Tower of God Season 2

Episode 9

I have mixed feelings about this episode of Tower of God. On one hand, this episode takes one member of our supporting cast, Horyang, and fully lays out his backstory, giving him a metric ton of needed development. We learn not only the origin of his powers but also his tragic past as an orphan used as the test subject to merge humans and demons.

This is the kind of thing Bam's team has needed for a while now. We're nine episodes in at this point and we know almost nothing about these characters. The extent of their powers, their histories, and even their motivations are largely a mystery. The idea that they've been traveling together for years yet never opened up in that time seems crazy. But then again, maybe they have off-screen, in which case the recent time skip robbed us of a ton of important information.

But while welcome, that doesn't change the fact that Horyang's story is more than a little predictable and cliché, The whole test-experiment-kids-with-only-a-young-woman-treating-them-kindly setup is far from new, as is the estranged-pseudo-brother-with-mirroring-powers bit. Yet, while the backstory is straightforward and easy to understand, Horyang's actions are not.

Despite the whole team's eager to help Horyang find his friend, Horyang decides instead to run off in the middle of the night to find him alone. However, his stated motivations don't really make sense. There is nothing to outright suggest that Cassano would be dangerous—him using Horyang's alias as his own is a clear sign that he's trying to leave a trail for Horyang to follow. Yet, even if he did have reservations for some reason, bringing Bam along at least seems to be the smart play.

But while Horyang's rationale for going alone is a bit confusing, Bam's acceptance of it at face value makes total sense. Bam is in a constant state of fear for his friends both new and old. Their association with him has put their lives in danger. Horyang not wanting to put his friends—i.e., the rest of the team—in danger due to his own personal baggage is something that would resonate deeply with Bam. And so it's completely in character for Bam to hide Horyang's departure from the rest of the crew. That's the one negative thing Bam has picked up from his new FUG allies—how to lie and keep secrets—and something tells me that Horyang might just end up paying the price for that new character flaw.

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Tower of God Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.