This is an odd and useless little fact about me but creating that header pic, you know, the one you can’t even see on this post and is only visible on my home page, that useless one, well that’s one of may favourite things to do. I like creating these little header cards in general but the Tower of God one in particular is my favourite.
spend a lot of time picking and laying out th images so that they create what I believe is both a good colour story and a sort of thematic flow with the events of the episode. Have you ever noticed that I tend to ramble on about unrelated stuff in my preambles when I don’t have that much to say about an episode?
You may also have noticed that I changed ever so slightly the dimensions of my screencaps s that I can create more interesting image mosaics. I hope you like them.
O.k., o.k., let’s actually talk about Tower of God episode 9. With only 3 episodes to go, we can confirm what we’ve all pretty much known for weeks, this season is only an opening arc. And a good one in my opinion. Certainly worth investing in more.
And you know what I particularly enjoy about Tower of God? It’s how it avoids melodrama or over explaining things to the audience… I’m saying I didn’t care for this episode.
It’s all about perspective though. You have to keep in mind that when I say I didn’t like episode 9 of Tower of God, I’m comparing it to episodes 1 through 8 which I liked a lot. And I understand the narrative use of this episode I’m just not sure it was the best way to go aout it and it’s not the greatest execution we’ve seen either. Oh yeah, there will be spoilers. I figure that goes without saying.
For one thing, I’m not that into the princess backstories. I get that we’re fleshing them out as characters and that’s fine but the characters have really well established personalities and a lot of character. We pretty much know that everyone trying to climb the tower is getting away from some sort of horrible past and I don’t think going into detail about everyone’s sob story really brings anything to te table. In fact, I find it sort of takes away from the characters. Like it made Endrosi, a great character that I like a lot, just a bit more generic. I prefered Anak’s but even that one was not that impressive.
To me, these back stories or so much less interesting and imaginative than everything else that is happening. I also like the ideas that these are “people without a past”. They shed their identities when they entered the Tower and whoever they were before doesn’t really matter. Unless it’s going to be important in the narrative (like Bam’s for instance) I would leave the backstories out altogether.
Mystery works well n this story and there’s something visceral about dealing with obvious desperate people but not knowing why.
This episode counted one casualty and two serious injuries. The only one I cared about was Hatsu and even then it’s not like I’m worried or anything.
The stakes are a bit off for me. Technically dozens, if not hundreds of people have died so far in the show but they were all faceless masses. Hoh’s fate should have been a dramatic moment. I cry at everything, I should have been sobbing, but it’s been so heavily telegraphed for over a month now that all I could really think of was :finally. I can stop stressing out about this guy now. It’s done. And that’s it. I was desensitized to it. Maybe that’s on me. But for my tastes, when you know for a long time that they’re going to get rid of a character, it needs to be done in either a flamboyant or unexpected way to still have the same effect. And this was just sort of a fizzle.
As for Rachel-Michelle getting stabbed. I haven’t formed any sort of attachment to the character at all so it’s not like I’m emotionally invested in her physical pain, as for worrying about her, for some reason I have zero fear of her dying now. I’m more or less convinced tat she needs to stick around at least long enough to betray Bam and seeing them get closer again this episode only reinforced my conviction.
If next episode opens on the announcement of her death I will honestly be impressed and might retroactively boost my appreciation for the present episode as it would have been a very good set up.
There was a lot of pointed exposition about what it means to climb the Tower. The sacrifices you have to make and the sort of person you have to become. That was probably just some time filler. I didn’t get this far in the web comic but I bet it isn’t in there. Everyone knows this by know, it’s really silly to interrupt the flow of action to rehash the one point that’s been made over and over again.
The panties joke was o.k. I sort of like that Endrosi wears boy shorts. It suits her.
There is one thing that I am curious about. Why is Khun acting so down? Is her actually depressed at having betrayed his team? It was a bloodless coup. He’s done similar stuff without batting an eye in the past. Ot did he write that note? It’s quite possible that I missed something.
TL:DR – Episode 9 was m least favorite episode of Tower of God but still a decent episode of anime.Cant wait to see what happens next week.
I really need to start reading more blog posts on their actual pages instead of the WP reader. It is a different experience.
The layout is really different isn’t it! There are a lot of bloggers who try to create a visual story. I noticed that a while ago.
Yeah. Like me. My hike posts have lots of photos. I like to play with the layout to give it some variety. I still don’t know how to play with the layout with block. Making every paragraph a block is a pain in the ass. I want to put my paragraph breaks in and lust left things flow.
I love playing with layout as well. Getting a post visually like you want it is very satisfying as well
Can’t believe I’m caught up enough with a seasonal to participate in episode discussions. This episode is actually when I started feeling more invested in the series. Yeah, didn’t really feel for Hoh, Rachel, or generic back stories, but Hoh’s death felt quite…*right* to me. After all, we’ve been hearing about how many lives are lost (from climbing the tower or otherwise) since Ep. 1, and certain characters always boast about killing, but this is the first time anybody with a name dies.
This episode is the first proof of Bam’s development to me, and I especially like how Quant’s character is humanized more. Tbh, I think I’m most interested in the three test admnistrators so far.
I might agree with you on the administrators. Then again I think I’m more interested in the universe than any of the characters in it. congratulations on catching up!
“Hoh’s fate should have been a dramatic moment. I cry at everything, I should have been sobbing, but it’s been so heavily telegraphed for over a month now that all I could really think of was :finally. I can stop stressing out about this guy now. It’s done. And that’s it. I was desensitized to it. Maybe that’s on me.”
I’m not sure it was supposed to be sad. My reaction was closer to yours than tears. I though Hoh was an idiot. He treated the idea of going it alone or having friends as an either/or. He felt jealous of Bam’s power and reasoned that as long as Bam survived, Hoh wouldn’t have a chance.
It never occurred to Hoh to do what Endorsi and Bam did in this episode: Come to an agreement and help each other, at least for now. I think that’s the same goal Khun has. It just never seemed to occur to Hoh to approach Bam and ask for help.
You just know Bam would have done what he could to teach Hoh.
“There is one thing that I am curious about. Why is Khun acting so down? Is her actually depressed at having betrayed his team? It was a bloodless coup. He’s done similar stuff without batting an eye in the past. Ot did he write that note? It’s quite possible that I missed something.”
I read (maybe in the Reddit thread for this episode) that Endorsi was the bad cop and Khun was the good cop trying to teach Bam the ways of the Tower. Maybe Khun’s worried that Endorsi’s gaining more influence with Bam? I think your question is spot on, though, and it’s another example of how this show shows us more than it comes out and tells us.
Though maybe I’m reading too much into it and he’s just tired. Or disappointed he has so little screen time in this episode!
I have no clue what’s going on with Kuhn. My guess would be there is some parallels with whatever betrayal he’s gone through himself but I don’t know. I stopped reading the webtoon before it got to this part
Interesting to read this. I had the polar opposite reaction: my favourite episode to date. Yet, I disagree with nothing in the way you describe the show. For me, Tower of God was always a show with very little emotional involvement. I like the show mostly for aesthetic and intellectual reasons, and with the multitude of perspectives balanced against each other, there was plenty to take in.
For example, that girl, I forget her name, to tried to bond with Hoh over weakness was also used as a sort of foil for Endorsi, by the way they cut back and forth in the scene. The result isn’t so much characterisation, as it’s a reminder to relativise all the philosophy in the show and this, for me, creates a good spread in the setting. Many shounen fighters immediately push for a single ideal; Tower of God doesn’t do that (not immediately at least).
And as far the magical mechanics in the show go, I’m curious what happened to Rakh’s chocolate buddy, and why disappeared the exact moment Rachel was stabbed.
I found the episode was splattered with detail and didn’t give me time to drift off, because it kept zooming in and out everywhere; and that’s a technique I often like. It worked pretty well for me, here.
I just felt it was all things we’ve been told so many times before and I was ready to move on. I am a rather impatient person though.