Here we are at the end of the journey, and yet it sounds like things are only beginning. I know there’s still lots of story ahead of this since this is only the prologue, but it really feels like it’s starting because of the circumstances the characters are in.
As despicable as she is, I think I kind of like Rachel? Not in a good way, but in an entertaining way. I always knew there was something really off about her, and it was cool that we were able to see things from her perspective. The episode was kind of a recap, but we were able to see the start of Rachel’s journey in the Tower, and interestingly, she wasn’t actually chosen. So it makes me question, is Rachel the Irregular instead of Bam since she wasn’t chosen to enter? Or they’re both Irregulars from what it looks like. Either way, it was interesting seeing things from Rachel’s eyes and what she was tasked to do and how it messed with her already weak mental state. She seemed very determined at first but mentally she was sort of falling apart because she was very conflicted until she snapped and finally made her decision. That laugh in her room, which was anime-only I think, was a really nice touch. It really shows how much she’s really lost it after supposedly killing the one person that thought of her as a star. I’m not sure whether that little expression of hers after pulling her face away from her hands means there’s still some guilt in her, or it was the dead gaze of an empty person since that’s basically who she is.
Rachel is horribly selfish. Even though she had someone that basically treated her like a goddess, she only saw Bam as an annoying obstacle. And eventually she was able to realize that he truly was a nuisance, because she knew she couldn’t shine and be a star with Bam alive. It’s kind of sad, but mostly pitiful that she’s so desperate to climb the tower to beg Headon to let her stay when her wish is so stupidly shallow. I knew the “see the stars” wish was bullshit, but her real wish is even worse than I thought. I couldn’t help but laugh at it. I’m not sure if I should be more mad at how stupid it is, but it just made me laugh. There’s people climbing it like Hoh did to help his people, and then you have someone like Rachel climbing it so she can feel special. But Bam isn’t enough, she needs more than that. Bam is in the way anyway because he was able to get everything she wanted, such as power, friends, people that care about him. She’s so desperate for this that she was able to get rid of Bam. It’s insane, she’s insane. She’s literally just a psychopathic child.
But because of that, she still intrigues me. I’ve had a problem with the characters in Tower of God, where I didn’t really like anyone except for Khun who carried the show hard. Characters ranged from boring to okay, with Bam being the most bland and Endorsi being okay. Khun was always the most interesting with his scheming personality and smarts and he was always fun to watch. Rachel was also fun to watch because she was just so weird, but now she’s sealed the deal of being a pitiful psycho, and I’m kind of here for it. Khun’s “I wish I met Bam before you.” HAH! Yeah, this bitch didn’t deserve him. She’s pathetic and I love that even Headon roasted her. Khun giving her that comment means that he probably suspects something is up, as usual with my boy.
But of course Bam is still alive since it looks like Hwaryun and Hansung are helping him, even though she was helping Rachel at first. I don’t really get that but I feel like that’s something that would be explained in another season. Whenever that will be. So far, things seem to be going in Rachel’s favor since everyone is even vowing to help her climb the tower in Bam’s place. Unless Khun finds out, or Bam reappears before them. Whichever comes first.
FINAL IMPRESSION
This finale episode was able to push my score up, but just by a little bit. Tower of God was rough to get through, I’ve made that pretty clear in my reviews. I’m not familiar with the webtoon and I feel like I don’t have to be, because an anime adaptation is supposed to stand on its own. If you need your viewers to be familiar with it for them to understand the anime, then you’ve done a very poor job. And unfortunately, there were so many times throughout the show where I was just completely confused.
The pacing and direction were poor. There were a couple times where I felt that the show was okay, but for the most part it was extremely rushed, which meant that they would forgo explanations in order to move on to the next thing. Most of the tests didn’t even make sense to me because we got zero explanation of the rules so I basically had to suck it up and just…watch and figure it out? Or I was too angry at this running problem and just didn’t bother anymore. It’s very frustrating to have to feel this way for most of the show. Sure, we got a bit of worldbuilding, and when we did it was pretty good. And I know the story purposely leaves things vague so it can be revealed later, but I guess for me it can get a little frustrating being left in the dark for too long.
Another huge problem are the characters. I can point to a few characters and be like, yeah I like them, they’re fine. But I don’t necessarily have any type of attachment to them. Khun is easily the best one out of everyone, and Rachel is such an awful human being that I like that. Everyone else is either okay or just super bland that I just don’t care. Bam is the protagonist, but he was unbelievably bland. He did get a bit of character development during the tag test, but there’s still nothing about him that made me have any sort of emotional attachment. He gets betrayed? Ah well. Not like I was worried he was going to die since he’s the main character. I hope after this event, he’ll be able to grow from here because it would make me lose my mind.
With both the plot/direction and the characters being a bit of a disappointment, I did at least like the animation and the OST. The OP and ED songs are great, even if the visuals aren’t appealing. I saw people complaining about the art style all the time but I always really liked it. It has a very distinct and unique style, which I feel we don’t get enough of. It’s eye catching to me and I quite like it. OST is just great, Kevin Penkin just makes gold apparently.
It seems that I continue to not like any of the shows that Crunchyroll hypes up. I couldn’t even finish one episode of Black Clover, I quit Dr. Stone after a few episodes, and while I finished Tower of God, I leave disappointed. There’re good moments here and there, but it’s bogged down by its many faults. In the end, I can just say that Tower of God was just OK. Not great, not too horrible though I feel like there’s more bad than good. Trying to fit 78 chapters into 13 episodes was foolish to begin with so I probably should have seen this coming, especially since I wasn’t a fan of the first episode. I can’t really bring myself to recommend this to people. Most people just recommend others to read the webtoon and that’s probably for the best. If there’s another season, I might be compelled to check it out since it’s supposed to get better here on out, but I probably wouldn’t bring myself to blog it. Unless it really is that good. For now, I give Tower of God an “eh” and probably a “pass”. It’s not very memorable for me and that always makes me sad whenever I feel this way towards any show. Hopefully, The God of High School and Noblesse end up being better.
5.5/10
