Tower of God’s Unnecessarily Large Number of Chapters Led to its Inevitable Downfall Even the Anime Cannot Save

SUMMARY

• Tower of God is one of the popular action and dark fantasy manhwas celebrated for its world building and character designs.
• Reddit fans point to the underlying problem with the manhwa that renders it a saga owing to the lengthy chapters.
• Despite the webtoon's popularity, the series isn't exempt from the relentless failure.

From its world-building to its characters, Tower of God is par excellence. The manhwa is a refreshing take on shonen especially with its compelling storyline. What makes it better is the use of a leveling trope. Most manhwas like Solo Leveling and The God of High School reflect this device. The series, however, tweaks it and adds a unique flair to it. But there’s a catch to it.

Bam in the anime | Credit: Telecom Animation Film

Despite its popularity, the series is heading towards its ruin. This is due to the lengthy chapters and pacing. Several Redditors took to the internet to express their disappointment in the series. While most critiqued the series, others remained indifferent to the opinion. Regardless of that, it doesn’t negate the age-old pacing issue that even the anime cannot fix despite its success.

Tower of God feels more like a saga due to the lengthy chapters

Written by S.I.U, Tower of God is a dark fantasy manhwa that follows the journey of Bam. As an irregular, Bam navigates his life inside the tower while facing challenges. Unlike most characters, he can withstand the pressures and level up. Irregulars are far-fetched from the status quo and can enter the tower easily. Despite the series’ popularity, its length remains a caveat to its success.

Khun and Bam | Credit: Telecom Animation Film

This holds especially true with its climax. The series peaked in its writing, art style as well as world-building. To top it off, it navigates a spectrum of emotions ranging from betrayal to vengeance. While it adds another feather to its cap, the manhwa fails to sustain engagement. Especially with its lengthy episodes and hiatus that render it a saga as most fans point out.

A thread on r/manhwa pointed to the eventual downfall of the series as a whole. The discussion garnered an array of reactions nonetheless.

There are several reasons for the manhwa’s pacing. Despite that, most fans alternate between the animated series as well as the text. One would deem the anime as a saving grace but it is quite the opposite. Especially through the erratic nature of the animation quality.

The curious case of erratic visuals in the anime

From characters to fight scenes, season one of the series had some stunning visuals. It isn’t flashily done as one would expect most Shonen series to be. This holds especially true with the watercolor-esque visuals in the first season. What makes this interesting is that the studio doesn’t use over-the-top techniques. The second season, however, disappoints in more ways than one.

Yuri in a still from the anime | Credit: Telecom Animation Film

Along with the issue of pacing the second season fails to capture the brilliance of the manhwa. The underwhelming visuals are being attributed to the change in the production studio. The erratic visuals in the series coupled with its incongruity with manhwa make it a complete disaster. This problem resounds in the mangaka’s views on animated adaptations. But there’s more to it.

While most people would attribute budget to production, that isn’t the case. Considering the animation industry and its controversies, it isn’t surprising. The lack of creative liberty and brutal working hours is one possible reason. However, most believe that studio directors are complicit in a series’ downfall.

Tower of God is available for streaming on Crunchyroll. The manhwa is available for reading on Webtoon.

Written by Himanshi Jeswani

Articles Published: 218

An avid reader and writer traversing around the world of anime, manga and all that jazz.