Welcome to Anime Rants! The second cour of Tower of God season 2 has officially begun. It’s offcially called Tower of God: Workshop Battle Arc. You know what that means? New music! Although Tower of God isn’t a great anime by my standards, the music is usually excellent. For this arc, Tower of God went back to its roots by choosing Stray Kids to perform the new opening and ending songs. The OP is “Night,” and the ED is “Falling Up.” I really enjoy both even though hip-hop is not my usual style.

Anyway, my review for episode 14 will not contain a detailed recap of events. Rather, it will focus on my responses to a few events and characters. Let’s get started.

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Notes on Epsiode 14: “Meeting Traveler”

Episode Rating: 7/10

This episode officially introduced us to “Traveler,” a rather dorky-looking dude whose real identity remains unknown. Traveler is the one who’s been chatting with Emily and has fallen in love with her. For some reason, I thought Traveler was one and the same with the man we saw in the previous episode, smoking and talking to someone over a radio. However, now it’s clear that they are two different people.

Based on what Traveler told Bam, “Emily” is probably a modified human and will be the prize for the winner of the Workshop Battle. Since he loves Emily and wants her to be free, Traveler is trying to sneak aboard the Archimedes and save her. After he was attacked by Workshop patrol robots, Bam saved him, and the two became allies.

It was interesting that Bam introduced himself with his real name instead of “Jue Viole Grace.” Since Traveler didn’t offer his real name, Bam could have just been responding in kind. It’s possible he didn’t want to scare Traveler by revealing he’s with FUG. However, I think there was a different reason. This a rare moment where Bam can let his guard down. He must be sick of existing as someone he’s not – as the cruel slayer, Viole. Thanks to Traveler, Bam got to be himself for one night.

The gun game that was introduced in this episode was moderately interesting. Tower of God is fairly good at laying out unusual games that require strategy, although their execution isn’t always exciting to watch. Khun was right and the best way to start would be gathering bullets. As for Shibusu’s team, they are being a bit less strategic by going after FUG members specifically. However, I understand their animosity given that most of them believe FUG killed Khun.

The dynamic of Khun and Wangnan is humorous because they are so different. Khun is measured and clever, while Wangnan is honest to a fault and reactive. But the funniest part of this episode wasn’t when Khun pretended to shoot Wangnan. It was when Wangnan and Dan were cheering for Endorsi during her TV interview. Their fanaticism over Endorsi is hilarious, especially when they add random English words into their cheers. (For what it’s worth, I am very attracted to Endorsi, too.)

The ending of this episode finally brings Endorsi in contact with Bam and Traveler. She doesn’t recognize Bam, at least not right away. She believes he’s Viole and thus wants to kill him. But since Bam introduced himself to Traveler with his real name, it’s possible that Endorsi will realize the truth. We’ll have to wait and see in next week’s episode.

~Thanks for reading~

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