WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 1 of Tower of God, "Ball," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
The setting of Tower of God is a strange and wondrous world full of vibrant characters, cultures and history. The first episode of the Crunchyroll Originals production adapts the long-running manhwa by SUI (Lee Jong-hui) to the screen and introduces our protagonist, Bam to the place known reverently as the Tower.
For Bam, and the many other warriors seeking to challenge the Tower, there is only one goal: to reach the top, a place where any wish can be granted. However, climbing the Tower is not as simple as scaling a mountain (or descending into an abyss). There are rules that must be followed and trials that must be conquered for anyone hoping to attain their greatest desires. For better or worse, the anime adaptations' first episode sends Bam into the middle of all of this with little explanation. While this allows viewers to empathize with Bam's confusion over the same events, the episode may have left some viewers in search of greater details.
The Tower itself is a place separate and normally inaccessible from the outside world -- one that could be regarded as a world of its own. There is a lot of ambiguity as to the nature of the Tower and its origins, but people believe that something special can be found at the top, including people from the outside, such as Bam and Rachel. Everyone who aims to climb the Tower has their own motivations for doing so.
In the case of Rachel, she wants to escape the "dark world" outside the Tower and see the stars. On the other hand, Bam's wish is humbler but equally as passionate: He wants to reunite with his only friend. For either of them to accomplish their wishes, they'll have to pass the tests set forth before them and prove themselves worthy of reaching the top.
Luckily, the Tower isn't entirely unknown. Many of the Tower's floors are inhabited, and even more of it has been explored by the countless Regulars seeking to reach the top, making the Tower's general layout common knowledge. There are three main sections to the Tower: the Outer Tower, the Middle Area and the Inner Tower. The three sections are mostly separate, and most individuals cannot cross between them without special permissions or certain abilities. The Outer Tower holds the residential district, where most of the Tower’s inhabitants live. The Outer Tower is the largest section of the Tower, and each of its floors is said to be the size of a continent. While the other sections of the Tower are still huge, the Outer Tower’s floors are closer to miniature worlds, stacked one atop the other.
The Middle Area is a dark, labyrinthine maze that can’t be navigated by ordinary means. While the anime skipped over this brief scene in the manhwa, Yuri and Evan used the Middle Area to reach Bam and Headon down in the Inner Tower’s first floor. Individuals who have reached floors high in the Tower can use the Middle Area to easily cross between floors, as well as move between the Outer Tower and the Inner Tower. While the Middle Area does have its own inhabitants, it is the smallest of the three sections.
The Inner Tower is where challengers go in order to climb to the top of the Tower. Inhabitants of the Tower are hand-picked by Headon to head into the Inner Tower and attempt to overcome its trials, starting from the second floor. Each floor in the Inner Tower holds one or more tests that challengers, Headon’s “Chosen Regulars,” must overcome to reach the floor above. These tests are organized by the Tower’s staff on behalf of the King in order to ensure only the worthiest Regulars can reach the top.
While Regulars come from distinctly different places, their gathering in the Inner Tower has led to an unusual mixture of technology and culture. Regulars representing the Tower’s many races are shown wielding spears, bows and guns -- and every style is equally viable in combat, so long as you’re able to survive.
Apart from the Tower’s three sections, there is also the world outside the Tower. Little is known it, though, since no one inside the Tower has ever found a way out. However, on a rare occasion, the Tower opens its doors to someone from the outside and sends them to the Inner Tower.
In the first episode of Tower of God, we witness Bam enter the Tower and confront Headon, its self-described caretaker who oversees the Inner Tower’s first floor, among his other duties. Since Bam was not chosen by Headon to enter the Inner Tower, he is considered an Unchosen Irregular and is given an especially challenging test to prove his worth.
We also encounter Yuri and Evan, her Navigator, who lends Bam a device known as a "Pocket." Since the Tower contains several distinct languages and is isolated from the languages of the outside world, its inhabitants use Pocket devices to communicate with one another. Aside from translating speech, Pockets can also hold an inventory of items and turn invisible, as demonstrated by Yuri and Evan. These devices allow the Tower's various cultures to co-exist, especially inside the Inner Tower, where Regulars from all across it are put in close contact.
As Bam continues to climb the Tower, we'll see him encounter more of the place's strange individuals and learn more about their mysterious world. The Tower’s hazardous nature is kept far from secret -- as we saw when Bam ran headfirst into danger to face the White Steel Eel. Thanks to the generous help of Yuri and Evan, though, he was able to pass his first test and head to the Tower’s second floor. However, as it becomes clear in the introduction of his next test, not everyone in the Tower will be as kind.