Tower of God – 5 [The Crown’s Fate]

This week on Tower of God we have it all folks. Waifus! Fights! And even exponential inexplicable MC power ups! What more could you ask for? A lot, actually, so lets jump right in to it.

Right off the bat, I am going to play the bad guy here and say the production was… lacking. Compared to last week, Tower of God’s animation here just felt weightless and floaty. All throughout the combat sequences people were getting thrown about with no sense of momentum. Soaring through the air, or striking with the force of a 4 year old. I’m not asking for the ground to shatter or anything like that. But some impact would be nice, you know? That isn’t to say it was all bad either. Hwaryun, the masked red-head, had some great full body character work. The shading on the body suit had it look awkward at times sure. But on the whole, she was the best animated part of the whole episode. Overall though, I would still call it a step down from previous weeks. Even if I like the visual style.

Moving on, I want to actually mention some changes this adaptation has made. Because this week actually saw a fair share, some minor others not so much. For starters, a whole lot of dialogue was cut. Bits between Androssi, the girl in orange, and Hwaryun, Hwayrun and Bam, Yuri and Kurdan, etc. Nothing particularly massive, mostly bits of world building, and the spirit of it all was still there. On the larger side we have the whole segment with Black March. Originally, she doesn’t appear here. In fact, we barely see her at all after that initial introduction. Definitely not for the rest of Season 1 at least. So it seems that we are seeing the start of some heavy changes to the source. Larger cuts, larger additions, all to try and adapt the whole first webtoon season in one go most likely. Gotta say, I am a little concerned.

Speaking of Black March and Bam, his whole Shinsu thing was much smaller originally as well. There was no light show, no huge power spike. Rather just a quick and instant cut, as if the Shinsu acted on its own. This is one change I’m really not a fan of, as it makes Bam’s power much higher than it was originally portrayed. Even going so far as to change the language a bit. Rather than the Shinsu acting on its own, Tower of God says its “like he became” Shinsu. Really, the power scaling in this episode was off across the board. Rak is a great example of this. Early on he can throw his spear powerfully enough to take out entire teams. Yet later on he has trouble with a single small man in hand to hand. It’s damn shame really, because I love Rak.

Really the only person to come out of the episode unscathed is Khun. Up to now his entire character has been established as clever, thinking things through, and rebellious. He doesn’t like rules, he doesn’t like listening to other people, so it makes sense he would break them here. In fact, this is one of the few areas I think Tower of God did something impressive narratively. As it has been setting up and preparing this bag since episode 2. Building it up both through Lero Ro’s Shinsu test and Hansung Yu’s comment. And when presented next to Khun’s obvious distaste for rules, it all fits together quite nicely. On top of that, even the way he fights is clever rather than physical. Baiting people with props from his bag, sleight of hand, etc. All in all, I think he came out quite well from this opening arc.

This isn’t to say Bam was horrible or anything this week. In fact I think he acted perfectly in line with his motivations and reason for being there. He entered the tower specifically to find Rachel. He doesn’t care about the stars, the top, or power. Bam only wanted to climb because he knew she did, and he hoped he would find her as he did. So it makes perfect sense, when his goal is right in front of him, to get off the throne. Why should he care about the sword or the crown or any of that, when Rachel is right there, being attacked? I say all this because I know, and have seen, some angry with his actions. Annoyed at his stupidity, how close he was to winning. And were it not perfectly in line with his motivations, I would’ve agreed. But it is, so I don’t.

Finally, lets talk politics. Normally a boring subject, but surely a fantastical setting like Tower of God can make it interesting, right? Now, early on in Tower of God, we are told that the Tower can grant any wish. All you have to do is reach the top. So I am sure many of you wondered: “What happens if bad people, with bad wishes, make it?”. Well the answer is: They don’t. Not because they aren’t strong enough, but because those running the tower actively stop them. We learn during Hansung Yu and Lero Ro’s conversation that these tests don’t filter out the “unworthy”. But rather the “undesirable”. Those who don’t fit the tower, who would disturb it and harm it. With each tests working to do just that. From excluding those unwilling to fight, to those who overthink or don’t trust the “system” and might question it.

Continuing with Bam, we also get more hints as to what exactly an “Irregular” is. At this point you should have all you need to figure this out, so i’ll spell it out. An Irregular is someone who has entered the tower from the outside, without Headon opening the door for them. They don’t belong in it, they were not born in it, and are not subject to its rules. As Hansung Yu points out, no one is supposed to be able to use Shinsu without a contract with the floor Administrator. Basically, they have to ask permission to use the power. But as we saw, Bam hasn’t done this, Bam barely knows what Shinsu is. And yet he used it, moved it unconsciously. And the biggest part is: Bam isn’t alone. There are others, like the mentioned Urek Mazino, who are Irregulars as well.

So all in all, how was Tower of God this week? The best I can give it is an “alright”. The episode was strictly, alright. The animation was hit or miss, the story content relatively straight forward. No doubt as a source reader, my opinion is a bit biased here. I have my own hopes for how the series will turn out, and some of the things I want to get adapted wont. So instead I want to take the opportunity to ask you, dear readers. What do you think of Tower of God so far? Is it making sense, is it living up to your expectations? Because to me, all the insanity makes sense because I already know the details of the world. Let me know down below, because I am really interested in anime-only opinions, and I will see you next week!