had great animation.
One thing that stood out all through the season regardless of how the other things were handled, was the OST. Kevin Penkin just keeps enhancing his reputation. Whether it be during the intense fight sequences or the emotional moments, the soundtrack simply kept delivering without fail. If I was to be critical though, it would be about the use of the OST. Sometimes, the tracks used didn’t fit the scenes, but that’s more to do with the sound directing. And the overall directing of the anime was subpar. As for the OP and ED, both of them are fabulous to listen to. Helps that one of the best K-pop bands, Stray Kids, provided them. At first, I wasn’t a big fan of the ED “Slump” but it kept growing on me until I began to dig it.
I’ve tried to be as unbiased as possible while writing this review. Because if I compare the anime to the first season of the webtoon, I can’t help but wince at how badly they’ve adapted it. Make no mistake, as an adaption, Tower of God is a failure. The oversimplification of some of the concepts and character interactions as well as motivations makes it a watered-down version of the source. While the changes they made might not always look like a problem when looked at individually, the amalgamation of all of them deviate from what made Tower of God great in the first place. Minute details like the addition of single line or scene which contradict what a character is about can make a huge difference to the overall experience.
That’s the reason that I said that the anime as a standalone isn’t bad for someone who hasn’t read the source and isn’t aware of what the changes mean. In fact, I’d say the anime would be a pretty good watch. Most of the people that watched it for the first time are of the opinion that it’s a good anime. But that says more about the quality of the source than the adaption itself. That even an adaption as weak as this one can be called good should be a compliment to the webtoon.
Anyways, I hope that the staff take note of the criticisms people have had of the anime and improve in the second season. Because if they adapt it well, it’s gonna be a banger! I will say though that if they continue to do it in the same way as they did with season 1, I don't have much hope left as a source reader.
Alternative Titles Synonyms: Sin-ui Tap, 신의 탑 Japanese: 神之塔 -Tower of God- Information Type: TV Episodes: 13 Status: Finished Airing Aired: Apr 2, 2020 to Jun 25, 2020 Premiered: Spring 2020 Broadcast: Thursdays at 00:30 (JST) Producers: Sega, Crunchyroll, Rialto Entertainment, Sola Entertainment, Naver Webtoons, IRMA LA DOUCE Licensors: VIZ Media Studios: Telecom Animation Film Source: Web manga Duration: 23 min. per ep. Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older Statistics Score: 7.551 (scored by 536,316 users) 1 indicates a . Ranked: #16912 2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #180 Members: 922,248 Favorites: 6,428 Available AtResources |
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