Posted in: Anime, Crunchyroll, streaming, TV | Tagged: anime, Crunchyroll, Review, tower of god

Tower of God: A Solid Season 1 Start, A Promising Season 2 Future

To get up-to-speed on Crunchyroll's Tower of God, check out our thoughts on the first season overall and the first two chapters of Season 2.

To prepare for the second season of Crunchyroll's Tower of God, I decided to binge on the first season – needless to say, it was right up my alley. I mean, who does not live a story filled with twists and turns, promises, love, and betrayal? It was a smooth watch, and in just a few hours, I was done and already waiting for this second season. I do not know what I was expecting, but now I am here for it and quite invested in this universe, the story, and its characters.

The story filled Bam, who has no memories prior to meeting Rachel and being cared for by her. The backstory develops simultaneously with the present through flashbacks of their time together before she chose to climb the tower to see the stars, and we realize how crappy she truly is. Along the way, we see how other competitors gravitate toward Bam and start working together and helping one another until betrayal unfolds, and we start seeing who is who behind the masks they put up.

I usually watch anime in Japanese at first – however, I gave this a try in English and still kept the subtitles as it is sometimes hard for me to understand what is being said. But the English CC subtitles were definitely not the way to go. It just seemed like AI was transcribing what it was hearing, and it was hearing all kinds of wrong. Bam's name was spelled wrong and differently pretty much every time it was uttered. As was Kuhn's— at times had stars as if it were a curse. I wish I had taken pics of all the lines and words that made me pause and laugh out loud. I had to turn it off since it distracted me at some points, and it would not be fair to judge the anime because of this (I did enjoy the English dub, though).

The first season was very fun to watch, though. I should have known Rachel was going to be a hot mess since her eyes kept looking like Mac on "The Nightman Cometh" episode of FXX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Man, did I end up hating her so much more than I thought possible. Along with that, the anime did a fantastic job with the characters. I love how each of them organically grows and how they are not just clean-cut good/bad. As always, I have a soft spot for the good boi that would go to all lengths for those they love; of course, it was written in the stars that I would love Bam. Then we have my other soft spot: white hair. And Khun did not disappoint. He reminded me of Killua so much. However, I ended up really appreciating most of the characters climbing the tower along with Bam – especially Rak, who made me laugh so much so many times that it cemented my liking for the anime.

This brings us to the writing. It was effective storytelling, taking us through many loops that had us second-guessing who everyone truly was under the facade they put up during the competition. It moved fast, but the pace matched, and things came together beautifully. I wish we could have gotten to know more about the characters and what happens next after Rachel betrays Bam. We can definitely tell Bam will never be the same after this, and rightfully so.

The second season started off strong, though, and the animation was much more beautiful. They definitely upgraded this season (check out Adi's reviews of the first two episodes). Some time has passed since the end of the previous season, and we get to meet a new cast who is competing to climb the tower this time around, gathering on the 20th floor. Wangnan seems to be the good boi this time around, and we see Bam shrouded in shadows, seemingly joining a gang that is trying to end the royal family. After clearing the first task, the group that makes it is to be measured by their shinsu power. This task will determine who moves on to the next level as they are ranked by their strength.

We see Bam has become insanely powerful and makes it to the next level. When asked to choose a team, those who meet him in the first episode ask him to pick them, but after a not-quite-kindly, he declines and wants to proceed alone. What a difference from the Bam in the first season, which everyone tried protecting. The story sets up a solid and promising base for challenges to come, and I am very curious to see where things lead from here with Crunchyroll's Tower of God. I am also curious to see what has Nevins of that leech, Rachel, and of Bam's friends since we last saw them. I hope there is also some of the sweet Bam we met before somewhere in there.

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