Tower of God Episode 12

Tower of God Episode 12

Underwater Hunt (Part Two)

A lot happened in Tower of God episode 12, and I want to discuss all of it. Unfortunately, I don’t actually have much information on everything that happened. There were a lot of twists, a lot of mysteries hinted at, and potentially a lot of things that were rushed through so that we can finish the prologue of the series next episode.

But I’m going to give the anime the benefit of the doubt this week and assume that all of the things that didn’t make sense to me were that way on purpose. If you’ve read the source material, feel free to let me, and other readers, know how faithful this episode really was down in the comments.

So the first thing to discuss is Khun’s plan for passing the Administrator’s test. I think it could have been shown and explained a bit better as it was happening, but in the end, all the important elements were there. Basically, when the test began, we were introduced to all the different moving parts, and Khun makes use of this information.

There are six main groups we have to keep in mind during this test: The group taking the test, the seals, the goblins, the worms, the pigs, and the bull. The bull is the wild card, so we can basically ignore it unless you think Anaak and Endorsi hunting it was all part of the plan to keep it distracted.

But the main plan involved using the pigs and worms to prevent the goblins from getting to the seals. Khun had Laure herd the pigs into the worms feeding area, and then the pigs were released from within the worms to fight the goblins. I like that the pigs weren’t just forgotten about.

Ranker Princess of Jahad

Yuri Jahad finally showed up again with the rest of her entourage, and she’s kind of a big deal. It was already implied that she was one of the strongest and highest-ranking of the Princesses of Jahad, if not the strongest and highest-ranking. But I didn’t really understand just how strong she was supposed to be.

If Anaak and Endorsi were to team up against Yuri, and both Anaak and Endorsi had ignition weapons while Yuri had nothing, Yuri would win. We know this because Ren was able to defeat both Anaak and Endorsi, and then Yuri was able to easily wipe the floor with Ren.

Surprisingly, Ren was also killed in this episode by one of Yuri’s retainers. I really thought Ren was going to be the major antagonist for the next arc or something.

Yuri Jahad and Ren from the anime series Tower of God
Yuri Jahad and Ren

We also see that although Ren works directly under the king, Yuri outranks him in that regard too. Sure, Ren attempts to kill Yuri, but when Yuri originally relieves him of his duty as the collector of the Month series ignition weapons, he actually seems to be afraid of going against her word — not because of her strength, but because of her status.

I’m thinking that Yuri might be a real Princess of Jahad (the daughter of the king) rather than an adopted one.

But the biggest surprise for me was when Yuri was referred to as a Ranker. Clearly she’s strong enough to be a Ranker, but I thought she was trying to find her way to the testing area to start her climb of the tower. Aren’t Rankers those who have already made it to the top?

The Khun Family

This episode also introduced a new member of the Khun family, of which Khun is also a member of if you couldn’t guess. We don’t actually know what Khun’s given name is at this point, but I assume we’ll learn it eventually. And likewise, we don’t know the given name of this other Khun family member who appears.

I also don’t remember if he was part of Yuri’s entourage or not, but I guess that doesn’t matter for now. What matters is that we know he likes to mess with other members of the Khun family, and that like our Khun, he’s an outcast.

We really don’t know anything other than that about him. But allow me to make some predictions.

Because the Khun family has been so mysterious thus far, I’m getting an Uchiha family vibe from them. This is clearly one of the more powerful families in this world, and these two members we know of are the only two we know of — much like Sasuke and Itachi for a good portion of Naruto.

And just like Sasuke and Itachi, I’m predicting that Khun is going to make it his goal to take down this other Khun for whatever reason. But, once he does take down the other Khun, he’ll probably learn that the two of them were actually on the same side fighting against the main family.

Maybe this other Khun is even our Khun’s biological brother.

Raging Bull

As far as I’m concerned, the bull was a lot better in this episode than the previous two episodes it was featured in. I think it looks really stupid on land, but once it was actually swimming through the Shinsu like the “fish” it is, it looked a lot better.

When swimming, the sideways head looks more natural because it’s perpendicular to the spine anymore. Also, the cape turns into ray-like fins, which is also a much better look. But with all that said, there’s still one major problem I have with the appearance of the bull: It’s size.

The Bull swimming towards Bam and Rachel from the anime series Tower of God
The Bull swimming towards Bam and Rachel

Perhaps the bull becomes larger as it soaks in more Shinsu. If this is stated in the source material, then I could understand that swimming through the condensed Shinsu sea could make it grow over time. However, this isn’t something that was ever mentioned in the anime, and that led to some apparent scaling issues.

When the bull was on land, it looked like it was maybe 10 – 12 feet tall. That’s a decently sized creature, and definitely not one I would want to run into. But by the time it eats Bam in the Shinsu sea, it must be at least 80 feet long. It’s massive, and with each pass of the bubble, it appears to grow larger.

However, one good thing did come out of the bull becoming larger. I really liked how Bam was eaten by it and then destroyed it from the inside — exactly as he learned to do at the start of the series. It was a good way to show that he’s learned from his past experiences.

Navigators

There’s not much I can really say regarding Navigators right now, but from what I understand, it’s an official title much like Rankers have. I believe the shorter, white-haired man in Yuri’s group has been previously referred to as a Navigator, and from what we’ve seen this title means exactly what you’d think: He helps Yuri navigate the tower.

The interesting thing about Navigators is that this known Navigator refers to Hwaryun (I’ve also seen her name as Hwa Ryun) — the red-haired, eyepatch-wearing, Wave Controller — as a Navigator. And he expresses surprise at seeing a Navigator there. So, there must be something to Navigators we don’t yet know.

First, how does he know she’s a Navigator? Second, how does one attain the title of Navigator? Are they just a subset of Ranker who serve as guides? And, as Yuri’s Navigator asked, what is a Navigator doing here anyway? Why was she taking the tests to climb the tower with all the others?

Even though she isn’t participating in the Administrator’s test, maybe we’ll see her rejoin the others and help guide them through the floors.

Rachel’s Betrayal

Of course, I can’t finish this episode review without discussing Rachel’s betrayal of Bam at the very end. When we were shown Bam and Rachel reaching towards each other in slow motion, I knew something was going to go wrong. But I can safely say I didn’t expect Rachel to stand up and push Bam out of the bubble.

Oh, and I should clarify that the betrayal I’m referring to in this section isn’t Rachel pushing Bam out of the bubble. The real betrayal is that Rachel was pretending to be a paraplegic.

The main question I have right now is: Does everyone fail if Bam fails? It seemed like that was the original condition of the test, but maybe if Rachel is eaten by the seal monster, she and everyone else still pass while Bam fails. I think that has to be the case because otherwise, Rachel would have just thrown away her own chance to climb the tower.

Rachel pushing Bam into the Shinsu from the anime series Tower of God
Rachel pushing Bam into the Shinsu

So, why did Rachel pretend to be a paraplegic and then push Bam out of the bubble and into the Shinsu sea as they were about to pass the Administrator’s test? Did she really betray him? Is she working for someone who doesn’t want to see Bam succeed? Is Bam’s success somehow a threat to her own?

I think the answer is a lot more boring than you’d first expect. From what I’ve seen, Rachel is extremely self-conscious about the fact that Bam doesn’t really have a dream of his own, and that he basically only lives to serve her. I think Rachel doesn’t want to see Bam risking his life for her dream, and so this was her way of releasing him from what she sees as his burden.

It’s basically Rachel telling Bam that he doesn’t need to live for her sake anymore.

Conclusion

What do you think of Tower of God episode 12? Is Yuri really a Ranker? Is Khun actually just Korean Sasuke? Does Shinsu make the bull grow larger? What do you think is the deal with Navigators? And why do you think Rachel betrayed Bam? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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My review of the final episode of season 1 is available here.

2 Replies to “Tower of God Episode 12”

  1. I would explain few things which adaptation ignores till this point without giving any spoilers

    First about REN,he was shown to be dead but that was wrong as that body was only REN’s puppet and REN was somewhere far controlling it.

    About princesses-
    JAHAD has no daughters so all princesses are chosen like Endorsi on talent basis. More about princesses will be explained in future.

    Abut YURI-
    SHE is a ranker (that’s why she is also very strong. All rankers are very strong compare to any regulars. And in general no regular can beat even the weakest ranker. Though in general princesses are comparatively way stronger (like in same grade if their is a princess among them then it is expected that she will be much stronger than rest of them) due to power of JAHAD given to them.
    And what has Yuri shown till now is just a drop of her power extent.

    About Khun family –
    It was completely ignored but khun family is one of the ten great families of the tower. Btw khun name was given in 2nd or 3rd episode(I may be wrong) it is KHUN AGUERO AGNIS. KHUN family is very large. JAHAD climbed the tower with his 10 companions (those 10 are founder and at current family heads(FH) of those 10 great families of tower. All family heads are monster in terms of power and rest is spoiler. Among those 10 families one is KHUN family. FH of Khun family doesn’t give a damn about his children and he has a lots of them (he has numerous wives) . So that another man is one of his half brother. Khun family is very strong btw.

    About rankers
    Rankers are those who have climbed upto floor where JAHAD is and are given a rank ans so they are called a ranker. You can see rankers as like hunters in HxH. Rankers are not allowed in regulars area which is inner tower(other than that they can go wherever they want) except for test directors and such like LERO ro, QUANT, HANSUNG YU and EVANKHELL(they are all rankers assigned by floor administrator(Guardian). Floor guardians are separate entity who are independent and above JAHAD and are like a god. It was not touched in anime so let me give hierarchy system in regulars area
    Topmost is FLOOR administrator(each floor has one and they can’t be changed) he assign someone as floor ruler(for current floor that is EVANKHELL) which looks after everything instead of administrator. Then under floor administrator comes test director (which for current floor 2 is HANSUNG YU) which then recruit test administrator (QUANT and LERO RO) . These all persons are for conducting tests for regulars and JAHAD doesn’t have right to interfere. This was not shown but interference of REN and YURI was already accounted for test by administrator andYURI was not allowed to interfere any further then getting rid of REN. So YURI leave due to that.

    About Navigators-
    This is limited to certain rare race in tower rather than skill. They each have certain physical features from which they can be identified(anything other might count as spoiler maybe. But yeah.. That’s how Evan identify that Hwaryun as one). Navigator have certain rare skill. You will know more in future.

    About khun’s brother(as in source material) . He only go to khun to use his lighthouse to help princess and other as a light bearer helps his team. He has no real business with Khun or Marian(in anime it was changed I don’t know why they did it). But yep KHUN family is a big deal and Khun at present is nothing compare to numerous rankers KHUN family already had (they all are half brothers and FH don’t give a damn about his children ) . Some basic info about tower and major influential powerful people in tower were given by author in his blog during these s1 but as they are not explained in s1 so will count them as spoilers

    About irregulars –
    This info was given in source material till this point I s1 which was cut in anime(which I prefer they shouldn’t have well can’t actually blame them if they only got 13 episodes to cover 80 chapters of source material which was not a wise choice according to me). First irregulars which has been mentioned is UREK MAZINO (one of most powerful person in tower. He establish a group called WOLHAIKSONG which even 10 great families don’t take lightly. At episode 12 YURI gave shibisu a half wing symbol which is symbol of WOLHAIKSONG and tell him to give that to Bam and come to 77th floor(where WOLHAIKSONG is established). Yuri also tod shibishu to tell Bam is that Urek Mazino is waiting for him there(it was skipped). In episode 1st Yuri suddenly appears before Bam but in source material Yuri has known that an irregular opens the door on his own and was going there to see that irregular(this was also cut in anime)
    (she gave Bam black March bcuz he is an irregular )

    Second irregular that has been mentioned is PHANTAMINUM who suddenly appear at JAHAD castle an massacre every rankers who come in his way but he didn’t fight Jahd and disappeared. He is inactive now and is ranked no. 1 in tower (ranking part is given by author separately ).

    THIRD is ENRYU who is also very powerful.

    They are the reason that irregulars are feared as they are very powerful and everytime one appears they cause change in tower. If you noticed in ep 11 that only an irregular can take administrator’s test and JAHAD take that so..

    And finally about RACHEL’s betrayal you will know more in 13th episodes. I don’t spoil anything here. 13 episode will give be interesting

    And the author(SIU) already made whole story till end in 2010 (starting of TOG) so every details are well though and not just random things created to move plot further. Every mystery or question which is introduced will find it’s answer later.

    Your review make me excited so I try to answer them (as I think anime is lacking in giving info on tower system)

    1. That’s a lot of information.

      I’m assuming that some of the things that were skipped, such as what the wing symbol means, are going to be explained in the second season. And I’m fine with them putting off the explanations for things like that. I think they figured they’d loop back around to cover that stuff if the first season was a success. But that basically the entire explanation of the hierarchy within the tower was skipped over definitely wasn’t a good idea.

      I mean, the anime hasn’t even really given us a good explanation of what a Ranker is. We were told that they’re people who made it to the top of the tower, but apparently that’s not exactly right and there’s a lot more to being a Ranker that we’re supposed to know by this point.

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