Post — Aaron Ngo

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

On September 9, 2020, I started reading Tower of God Volume 2: The Hell Train’s second story arc: “Revolution Road” and finished on September 11, 2020. Spending two days on this arc was exhilarating to say the least. “Revolution Road” is the longest Tower of God arc yet—39 episodes—with the biggest payoffs involving Baam, Rachel, and Khun. There were other characters worth mentioning too, so let’s start there first before diving into the major characters’ story arcs.

Yuri Zahard kicked off this story arc with a visit her sister Repellista’s vacation home, and learned that Baam was alive and going to be on the Hell Train a year from now. Yuri was given a ticket to board the Hell Train, so she will make another appearance at some point during The Hell Train story again. I do admire Yuri’s determination to find Baam and meet up with him again. Yuri chasing after Baam whose chasing after Rachel whose chasing after the stars. What an interesting chase sequence Tower of God crafted for us.

Baam started acting like his old self again—with Viole’s Thorn-enhanced powers—throughout this arc, giving us a good dosage of his naïve innocence and too good-hearted nature. Having his old personality back clashed with what Hwa Ryun wanted him to do next, which was to form a new team that were “expendable” for a Hell Train Tournament.

Having more characters—like Mr. Boro—thrown into this arc made the story more difficult to follow, but it was necessary for the plot development and the set-up for the next arc toward the end. The story is always difficult to follow with rotating characters and interweaving / constantly moving storylines, but it’s worth it for the character and story payoffs.

Using Rachel’s new team—which includes Cassano—to cliffhanger almost every episode was effective in making the audience hate her more in addition to “forcing” us to read the next episode. I loved hating Rachel so much—the passion grew the more I ran into a “Team Rachel” cliffhanger.

Rachel appeared sporadically throughout this arc, with her freckled character design looking “bitcher” the more she appeared. A character—I forgot which one—exclaimed how bitchy she was, and I couldn’t have agreed more with that statement. SIU did a great job in making Rachel so unlikable—I could tell the writing was intentional regarding her characterization. I cannot believe how full-circled the Bam-Rachel reunion was compared to the last time they saw each other.

Fool [Baam] once, shame on [Rachel]. Fool [him] twice…

The fight scenes during the Tournament—Team Baam versus Team Yura Ha and the added stakes—and on the platform to board the Hell Train were gorgeous, especially Baam when he went berserk. Wangnan and Yihwa had their moments to shine too when they made their comeback on the platform alongside Khun. While I did like Baam getting well-deserved main protagonist screen time, it was good to see Ja Wangnan and Yihwa again with their new power-ups before the arc closed out.

SIU is seriously getting better with the artwork as the series keeps going. I heard that he has a medical condition that’s affecting his ability to draw, and not trying to sound ableist, but that’s incredible that he’s willing to keep the series going for as long as he can. However, rest if you need to, SIU. The true fans will understand. Actually, SIU is taking an effective break right now with Tower of God currently on hiatus in the middle of Volume 3.

Thanks for reading this Webtoon review, everyone! I’m going to keep climbing up the Tower now! Would anyone care to team-up and join me?

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