The Tower of God anime adaptation is a near-perfect replica of the manhwa. The colorful characters, settings, and items that have filled the screens of webtoon readers since 2014 have finally made their way to the television screen in 2020. The new anime manages to adapt the Tower of God plot step for step without losing what makes the original so thrilling.
Although the adaptation goes to great lengths to be faithful to its source material, some things are not as easily adapted as others. Here are 10 differences between the anime and the manhwa.
10 Bam's Arms Inventory For Headon's Test
When Bam is first introduced in the Tower of God, he is seen as an innocent and ignorant young man. His lack of understanding is just another thing that proves how unprepared this irregular is for the dangers ahead of him.
The manhwa leans more heavily into this idea by giving Bam a weapon at the outset of Headon's test. The weapon may be old and rusty, but it gives the boy an edge that he lacks when first introduced in the anime.
9 Levin The Hunter
Fans of the anime will remember Levin as the first victim of Rak Wraithraiser in the Field Test. Later Levin throws a fit during Lero-Ro's introduction and meets the bad end of a powerful shinsu blast. This is the last viewers see of Levin in the anime, but manhwa readers are given much more of the hunter.
In the manhwa, Levin continues to climb the tower as a Light Bearer. The hunter makes it all the way to the final test with Bam and Khun, but his rifle is left in the field that Rak dropped it in when these two first met.
8 The Black March And The Crown Game
The Black March makes its debut in the manhwa in the same fashion as the anime. During Headon's test, Princess Yuri gives Bam the Black March to help him pass. Bam manages to ignite the weapon and pass Headon's test, but his future relationship with the Black March varies between the two different mediums.
In the anime, Bam meets the Black March again at the end of the Crown Game, when she ignites to render the boy unconscious. The manhwa ends the crown game with a flash of light, then jumps ahead in time without explaining exactly what happened.
7 Breaking The 4th Wall
Tower of God is appealing to anime fans because of its dramatic battles and incredible character designs. Another thing that draws in viewers is how self-aware the anime seems to be. It understands that it is a battle anime, and it embraces the tropes that come with this.
The manhwa proves this self-awareness by occasionally speaking directly to the viewer. SIU doesn't do it often, but when he chooses to break the fourth wall in his manhwa, it is hilarious.
6 Endorsi's Defensive Orbs
Endorsi is introduced as a powerful and confident character in both the anime and the manhwa of Tower of God. When she steps onto the scene during the crown game she quickly proves to be one of the most powerful regulars climbing the tower alongside Khun and Bam.
The manhwa demonstrates this power in unique ways when compared to the anime. In the panels that make up the manhwa, Endorsi is shown to have control of a set of orange and black orbs that she can use to block her foes attacks. The anime replaces these orbs with incredibly well-animated feats of physical strength and speed.
5 Shibisu Scouting Out Information Before The Final Test
The final test that Bam and his team have to pass to move on from the tests' floor involves maintaining a well-balanced ecosystem. The anime shows Khun working with Narae and Laure to manipulate the setting to their advantage.
A small detail that is left out of the anime is the fact that it was Shibisu, not Khun, that originally found out about the underground tunnels that Khun uses to beat this test. Shibisu is given plenty of other opportunities to show off his academic side. Still, the show missed an opportunity to connect the scout position with the idea of research when they left out this detail.
4 Princess Yuri's Team
After lending Bam the Black March during Headon's test and then watching the boy disappear after passing, Princess Yuri spends season 1 searching for Bam. This adventure takes Yuri and her team through treacherous, unmapped regions of the tower.
The princess prepared for these dangers by putting a team together. However, this team's faces vary depending on whether you read the manhwa or watched the anime. While some faces stay the same, a few characters in the manhwa never make it to the screen in the anime's thirteen-episode run.
3 Suspendium
The tower that Bam, Khun, and Rak work their way through in Season 1 of the anime is mysterious. To maintain this mysteriousness, information is doled out in small doses. The manhwa similarly handles information, but thanks to the medium's nature, it manages to fit in much more information than the anime does.
An example of this information goes by the name suspendium. The material goes unnamed in the anime, but the manhwa explains that this material allows the lighthouses to levitate. Other episodes show Khun using the blue rock as a form of currency. Perhaps the anime will introduce the floating rock in future seasons.
2 Spear Bearer Revolution
The spear bearer revolution is largely played up for laughs in the anime. Paracule's plan to stop the ranker and defeat him from a distance with spears is ridiculous in both the anime and manhwa format.
The manhwa pushes the revolution further than just abandoning Hatz, though. In an arc that seems to be themed around the idea of betrayal, Paracule's plot to betray his team by running away isn't enough. So, Paracule captures a few of his own teammates and holds them hostage to draw the ranker in. Regardless of how complicated Paracule's plan is, though, the fact remains that it is a bad plan.
1 Bam's Training With Endorsi
The anime adaptation was by and large faithful to the source material. Still, the manhwa's longer format allowed it to fill out relationships that are only barely explored in the anime. The relationship between Endorsi and Bam is one of these relationships.
The manhwa gives its readers a couple of scenes that show Endorsi and Bam training before the final exam. The manhwa version of Bam does manage to stop the bull with the reverse flow control technique he picked up from Quant during the final battle. This is a feat that the anime version of Bam never managed to accomplish. Perhaps Bam enters the final test with more confidence in the manhwa thanks to his time training with a Princess of Jahad.