Season 1 of Tower of God, a Crunchyroll Original anime, was a huge hit with fans and received an average user rating of 4.7 out of 5 on Crunchyroll. It tells the story of a boy named Bam (voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch in the English dub and Taichi Ichikawa in Japanese) who is climbing a magical tower in an effort to find Rachel (Valerie Rose Lohman in English and Saori Hayami in Japanese), a girl who left to climb the tower herself.
Reaching the top of the tower ensures that a person will receive everything they desire but Bam, Rachel, and everyone else who climbs the tower will have to pass impossible tests and make horrible sacrifices to reach the top. Tower of God is based on a South Korean manhwa (comic) by the same name created by SIU, the pen name of Lee Jong-hui, and both the anime and the manhwa have devoted fans around the world. Of course, now all those fans want to know when to expect Season 2. So read on for all the details on the show's future but fair warning: Season 1 spoilers lie ahead!
What Happened in Tower of God Season 1?
Bam has no memories from before he met Rachel, who took him in and taught him everything he knows. So when Rachel disappears to go climb the tower, Bam immediately tries to follow her, ignoring her protests. While he isn’t able to locate Rachel on the lower floors of the tower, he does meet several new friends. Soon, Bam has allied himself with Kuhn (voiced by Chris Hackney in English and Nobuhiko Okamoto in Japanese) a clever and sneaky blue-haired boy, Rak (voiced by Matthew David Rudd for the English dub and Kenta Miyake in Japanese) a large alligator-type creature, and several other fascinating characters. Together they agree to form an alliance and climb the titular tower together.
Things only get better for Bam when he finally locates Rachel among some of the other test-takers. Despite Rachel’s pleas that Bam should stay away from her, Bam is determined to protect her. When Rachel is stabbed during one of the tests and told she will never walk again, Bam offers to take her to the top of the tower, and she agrees. Bam and his allies must take the most difficult test to win the right to take the wheelchair-bound Rachel with them. It turns out the test was actually a ruse, designed to separate the group so that anyone who is viewed as a threat to the tower can be disposed of. Just when victory is finally within reach, Rachel stands up from her wheelchair and pushes Bam to his presumed death. The season ends with Bam’s grieving friends, oblivious to Rachel’s betrayal, promising to take her to the top of the tower because it was what Bam would have wanted. Down below, we see Bam planning to start climbing the tower on his own.
Will There Be a Tower of God Season 2?
Considering the positive fan reaction, it seems like Tower of God Season 2 should be a given, but so far it still hasn’t been officially confirmed. Season 1 ended in June 2020 and fans are still waiting for an official announcement regarding a second season. When asked by Anime News Network about the possibilities of more seasons of Tower of God, Crunchyroll’s Director of Brand and Marketing Carter Hahnselle said, “you'll have to check out the series yourself to see how far we follow Bam up the Tower in Season 1! Can't share too much more beyond that right now, but again we're so glad that fans all over the world have been enjoying the show.”
Unfortunately, this quote was from 2020 and there have been no further official announcements, though rumors abound. Given the mixed reception many Crunchyroll Originals received, it’s unclear if or when there will be another season of the Tower of God anime.
So How Can You Find Out What Happens Next in Tower of God?
If you’ve finished all 13 episodes of Season 1 of Tower of God and you want to know what happens next to Bam and his friends (and enemies), then there’s some good news: the manhwa is available in English on webtoons.com and is still ongoing. So while there isn’t an official end to Bam’s story yet, the Tower of God manhwa has two more seasons beyond what the anime has adapted so far. As of April 4, 2022, the manhwa is on Season 3, Episode 113, so the source material has more than enough content to keep you busy for quite a while.
What to Watch if You Want More Shows Like Tower of God
HunterxHunter: In HunterxHunter; people who wish to become Hunters must first pass a series of grueling tests. Gon, a young boy determined to become a Hunter like his father, quickly makes allies among the other applicants and works to pass the Hunter exam. With its focus on elaborate tests and comradery, HunterxHunter may appeal to more than a few fans of Tower of God. There are six seasons available on Netflix to watch either dubbed or with subtitles.
Sword Art Online: Sword Art Online is perhaps one of the best-known anime in the isekai genre (a genre where a person is transported to a different world.) The main character, Kirito, is trapped in a VR video game along with 10,000 other players and told the only way to escape the game is to travel to the 100th floor of the castle the game is set in. So he sets off to reach the 100th floor, making friends and even family along the way. And that just covers the first half of the first season.
While Sword Art Online has its ups and downs, its best arcs show the characters growing and overcoming adversity through the power of friendship as they work together to pass complex challenges and achieve their goals (which are often to escape from a video game). Netflix currently has four seasons available to watch either subbed or dubbed.
Squid Game: When you think of games that turn deadly, you can’t help but think of Squid Game. This Netflix series, created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, was a huge hit when it came out in September 2021. In this series Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jeong-jae), a man crushed under his massive gambling debts, competes in games against other similarly indebted people to win a massive cash prize. The only catch is that the games, despite being modeled on classic Korean children’s games, are a matter of life and death. The show’s massively successful first season is available on Netflix and can be watched in Korean with English subtitles or dubbed into English. Netflix has confirmed that a second season is in development.