The webcomic site known as Webtoon hosts hundreds of wonderful stories that might go right under the radar of people who have never heard of the site. The new and popular Netflix show,Heartstopper, originated from a comic and can be found on Webtoon, but it’s not the only comic on the site that has had an adaptation. Crunchyroll has taken several Korean comics and begun toturn them into anime shows, andTower of Godis no exception.
While adaptations are nothing new in the entertainment industry,even unofficial adaptations, comics tend not to appear as often. It might not seem like it since new Marvel and DC movies continue to make their way onto the market every year, but many webcomics are so whimsical in their fantasy settings, it would be nearly impossible to make them live action. That’s why most comics are picked up as anime, and why they largely go unnoticed in the west, where anime is fairly popular but nearly as popular in the east. Consider looking at Webtoon to start reading the stories you’re missing, and don’t forget to check outTower of Godand see for yourself why it and itsexcellent anime seriesare so popular.
Tower of God: Comic’s Origins and Where it’s at Today
Tower of Godfirst began its publication in 2010, and its official English translation began to publish and catch up in 2014. This means the comic saw ten years of content beforethe comic’s adaptationcame along in 2020, beginning the long journey to making all of those pages of comics come alive. The main character, Twenty-Fifth Baam, more commonly referred to as just Baam, is an outsider who opens the titular tower of god in pursuit of the only person he can remember in his life, Rachel. He gets pulled into a fantastical world full of tests and people alike trying to kill him as he keeps trying to climb the tower to find her, forced to learn the ins and outs of the tower and its politics quickly if he has any chance of surviving. Luckily, he’s got a knack for making friends that are willing to help him out along the way.
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The author, SIU, has been writing and drawing the comic ever since its initial publication, only taking a handful of breaks recently for health related reasons, but still promising to come back to make more content, and so far, he has kept all of his promises. With currently three separate ‘seasons’ that SIU has put together, there are over 500 installments in the comic on Webtoon that are slowly but surely piecing the story together, and still more are on the way. Follow through from Baam’s humble beginnings where he learns the rules of the tower, and stick around for the death-defying tests and the whimsical weapons and powers everyone seems to have in the tower.
Season One of Tower of God is a Faithful Adaptation
Season one of the anime follows the entire story arc of the comic’s first season. That’s 79 of the over 500 available installments of the comic, put together in 13 episodes of theTower of Godanime. In this season, we are introduced to the tower and the different concepts we need to know in order to be able to follow along with the rest of the story. If you’re just being introduced to the show, whether reading the comic for the first time or watching the show, you’re going to have many of the same questions that Baam has. You won’t know what shinsu is, or understand why rankers are so important, so you’ll be learning alongside him. This helps introduce you to the world in a calm and contained environment before the real story begins.
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This season is also one of the longest tests in the comic, as it shows us how they weed many people out before they really begin climbing the tower, and it introduces a lot of the important characters that we’ll keep seeing again and again. There’s not a single character missing that we meet in the comics in season one, and there isn’t a single stage we’re missing from this test either, showing us everything from the first meeting between Baam, Khun, and Rak, to the special event crown game, even to the challenging final tests of this floor and to whoever makes it out alive. All it does is shorten some of the explanations we get to make the plot more cohesive in the anime, and to make it fit in a single season.
Still on the Lookout for Tower of God Season Two
Even though the show was released in the spring of 2020, there has not been any word on a season two. It was reported thatseason two was being worked on, but the last official news we have is still from 2020. Though there is no official confirmation on a second season, and there’s no information on when we might even expect one, there is no official cancellation either. The writers could still be hard at work writing the second season. It wouldn’t be the first time ananime has taken a couple of yearsbetween seasons.
What we can expect from season two, if it does come, is to not only get more into the story, but to find out more about the politics ruling the tower. In the comic’s second season, both new and familiar faces alike will team up as they work their way up the tower, running into the gang FUG, a resistance of sorts who don’t care who they fight if they stand in their way. With 337 installments in the comic’s season two, a significantly larger number than season one, it’s likely the show will cut the story up into several seasons to be sure they can get all the details. If they don’t, well, you should expect a long season ahead. For now, all we can do is wait and hope we’ll hear something soon.
