My favorite pastime is reading Manga (Japanese comics), after reading over a thousand titles (not an exaggeration) One Piece remained my Top 1, in terms of story, character development and considering other factors, this was the best one, what most would call a Masterpiece. I really thought nothing could come close to One Piece not even FMA Brotherhood nor Hunter x Hunter (2011), both extremely good shounen manga/anime, that is until recently when I began to reread 'Tower of God'.
Tower of God (TOG) is a Korean webtoon by SIU, it's about the journey of a boy named Baam climbing a tower while making friends along the way. At first, I thought this would be another one of those shounen stories that gets boring halfway but this was different, it managed to remain interesting and the unique setting was unlike anything I've seen before.
The 'Tower' in the story is not a simple tower, a single floor is about the same size of a North American continent, currently there are 135 known floors but one can only climb up if they pass the test on each floor.
Most of the characters in the story are residents of the outer tower, from there they are chosen to climb the inner tower and are called regulars however there are also ones not chosen but were able to enter the tower by their own will, they are called irregulars. Irregulars are known to possess fearsome powers amd are very rare, so far only five are known including the main character.
Among the huge cast of characters, the relationship of the characters may be a bit complex but well developed especially the bond of the main three, Baam, Koon and Rak. Some side characters take the spotlight when they appear like Androssi, Yuri Zahard and Rachel, oh rachel, I can never forget that time when I was reading this on Mangahere and one panel when her face was shown was bombarded with over 300 tsukkomis, take note at that particular panel only her face was shown and nothing else.
Although, I've been reading Manga that are black and white most of the time, I adjusted real quick with Tower of God in its full color glory and can't even imagine this the other way.
The art may seem rough but not exactly bad, it's quite good and can even surprise you as some of the backgrounds can be breathtaking.
If you're looking for an epic adventure, give this one a shot.
