TOWER OF GOD STREAM OR SKIP?

 

INTRODUCTION

The South Korean masterpiece illustrated by SIU that webtoon readers have admittedly been committed to since June 30th, 2010, finally gets an anime adaption through Crunchyroll in 2020. A wave of nostalgia hit fans upon witnessing their seemingly popular webtoon get its own anime. This highly acclaimed anime arguably peaked and hailed its well-deserved title.

Tower of God, a standard action-shounen anime, is about the same old coming of age story in a supernatural world, revolving around underdog characters you will find yourself rooting for throughout the series. Filled with exaggerated fights to the brim, usage of lots of powers, emotions welling up to the max, and the not so uncommon portrayal of the "power of friendship," Tower of God indeed lives up to all the shounen stereotypes. It is a full-blown package if you're into that stuff.

Now let us jump right onto its plot.

 

PLOT

The plot centers around a boy called Twenty-Fifth Bam, who unfortunately had been trapped at the bottom of an immense, humongous, and mysterious Tower, apparently ever since he was a kid. All these years, he had been suffering alone there until a girl named Rachel shows up. Legend says, if you manage to make it to the top of the Tower of God, any wish that you have will be fulfilled. Rachel, who joins Bam, had enough of this morose environment and decided to ascend the Tower. Bam, who couldn't risk being left alone, once again follows her, and they both embark on this dangerous mission to conquer this eerie Tower. Little did they know that many intense battles and challenging tasks await them.

The pace is perfect, not too fast, not too slow. It's the perfect combination of drama and thrill, with every little scene so detailed and engaging.

Next, let's take a look at the stage animation and direction of the anime.

 

STAGE, ANIMATION, AND DIRECTION

Tower of God is a mysterious realm of its own that hosts plenty of undefined beings and unique environments. The anime series showcases Shinshu, a strange magic property found within the Tower varying in concentration depending on the floor. Each floor is home to unknown intelligent species whose status doubles as you go up the Tower. Every character must fight them and go through several challenging missions and battles to get to the top.

The art style is beautiful. The animation is fluid, which makes the fight scenes ever so engaging and mesmerizing to watch. The visuals and colors are bright and vibrant enough to catch our eyes; the direction has been done brilliantly. Directors made it sure to make this series splendid enough, so we don't feel like taking our eyes off the screen for even a second.

 

SOUNDTRACKS

This brilliant series' opening and ending themes have been done by a popular and highly praised South Korean boyband group called Stray Kids. The music is incredibly catchy and fun to listen to. Mostly whenever it plays in the backgrounds, you're bound to feel those goosebumps soar up. Viewers who were already hard stans of Stray Kids were greeted with a feast they never asked for.

Let's take a look at our characters now, shall we?

 

CHARACTERS

All the characters are very unique. Tower of God is steeped in diversity when it comes to characters. Members of SIU made sure to include many different races. The portrayal of different characters, each with its own style centering around a specific theme, has also been impressively done.

 

BAM 

                                                          the protagonist of the series, known for his adventurous and inquisitive nature, Bam is empathetic and caring. He’s given a tremendous amount of power and strength right off the bat, which makes him slightly uninspiring, unlike what you would expect from a usual shounen protagonist.

RACHEL 

Rachel is a social butterfly who loves being around people and enjoys being guided. A little tomboyish, who is always present wherever she is, making her popular among her peers. Her friendly nature is also very likable.

KHUN AGUERO AGNES

 

A Character known for his tactics and schemes, Khun wears a facade of a creative architect who enjoys spicing things up in front of him. On the other hand, he has a deep and darker side to him as well. Overall, he is very knowledgeable.

RAK WRAITHRAISER

Rak owns a very action and adventure-loving personality who loves being the center of attention, making him popular among others. He acts tough but is a softie inside.

 

ANAAK JAHAD

Her striking green tail and green skin gives her a unique appearance. She, too, is a fan of exploring. However, her laziness and arrogance are one of her few flaws.

ENDORSI JAHAD         

                                                             

A natural-born leader who has a very ambitious and decisive nature, her charismatic personality makes her personally one of my favorites. Initially, she was very cold, but she opened up after meeting Bam and took on an authoritative team role.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

For ardent shounen lovers, Tower of God is a treasure. It covers all the usual cliches and stereotypes, making it very easy for viewers to feel familiar with what they're watching. However, the extra touch of staging the series in a magical, vast steampunk universe indeed serves the series a few additional points. The battle world amplifies the entertaining elements of the shounen trope by a great deal. Combined with a diverse cast of characters and a fantastic soundtrack, Tower of god's anime adaption also stayed loyal to the webtoon's storyline and art style.

In conclusion, Tower of God was definitely not a disappointment but an astonishingly compelling series that will immerse you in its winning plot and keep you hooked to its captivating list of amiable characters. With all that said, now, I will come to what we all have been eagerly waiting for,

 

THE FINAL RATING

Keeping in mind all the fantastic elements and little flaws, Tower of God deserves a final rating of 9/10!

I'm pretty sure now I must have convinced you to go watch the series right now if you haven't because you absolutely cannot miss out on greatness.

Don't forget to check out the podcast Amerime Junkies Zombie Survival Plan

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GOD OF HIGHSCHOOL IS IT WORTH THE HYPE?

 

Avid fans have ardently followed GOD OF HIGHSCHOOL, a South Korean webtoon written and illustrated by Yongje Park since April 8th, 2010. On July 6th, a much-awaited anime adaption series made a grand debut through MAPPA. The seemingly popular webtoon had hoarded quite a lot of expectations by the viewers for the recent anime adaption. The webtoon itself was fun and engaging, although many would argue and say otherwise for its anime-compeer.

During the olden times, Gods, Demons, and Humans lived together. Demons were a threat to humans, so the Gods decided to lend their powers to humans creating the "borrow power" system. However, a time soon came when the Gods split the world into three different realms, the Demon, Human, and God realm. Since then, humans have been able to use these borrowed powers, but can never at any cost attack the Gods with it.

God of Highschool is your average action-shounen anime set in the usual and pervasive supernatural world.

Is the plot any different, though? Let's have a look.

 

PLOT

The plot centers around a 17-year-old high school student, with a very predictable motive, background, and story. "The God of Highschool" is a martial arts tournament arranged by a dubious organization suspected of evil intentions. They plan to bring high school students from across the country and make them fight each other to see who's the strongest. The winner as a prize gets to have a wish fulfilled by the hosting group, no matter what.

Mori, our protagonist, gets highly intrigued by the competition and, of course, decides to take part in it. There he comes across various fighters with unique styles of fighting. Participants not only use their skills at martial arts but also battle using their "borrowed powers." Lucky for Mori, he gets to be in a team with a bunch of incredibly powerful characters with whom he intends to taste victory.

The plot is pretty decent, although exceptionally slow-paced, predictable, and annoyingly repetitive. Many readers of the original webtoon also complain that several scenes were missed in the anime series, and it wasn't delivered well enough.

Nothing exciting here. Let us see what the anime's animation has to offer.

 

ANIMATION

Combined with an exquisite art style and fluid animation, God of high school successfully redeems itself in this department. Overall, the animation and the fight scenes are pretty generic; however, they are equally entertaining and occupying to watch as any other famous and typical shounen fights you'd find in the anime sphere. The creators made sure to stay loyal to the original webtoon art style, which served as a plus point. The direction also has been brilliantly done.

 

SOUNDTRACKS

Soundtracks might not be as crucial for an anime as other elements, but it definitely adds a little razzle-dazzle and amplifies the anime's greatness if it's good enough. God of high school's opening theme is a certified banger, created by a talented artist called Ksuke. The song was made for this anime, and its amazingness confirms that. Its unquestionably one of the best parts of the whole series.

 

CHARACTERS

With a limited list of a pretty nonexclusive bunch of characters, God of high school does not bring anything new to the table. However, each character having individual and impressive combat skills is a refreshing factor in this typical shounen trope. It's also hard to notice that every character has an individual motive behind why they want to win the tournament. It gives a little more background to them and helps us understand the character's nature. Here I will discuss only a few of the main characters.

 

JIN MORI

Mori, the protagonist, was raised by his grandfather, who also played a massive role in training Mori to become the undefeatable fighter that he is today. Eating, sleeping, and fighting are the only things he's good at. Besides that, his character reminds me of a walnut. His sole purpose in life is to be at a top. Mori is, as you can assume, already pretty dull and uninspiring for a shounen protagonist. Although he has a dorky personality, the major components of his character are pretty mainstream.

 

HAN DAEWI

Han Daewi is a fellow ex-combatant of a legendary duo called "MAD COWS" that had once complete control over the entire Gangnam area. He joined the GOH competition intending to save his ill friend, who he worked several part-time jobs for, to pay the medical bills before entering the competition. Daewi is known for his impressive fighting skills and incredible strength. His story shows that not only is he astonishingly very hardworking, but has a heart of gold as well.

 

YUU MIRA

Yuu Mira is a compelling character who pretends to be fragile but is secretly a badass. She had been training since childhood and is an excellent, skilled sword fighter. She deems strong, powerful men to be her type. Ever since she was a little girl, the fact that she needs to marry a strong man to resurrect the family's sword style was drilled into her mind. To look for the man of her dreams and to save the family's name, she enters GOH.

 

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

The artwork and the soundtracks are unmistakably among some of the most enjoyable parts of the series. The sporadic yet fluid fight scenes absolutely keep your eyes glued to the screen. The plot is very generic but still pretty entertaining. It has the inevitable element of generating curiosity and the eagerness to witness the mystery of "what's going to happen next?" unfold as each episode progresses, and that is sufficient enough for an anime to be included in your to-watch list. After going through each element of God of Highschool anime one by one, it is safe to give it an overall rating.

I am now coming to the most awaited part of the review.

 

THE FINAL RATING

The God of Highschool gets a rating of 7.5/10!

Even though a few factors were beyond constructive critique's reach, some flaws are still hard to not notice. Considering all the right things and the wrong things, this will be my rating. If you made it this far, I would like to add, give the series a try, and see if you think the same!

P.S Check out the podcast Amerime Junkies 

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