New Chapter is out, turns out that Best Girl is Best Girl for a reason.

Spoiler

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This manwha is one of my favorite stories in a while. The backstory manages to explain the usual issue with stories like this about how the enemies can just constantly keep powering up in order to stay above the hero, because as you ascend the tower you naturally find stronger enemies. On top of that, the writing itself is just top notch, every character in the cast feels like they exist for a reason, no matter how big or small.

 

On the other hand, there are too many of said characters and the author unfortunately prefers to keep many of the better ones rotting on the vine offscreen.

 

I've come to expect and tolerate character bloat in a lot of series, but ToG feels egregiously bad in bloat regards. It's pretty much Bleach levels. Maybe even worse because with each new section you don't just get the normal new badguys cast (more or less expected) but you get a bunch of filler no-names who fall somewhere on a temporary goodguy/teammate - neutral competitor spectrum.

Then you get like a billion namedrops of characters who will (probably) be relevant 300 chapters down the line.

 

ToG is on hiatus until April 18th but SIU delivered on the ending to the chapter.

 

The Baam/Yuri shippers are getting understandably excited now, but I think they're setting themselves up for a letdown. Just don't really see Yuri as being much interested in Baam that way, appreciation for his handsome looks aside. Her reasons for chasing after him seem to be a little deeper than simple romantic attraction.

 

SIU tends to throw every ship a bone, it seems. Androssi had her date. Yihwa had her day in the limelight. Now Yuri has her hug. At the very least, Baam was a lot more stable in his interactions with Rachel this time around. Or maybe that was just Koon keeping the two of them apart, and Baam being forced to focus on the mortally dangerous situation at hand.

Two weeks from now we get to have Hwa Ryun reveal she's a guide, and Baam talk about his meeting with Urek. I'm sure Yuri will have many kind words to say about the man. And as usual, the peanut gallery will provide amusing reactions.

There is stuff to get hyped for.

 

S.I.U is extending the break into early May because he became ill.

 

Season 1 team sighted; meetup imminent. Ran & co also join the fray. I've actually been enjoying a lot of the recent ToG chapters rather than just slogging through them because of prior time investment. Though if Rachel gets her own Thorn I might just ragequit the series...

 

It's ridiculous that Ran and team are even in the picture right now. The Train is supposed to be a shortcut vs climbing the Tower normally. And yet, Ran's team seems to have somehow ended up ahead of the main group despite never boarding back at Train City. Plothole on SIU's part.

It's good to see the Season One team of course, but I'm hoping that some kind of Baam vs Androssi match isn't meant to be the 'test' for Baam that Evan spoke of. He ought to be able to effortlessly take her now, considering that he beat Hoaqin.

 

Updated. Baam's going back to the Rice Pot it seems, which I approve of. Let the other characters have a chance to shine against this new mid-boss.

Looking forward to seeing Ran get his hide tanned again within the next couple of chapters.

 

my boys Hatsu and Laure is back.

i'm interested in the 10 Family/Princess dynamic (Anak, Androssi, Yeon, Yuri, and IF they bump into Garam on the 43rd Floor).

 

SIU is such a spaz sometimes... even using the rule of thumb where 1 ToG Year = approx 3 'earth' months its still means that Kaizer has been running that station for 333 years.

I get that with strength & shinsoo use Regulars and Rankers become super long lived and this dilutes their concept of time, but throwing stupid numbers around just seems like poor story telling.

 

Not to mention that since the name hunter is the floor test, it seems nobody has managed to pass this floor in a direct manner for 3 centuries. Definitely odd.

 

Beating Kaiser is not a floor test. It's an independent exercise that Yuri and Evan have set the team to in order to gauge their worthiness to go to the Floor of Death. This current location is just a boarding station for the Hell Express. Nothing about it is something required to continue up the Tower. The vast majority of Regulars avoid the train altogether and just climb via conventional tests, and many of the small minority who do attempt to use the train probably avoid this particular station because of Kaiser.

 

Updated again. Going to be salty as fuck if Baam ends up crimping his Revolution due to being in a rush to go and babysit the Regulars. Wish he'd do the mature thing and just skip this station altogether in favor of taking however much time as he needs to properly complete this very important step in his development.

 

Interesting.

Androssi lost her name to Kaiser and is banking on Baam getting it back for her. There are also twin Princesses that we'll see later. Baam better be prepared given his Princess attracting skills.

 

I think it's more like she just doesn't care about the name she gambled and lost, which is the one she had before she became Princess Androssi Zahard. It's a remnant of a life she left behind the moment she was chosen to become a Princess. It'd be rather pathetic if she's just willingly resigning herself to becoming some sort of damsel in distress for Baam to rescue.

I'm more interested in what Baam is now. Seems to be a lot more decisive and independent at a glance, and hopefully a few shades blacker as well. Interesting how he doesn't seem altogether bothered about what we learned last week with respect to all those souls he acquired. It'd be nice, of course, if any change in attitude came with a substantial power boost.

 

I think you're taking my statement a little too far. It's seems like Androssi (btw the 'Endorsi' name TL is so bad it gives me some kind of super-cancer whenever i see it) is pretty disaffected by her name loss. Doesn't really care, but knows that Baam is going to show up, so it'll be good for him to help her out. They say that 'Zahard' can't be taken, but also without a name Kaiser should have some kind of power over Androssi. I also would never characterise Androssi as a damsel, but pragmatic about the situation.

I.e.
Need to get Kaiser for REASONS
Lost name to Kaiser, he's way too strong for me
Not having a name is inconvenient
Baam is OP
Baam is my boy
Baam can smack Kaiser for me, multiple problems solved.

I feel like damsel behaviour would be more like:

Lost name, I am very distressed
Please Baam save me from Kaiser.

 

That Androssi panel though...

I'm just grateful that they didn't use the direct translation of Andorthy.