Climbing the Tower: Episode 5
A bag that can copy chocolate is pretty amazing.
Originally published in “The Webcomics Weekly #108: Catching Up and Waiting (10/13/2020 Edition)” at Multiversity Comics.
Tower of God
Tower of God: Season 1, ep. 23-26;
Episode 5 - “The Crown’s Fate”
Updates: Mondays
By SIU
What do you desire? Money and wealth? Honor and pride? Authority and power? Revenge? Or something that transcends them all? Whatever you desire—it can be yours if you climb the tower.
Back in my analysis of episode 4, “The Green April,” I talked about the fight in chapters 21 & 22 being potentially modified or removed entirely due to the time constraints of the episode. I was correct in that the bulk of the fight was moved until after Bam was on the throne; I was not correct in how the fight would play out. After a recap of Khun’s bag’s magic properties, the fight proper occurs and. . .then it’s over. One shot from Rak’s spear and they’re all taken out.
It’s hard to say which was better because for Tower of God, the one shot kill is impressive, saves time, and accomplishes a number of narrative goals. It re-establishes Rak as a force to be reckoned with & cements his impulsivity when it comes to fighting, makes a clearer delineation between everyone's roles on the team (Bam is the milquetoast pawn, Khun the scheming mastermind, and Rak the brute-force muscle) and make it clear that Bam’s bet with Anaak may be winnable after all.
In “Tower of God,” having the lengthier fight prior to the crown reveal shows off the team dynamic in an active way, allows Rak to go more wild, and gives the supporting cast more time to leave an impression. It isn’t as visually impressive, and honestly we don’t need three separate fights that amount to the same thing in one episode, but for a comic that’s ostensibly about the fights in this arc, the flow works.
Another reason I prefer the anime’s version of the fight is that it gets what’s unique and central to the third round’s battle: Khun’s use of his bag. The purpose is to reveal that it’s not just holding items but duplicating them as well. Whatever goes in can come out in whatever amount he wants (presumably.)
“The Crown’s Fate’s” first two battles are all about the bag, in fact. Round 3 is about what it can be used for in battle, emphasizing Khun’s resourcefulness and brains in the anime rather than fighting prowess (crowns falling out vs knives,) while round 4 is about how the bag can be used for the long-con too. In between, the anime takes the chance to have down time to discuss his use of the bag, connecting the dots and removing the focus from the game itself and its purpose, to the characters who are performing in it.
I say this a lot but I’m finding that the adaptation choices in Tower of God often favor streamlining the narrative for mystery and suspense whereas “Tower of God” is concerned with laying the groundwork for an expansive world full of characters. The latter’s problem is that it has character overload and the former’s problem is that by sacrificing details about these incidental characters, as well as their conversations, all we have left are some cool designs but little else to go on.
A perfect example of this is in chapter 25 when we cut away to Yuri's group and suddenly there are two new characters who are not in “The Crown’s Fate” or Tower of God. It's also established in the scene that Evankhell is an actual person, not just a random name for the floor, and is also not on his own floor at the moment. This important detail for understanding how the tower is supposed to function is lost in Tower of God.
Furthermore, the reason Yuri and her crew are wandering around lost is also changed; a modification I prefer but I recognize that the comic makes it much clearer that sneaking between levels is a big no-no and that’s the reason it’s so difficult getting where they need getting. Finally, the relation between the guide and his younger brother is also not established in Tower of God, unless the Big Bro is supposed to be a sign of respect rather than a familial call, in which case the loss is not too bad.
As always, there are many other small changes between the two, usually dialog or scenes that help to remove the uncertainty and generic-ness of the comic’s portrayals of characters early on.
The final big change is that rounds 4 & 5 are both longer in the anime than in the comic, again building greater tension and finding a central focus to the fight that allows it to remain interesting. The comic does a better job of drawing attention to the new group in round 4 since, well, there are so many side characters I never noticed the absence of their presence before, while in round 5 there's a heavier emphasis placed on the uncertainty of the fight.
Round 5 is the one we knew would be the most intense but the reasons are mysterious. One lone masked lady in a unitard beating people up with a shower curtain while the other group seems to be protecting Bam means the fight has to be long enough for the audience to ask the questions without any clear answers, letting the mystery marinate.
In the comic, the tension comes from a different source, namely the shower curtain lady being that good and almost getting Bam before being stopped by the hooded horn person with these weird circle things. Those weird circle things aren’t in the anime, which makes me wonder why they were cut. Also, it’s ambiguous why she trips in the comic but the anime does the setup-anticipation-release of her heel snapping, a much clearer and dramatic way of pacing the fight.
Interestingly enough, the end of that fight is actually more mysterious and drawn out in the comic, with Yuri’s aside and the scene of Hansung Yu & Lero Ro coming in-between the reaction shots and the reveal of what happened. The reveal is far less impressive in the comic due to SIU’s art but that’s OK. The effect is retained and the questions no less interesting. Hansung Yu & Lero Ro’s chat is also modified but that comes down to their characteristics being slightly different and the reduction in comedic asides in Tower of God.
Now that the Crown Game is over, what can we expect from the group? Will the lack of side-character depth come back to bite the anime? Will it be fine? Do those characters matter or were most of them brutally murdered in the Crown Game because, uh, it’s really hard to tell when a character has been incapacitated and when they’re very, very dead. Both “Tower of God” and Tower of God are bad at this. Maybe we’ll find out in episode six, “Position Selection.”
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Elias Rosner
