Tower of God, a webtoon running for over a decade: its test-based structure, an ever-growing cast, changing art, where to start and following the world.
Tower of God is a fantasy webtoon about characters climbing a tower and the tests they face along the way. Serialisation began in 2010, divided into parts, and it has continued for many years. It is among the titles most frequently mentioned when discussing how Korean webtoons reached readers abroad.
The story is arranged as passing tests while ascending floors. That structure suits long serialisation: each new floor can introduce new rules and characters, and each test forms a self-contained unit that readers joining midway can follow. At the same time, the fixed direction of climbing keeps the whole from scattering.
A common problem in long serialisation is that characters multiply until nobody is distinct. This work uses team formation per test to introduce new figures naturally, and rather than forcing out characters whose role has ended, it moves them into the background. Leaving room for later reappearance gives the impression of a widening world. With so many characters, remembering each one's first appearance makes it easier to place them when they return.
Over more than a decade of serialisation, the difference between early and recent art is large. Readers starting from the beginning experience that change as a series of steps, which is common in long-running webtoons. Some stop at the rougher early line work, so choosing which part to start from is a practice readers use.
The volume is considerable, and catching up from the beginning is demanding. Reading part by part, or keeping a character reference alongside, are commonly recommended approaches. The animated adaptation compresses the early part, so it differs from the original in length and pace. If you enjoy both, you can split their roles: the original for the story, the animation for movement and sound.
With a long-running series, simply deciding how to enter makes a big difference to whether you finish. This one is divided into seasons, so the safest approach is to read the first season as a complete story and then decide whether to continue. The end of the first season is often cited as the point where the story's character changes significantly, so reading that far before judging gives the clearest view of what the series really is. If you met it through the animation first, reading the original first season from the beginning is worthwhile too, since many scenes and characters were cut in compression.
The tower's structure, its groups and factions and its power systems keep expanding as episodes go by. Trying to understand everything from the start is exhausting, so it is better to hold on to the rules of the current test and what the characters want within it. The big picture sorts itself out as it is mentioned repeatedly, and going back to earlier parts later sometimes reveals foreshadowing you passed over. When names blur together, official introductions or summaries help, but steer clear of anything describing later developments.
A fantasy that runs for more than a decade is less a task to finish in one go than a story to keep around for a long time. Hiatuses are common in long serialisations, and it is fine to read something else in the meantime and come back. If the earlier parts have faded, rereading just the last few episodes of that season is enough to recover the thread. Reading the reactions of long-time readers is fun, but comments on the newest episodes often reveal key developments, so be careful until you have caught up.