Tower of God

• 1. The Boy And The Door

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  Twenty-Fifth Bam stood beneath a vast and mysterious Tower for most of his life. He had only one companion named Rachel to keep him company during those years. When Rachel entered the Tower, Bam felt devastated by her departure. Somehow he managed to open the door to the Tower despite being trapped below it all along. Now he would go any distance to see Rachel again even if it meant dying inside the structure. The Tower is a mysterious structure that is completely enclosed and hosts many unique environments. It is permeated by an element called Shinsu which has strange properties similar to magic in other comic universes. Living on the top floors is associated with a higher status in the Tower and better living conditions. This is because ascension from one floor to the next is only allowed by passing increasingly difficult tests of strength dexterity and wit. Regulars are any individuals from the Outer Tower chosen to climb the tower in the Inner Tower. Former Regulars who reach the top of the Tower are known as Rankers and are generally much more powerful than others. At the top of the Tower sit the Ten Great Families which form the governing body of the Tower. A figure known as King Jahad or Zahard in some translations is the chief leader of this body. Each floor is composed of three layers: an external Outer Tower which serves as the residential area an Inner Tower where people are tested and a Middle Area which acts as a network linking each floor. Residents of each floor are given the chance to ascend provided that they are deemed worthy of doing so by Headon the First Floor's Guardian and caretaker of the Tower. Such people are referred to as Chosen Regulars in Tower of God. The Tower is sealed from the vast unknown Outside by portentous impenetrable doors. On rare occasions extraordinary people are able to open the doors and enter the Tower. Such people are called Irregulars in the manhwa and Twenty-Fifth Bam is one of them. According to the author each floor is the size of the North American continent. Each floor often has its own culture language and governance systems and it is not uncommon to have nations living in isolation and unaware of the existence of the tower. Only Irregulars are exempt from the contract Jahad struck with the Tower Guardians that made him immortal. Thus only an Irregular can kill Jahad. This fact drives much of the plot in Tower of God.

• 2. Divine Water And Combat

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  Shinsu roughly translated as Divine Water is a substance found within the Tower in varying concentrations on each floor. On the lower floors Shinsu is diffuse and inconspicuous similar to air. However on higher floors Shinsu increases in power and concentration and is said to be viscous and flowing similarly to water. High Shinsu resistance is required to enter these floors. Residents in the tower must form a contract with the guardian of the respective floors in order to manipulate Shinsu. Bang Korean-방 is the number of discrete units of Shinsu control. The more Bangs someone handle the better the ability to control shinsu. The size of the units is called Myeon Korean-면 and the concentration is called Soo Korean-수. Though used with varying degrees of explicitness and even conscious awareness its use seems to be inextricable from combat within the Tower. Shinsu reinforcement Korean-신수강화-shinsooganghwa is a technique used to strengthen the body and is commonly used by Regulars. Those who are strong with Shinsu have their aging slowed to the point where they become effectively immortal. It is unclear to what extent aging is slowed simply by living in the tower without training to use Shinsu. Shinsu does not have a fixed flow but there is a temporary flow. Using this flow to attack is called flow control. Expert wave controllers could destroy a village with this. Reverse flow control is used to strike back in the direction of the flow and to stop the opponent. Sometimes they are used simultaneously attacking with flow control and protecting the body with reverse flow control. Flow control is a favored technique of Twenty-Fifth Bam. However there are certain exceptions to rules regarding Shinsu. Individuals known as Irregulars seem to have a special connection with the tower being able to use Shinsu with little to no constraints regardless of whether or not they have contracts with the same administrators of the floors they're on or going to. One highly notable irregular known simply as Enryu even managed to kill the then administrator and guardian of the 43rd floor. A feat once thought to be impossible on the apparently false pretense that Administrators were thought to be immortal and otherwise infallible. This has led many of the tower's inhabitants to see irregulars as little more than highly destructive entities with unfathomable powers and abilities as well as being regarded as calamities brought forth by the tower's prophecies in an effort to bring about change to the tower. Because of their ability irregulars are often heavily stigmatized and feared even by inhabitants of the highest caliber within the tower known simply as Rankers. Individuals that have reached the highest floor known to the tower's inhabitants. The current capabilities of Irregulars is such that even the upper echelon of Rankers known as High Rankers such as the Ten Great Families and even King Jahad are extremely wary of them especially so in King Jahad's case due to the nature of his contract with the Tower Guardians. Most battles in the tower are done in teams. Each person in a team plays a certain role in battle which are referred to as positions. There are five basic positions: fisherman Korean-방 nakksiggun spear-bearer Korean-창 changjigi light-bearer Korean-등대 deungdaejigi scout Korean-탐 tamsaekggun and wave-controller Korean-파도 padojabi. Fishermen are direct fighters spear-bearers are a fighting support class light-bearers provide distant reconnaissance scouts provide on-ground reconnaissance and wave-controllers control Shinsu. There are other positions such as guide but they are rare.

• 3. The Artist And The Army

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  Author S.I.U. majored in visual arts education on a university level before being conscripted into the South Korean military. By the advice of a senior in the army S.I.U. started drawing cartoons. During this period S.I.U. drew ten books worth of practice cartoons which formed the backbone of the Tower of God comic he later started to create for the Internet. S.I.U. already has major events and characters planned out sometimes more than 8 years in advance and often shares additional information on the Tower of God universe on his blogpost after each chapter is published. Lee Jong-hui also known by the pen-name S.I.U. Slave In Utero launched Tower of God in Naver's webtoon platform Naver Webtoon on the 30th of June 2010. It is the first story in the Talse Uzer universe. As of February 2020 Tower of God has collected 4.5 billion views worldwide. Tower of God was one of the first webtoons to receive official English translations by Line Webtoon in July 2014. Its first and second collected volumes were released simultaneously by Young Com on the 12th of November 2019. In November 2021 Wattpad announced that Tower of God would receive a print release in North America as part of their new Webtoon Unscrolled imprint.

• 4. Global Serialization And Print

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  Tower of God received official English translations by Line Webtoon beginning in July 2014. The individual chapters are collected and published by Young Com in 19 volumes as of July 2025. Head of Line Webtoon Tom Akel stated in July 2015 that the manhwa's weekly installments are read by five million people. An anime television series adaptation was initially announced at Seoul Comic-Con in August 2019. The series titled Tower of God began releasing in April 2020 simultaneously in Japan South Korea and the United States. It is produced by Telecom Animation Film with Aniplex subsidiary Rialto Entertainment responsible for Japanese production and Sola Entertainment providing production management. The series aired on the 1st of April 2020 on South Korea's Naver Series On and television network Aniplus and in Japan from April 2 to the 24th of June 2020 on Tokyo MX and other networks. It is directed by Takashi Sano with Hirokazu Hanai as assistant director Erika Yoshida in series composition Masashi Kudo and Miho Tanino in character designs and Kevin Penkin composed the soundtrack. The opening theme song Top while the ending theme song is Slump both performed by the K-pop band Stray Kids in Japanese English and Korean for the respective language dubs. Crunchyroll streamed the series with original Japanese version and English subtitles as a co-production under its Crunchyroll Originals label. Viz Media licensed the series for home video distribution in North America and released it on Blu-ray on the 18th of January 2022. In August 2022 during their industry panel at Crunchyroll Expo Crunchyroll announced that a second season was in production. It is produced by The Answer Studio and directed by Akira Suzuki with Kazuyoshi Takeuchi serving as chief director. The season aired for two consecutive cours from July 7 to the 29th of December 2024. For the first cours covering the story arc the opening theme song is Rise Up while the ending theme song is Believe both performed by NiziU. For the second cours covering the story arc the opening theme song is Night while the ending theme song is Falling Up both performed by Stray Kids.

• 5. Games And Collectibles

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  In 2013 Naver released a mobile role-playing game on Google Play based on Tower of God developed by Sunrise. The game drew in 120 million players shortly after its initial release. The Tower of God role-playing game's development continued for two years after its initial release and the game saw a full commercial release in 2016. A cross-webtoon RPG game titled Hero Cantare was released in 2019 featuring Tower of God and other popular titles such as The God of High School and Hardcore Leveling Warrior. A mobile turn-based role-playing game titled Tower of God: Great Journey developed by Korean company Ngelgames was released in Korea in April 2022 and globally on the 14th of February 2023. A collectible card role-playing game titled Tower of God: New World developed by Netmarble was released globally on the 26th of July 2023. It features a story mode based on the series as well as original storyline events and original characters. The series has had collaborations with mobile games such as Fantasy War Tactics R Heir of Light and Seven Knights. Naver sells a variety of Tower of God merchandise such as figurines. During the commercial release of the Tower of God role-playing game Naver released limited edition items worth ₩30,000 South Korean Won.