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「ご飯と鬼ごっこ」 (Gohan to onigokko)
“Lunch and Tag”
We’ve now passed the halfway point with Tower of God. And while I knew the anime wasn’t going to attempt anything like a comprehensive adaptation, on the whole the pacing is more measured than I expected. There are certainly some details being glossed over and some exposition has been nudged from implicit towards explicit (including this week) but on the whole that seems to be happening as a result of transitioning from manhwa to anime as much as to speed things along. When the anime ends it will have adapted something under 20% of the source material anyway, so not rushing things too much (which would have been largely fruitless) was the right call.
One of those nudges was the explanation of the princesses of Jahad, which took on more of an infodump character in this version than in the manhwa. But it’s necessary information, and it does frame the actions of Endorsi and Anak. As we now know, the princesses are chosen, not born into their role – “shoes on display”, as Endorsi puts it. The cardinal rule for these women and girls is that they must remain celibate and childless – which explains what happened to Anak’s mother. And why she resents a “legitimate” princess like Endorsi. But the irony here is that Endorsi resents Anak just as much, because she came by her powers in what we would call the traditional way – she was born with them.
The fierce rivalry between two leads to their literal fall from grace, with the serious but non-fatal injuries the examiner promised. That proves lucky for Shibisu and Hatz, who are two names short of the ten-friends quota and at the end of their rope. While it’s Bam who pleads with Khun to assist, Khun is the one who comes up with the plan to get them across the finish line. With the princesses being a captive audience, the practicalities of daily life outweigh their pride (you can’t eat pride). And chicken pie holds a special prominence in Anak’s heart…
Meanwhile, Hoh seems to be growing increasingly resentful of the ease with which Bam is mastering Shinsu (though he got an assist from Laure for replacing his soiled pillow). Hoh comes to the attention of someone who sees his growing desperation as an opportunity. And Rachel is eating nothing but overripe apples on closeout and her room is turning into a disaster area, and she doesn’t take kindly to Endorsi’s questioning of her motives where Bam is concerned (especially the remark about whatever she’s chasing at the top of the tower being more important than Bam).
The next stage? A game of onigokko – with the erratic Quant placed in charge (to Lereo-ro’s horror). With the exception of the few (including Rak) who have already passed, everyone’s survival in climbing the tower depends on the results – which presents a conundrum in Bam and Khun being on opposite teams. If Bam’s team (featuring Quant as “it”) loses, he’s out. This plays into the message that Khun has been trying to impart to his young friend – climbing the tower is a zero-sum game, and you succeed at the expense of others’ failure. But is Khun really so willing to cast aside his friendship (or his curiosity) with Bam so easily?
Quite a solid, if unspectacular, adaptation of the source material thus far. Honestly better than my (admittedly pretty low) expectations from it being a ‘CrunchyRoll Original’ series.
Looking forward to how the rest of this arc pans out in anime form
I have no bone to pick with a grade of solid if unspectacular. Though I will say given that it’s a Korean source material I was expecting a pretty sketchy pass at it by anime, so even if this isn’t exactly Made in Abyss quality production values they’re still better than I expected, as is the direction and casting.
Wow, they managed to expand Hoh’s relationships with Lauroe and Baam and honestly? The changes here were for the best, the only thing they skipped was the explanation of what a “Bang” is, I hope it’ll be touched in the next episodes because it’s definitely important
I can’t imagine they’ll skip that – it’s a pretty important point where
nenshinsu is concerned.I find this series quite very hard to gauge. I love the overall worldbuilding even if they admittedly cut corners in the adaptation (based on the manhwa readers). The art and animation is endearing and is growing on me. However, I find the main character Bam insufferable and Rachel downright infuriating. Of course, I’m sure their characters will develop over time. Thankfully, the supporting characters are all so wonderful they keep me interested with the whole show. I am still wary though because I am allergic to anime series more than 2 cours and this looks like to be one LONG journey if it picks up 3 or 4 more seasons.. I don’t have that much of an attention span for long series.
I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that last one – I expect this to be one cour and done, though I hope I’m wrong.
In truth, they’ve cut a lot less than I expected. I know where they plan to end (there’s really only one logical choice) and they will have to push the pace a little to get there but so far, relatively little has been trimmed.
As for Bam and Rachel, well… Rachel is supposed to be infuriating at this point I would argue. And Bam is still very much a chef’s egg, even younger in terms of life experience than actual years.
I really like Endorsi’s character development. First the seemed just like a ultra smug prick. Now in this ep, it kind of seemed like the really cared for Anak even if she resents her for being a legit princess. Also she small parts of her being a bit goofy were just right.
My favorite Jahad princess has barely been seen since the first episode…
Why do you think there will be only 1 season? Was it announced or something?
A manhwa. even a popular one, isn’t that big a financial powerhouse in Japan. This show was announced as 13 episodes, and while there’s certainly nothing precluding the possibility of further anime there’s also no specific reason to think there will be. I just don’t see the right sort of companies making money off it.
Do I hope I’m wrong? Absolutely. The manhwa loses the plot pretty badly after a while but there’s a lot of really good material before that happens.
Interesting. Thanks for the explanation
This is getting a bit complicated. It’s tough to remember all these terms and what they mean being thrown at you,
Decent.
Will we have to read the manhwa in order to find out why Rachel is hiding from Bam?
Can’t answer that – no manhwa spoilers. Stay tuned and find out – only six eps left.