It is good to be back to weekly reviews; it has honestly only been almost a year. So, I honestly wanted to try something different. I am not sure if I will do this for future episodes. Maybe every now and again. But normally I write the post after I watch the episode. Then give my overall thoughts to process and typically write that portion a day later. I am writing this as I watch the episode, so, for all intended purposes these are my live thoughts. I figured I should at least try it on the first episode, and if people enjoy this way, or even if I enjoy doing it this way, I might try to do it more in the future. So, with that said, I am breaking down my norm and getting straight into it.
Thoughts:
I read the first few chapters of the webtoon, almost said manga, that will get tricky to get used to. I liked it, and the basic premise was stated right at the start. Get to the top of the tower, become god. This is a story about a girl named Rachel who wanted to see the stars at the top and a boy named Bam who wanted nothing but to see Rachel again. I can already get the feeling I will be referencing Dark Knight and saying “Where is she? Where is Rachel?” a lot.
I mean, for once I skipped some of the opening, the music wasn’t really my thing, but, it was nice to see the fact that well, Cruchyroll had a huge part in this, I mean, when Netflix says it is a Netflix original, they just have the logo at the start and that is it. This opening had CR appear a few times. Kind of glad it actually means that they actually had a part of it.
The caretaker reminds me of that one Digimon from the movie from the early 2000s the black rabbit looking one, and I just naturally think they’re evil.
I stopped at like chapter 3 or 4, and well, this episode covered it all ready, I mean, considering it is over 600 chapters, and on “season 3” I would have read more. Either way, I shouldn’t be surprised, webtoons are a bit shorter than manga in terms of chapter length. Anyway, what I was going to say is, wow, that felt like it was taken right out of the manga, the animation from this and the webtoon are pretty spot on, which always feels a bit off when you look at some anime comparing it to the source, the animation doesn’t always match the illustrations as well.
Now that was a nice touch with how they took on the fact that everyone in fact does speak a different language here. It always feels weird, at least in English shows anyway, where they say they are speaking another language, when they aren’t. For example, the dub of Index Touma says he wants to learn English, but it is English dub so he only has been. Anyway, nice to see them doing something like this so you know everyone speaks a different language here.
This is how I feel when I am around people, I am always the short guy in the group.
So glad that the info dump consists of just a single sentence to explain things for once. (In hindsight I probably should have seen this coming, I am 9 minutes in and been watching this for about 20. Then again, I might finish sooner than I normally do for watch then writing this)
Lady he got eaten by that in the opening scene.
Still not much going on it feels like, but, it is all necessary seeing they are introducing the tower to Bam. I also get the feeling that the main character is going to be over powered, seeing he is called an Irregular by Yuri. I mean they are even referencing the fact that irregulars have some type of powers and Bam doesn’t look like he has any. So, I mean, if I don’t see more irregulars later on I will be a bit upset. Also I don’t want this to turn into Dragon Ball where somehow every goes Super Saiyan at some point.
Yuri is nice, I like her.
I like how Yuri asked if he really wants to climb the tower, and Bam just had a moment of pause. I do like how it was a show rather than tell, his moment of shock and brief glimpse at Rachel made it clear. It was a rather nice display of story telling through emotion, which some anime feel like they lack at times.
So much for that plan that was to prevent him from being eaten, but seeing he is a main character, well, it is obvious this is just a means to display his power. Which I mean, is always obvious. Although I am always waiting for a twist in a series that builds up a character only to literally have something like them really dying like that so it can introduce the real main character. This clearly isn’t that show.
Of course Saori Hayami is voicing Rachel, I understand why Bam is doing it now, she is such a great voice actress.
Oh, so it is an over powered sword, great, more things that can make….and it turned into a woman. Of course he also asks for the power to find Racheal. Why is it also that everyone says he has a cute face. Also the sword doesn’t like Yuri, she likes men, it feels like there is some double meaning there. (I do like both this show and talking it about it like this, but, still, feels like I am glossing over the plot a bit.)
I thought each episode was going to be called tests, but I guess not. Looks like Bam is now on floor two, and what is the first thing he does the second he wakes up eat the grass. Why would his first instinct be to eat grass?
So, did I just get tricked into watching a battle royal the anime? I mean, Thanos snapping 400 people in half is tricky, still, really hope it won’t turn out to be like this every episode. Either way I am enjoying it, so who knows.
If only he was saved by that guy getting shot in the knee, really wanted to use the Skyrim line. But yeah, no time wasting to get Bam both nearly killed, witnessing death, and saved in the span of a minute, or well, not saved, targeted again. At this point in this scene I am starting to realize Bam has some absurd luck, like 5 people that tried to kill him get instantly picked off the second they take someone down then turn their sights on him. I mean, this whole battle royal scene ending on episode one really just shows who will be important characters in future episodes judging by their designs.
Closing Statement:
With that the episode is done, and honestly, I really liked it. The animation well, it captured the webtoon, and followed it closely, at first, I was a bit iffy on it, but I got used to it by the time the episode ended. I liked the showing scenes to help give Bam more character development, and it really help stick his character out more compared to some others in the past. His motivation is clear, but by the end of the episode when he is told he needs to kill someone he gets weak at the knees, it feels a bit of a counter compared to earlier when he was ready to kill the monster just a scene prior. It feels like if the targets were more human, then it would be clearer, but they aren’t. So, it to me, comes off as odd that he then has difficulty trying to kill human like monster people.
As for the way I did this episode review, I certainly enjoyed writing it like this, it made me enjoy the episode a lot more. I think I just need to dial it back on joking and bring back some more analysis, since it felt like I was swinging more towards the comedic aspects and strayed away from explaining what was actually happening. I certainly will try again for the second episode.
Either way, feedback would be appreciated on this new way of reviewing episodes weekly. As I said I won’t always do it, maybe in first episodes, final episodes, or just randomly every now and again, I honestly do not know, it really depends if I can work out the kinks in it. This style of posting is also a bit longer than normal too, so I don’t know, but it did take me a lot less time to write it, and that is one issue I personally never liked about weekly reviews is how long I would spend on writing them. Either way feel free to comment your thoughts on this new writing style.
Feel free to comment your thoughts on the series, both anime and webtoon, just be mindful of spoilers.
– Joe
The Reviewer's Corner 
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