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Noice I get to finally post this lol

This is an initial review that isn't a super solid review yet and will probably be edited every now and then because it's literally just the first 4 episodes, so I will be limiting my judgement to only these 4 episodes, but as a manhwa reader (I'm in the Name Hunt Station in the manhwa by the time this thing has been posted).

Tower of God is based on a manhwa by SIU who is constantly making sure to update the webtoon every week (hopefully he doesn't get Babylonia Gilgamesh'd, because this dude is really hardworking), and right now, ... around 10 years after the webtoon's first episode, we finally have an anime adaptation with the help of organizations like Crunchyroll. The first 13 will most likely try to adapt the first half of the manhwa's season 1 if not the whole season 1, which is really just the introduction and the "first stage of development" for the characters, especially for our boi Bam.

Now, for an adaptation of the first four episodes, it's actually pretty decent. You get the clueless Bam tackling a difficult first test and then an "initiation-like" test that kicks off the rest of season 1, while getting the first appearances of some of the major and minor characters such as Khun (the blue bro), Rak (the croco-gator-dinol), my boi Lero Ro, and most of the first team. It's cool how they were able to adapt the scenes here especially the kick to the head with a sort of back-flip at the end, which, frame by frame, is a nearly-direct copy on how the manhwa showed it, and not to forget that damn door test with our FIRST "I thought you're a girl" character and the crown game. The action sequences were nearly on par with how SIU's manhwa showcased it, and although there are points it kinda doesn't fit, the OST is pretty solid for a start. The art style seems to cater to a certain taste specifically those who admire hand-drawn but well done simplistic art styles. In my take though, I quite like it. It's enough for somebody to understand what is visually going on while giving the chance for visual humor to mix in. It also has this sort of aesthetic I like especially shown in Khun's design.

Then again, even as a manhwa reader, there are a bit of disappointments, especially since I hoped for the anime adaptation to be presented enough for anime-only watchers to understand what is going on, and I'm not surprised that a lot do not understand even on the first episode and I kind of get why. The thing is, there are some essential parts that are already missing just in the first two episodes. A chunk of dialogue and parts for the first part of the manhwa were key for the audience to understand the situation such as where did Yuri and Evan come from that first episode or a brief explanation from Headon on what the tower is while still leaving mystery behind it. I would've been okay with it if the missing parts were pretty minor, but then, some of those small parts are major for anime-onlies to not get in a bit of confusion.

Overall, it's a good first 4 for me, especially that first half of the crown game. I guess it isn't that much for anime-onlies which is understandable, but either way, I do wish they get the rest of season 1 well done and not seem like a mere lite version/invitation to anime-onlies to go read the manhwa just to understand certain upcoming scenes that are really key. I get why this manhwa is praised really well, but its also a long road ahead to get that big good chunk of parts even for a season 1 (of the manhwa).

"This is a story concerning the secrets of the world only she and I know." - Hodaka Morishima

This is my first review and it is backed-up by two movie screenings. I’ll do my best to not give out too many spoilers.

To begin this, Makoto Shinkai gave us a whole universe with Kotonoha No Niwa being the kickstarter followed by Kimi No Na Wa. This 2019, Tenki No Ko continues the universe’s timeline without being an “actual sequel” to Kimi No Na Wa, as in you can watch it as a stand-alone movie without watching the other said movies before it. I would like to say ... that, although it had a super straightforward and bland story on paper, questionable parts, noticeable reused formulas, and some opportunities it failed to take, the film brought out that “Makoto Shinkai” magic with its characters, sound, and obviously, coming from a Shinkai film, its into-detail-art and animation.


STORY: 6
Let us start off with the film’s story. Compared to Kimi No Na Wa which leans on magical and supernatural aspects as the main carriers of the story, Tenki No Ko’s story leans more on character and character connections, and contains more realism and down-to-earth aspects. The story is probably the balance of Kotonoha No Niwa and Kimi No Na Wa, combining that magical/supernatural aspect in relation to the Shinto Religion with realism in today’s society, with the latter being much more leaned on. Despite the combined concepts sounding nice, the story plot overall from start to finish is pretty straightforward and is quite bland and slow at the start on paper (as in if you view the story as a whole only, removing elements such as visuals and sound). Not only that, but this movie contains quite a number of plotholes, questions that were left unanswered other than the setting during the ending, and missed opportunities and concepts that could’ve been explained and dived into more in the movie with the cumulonimbus clouds’ (correct me if I’m wrong) ecosystem as an example. You can say that the story has its own inconsistencies. Not only that, but if you actually view the whole sequence of events as a whole just from the introduction itself and some angles, you can see the formula that Shinkai used in the previous film Kimi No Na Wa. For this part, I don’t want to dwell in that much because it will require details that are big potential spoilers.

CHARACTERS: 7
In regards to characters, I honestly find the ones in the film as improvements in Shinkai’s works. The characters in Tenki No Ko are quite down-to-earth, fresh, and are pretty much relatable with very decent characterizations and character improvements. You could at least relate to a character or two, especially if you’re a struggling teen finding a bit of purpose in life while being fed up with the life you have right now, a person struggling to find a job/occupation, or a parent trying to get closer with your own family. You can even probably relate if you are a playboy. The only thing that I could say that is negative regarding the characters is that, just like mentioned previously, there were certain opportunities that could’ve been taken and in this case, the characterizations and character developments could’ve been amplified alot more if such opportunities were to be taken. An example would be Nagi Amano. The movie could’ve honestly ventured more into his character with more dialogue and interactions together with Hina and Hodaka. That doesn’t mean he is a bad character.

ART/VISUALS: 10
When it comes to Makoto Shinkai, visuals, color, saturation, artstyle, and animation bring up his works that they are probably one of the biggest highlights and signatures for his films. His visuals never fail to seize me as a viewer especially in this movie. The visual details of every part of the movie from downtown Tokyo to the room designs down to the food and even the sky are so eye catchy and colorful with the right levels of saturation that it captures you and really makes you view the film even just for the visuals. Absolutely stunning that even the flow of the animation is very smooth and crispy when needed. The only problem I have (that can honestly be ignored) are some scenes that contain 3D animation. Pretty dodgy but bearable. Actually if you compare to other anime, the 3D animation here is not that bad.

SOUND/MUSIC: 9
RADWIMPS are back at it again to collaborate for this project and they failed to disappoint me. The music and scores were very useful tools in storytelling and emotional buildup that they carry weight for the movie. Music such as “Grand Escape” and "Is There Anything Love Can’t Do?” and their own piano background movie edit versions ride the flow of the story well. All of these were played so well and were mixed in with the animation and artstyle extremely precise that you can dub the animation and music score as the Shinkai’s ham and eggs or the ultimate bestfriend duo. Its extremely useful and crucial in carrying the story and feel of the movie that it also serves as its own weakness. There are points in the film that have little to no music and thus, the atmosphere kind of feels flat and boring while slightly exposing flaws of the story. This isn't always the case of course, but it does happen especially during the first half of the film.

ENJOYMENT: 8
Okay, this is more of a personal experience than a pure critic-thinking level subjective-type of review portion. Let us start. I honestly felt bored abit with the first few parts of the film because it was a pretty slow first half. I believe the main reason why is that it takes time to introduce the setting, the different potential problems and solutions, and characters and since it is a film, it will take quite some time. For this film though, it took up a lot of time than expected. I personally enjoyed the dialogues between characters in most cases and I overall liked the film’s story during the second half of the movie with its climax and payoff epilogue that gave me tons goosebumps. I truly loved the attention-to-detail and care that the team worked on for the artstyle and animation to bring life in certain parts of Tokyo together with the characters combined with beautiful music and sound. On both screenings however, questions came into my head and even more questions came in at the second screening regarding certain parts of the story that don’t entirely make sense or were not explained thoroughly enough for some to understand right away.

To wrap it all up, Tenki No Ko is an imperfect film and is absolutely not a total masterpiece due to plotholes, unexplained aspects and situations, certain bland parts, the reuse of formulas, and many more, but it is still an enjoyable anime film to watch with stunning music, beautiful animation and artstyle, and relatable characters. It may not be counted as one of the top anime films for me, but nevertheless, still a decent to good 1 hour and 54 minute film that contains the signature "Shinkai magic" in it. If we are to boil every score down into one, it would exactly be 8.

"Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it." - Salvador Dali