Tower of God Episode 13

Tower of God Episode 13

Rachel Spelled Backwards is Satan

Okay, so I was wrong last week when I predicted that Rachel pushed Bam out of the bubble and into the Shinsu “for his own sake.” And I’ve seen a lot of people mentioning how much they hate Rachel for betraying Bam like this. But I don’t really see it that way.

Obviously Rachel was just revealed as an antagonist of the series, but I’m still not entirely sure what her role is going to be going forward. I just don’t see her being an antagonist all the way until the end. She’s probably going to have some sort of redemption arc just like Sasuke Uchiha — which is to say a surface level one.

Also, I have to say this betrayal actually makes me like Rachel a lot more as a character. Up until this point, she had no real personality and there was barely any reason for her existence. But now she’s been revealed as a dynamic character in her own right.

Headon and Rachel from the anime series Tower of God
Headon and Rachel

The way in which this episode told Rachel’s story from episode 1 until episode 12 was also done very well. Everything up until this point was from Bam’s perspective. So showing the events of these episodes from Rachel’s perspective instead was a great way to build up her character in a short amount of time.

And one of the most important aspects of this quick recap of Rachel’s perspective is that it didn’t change her character. She’s always been the person we see in episode 13. It’s just that now that we aren’t viewing her from Bam’s point of view, we see her for who she truly is — as some of the other characters already have been doing.

It’s clear that both Khun and Endorsi have known what kind of person Rachel really is.

Journey to the Top

While I understand that it made sense to show the scene of all of Bam’s friends finding out that he’s “dead,” I think it could have been done better. I don’t know how it could have been done better, but it seemed to be trying to be an emotional scene. And the problem with it trying to be emotional is that it isn’t emotional because we know Bam is alive.

Think of similar scenes from other anime. Any time there’s a scene like that, that’s actually emotional, it’s because the character in question is dead. Or at the very least, the viewers are lead to believe they’re dead. Since Bam is the protagonist of this series, there was never really a question about him being dead or alive.

However, with Bam seemingly dead, the rest of his friends band together to help Rachel reach the top of the tower. After all, this is what Bam would have wanted them to do (if he had actually died).

The challengers of the tower from the anime series Tower of God
The challengers of the tower

The fact that all of Bam’s friends are now climbing the tower with Rachel flips the entire prologue on its head. Does this mean that Bam won’t be climbing the tower with Khun, Rak, and the others? If so, I actually think the format of this prologue was genius.

Normally a prologue sets up your main characters (the protagonists). But if all of these characters are going with Rachel, then we basically spent the entire prologue setting up the antagonist group. Now, I’m not saying Khun and Rak are really antagonists themselves, but perhaps by the time they reunite with Bam, they won’t feel indebted to him.

Maybe by the time Bam catches up with them, they can truly view him as a rival. They wouldn’t hate him, but they would respect and want to beat him. It would almost be the same relationship Luffy and Shanks have.

End of the Prologue

At the very end of the episode we get a shot of what looks to me like Bam as an adult (pictured below). That may not be the case, but since we aren’t told it’s not him, I’m going to assume that’s who it is for the sake of this discussion.

My first question when I saw this shot was, “is this Bam towards the end of his journey, or is this Bam after a time skip that happens at the end of the prologue?” I think either way could work. Foreshadowing a scene towards the end of the series is always neat. But at the same time, I’d like for Bam to be an adult for the majority of the series so I hope that’s him next season.

Also, the Navigator (I forget her name already), mentioned something about Rachel having been traveling without Bam for a while by the next time he sees her. So that seems to lend credibility to a time skip happening after the prologue.

Bam as an adult(?) from the anime series Tower of God
Bam as an adult(?)

What I really like about how this episode ends is that it opens up the story to be something entirely different from the prologue. Bam has a new goal, he might have an entirely new cast of characters around him, and if there’s a significant time skip we may be able to ignore a lot of the more questionable world-building aspects of the prologue.

And before I conclude this review, I guess I should also point out two other possible identities for the person we’re shown at the end of the episode. I’m also entertaining the ideas that it could be King Jahad, or more likely, whoever’s waiting for Bam on the 77th floor of the tower.

Conclusion

As of the writing of this review, I don’t believe a second season of Tower of God has been confirmed. But based on how popular the source material is and how popular the first season of the anime seems to be, I think it’s only a matter of time.

But what did you think of this final episode? Do you think Rachel’s betrayal made her a better character? Or do you hate her now? And how do you think the following seasons of this series are going to differ from the first? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the first season as a whole is available here.

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