Tower Of God

Sounds relatively simple and cliché plot. You want anything that your dreams desire? Just climb through the top of the tower! Of course when you break down the details of all the harrowing and life-and-death trials that one have to pass, it isn’t easy as it sounds. Of course I’m talking about the Tower Of God. I guess this anime that is based on a Korean webtoon was hyped up so much that I too had to take a look at it and see what’s all the fuss in climbing the tower. Yeah, if dreams and desires can easily come true, why do we need to go through all this sh*t? Something tells me a bored God just wanted some amusement with the mortals…

Episode 1
Sounds simple. Desire anything? Just climb to the top of the tower and anything you wish can be granted. Even being God. Bam is disheartened when Rachel leaves him just to climb the tower. In despair, he suddenly finds himself inside the base of the tower. Headon who is the tower’s caretaker speaks to him that he can find his answers at the top. If he so desires, he must take a test to see if he is worthy to climb the tower. That is, he must get pass this giant white steel eel and break the black orb behind. Bam presses ahead but is stopped by Princess Yuri and her servant, Evan. She finds him stupid for trying to just go to his death. After all, he is an Irregular. And weak too. Headon suggests lending him her Black March sword to help with this test. She does so only because he looks cute. Love at first sight? Guess not. Bam then enters the cage. Instantly the eel swallows him! Game over? Not quite. That’s supposed to be the only correct way. Because Bam slices the eel from inside until it spits him out. But too bad the orb just can’t break! As he keeps hitting it, flashbacks show how Rachel found him and told him her dreams of going beyond the sky because there are beautiful stars. She is sick of being in this dark world. Moments before Bam gets devoured again, Evan yells out a hint to request the power from Black March. Doing so, its spirit pops out and agrees to lend Bam her powers. Just because he is cute. Bam, you lucky bastard. Yuri realizes Black March never responded to her because she isn’t into women! Sorry yuri folks. No lesbianism here. The orb breaks and they disappear. It is a sign that they have ascended for the next level. As Bam still has her sword, this gives Yuri a reason to go after him. Bam wakes up in the next level. The announcer tells this level will test those who are worthy of climbing the rest of the tower. There are 400 of them. Find a way by any means to reduce it by half. The test ends when that is achieved and the survivors go to the next floor. Bam is sure screwed when he meets this gladiator dude! Lucky for him, the contenders start killing each other. Uhm, so there are monster participants too? With the numbers rapidly reducing, Bam finds himself in the midst of strange monsters and men. Friend or foe?

Episode 2
Khun Aguero Agnes loves teasing Rak Wraithraiser since the latter views himself as wanting to fight the strongest who is Bam. Khun sees Black March and is interested so he helps Bam hide from Rak. He learns how he got the sword from Yuri as well as how he wants to see Rachel, the person who taught him everything. Khun views Bam as useful to climb the tower. Though he won’t follow the set rules because instead of killing 200, he’d rather find allies among the survivors. Rak then finds them and wants to fight but the test ends as 200 survivors quota is met. This mean the fight between Anaak and Hatz ends in a draw. The next test wants the survivors to make a group of 3 within 5 minutes. Anyone failing to do so will fail. Bam and Khun have no choice but to join hands with Rak but he is still stubborn in wanting to fight. So Bam throws down his sword and makes Rak throw a tantrum. Is this just to stall for time? Just when the time is almost up, they touch each other and pass. Shibisu who would’ve gladly joined with Anaak and Hatz have been greatly ignored by them. Not sure how but the trio ended up together. During the break, the test administrator, Lero Ro who is also a Ranker (one who has climbed to the tower’s top) thinks there are too many survivors and will trim them. He puts up a water wall called Shinsu. Those who can get through will pass but if a teammate fails, the entire team fails. He believes many of the tower’s trials are based on luck. Khun is worried for Bam but he is already on the other side?! While Bam thinks he wasn’t pushed back, Khun knows he was flushed back with the rest. Luck? So as they wait for others to cross (some like Anaak and Hatz could easily walk through), Lero talks to Bam and answers some of his questions. He hasn’t seen Rachel. The tower is divided into 3 parts and many of them are born and raise inside the tower (Bam wonders if he and Rachel are aliens then). Irregulars are those who enter the tower without being chosen by Headon. Khun and Rak have finished watching others and easily walk through. Others like Shibisu who couldn’t get through, after much pushing, they somehow pass through. It’s time for Lero to go so he warns Bam not to get too close to Khun.

Episode 3
A flashback of Khun. Seems he was betrayed by somebody he trusted, Maria. And because of that his family got exiled. And so his mother’s words not to trust anybody rang true. In the next level, Bam is surprised to see the sky as he has never seen one before. While Rak laughs his ass off, Khun explains it could just be an illusion created by Shinsu. The next test seems to be weird as teams take their turn entering a room. A funny participant hints Bam’s group that if you don’t scream for 5 minutes, you pass. Khun is sceptical and doesn’t believe him, thinking he is only using them as a guinea pig to test his theory. He then gets agitated when he brings up his betrayal past but choose not to kill him. Bam’s group head in next. Hansung Yu is a test administrator and tells them they have only 1 chance to pick a correct door to pass. If they fail in 10 minutes, they will be forcefully removed from the test. Khun starts thinking but he is hesitant about the clues. That’s when his trauma starts playing on his mind. He thinks he remembers them now only because of the similarity in Bam’s eyes. Then suddenly Rak opens the door. They pass! How does he know? Guts. It is revealed that as long as they open any door within 5 minutes, they pass. Khun wonders what this is supposed to test. Hansung says because of his betrayal and distrust, he needs friends who will not hesitate to open the door. Does he not want to protect those eyes like Bam’s? Later, Hansung talks to another test administrator, Quaint. Seems he was sloppy in administrating a test as he thought he would save time. This means only 1 group slaughtered everybody else in just 30 minutes! The next test is a bonus one administered by Lero. Though participant is voluntary and not participating will not put them in any disadvantage, however the winning team is deemed to pass all the test and qualified to climb the tower. Yup, everybody is going to play this one. In this crown game, a team will have a member sit on a throne with a crown. Teams will gradually come in as they fight them off. If the crown bearer leaves his seat, everyone in that arena loses and the process begins again. The team who wears the crown at the end is the winner. While it looked like those who participate early may lose, but if you delay, you may not even get a chance to participate as the game could already be over. So the first match to fight for the crown sees Shibisu’s team going in. Anaak singlehandedly defeats her enemies and then wears the crown herself. Looks like Shibisu can’t take it easy. As the next round is about to begin, Bam thought she spot Rachel…

Episode 4
Nope. Maybe it’s not her. The next round begins with only 2 other teams entering the fray. One of the teams, Phonsekal Laure (the guy who always sleeps) thinks it is a good chance for them to enter now because the one sitting on the throne is at a disadvantage. No matter how long you sit there, other teams will interfere. It is likely the crown will be stolen from under their noses. Laure has a plan. So as he sleeps, he wants Serena Rinnen and Hoh to draw Hatz and Shibisu away from the throne. Once done, Laure wakes up and fires his wave Shinsu at Anaak. This has her dodge while Serena and Hoh attempt to attack her. As she is about to fight back and draws her weapon, Black March resonates. Bam has a tough time holding it down. Serena takes Laure and return to their room. Even if this disqualifies them, it is not worth risking their lives. Anaak crashes into Bam’s cell. She introduces her weapon as Green April, one of the 13 Month Series that King Jahad bestowed upon all his children. She wants him to hand it over since it isn’t his. Lero stops this farce and disqualifies them for breaking the rooms. However Anaak throws Bam a bet. If they can survive till the end of the game, she will give him her Green April. Otherwise he must hand over his Black March. Bam sees no reason to do so. Anaak tells him she intended to kill him and take Black March when the game ends so at least with this, he has a chance. Lero is okay as long as the game can continue. Khun is impressed Bam didn’t give in to Anaak’s threats so Bam credits it to Rachel who told him never to betray. So with the game resuming to see who gets the crown, more teams step in. Everyone thinks they can get it faster but it is Khun who gets it. Then he teases everyone by throwing the crown on the floor just to watch them fight over it. Then he laughs at them because he is holding the real one?!

Episode 5
Khun’s bag seems to be able to clone things. So in order to get Bam to sit on the throne and wear the real crown, hence this distraction. Now that this is done, the teams turn their attention to Bam. However Rak’s might defeats them all in one blow! Next round please. A few teams only enter. But Khun doesn’t want to waste their strength and reserve it for the final round where the strongest will appear. So how? It seems the teams start fighting among themselves! Khun notes that one of the teams is their ally. During the first test, remember how Khun went about and made allies? Yup, these are them. So once they dispose the other teams, they disqualify themselves. On to the final round. All remaining teams come out. However an assassin babe in body hugging suit starts fighting other teams singlehandedly. Bam wonders if Rachel is in this new team. She doesn’t reply. However it seems the new team is help defending Bam despite they are not Khun’s allies. Also, it seems they’re not interested in the crown. Till assassin babe targets Bam so Rachel goes to protect him and gets hit. Hood comes off. Definitely Rachel. Bam then leaves the throne in order to protect Rachel. He gets strike on the head. Bloody. Just then, something inside him awakens. Some fire Shinsu burns up everything?! While assassin babe is down, Bam is going to punish her but Black March disapproves of his emotions getting the better of him and puts him to sleep. We see Lero talking to Hansung about the crown game. It ended with no winner since the crown was burnt up. Lero questions Hansung’s motives to hold this game. Because there is a rule that disallows acquaintances from participating in the same tests. Hansung then reminds him the reason such tests is held. It isn’t to see who is worthy to climb the tower but to expel those with powers who could bring harm to the tower. Anybody fit that description? Lero says no. As he leaves, he asks about ever seeing someone who hasn’t formed a contract with an Administrator use Shinsu without constraints. Only Urek Mazino, an Irregular. Bam has been sleeping for days and Khun wonders if he’ll wake up in time for the next test. Then hear comes Rachel in the flesh. She has a request.

Episode 6
Rachel wants Khun to lie to Bam that she isn’t Rachel. She thinks if both of them together, they’ll become a burden and each other’s weakness. Well, Khun doesn’t want Bam to go through the same betrayal he did so you bet he is going to do that just to keep Bam away from her. So Bam wakes up and Khun just lies to his face about Rachel. But he still gives him hope that he’ll eventually bump into her if he continues to climb the tower. We see Lero explaining team members can be further assigned to 1 of the 5 roles: Fisherman (basically your CQC fighter), Spearman (basically your ranged fighter), Light Bearer (one who illuminates and gather info), Scout (investigate the enemy and assist Fisherman) and Wave Controller (Shinsu user of course). So we have Bam, Laure, Hoh and that assassin chick as Wave Controller. They also take lessons to make a contract? Whoever this creature Bam got, it’s certainly exhausting. Shibisu and Hatz seek help from Bam and Khun. Apparently they’re Scouts so their assignment is to make friends? Yeah, they’re having a blast with Hoh and Laure too as this cute chick Endorsi joins in. When Anaak notices this, she wonders what a Jahad princess is doing here. Yes, both of them are Jahad princesses. Anaak is in possession of Black March since Bam lost the bet. Bam asks if the princesses are related to Yuri. Not quite. Jahad princesses are those recruited to represent capable tribes and families. While Rak is training as Spearman, Khun is trying to find info on some of them like Bam and Rachel. Nothing much. But he is surprised to see the info on Anaak. After becoming a Ranker, she was selected as a princess and was given Green April. But there’s more. She’s already dead. And why is she taking the test again? We see Endorsi and Anaak and others in some game. Anaak definitely targeting Endorsi and claiming all Jahad princesses are imposters. It is hinted that this lizard girl took on the name of her mom. Anaak reveals that her mom lived a happy life but that was taken away when her husband who made great chicken pies got killed by one of the Jahad princesses. Hence her goal in climbing the tower is to kill all of them in the name of revenge.

Episode 7
As narrated, Jahad gave his princesses certain special powers but it also comes with its limitations. One of them is that they cannot bear a child. This is to stop the spread of Jahad’s powers. So naturally Anaak’s mom broke that rule and was killed. Anaak and Endorsi take out each other as Anaak reminisces about her kind days with her mom as well as her last moments. Shibisu bugs Bam since their friend making test isn’t going well. Need help? With Khun’s idea and script, they feed food to Endorsi and Anaak (can’t resist the chicken pie) to help complete their mission. Later Endorsi goes to talk to Rachel who is going under the alias of Michelle Light. She tries to rile her up about Bam being a nice guy and whatever she is seeking at the top of the tower is worth more than him. Hoh seems to be worried. He can’t produce decent Shinsu unlike Bam who can do so easily without even understanding its basics. He wonders if Bam is hiding something. Then some trauma about some bad people stealing his people’s horns. Somebody slips a note to Hoh that would allow him to climb the tower. Lero is not pleased that Hansung has agreed to let Quant co-administer the next test, which is a tag game. Except for Rak and another dude who is sitting it out because they passed their test with flying colours, the rest will participate in this tag game. In addition to the teams stealing each other’s tag to win, the administrator will also have their own tag in which they can steal to win (which is Quant). Of course the reverse is also possible. While everyone is luckily on the same side, except for Bam who is on the other team. So it’s the dilemma of winning this and letting Bam fail. With Khun being selected as the team leader, he puts forth his plan using Shibisu as a bait. Immediately Quant comes hunting Shibisu down and of course this is a trap to capture him using Anaak who is their it. Not going to be easy.

Episode 8
Quant is mad. But he’s just pretending to be tough. With Quant giving them a time handicap, Khun has his teammates initiate the next plan. While Anaak rushes to the top floor, everyone else tries to stall Quant taking the stairs. Too bad they got owned. Quant reaches the top but only sees Khun. He claims Anaak has jumped back down. At this height? Well, she is a Jahad princess. Quant thinks Khun is deceiving him because he might have cloned a lightcube and had Anaak hide inside it and they’re hiding under this bridge. Khun tries to dismiss that so Quant takes his hand and jumps down together. But this is all part of Khun’s plan since Khun’s fall is used as a leverage for Anaak to ride up while Quant falls down. However with Anaak reaching the exit, suddenly Quant is before and steals her tag. Khun’s team loses. Khun laments he failed his team but his teammates are impressed with his strategy as it gave Quant a hard time. Flashback to what really happened. When Quant reached the bottom, Khun then turned up and offered him to go back up. So did Khun betray his own teammates? From what I understand, Khun’s real team are those on Shibisu’s list. As a Scout, he purposely made his team lose so as to leave as many possible hints for Bam’s team. And so it’s Bam’s side now. Some arguing who should be the leader so Endorsi just steps in and claims the leadership. As everyone gets into their position, we see Serena talking to Hoh. She has lost motivation in climbing the tower. Flashback shows her past, living life as a thief. One day she picked the wrong ship as there was a Ranker on board. Her comrades were killed and as she was hiding, Headon came to invite her to climb the tower. Now she has doubts if she could kill those she knows. Hoh is indifferent. They do it just to climb the tower. No matter what happens, no hard feelings.

Episode 9
Endorsi betrays! She beats up a few guys. Why is she doing this? She tells a little story about herself about a fallen noble family adopting a few girls to become Jahad princess candidates. They are ranked based on the tests they undergo. Those who do well are treated with great food and those who don’t are given stale bread. So Endorsi got tired of such food and one day killed everybody else! Anyway, she is doing this to take out some of the Fishermen so that she can guarantee herself to pass. This is also a lesson to Bam that if he wants to climb the tower like that, then go to Rachel. But of course trickery and betrayal aren’t Bam’s style and he won’t resort to it no matter what even if Rachel hates him. Meanwhile Hatz is having a hard time fighting off Quant. Though this is to help setup his other comrades to help him, too bad they already flee, leaving Hatz in a lurch. Quant didn’t like this so he goes to beat them up. Meanwhile Hoh takes Rachel hostage. This is so as to draw Bam out. Then he will take out Bam and with that dude out of the way, he can climb the tower. Hoh is shock when Quant is here. Then Bam sees this. Hoh realizes the letter could be a trap to set him up. As Rachel struggles, Hoh accidentally stabs her. OMG. Rachel dead? Why do I have a feeling I’ll be happy if that happens? Anyway, Hoh thinks the tower chose Bam. Time to expand on his sob story. Everyone he loved was dead before he started climbing. He thinks strength is everything. Had he had that, everyone wouldn’t have died and he wouldn’t have failed to protect them. Now that he has lost everything, Hoh kills himself! Endorsi comes here to fight Quant. With assistance from Bam (who has somewhat copied Quant moves), they put up a formidable fight as Endorsi tricks Quant and steals his tag. Their team wins as the injured and dead are quickly rushed into ICU.

Episode 10
Khun thinks back that those aiming for the Wave Controller position, only 2 can pass. Since Laure is guaranteed to pass, Bam is one of those who have the edge to pass. Assassin babe told him that she isn’t going to pass but warns about Hoh’s jealousy. Khun then removed Hoh’s name from the list. Rak has become small?! He got arrogant passing Hansung and he made him small! Bam returns with news that despite Rachel is okay, but her conditions are severe and this means she will forever be unable to walk. However Bam is still adamant to carry her all the way to the top of the tower. Whatever she wants, he’ll do it. Khun and Rak agree to help him. Then the usual gang go to pay their last respects at Hoh’s funeral. Bam talks to Rachel privately. She breaks down admitting she was so desperate to see the stars that she abandoned him because she thought he was weak and in the way. She thinks he has the right to abandon her now. You know Bam won’t do that, right? After the usual gang drink till they’re drunk, Shibisu confronts Serena because it looks like she is dropping out on her own accord. She’ll find her answer elsewhere. Elsewhere, Hansung confronts another test administrator, Yuga. He knows his real identity as a royal enforcer and his mission to steal Black March and Green April as well as kill Anaak. Yuga wants to fight him but Hansung is superior. In fact, Hansung is pretty much happy to help him in his mission since it is his job to keep out all those who would bring harm to the tower. The results announcement is here and all our usuals pass. Others include Dede Cancho, Blarouge, Paracule, Alexay and Narae. Although Rachel passed, because of her injuries, she is deemed to have failed. Those who aren’t satisfied are made to withstand some pain for a minute? Can’t? You fail. Though Khun passed, he also proclaims his dissatisfaction. It seems he wants to take a test to become an administrator to change the rules and pass Rachel. The test is tough but Hansung brings up another rule that makes Khun ineligible: Only Irregulars can take the test. Gee, that’s when Bam shocks everyone as he reveals that. So while Bam is taken to the test, the rest wait outside as Lero tells them the pros and cons if they help an Irregular. By associating with him, they’ll earn the right to climb the tower by the shortest and quickest route. However they’ll be branded as his accomplices. Everyone has no qualms to assist Bam.

Episode 11
Bam is faced with the Administrator and asked his desires. With that, Bam’s desire to climb the tower with Rachel is approved. On to the final test, it seems to be some underwater trial. Bam and Rachel will be encased in a bubble and wait for net dolphins (seals?) to bring them to their queen who will spit them out on land. If this happens, they win. However there are goblins and worms and striped pigs that are their natural enemies so the roles of the rest are to prevent the net dolphins from being eaten. And there’s also a monster known as Bull who eats everything. Pray you don’t bump into him. Khun assigns roles to everyone. He talks to Shibisu about everyone risking it all to take this test. Everyone is jealous that Bam got what he wanted before even climbing the tower. But it would be a shame for him to lose it. That’s why everyone is trying to prevent that. Bad news when Dede and Blarouge got killed by Bull. Shibisu is next but then it targets the net dolphin. Shibisu distracts it enough to buy time for Anaak and Endorsi to come fight it. These women are still in competition to see who can take down Bull first. If Endorsi wins, she’ll take her swords. Otherwise she’ll be Anaak’s servant for life. Endorsi fights Bull and when it retreats, she goes after it only to realize it might not be displaying its full potential because she got knocked out with its faster speed and stronger strength. Meanwhile Anaak runs into Yuga. He doesn’t bat an eyelid to claim he is her enemy. It seems she has her mom’s necklace. Blinded by rage, they fight but Yuga deals her a lethal blow. It is revealed that he is in control of Bull and this entire test was setup in a way to eliminate Anaak whom he considers as the tower’s trash and enemy of Jahad since she is not an official Jahad princess. After stealing her Green April, Yuga wants Endorsi to redeem herself by killing Anaak.

Episode 12
Shibisu bumps into Yuri… Endorsi trolls us all pretending to kill Anaak. But instead she asks to give Black March so both princesses could go beat up Yuga. Meanwhile all hell breaks loose with Rak and co fighting the goblins and worms. However thanks to Khun’s plan using Narae and Laure doing some underground scanning thingy to lead the striped pigs up and fight the goblins, I guess our candidates are all safe. Khun is confronted by somebody from his own clan. He claims he can take her to Princess Maria since he too is an outcast like him. However Khun rejects his proposal because he is climbing the tower not just to rise to the top of his clan. And that’s the end of that short confrontation. Yuga is still better than the princess and seems it is his plan to kill both of them and use their treason as excuse for him to kill them. You know that won’t happen as Yuri confronts him. He claims he is here to retrieve her swords but since she is here, she’ll do it herself. Yuga tries to be funny but Yuri not impressed with his ‘threats’. Yuga then attacks her but she deflects them with no sweat. Meanwhile Evan sees Hansung to tell him about a Jahad’s assassin entering the test area. However Hansung won’t tell anybody about this because he thinks Jahad’s family should pick up their own trash. Yuri easily defeats Yuga but is warned not to further get involved. It’s fine if she kills Yuga but this would be seen as helping Anaak and this could be troublesome. Yuri backs off but lets her subordinate, Kurdan hammer him to death! One flat rice ball coming up! Yuga’s last words are he sent Bull to kill Bam. He won’t let that Irregular live. Yuri wants to interfere with this test and doesn’t care if it means Bam will fail. However the rest tell her to stay away. Because they all made a promise to climb the tower together. Yup. We all trust Bam! Yeah, if they could only see him taking a beating while Bull tries to eat him! Is it me or is it Bull now many times bigger! Holy f*ck! Bam gets eaten! But remember how he dealt with this the first time? Yeah, explode from within the guts! Yeah! After Yuri retrieves all her swords, she gives her hairpin to Shibisu and wants him to relay Bam a message to meet her at the 77th floor. Bam returns to Rachel and you thought they have finally passed this test when suddenly Rachel gets up and pushes Bam off!!! WHAT THE FFFFUUUUUUUU???!!!

Episode 13
When Rachel abandoned Bam, claiming the tower called her, in actual fact Headon told her straight that she wasn’t the chosen one. Because she was desperate, he gave her that eel test. First thing she complained how this was unfair and that there was no way she could pass it. Hence he made her sit back and watch her saviour AKA Bam do it. And we saw what happened. Headon adds that it is not that she wanted to see the stars. She wanted to become a star herself. To become someone special. Rachel continues to beg and would do anything. In that case, kill Bam with her own hands. After all, she abandoned him, right? First thing she asks for a weapon! Thus Headon gives her a bodyguard whose other ability is to resurrect her once if she dies. During the crown game, she was contemplating how to kill him. Hansung sent assassin babe to test Bam and Rachel was unaware of this plan got caught up. She was shocked Bam protected her. This has Rachel started to grow jealous of Bam because he had all the things she wanted as all the other participants gather around him and become his friends. Making no headway, assassin babe then hinted her to plot against Bam. So this sets up Hoh’s betrayal. Because she misread some sign, she got stabbed. She should have died but her bodyguard used that ability to resurrect her. During Hoh’s funeral when Bam talked to her, she realized that he is the star, not her. Her jealousy and hatred grew as she further bottled those negative emotions up. Then during the final test with Bam talking and giving her lots of motivation about their future, I guess Rachel interpreted it all in a different light. It was then she decided that she needed to kill Bam and replace him as the star!

When Rachel alone was only spit out on land, the rest were worried about Bam. Well, Rachel isn’t technically lying when she said Bull attacked them. Lero confirms that Bam’s body is not found. Yeah, all of you passed. Congrats. Lero then confronts Hansung and wants to know if he planned it all. He laughs and says it was Rachel who decided. Yeah, Rachel hysterical in her room. Hope she’s happy that it’s all worth it. Lero soon quits as a test administrator. He is going to climb the tower to find the truth. So Quant also got fired? With the gang in shock, the only way to honour Bam’s promise is to climb the tower with Rachel. Khun notes to Rachel that Bam really cared for her and she never understood it. Because otherwise she wouldn’t be here. He laments he should’ve met Bam before her. Hansung is glad things are proceeding as planned. Bam is of course alive and is being taken care of in the hands of assassin babe. This is part of the plan to make everyone think he is dead. Assassin babe talks to Bam about Rachel’s betrayal as well as the power he has that everyone wants. Naturally, Bam doesn’t care for all that. She advises him if he wants answers, then climb the tower. But she’ll train him up first. Bam claims the answers aren’t at the top of the tower. They’re where he’ll find and decide they are. Woah. So philosophical. But for now he’ll climb. Gee, that’s a weird way of saying he’ll accept her training.

Tower Oh Mah Gawd Betrayals!
So… WHERE’S THE ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE NEXT SEASON?! Things were getting really interesting (and spiteful because of a certain b*tch) and are they going to really let it end like this?! At least for the anime? Yeah. F*ck Rachel! I’m sure that’s what everybody’s thoughts are right now when they watch the f*cking final episode. We need another season to see this b*tch being served her just desserts. We need another season to see this b*tch’s priceless face when she realizes the object of her envy and hatred is still alive. Oh God, we just need another season, okay???!!! Is that too much to ask without the need to climb the tower?

The problem with this adapted series is that 13 episodes are just too short to tell anything. So it is understandable that when the season ended, a lot of viewers weren’t too happy that nothing exciting or interesting had actually begun. They’re partly right, though. You see, those who don’t read the webtoon will definitely feel frustrated with the way this season ended because it seemingly has gotten nowhere. For those who have, they can tell us that it will only get more interesting and lit once the usual gang starts climbing the tower. Hence this season feels like very basic introduction to the setting and it all. That’s why it would be a real shame if this doesn’t get another season. After all, by the time the anime ended, the webtoon series has become the most popular Korean webtoon around. At the time of this writing, I haven’t heard of any news of it. I’m not sure if there are political elements working in the background because since this is Korean based, the Japanese wouldn’t want something outside their traditional manga to take the bigger slice of the cake. This is the reason why webtoons didn’t really catch on in Japan as the manga industry is trying to keep a tight lease on its traditional rice bowl.

The other problem that contributes to one’s frustration is that there is not enough explanation of this series’ setting. Believe me, I had to go read up a little on Wikipedia and do a little (but lazy) Google just to understand a bit more of this world. Otherwise, I would have been so confused and do not understand what is going on. I believe there is a brief explanation about the towers of this world somewhere in one of the episodes, but it was just a fleeting one that didn’t amount to anything. Perhaps they didn’t want to distract us from the story of the season and those interested can further look it up themselves. As one who doesn’t even read the webtoon, although I got a little enlightened by what I discovered, there are still a lot more stuffs that I still couldn’t understand. Like what inner towers and outer towers, they exist as worlds of their own, etc. There are lots of monsters too other than humans so is this some diverse alien planet or what? Eventually I still couldn’t wrap my head around it so I’m really hoping they adapt another season for this.

But as far as this season is concerned, even though it is all basic and introductory, I believe that some of the tests are not really explained well. Even if I go back and listen to the test administrators explain the rules, I still couldn’t understand them since the way the candidates play and carry them out turned out differently. Like that big tag game, I just don’t really understand it. Generally I think I know what the goal of the game is, but they added a few more rules just to prolong the drama and whatever that needs to be stretched. And boy, was I surprised when I discovered that all the tests in this season are just to see who is fit to climb the tower. So you mean they haven’t even started climbing the real tower yet?! Oh boy. No wonder I’m so confused. I know they want to see who qualifies to climb the tower but with so many tests just to thin out the potential candidates? Can they just let everyone climb the tower and those who are unlucky or unprepared, just die?! Sounds cruel, but isn’t that what happened in the free for all first round test?

The next problem are the characters themselves. There are quite a lot of them but many who don’t matter and those who matter didn’t look like they did matter. For instance, throughout the tests, there are some who failed and dropped out. We never see them again. Which is fine and okay as I figure that you can’t have like 100 main characters climbing the tower, right? You’d think that some characters might make the final cut but then they didn’t pass the test and that’s the end of them. I think there was this young girl, Grey, was it her name? She looked like she had the potential to be part of the final group but then she didn’t pass the tag game so whatever happened to her then, I guess we’ll never know. Do failed candidates just get kicked out of the tower and return to their daily lives? Then there was this huge scary warrior like guy, Ghost, was it his name? The guy who automatically passed along with Rak and was Rachel’s bodyguard. He just suddenly disappeared! Never to be heard of again. At least for this season. Is that their way of killing off this character?! Oh right. He died for Rachel so the b*tch could survive. Still couldn’t wrap my mind why they needed to put in this character, though. F*ck Rachel. Even her bodyguard-cum-weapon died for her.

Then there’s this short distraction in the form of Hoh and Serena. I don’t really understand what the fuss or problem is but I believe Hoh just like everybody else, got their own past and problems to deal with. Because it was not fleshed out properly, we just see bits and pieces of whatever trauma he had. He failed and then he died. Yeah, it escalated quickly but it made you go what just happened? Why was it all necessary? How will this affect the main group in any ways? And then Serena just left like that. You thought she would be part of the main group too. Nah. Trolled you. She’s out on her own accord. Don’t have the heart to kill off pretty babes like her? Okay. Whatever. Not too sure if she would return later as plot twist or plot convenience but certainly this short story for these characters felt like it didn’t matter in the big picture.

Of course Bam, Khun and Rak are the core and main characters of the series. Rak is only the most interesting because of his role as a comic relief character. Yes, this is what I feel he is mostly about. His arrogance and straightforwardness is often played to a comedic effect. Even more so when you see his design go into that chibi mode. He sounds tough and laugh but then again, it’s all for the comedic effect. Do they want us to like this chocolate loving crocodile that much? Going to admit this but despite how annoying Rak is, at least he has much better personality and charisma than Rachel! Yeah. F*ck Rachel. And then there is Khun who is the cool and brains of the group. He also has his own story but as far as I can see in this season, it is just touching the surface. He has his own experience with betrayals so it would be interesting to see the kind of route he chooses as he follows Bam. I hope Maria isn’t his family’s version of Rachel because f*ck Rachel.

And not to mention Bam himself being the main character, he is actually rather ordinary and plain. He might be holding some latent power but at this power he just seems weak. Notice how he often does nothing and it’s his buddies who are protecting and helping him? After all, a lot of us viewers are calling him anime’s biggest simp because of his obsession in chasing down Rachel! Haha! Just no money involved. Yeah, this guy would take Meatloaf’s song to a whole new level because he’d do anything for love and will do just that and everything more for Rachel. No questions asked. His past is also a bit shady and not revealed much but as I read online, because he is an Irregular, as such his status makes him one of the few who could only kill Jahad, which is what the series’ plot now mainly revolves around. Oops, spoilers! I guess it isn’t a joke when really IS THE STAR of the series too! Hahaha! Sorry, bad pun.

Speaking of Rachel, I guess at this point everybody hates this character! Well, hard for me to say because that is only so as we do not know the whole circumstances and the real situation. We are just shown angles that painted Rachel in a bad light. Even more so during the final test as Bam spent some quality time with Rachel, like as though they want to make us feel sympathy for Rachel with Bam really saying positive and sweet words for his beloved. Just when we think it is okay for us to forgive this selfish b*tch and accept her as one of the good guys on Bam’s side, AND THEN THIS F*CKING B*TCH PUSHES BAM OFF!!! OMFG!!! HOW COULD YOU???!!! I think that sealed almost everyone’s disgust for this self-centred b*tch. I want to believe there is more than meets the eye to Rachel’s actions towards Bam but with this kind of level of betrayal, I don’t know if I can trust her anymore after this… Not after the final episode revelation that showed her true colours. That was the last straw. We thought everything she said were thoughts that maybe she still had a heart for Bam. Instead, they were all just twisted jealousy and hatred. If there was a list of the most loathsome anime characters, Rachel will definitely be on that list! Is there a #F*ckRachel tag trending around?

Then the rest of the other characters who are supposedly part of the main group, I guess they are rather okay. Nothing much about them fleshed out yet. Except maybe for Anaak but that also feels a bit shallow for a character of her calibre this season. Then there is Shibisu who feels like the other comic relief character because if Rak is too menacing and loud, then you get this really plain ordinary guy in jerseys to do some funny stuffs for you. Just like how they have Khun x Hatz rivalry, I guess they need one for the girls too, Anaak x Endorsi. More than meets the eye for Laure because he loves sleeping but when the time calls for him to pull off some powerful moves, he gets up. Or you can just take his pillow hostage to force him to do your bidding. One comic relief character, two comic relief characters, do we need a third comic relief character? Yes we do and that is what Paracule feels because he is more of a coward and I can’t believe how this guy made the final cut when other more suitable candidates didn’t. Not that I was really clear on the criteria of selection and passing in the first place. Otherwise, this new third joker sucks. Less charm than Rak or even Shibisu.

Aside the candidates, there are the test administrators who seem to have their own agenda. Oh, who am I kidding, it’s probably just Hansung. At least he gives me that impression. No, not his instant coffee that he loves. So is he an ally of Jahad or a hidden traitor? Then there’s Lero who sounds like the good guy and on the candidates’ side because of his inquisitiveness but you never know. Seeing how he has quit from the way the final exam turned out, looks like he is really in for the truth. So is he a Bam fan too? If only everyone is as simple as Quant. But then again, the integrity of the tower might be in jeopardy if everybody is as simple as him.

On a trivial note, some might notice the difference in the names pronounced from their original. Most notably, Bam. In Japan, it is clear that they call him as Yoru. So why the subs continue to put it as Bam? As I read, Bam means night in Korean so naturally Yoru meant the same in Japanese. But I am perplexed as to why Japanese made this change especially for a main character. It’s just like in the old days where English dubs used to change the main characters’ name (example, Maburaho). I don’t know, does Yoru make him sound a lot like Japanese? Bam doesn’t sound Japanese enough?

And then there is Rachel’s name. Pronounced, Rah-hell. Before you start mocking the Japanese for not knowing how to pronounce names properly (like I almost did here), luckily I did find out that the origins of the name Rachel is from Hebrew. Originally it is pronounced as Rah-hell but somehow the dumb English corrupted and mispronounced it as Rachel till this day. So are you enlightened yet? Now I guess that’s why Japanese pronounced other names like Michael as Mikhail (which also has Hebrew origins). Who feeling dumb right now?! Of course there are other character names that are different in spelling and it is just most likely just that such as Endorsi sometimes is referred to in other media as Androssi. Also I read the creator likes football and hence some of the characters’ names are in reference to football players.

The action sequences are rather okay. While some are good, others just really meh. I prefer when characters get to use their special abilities or see them clash for a while rather than just zip past through. And hopefully, Bam can contribute more to the fight when he is ready the next time rather than letting his pals take on the offensive role.

You may like or hate the art style. Because it really feels like somebody just used a cheap software to animate the entire series! Yes, the art and animation do feel cheap and simple. The colouring and hues also feel the same. Can’t say it is totally cartoonish since the character designs lean more towards standard anime style, which is quite different from the original webtoon’s character designs as I have seen them in comparison. So at some points, say, Rachel may look a bit weird. But who cares because f*ck Rachel. This series is done by Telecom Animation Film who did Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation (the bad one), Orange, Moyashimon, Muteki Kanban Musume and Lupin III films.

There are a few recognizable seiyuus lending their talents here. Namely Saori Hayami as Rachel, Nobuhiko Okamoto as Khun, Daisuke Ono as Laure, Shizuka Itou as Black March, Houchuu Ootsuka as Headon, Yoko Hikasa as the assassin babe (oh, so her name is Hwaryun?) and Kenjirou Tsuda as Lero. The rest of the other casts are Taichi Ichikawa as Bam (Kengo in Hinamatsuri), Kenta Miyake as Rak (All Might in Boku No Hero Academia), Rie Suegara as Endorsi (Altena in Hataage! Kemono Michi), Akira Sekina as Anaak (Princess in Princess Principal), Takuya Eguchi as Shibisu (Julius in Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu), Toshinari Fukamachi as Hatz (Hajime in Arifureta Shokugyou De Sekai Saikyou), Daisuke Kishio as Hansung (Suginami in Da Capo), Hitomi Nabatame as Serena (Yukiji in Hayate No Gotoku), Fumiyoshi Shioya as Hoh (Sora in The Idolmaster SideM), Hiroyuki Yoshino as Quant (Doug in Gangsta), Mariko Honda as Yuri (Kurimu in Seitokai No Ichizon), Kazuyuki Okitsu as Evan (Miyao in High Score Girl) and Shintarou Oohata as Yuga (Doc in Radiant).

Both the opening and ending themes are sung by Stray Kids, a K-pop boy band. Interestingly, both themes have a version sung in Korean (the original one) and the Japanese version (for this series of course). I have to admit that the hip hop of Top (opening theme) as well as Slump (ending theme) have this catchy tune to it despite laden with heavy synthesizer effects. Yeah, I kinda like it! I don’t mind hearing it over and over again for now. Maybe I’ll do a bit of a dance too.

Overall, this adapted anime has a lot of flaws but at the same time it has a lot of interesting intrigues that makes you wish that another season would be confirm as fast as possible. Because this is just introductory, it falls short of expectations. And you know how first impressions count a lot these days… Some will hate it, some will love it and continue to have hope for a continuation. It’s going to be a really divided internet if this series ever gets debated online. Oh wait, is it already? Only another season can help settle this. Webtoons are one thing but anime is an entirely different matter. Yeah, some lazy to read and some just Japan-only purist. Heh. So do I have to climb to the top of the tower just to make that wish of a sequel come true?! Oh boy, sounds like a lot of hassle. Maybe I’ll just wait till a genie lamp drops on my lamp for me to make my wish. So much easier…

P/S: Also… F*ck Rachel!