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ToG was one of the first manhwa that I ever read around 5 or 6 years ago, and I do remember enjoying it but still dropped it somewhere along the line. I recently decided to reread it again after seeing overwhelmingly positive reviews for it (8.74/10 makes that pretty obvious), however, I found it awfully mediocre (especially the 2nd and even more, the 3rd season).

Story: 6/10. The first season was decent. But the second season and third season just seemed like a remodelled first season. I stopped there, but I assumed the 4th season would be the same. This is a problem with the very ... concept of 'tower-climbing'. This story can very easily become an endless repetition of having to overcome obstacles after clearing levels. That's why character development is so important (I'll get to that later). What could have added depth to the story is the whole Rachel conflict motive, however, this also falls super short. We are barely given insight into Rachel's motives, her thoughts etc. She has absolutely no significant meaningful development. And because of this, the whole story just collapses in on itself. Not to mention the whole load of inconsistencies.

Art: 7/10. The art does improve and it is pretty good and has some detail. However, since it is a fantasy, with a pretty interesting and (at the time, 2010) unique tower concept, I thought the art could deliver more in terms of world building. The backgrounds tend to get very boring and repetitive, and fail to create a real sense of immersion with the world, and since I find the action and character part of ToG pretty bland, I was hoping for some redemption here, but alas. Also, the character/costume design is utterly bland.

Characters: 3/10. This is my main problem with ToG. The characters are so boring, and undergo no meaningful development over the 417 chapters that I have read. There has been some development, yes, some development hinted at sometimes but never followed through... hardly enough development for all the trials the characters have been through. The characters are vehicles for the plot which shouldn't be the case. The characters should be informing the plot, not making generic decisions with no personality, just to further the plot along. All the characters just lack dimension and personality. Especially Rachel and Baam. And they are arguably the more important characters...

So, overall 5/10 is pretty generous considering my ratings for characters and my enjoyment of the series. I just don't want to rate it 4/10 because ToG isn't 'bad' per say, rather just not for me since I enjoy stories with good character development, which ToG did not have. I am also older than the target audience (10-15 year olds?) so that might be a factor limiting my enjoyment as well. However, I can understand why someone who doesn't mind mindlessly consuming manga/manhwa that has a semblance of a plot and characters can enjoy ToG. It is readable. Just mediocre.