Tower of God Series Review: Climb

Series Positives

As often as I can, I try not to give away any spoilers, no matter how small. However, in the case of Tower of God, there is one thing I have to say because I absolutely, one-hundred percent, want to see a sequel.

The story never actually makes it to the titular tower in this installment, and I feel you need to be fully aware of that fact before you start watching.

Now, having this show not reach the tower wasn’t much of a problem; that is why I feel okay with revealing such a detail. What was the problem, if you want to see it as one, was that this series ended on a colossal high note. Everything was building and building, and rather than a release, Tower of God leaves you hanging without any promise of a continuation.

Part of the reason I am recommending this show is in the hopes of building a demand for a second season. But the bigger reason why I am recommending this show is that it was so damn good. From beginning to end, this series had me hooked, and it only got better the further it went along.

To be honest, Tower of God’s story, while strong, wasn’t anything spectacular. Here was a tale about a group of adventurers who had to fight their way through a trial of ever increasingly difficult tasks. Yeah, I’ve seen this many times before.

That said, Tower of God did manage to catch me by surprise, and not many shows can do that nowadays. I’m not at all saying this story was paper-thin or paint-by-numbers. This was an addicting and very well-told narrative, plain and simple. Much of that credit has to go to this series’ animation and music.

Tower of God had atmosphere. It could be tense, thrilling, scary, silly, you name it, and everything was in balance. When this show was serious, it was serious. When it was funny, it was funny. When it needed to grab your attention, holy s@#$ did it grab your attention.

But putting aside the fun story, amazing visuals, and kickass soundtrack, the best aspect of Tower of God was its characters.

Bam was an excellent protagonist. There is a massive difference between a character who is woefully naïve and one that doesn’t resort to violence as a first option. Although there were instances when Bam was a bit too trusting, he had no reason not to be. After all, he started this series with no memories. He had yet to run into anyone who had broken their word. As a result, Bam’s attempts to mediate a peaceful solution within a group that mostly only knew death and pain wasn’t irritating. Plus, when he had to, Bam wouldn’t run away from a fight.

Aguero Khun was my favorite character in the show because he had a fascinating backstory. Every action he took could be traced back to something from his past. For a series that is not yet finished, Khun had the most thorough story arc. Additionally, he was the one person in the group who was always two steps ahead, which made him as formidable as he was interesting.

And then there was Rak Wraithraiser. I don’t have much to say about him except that he was hilarious.

Keep in mind, that was only the three main characters. Tower of God had a full cast of people who grow into a collection worth following. I know I want to see where they will go next. Not to mention, there were certain developments at the end of this installment that sort of threw a monkey wrench into everything.

This was the first series of 2020 that not only deserves a sequel but also desperately needs one.

Series Negatives

There were two things that Tower of God had trouble with presenting.

The first had to do with the explanation of its world. More to the point, there were a ton of series-specific terms that were poorly defined, if at all. There was a lot of lore in this show, and most of it was told exceptionally fast and in one go. I highly suggest that if you want to retain everything that gets said, have a pen and paper next to you.

Fortunately, I can tell you that Tower of God never went so far as to contradict itself. There were rules to this universe, and the story did well to follow them. The problem was, there were just so many rules, and quite a few never felt relevant to what was going on.

The second issue came near the end of this installment.

Although most of the characters in Tower of God were well-rounded, by the time episode thirteen hit, there were a handful of people still in this series who had done nothing. For the majority of this show’s run, there was a persistent existence of background fillers. Well, some of these background fillers got upgraded to being part of the remaining cast. And for the most part, I had no idea who they were or why they were suddenly given so much importance.

It wasn’t that big of a deal since these characters didn’t take away from the people who Tower of God had spent time getting to know. Honestly, though, this is simply another reason why this series needs to have a second season.