Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this Webtoon Review. Please read with caution.

On September 26, 2020, I started and finished reading Tower of God Volume 2: The Last Station’s third story arc: “Kallavan”. This arc cranked the war action sequence up a notch, with so many players coming into the fray—or continuing battles started in the last arc—in an attempt to stop Team Baam from escaping The Last Station. Team Baam isn’t escaping though without their captured friends, so the stakes to escape and avoid fighting Rankers seemed near impossible. Luckily, Baam—and myself—has a very strong habit of breaking through the impossible.

Picking up where the last arc left off though, Ha Jinsung encountered Kallavan—a former friend from 3,000 years ago—who had joined up with Zahard’s Army as the Squadron Commander. Kallavan’s main goal is also explored in this arc; he wants to subjugate everyone in the Tower under a single power—The Essence of Bravery—for the sake of Lord Zahard and world peace.

Kallavan’s goal and personality is similar to Pain’s philosophy and the Akatsuki’s plan—from Naruto—about using the Tailed Beasts to create peace through fear. You cannot know true peace unless you know fear and pain first. Kallavan also vowed to destroy anyone who got in the way of his “utopia”.

Ha Jinsung was horrified to learn this about Kallavan; he also refused to move out of the way—to protect his student Baam—and fought bravely against Kallavan. Their fight scene was filled with so much emotional turmoil—almost on par with Obito and Kakashi from Naruto—and the fight’s end result shook my core. The scene was also extremely violent. The raw emotional strokes—Jinsung’s screams—blended well with the artwork.

Hearing Ha Jinsung being presumed dead broke my spirit—and Baam’s too once he hears the news from Kallavan. However, there was a huge payoff in this arc regarding Baam and the Black March too! After 300+ episodes—seriously—Baam wields the Black March once more, reuniting with the cute Black March spirit who ignited for him—“because he was cute”—at the beginning of Volume 1.

Yuri looking mad about their bond was nostalgic. Baam wielding Black March again was also a strong reminder of how far he’s come since the beginning of the series. Baam’s latest power-up was astounding.

Objectively, I would normally have a problem with how many power-ups Baam’s been getting throughout the series, but I do enjoy how it’s tied into his need to save everyone. In a way, Baam “lost” Rachel by finally disowning her from his life, and now he doesn’t want to lose anyone else. He fears losing people more than death. Ultimately though, I’m glad Baam didn’t lose himself.

I’m finding Baam’s personality to be similar to Emma’s personality from The Promised Neverland, I found that trait quite admirable. I still think Khun’s smarts is on par with Norman’s from The Promised Neverland. It might be a stretch to consider Rak the “Ray” counterpart—they’re both nuts—but that’s an odd discussion for another time.

The artwork—Baam’s Black March and Thorn fragments in particular—was amazing throughout this arc. The action sequences were filled with beautifully drawn fire and water and other blue-white colored shinsu blasts that showed how large The Last Station battlefield had grown. Evankhell’s fire is incredibly distinct, which contrasted well with Baam’s water shinsu technique. The fight scenes were easier to keep track of in this arc compared to the previous arc, but the chaotic battlefield was definitely intentional.

Rak keeps drawing the short straw—consistently—throughout Tower of God’s decade-long run so far. He was briefly seen—escaping with sleeping Khun, Hockney, and Hwa Ryun—where he showed off his new stone shinsu technique against Levy—the enemy who can use a question mark curse technique. Rak recognizing Evankhell’s flames outside—being distracted by it—made me wonder if Rak has a connection to her and the Native One lore. I hope SIU explores Rak’s background soon. I think it would be the most fascinating Tower of God arc ever.

Anyway, moving along here, Princess Yuri Zahard and Ha Cheonhee also fought it out throughout this arc, with Ha Cheonhee revealing how jealous she is of Yuri for being picked to become a Princess and not her. Also, flashback Yuri was cute—she looked a lot like Rin from Fate / stay night.

The flashback scene also implied that Ha Cheonhee found Yuri too weak to be a Princess and that she would be far better suited candidate. I do like the focus on Yuri’s background lately. She was an awesome character who needed screen time like two seasons ago. I have been enjoying all the “Yuri Zahard” moments. Again, it’s been long overdue.

Rachel and Yuri being left behind by Androssi—while she rescued the other hostages—was an amazing moment to read too. I don’t know why Rachel hates Androssi—calling her a bitch for leaving her and Yuri behind with the Rankers—but I think its intentional illogical hatred. I will admit though that I do like the Baam-Rachel-Androssi pseudo love triangle situation that’s been unfolding.

I loved the out-of-nowhere team-up moment between High-Rankers Yuri Zahard, Evankhell, and Karaka. With Evan’s help, Karaka and White escaped from their Ranker prison, but White went to fight elsewhere. The confrontation between those three and Kallavan was brilliantly drawn, as are their reason for teaming-up: Baam.

Yuri, Evankhell, and Karaka had their own specific reasons for wanting to protect and help Baam escape. Karaka revealed Ha Jinsung was his teacher too, giving Karaka motive to help Baam escape The Last Station—to get stronger and come back later. Evankhell noticed Baam could hurt Kallavan and defended the boy, growing curious about Baam’s potential to become stronger. Yuri is self-explanatory at this point.

When all hope seemed lost though, more fan-favorite characters returned to save the day! I should’ve seen it coming, but Team Leesoo—and Kaiser / Elena from the Name Hunt Station arc—returned to save Baam, Androssi, and the rest of the team. I was most surprised to see Kaiser again; I assumed she was never coming back to the story, but I guess every character is fair game at this point. Nonetheless, I enjoyed that last-minute save, and it puts all the familiar characters back together for the next upcoming arcs.

But damn seriously overall, Tower of God’s The Last Station story is so wild—from beginning to end. I’m excited to read the final arc of Last Station. Thanks for reading this Webtoon review, everyone! I really appreciated the support! Let’s keep it climbing up the Tower!

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