A full review:
**Summary: ** (parts credited to various people here)
What do you desire? Power? Glory? Fame? Wealth? Revenge? Or a night sky, full of stars?
In return, what are you willing to leave behind?
Who will you step on? Who will you betray? Who will you kill?
Everything you desire, all the answers you seek, can be found at the top of the Tower. And as the bodies pile higher, all you need to do is climb.
As a young boy chases his dearest friend, he starts climbing this Tower filled with challenges and treason, along and against a diverse cast of characters and factions, each with their own agenda.
Strengths:* Dark, expansive world with in-depth lore. The Tower, now controlled by the Great Families who originally "conquered" the floors, has institutionalized dream-seeking, creating a system of tests designed to weed out the weak and pit the contenders against one another, crushing many dreams in the process. This harsh system has also given rise to a number of individuals or factions seeking to exploit or overthrow the existing order. And many have their eyes on Baam, the "irregular" who entered the Tower without being chosen.
- A diverse cast of characters. From the charismatic (though slightly unstable) Baam to the powerful Zahard Princesses (yes, excellent female characters) to devilish geniuses such as Koon, and of course all-around awesome characters such as Rak (oh by the way, Yu Han Sung is a guy, you've been warned), the story offers a wide range of likeable and interesting characters. In the second arc, Wangnan's much weaker team develops a somewhat touching middle-class family dynamic.
- Interesting system that doesn't rely on just power-ups. Whereas most Shounen manga have succumbed to "everybody is a stand-alone fighter" formula, Tower of God focuses on team formations where non-offensive abilities are as valuable as offensive ones (probably positions that were created when the first conquerors were navigating treacherous caverns filled with dangerous creatures rather than fighting other people). One of the most capable characters of the series, Koon, for example, is valued not for his fighting abilities but for his incredible intellect and resulting leadership abilities, and is respected by his teammates accordingly. In a weaker team, otherwise unbalanced individuals complement each other's strengths and weaknesses to move ahead. All this is helped by...
- Extremely clever trials that challenge not only your power and intellect, but your loyalty as well. Do you work together, or sacrifice a teammate to get ahead?
- Unpredictable plot. This is not a place where you can just punch a few bad guys to get ahead. Baam quickly becomes a victim of the ambitions and politics within the Tower. SIU keeps taking the story in unexpected directions, keeping readers on their toes while shuffling team formations like a deck of cards, resulting in new dynamics every time.
- The art, though weak at first, improves Tremendously over time, with some jaw-dropping artworks at times.
Weaknesses:* Does suffer from "too many side characters syndrome." The cast quickly inflates to a large size, and the fast pace of the story often leaves little room for specific character exploration or development, making it hard to get attached to a number of characters, or leaving you disappointed when you do get attached to characters that don't get explored much. This is later mitigated though, by the fact that the characters get continuous character development and interactions, not just during a few dramatic moments.
- Some arcs are less epic than others. This may sound like a weird thing to say, but is in fact an issue: you get so used to SIU's constant "good" trolling (that takes you in unexpected directions) that you can't help but feel disappointed whenever he takes a relatively easy way out, resulting in a writing that is just "good."
- The art is somewhat poor at first: the background perspective is often off etc. As said, this improves over time.
Overall, Tower of God offers a very good blend of what Shounen series do well: great world building, interesting systems and diverse characters, all the while:* Avoiding many of the common pitfalls that have staled the genre: annoying Jesus-like protagonist, a world that bends over just to make the protagonist look good, simplistic plots that are nothing more but a succession of power-ups and beating up bad guys, and side characters just there to worship the main character
- while adding many elements that are rarely found or done well in this genre: challenges that require intellect and teamwork, complex and entertwining plotlines that give the series an air of mystery, "real" moral dilemnas etc.
This blend of qualities means that, even when it doesn't excel at a particular aspect, especially if you look outside the Shounen genre (not the best character development, not the best fights, the puzzles don't necessarily compare to say Liar Game), it nevertheless reinvigorates a genre that has too often succumbed to the formulaic. This, imho, easily makes Tower of God one of the best ongoing Shounen series out there.
(+46)
(-30)
