... People seem to be salty as fuck, so it's kinda weird that I'm apparently the only one who's pretty OK with how thing evolved in this chapter.

What, if at all, did you guys think would happen when he met Rachel again? He's in love with her (or whatever passes for that emotion in Baam's psyche); she was his oldest, first and only friend for a long and lonely time. This story itself started because he could not let her go.

It's not easy to hate someone like that. Even after she tried to kill him, which came as a complete and utter shock out of nowhere. He's been chasing her ever since, and it's more to understand why she did what she did than to have a "finally vengeance is mine" moment (see previous chapter, quote "I'll know when I see her"). And when after all that blood and tears and pain, he finally catches up to her, finally poses the question that's been hounding him for years, what does she say?

That he's not important. Has never been important. That she'd rather he kill her than stand in her way.

I'm not surprised at all. Any other outcome would have been... unrealistic.

As an aside, going meta, a hero's journey needs to have a darkest hour at the middle of the story to accentuate his eventual rise. Well, here we are at the middle of the story. SIU has done pretty well so far, in my opinion.

 

For him to show a little more dignity than this, at least. But what you're ranting on is only the salty ejaculate frosting on the whole shitty cake.

What I wanted to see was for this big 'rampage' of his to leave a bit more viscera than him punching Daniel once. All he managed to do with the Thorn active was to inconclusively tussle around with one of Rachel's teammates. And then he gets owned again at the end of it. Contrast that to how he had been portrayed from the beginning of Season Two through to the start of this arc, and the whole thing just makes him look like a impotent doofus. Which has been the story of this entire arc thus far, really. It's like SIU took extra money to teach an online course on how to ruin a good MC and the comic is his textbook.

If Baam leaves a couple bodies on the ground, then I can live with him getting pushed at the end of it. I can't live so easily with him getting pushed again with absolutely nothing to show for the situation.

As for the push thing itself, it's a running gag that only the author seems to find funny.

I hope it's not the middle. Hell, he's barely even a quarter of the way up the Tower (not even taking into account however many floors are left after Zahard stopped climbing).

 

Aren't there going to be 4 seasons in total, as per SIU? I read that somewhere...

 

I don't remember exactly, but plans do change. It seems like he's still got a whole Hell of a lot of ground to cover. Especially if he plans to continue the story after Baam and co. reach the top and become Rankers. Doesn't seem like this ought to be the halfway point, and perhaps not even the quarter mark.

 

I don't mind the last few chapters or Rachel.

It's just all so fucking slow.

 

Updated.

I'm intrigued by the new character.

 

I'm not really impressed with the development. It's just more of the same inventing a new uber Regular for Baam to fight against that we got in the last arc. Really looking more forward to the point where SIU decides to just let him power up enough where he can start battling Rankers. That would be a little less contrived than always seeing that infinitesimally small portion of his climbing rank who can even breathe his air just happening to show up to get in his way.

I'd been hoping that this 'perfect Slayer Candidate' was instead going to be revealed to be Karaka while he was still climbing the Tower. I don't have any need to see every arc close out with a big Baam fight.

Much more interested right now in the character development side of this. Baam's tripping on the Thorn and how that is going to warp his personality and impact his relationships is far more intriguing than who he's going to beat down with that power.

 

So..

If you haven't been keeping up to date for ToG and waiting for a good bank of chapters to build up before you go for a read through, now is a good time to get caught up.

Lots of cool stuff has happened, Yuri is back and shit is going down. I feel like the last few chapters have progressed ToG more than the last 20. While thats not a good thing (that there has been 20 so-so chapters) I'll take it.

Conversely, for those who still want to wait on a bank of chapters, you're probably 2~ months out until this section is done, perhaps a bit longer if you want to read it all in one go.

 

I stopped at the bit where

Spoiler

They're about to get on some kind of doom train

is it worth me picking it back up now?

 

No. Still hasn't gotten any better since Bam went full Naruto-mode for Sasuke, i mean Rachel.

 

Just a never-ending cascade of disappointments lately. And yet I still read it. I had the sense to know when to quit with Naruto and other series, but not this one.

 

Oh so it's still bad? Here was me considering picking it back up.

 

Objectively bad? Hard for me to say. Most readers have been happy with the recent chapters. Subjectively, for me? A bit of a different story.

You had probably might as well just catch up though and judge for yourself.

 

I guess it comes down to if it's more of what we got at the end of the train arc. But yeah I'll probably catch up at some point soon.

 

Those who like Koon and/or loathe Rachel will enjoy this latest chapter.

 

I'm pretty sure the second applies to all sane people ever.

 

... there are other kinds of people?

 

I honestly don't care overly much for Koon these days myself, so I guess there are. There are even a token minority of mouth-breathers who like Rachel. I can't fathom why, but there's no accounting for taste.

 

While i admit that season 1 was much much better than this one, im not really at the point where im mad. Even if the plot went fully down the drain (which it hasnt) it would still be worth reading one chaper every week just for the artwork.

 

Yes We Can.