Post — Aaron Ngo

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

On October 6, 2020, I started and finished Tower of God Volume 3’s fifteenth story arc: “The Intrusion”. The bonus chapter at the end of this arc—advertising the anime that came out on April 1, 2020—made me realize I still had Tower of God material to consume after this reading binge was over. Also, I had no idea Tower of God anime’s first season came out this year—on 2020. That blew my mind because April 2020 felt like years ago—legit pre-COVID-19 Pandemic.

Anyway, back to the Webtoon review.

Baam’s character development was outstanding during this arc. When Baam forced himself to look at his dead comrades’ faces—scattered and floating in outer space—I thought about another Naruto scene. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if SIU had watched or read Naruto—I get occasional Naruto Uzumaki vibes from Baam’s character.

Twenty-Fifth Baam is Naruto Uzumaki but cuter!

He didn’t want to make the same mistake regarding how he approached saving Deng Deng. The way Baam dealt with how he felt about saving Deng Deng was very mature—something Evankhell noted as well. Baam admitted to having a subconscious—but unintentional—selfish reason for wanting to save Deng Deng. Baam going through this moment was something I needed to experience with everything going on lately.

I wrote out Baam’s monologue scene for those who need the context or need a reminder on what exactly I’m talking about. So much happens in this Webtoon seriously, but Baam makes the reading experience worthwhile. I suggest playing Naruto OST when reading this scene. I played “Experienced Many Battles” OST—a personal favorite of mine—when I read this emotional scene for the second time.

SCENE STARTS:

“To those people, I probably seem like a total monster. It’s true, but at least I’m not going to pretend I’m doing this to save everyone like the time I did with Deng Deng. I’m going to face them head-on. I’m not gonna hide or make excuses. I’m responsible from the start and end of this war.” – Baam said.

“Why do you keep fighting? Where do you expect to get to by killing all those innocent people?” Young Baam asked, his conscious.

“I’m moving forward,” Baam answered.

STEP —! Young Baam turned.

“…?”

“I’m moving forward to protect the things that matter to me,” Baam clarified with a smile. “Now… we have a reason to fight, Baam. Let’s keep moving.

“We have so much to protect now. A lot more people may get hurt in the process, but don’t close your eyes or look away. You have to fight. I don’t know what’s waiting at the end of all this, but don’t get too greedy and ask for too much.

“Just pray the people you wanted to protect are still by your side.”

SCENE ENDS.

I couldn’t believe what I read—it made me appreciate my life a whole lot more. Also, this emotional scene was a good example of how one needs to talk and nurture their inner child every now and then—mental health checks but on an emotional anime level. The artwork depicting Volume 1 Baam and present-day Baam showed how much he grew physically too.

The difference between the art styles was also showcased through this scene, giving us a reminder of how far SIU had improved his craft over this past decade—of how much we’ve invested into the story. I’m really proud of the story he’s been making for us, and how he’s been developing Baam for the past decade. The payoff was incredible—easily one of my favorite Tower of God scenes. It was also placed near the end of the arc, so the hype going into the next arc reignited my almost burnt-out passion.

Let’s talk about other characters now.

Khun returned to his smart cunning ways, making a secret deal with White behind Baam’s back and showing complete confidence when speaking with one of the most powerful characters in the series. Khun is helping White power-up—getting him the dead souls from the battlefield—for the fight against Kallavan. Khun wants White to fight Kallavan on Baam’s behalf.

The contrast between Baam and Khun’s treatment toward the dead should also be addressed here. While Baam was respectful of the causalities—making sure to look directly at them, so he wouldn’t forget their sacrifice—Khun was collecting their souls and feeding them to an actual monster for his own selfish reason. I have missed that particular character dynamic between Khun and Baam.

Tower of God is an amazing Webtoon series with great plot, lore, characters, and fantastic world-building on par with Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere Universe. I would highly recommend getting into Tower of God at this point. With SIU currently on hiatus, it’s the perfect time to try and catch up before he releases more episodes.

Thanks for reading this Webtoon review, everyone! I’m thinking about writing a thought-piece character analysis on Baam and his character journey. I think writing that would be a lot of fun. What do y’all think?

Let’s talk while keeping it climbing up the Tower.