With all the hype this got, and Crunchyroll throwing this in our faces like they tend to do for certain shows, I was kind of looking forward to this since it sounded kind of cool. After watching the episode however…I’m not entirely sure how to feel. I can’t say I hated it but I didn’t love it either. I’m not entirely sure what even happened.
Just to start off, I’m still at least interested enough to check out a couple more episodes. My problem is that this episode felt much too fast with too many things going on, and things just happening without me understanding it. I’ve never been a fan of shows that throw you right into the story as if we’re in the middle of it, while sprinkling in backstories to let us get to know the characters. And ironically, while backstories usually add to the characters, in particular series like this it can feel kind of surface level. Worse when we don’t even know what kind of world the characters live in. Rachel is important to Bam because she rescued him from being trapped underground. Apparently they live in a dark world where they don’t even have any stars, and Rachel climbs the tower to get her wish to see the stars. Where do they live, what is this tower and why does it exist? How is Bam even supposed to meet up with Rachel? I know that some of these questions are going to be answered eventually, but like I said I’m not happy with how the episode set things up. We cleared up the first test, only to switch gears to the second test so quickly. I suppose they wanted to get to the battle royale part immediately for a good cliffhanger since it looks like we’ll get more action. But if the first episode of this was already this fast-paced, then I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon what with it only getting 13 episodes. It kind of makes me worried to be honest.
We see Rachel disappear as she gets her wish granted from the tower. Bam is desperate to be with her again since he seems to have a strong attachment to her, and he somehow opens the gate on his own? And that’s special from what the characters were saying, even though he’s not especially powerful. Honestly, he looks like a lost puppy and he looks like the type of character that would get killed easily, but since he’s the protagonist he won’t. I don’t have any opinion of Bam since he didn’t really stand out this episode. He seems like your typical weak but not weak naive “chosen one” character, and I can’t say that I’m attached to him or anything. He’s kinda feeling like a Gary Stu where he doesn’t know what he’s doing but he’s still strong anyways, fights one of the strongest monsters of the tower and survives, and can still wield a powerful weapon, which said weapon’s spirit (?) accepted him because he’s cute. We heard the cute line twice this episode so I’m just getting worried it’s really falling into those self-insert tropes. I’m also confused how he even opened the door to the tower since it looked like he was just…sucked into it.
Even though I’m complaining, I’m still kind of interested to see more. I do want to find out what’s up with this tower and I’m hoping to learn more about the world they come from and who Headon actually is too. I’m not totally impressed with what we got, and first impressions are pretty important to I’m being cautious with Tower of God. I’m liking the art style and the colors are nice, as well as the OST. I’m hoping there will be enough from this anime that’ll keep me interested because right now I’m very on the fence. Still, I’ll stick around and give it a chance.
Possibility of watching: Moderate
Possibility of blogging: Low
I felt exactly like this when I read the webtoon for the first time at the beginning. There will be more questions than answers for some time, but the world building is outstanding. The fast pacing is because thoughts were cut from the original material and a scene as well. Everything that was cut will be introduced again later. SIU, the author was inexperienced when he wrote these first episodes of season one. If you want more content read the first 5 episodes of the webtoon. It’s free.
Hmm I’ll just see what the anime offers. I’m not sure if I’m interested enough to check out the webtoon, but like I said I’ll give the anime another chance. I’m looking forward to the worldbuilding so I’ll keep that in mind.