Tower of God Volume 1: “Hide-and-Seek” (Episodes 35 through 51) Webtoon Review
Major Spoilers are included in this Webtoon Review. Please read with caution.
On September 1, 2020, I started and finished Tower of God Volume 1’s ninth story arc: “Hide-and-Seek”. This was a long arc—16 episodes—with good action sequences, more beautifully-drawn and consistent artwork, great emotional moments, and a darker tone that displayed how far the characters were willing to go in order to climb the Tower. Baam was also given more character development—and a power boost—during this game of Hide-and-Seek.
The arc kicked off with Baam learning how to control shinsu more effectively—and faster—than the other participants in the Wave Controller position class. This sudden growth sparked jealously in a character—and a Wave Controller candidate—named Ho, who was given a letter by an unknown instructing him to kill Rachel. Afterward, Ranker Quant—an individual shown in earlier arcs hanging out with Yu Han Sung and Leo-Ro—appeared for the next joint position test: Hide-and-Seek.
The first half of the arc was dedicated to Team A’s efforts to pass the test, lead by Khun. Rak—the crocodile character—had already gathered enough points to pass the test without needing to participate in Hide-and-Seek, so he wasn’t present for this arc. Khun was the MVP of the arc’s first half for his teamwork strategies and smart thinking against Quant. I become more impressed with Khun the higher I climb up this Webtoon series.
Baam was in Team B with Rachel during the arc’s second half, but Baam didn’t speak to her knowing she didn’t want to have any contact with him. Rachel also stayed behind in the safety zone while everyone else planned something to complete the Hide-and-Seek objective: either escape the testing area or tag Quant’s badge before Quant tags whoever is chosen “it” on Teams A and B.
Androssi was shown going rogue against Team B during this arc in order to secure a spot for herself in the Fisherman Class, needing to make up points for the mishap she made with Anak in the previous arc. Hatsu—the swordsman character—was also given the spotlight in the second half, engaging Quant in the best action sequence yet.
I actually enjoyed reading that fight so much I had to look up Tower of God anime’s OST fight music. I highly recommend listening to anime OST whenever reading Webtoon or manga chapters if the series has an anime adaptation. The experience is simply so much better as a result.
The artwork had been on-and-off with me throughout this Webtoon experience, but I heard the art becomes more consistent—and magnificently better—as the series gets closer to Volume 2. The fight scenes—particularly Hatsu versus Quant—were amazing to read throughout this arc though, so I have no doubt SIU’s amazing Webtoon style artwork will improve later on.
The ending to this arc was dark and left on a cliffhanger though, so the next arc should be explosive on the follow-up. I actually have no idea what will happen next, but I’m looking forward to climbing the Tower to find out. Thanks for reading this Webtoon review, everyone! Let’s keep it climbing up the Tower to see what happens next!