Tower of God (Episode 1) – Ball
Rachel left Bam behind as she entered the Tower of God, hoping to see the stars. She’s been his only friend and she had gone. Then, somehow, Bam is summoned to the tower and must climb to the top if he is to see Rachel again!
What happened?
Bam found himself in a strange room where he was greeted by an even stranger being. He claimed to be the caretaker of the Tower of God and explained what happened next. If Bam can climb to the top of the tower everything will be his. He can have whatever he desires. However, this is the first floor and to get to the next, he must destroy a ball guarded by a giant white silver eel. With his heart set firmly on seeing Rachel again, he steps forward without hesitation. But then a girl appears from nowhere and kicks him to the ground. It turns out that she is a princess and is trying to stop him from getting killed. When she realises that he will not turn back, she offers him a sword to protect himself. Bam accepts the loan and steps forward!
What did you think?
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one. At times, the animation looked amazing and the rough lines of the animation added to the mysterious effects of the scene and other times, it looked a little sloppy. I thought the concept was interesting and in a way reminded me of Divine Comedy where Dante has to advance through the seven circles of hell. Is this somehow the reverse of that and once Bam climbs the various floors will he be reunited with Rachel. I felt like Bam was an odd character and I’m not completely sure how I feel about him. I liked that he’s determined, but he also seems to be clueless and had Yuri not stepped in (literally) he wouldn’t have lasted a couple of minutes.
What have you learnt?
One thing that I think Tower of God did very well was that it set our expectations and gave us a goal to watch the hero strive toward. Bam wants to climb the tower to see Rachel once more. Great! That’s a nice simple idea that we can all get behind, but don’t worry, that doesn’t mean we won’t have mysteries to solve. The structure of this story seems like it will lend itself quite nicely to dropping us into various levels where we have to work out what is going on.
Already, from this episode, my guess is that the tower exists in all time, but the inside is outside of time. That’s why there were varying characters on the second level. It would also explain why there were so many of them. I also think that Rachel may already be at the top of the tower and that’s how Bam got in. This series is definitely going to give me a lot to write and speculate about if nothing else.
Other reviews in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – Ball
- Episode 2 – Three Four-Hundredths
- Episode 3 – The Correct Door
- Episode 4 – The Green April
- Episode 5 – The Crown’s Fate
- Episode 6 – Position Selection
- Episode 7 – Lunch and Tag
- Episode 8 – Khun’s Strategy
- Episode 9 – The One-Horned Ogre
- Episode 10 – Beyond the Sadness
- Episode 11 – Underwater Hunt (Part One)
- Episode 12 – Underwater Hunt (Part Two)
- Episode 13 – Tower of God
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Great review! I agree that I don’t know how to feel about Bam yet but I hope in time I’ll like him more. I already like the blue haired guy, he’s probably going to be my favorite character in this series. I might like Yuri too maybe, she gives me a tiny tsundere vibe.
I hope this anime will live up to its expectations, the manhwa is supposed to be fantastic from what I’ve heard.
Absolutely, I don’t know much of anything about the story, but am well aware of its popularity. Hopefully, it will start to delve into the characters and the world as we progress. I think there’s a lot to discover and I’m looking forward to it.
As a huge TOG fan I have to say that you are in for a world of fun and mystery. As this is the One Piece of Manhwa.
Excellent. I’m already looking forward to unravelling everything, but that’s good to know.