10 Years of Serialization and Still Competing for No.1 Popularity... 4.5 Billion Cumulative Views
US-Korea-Japan Joint Animation Also Airing Successfully
[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] Naver's flagship webtoon "Tower of God" is leading the expansion of webtoon culture by surpassing 4.5 billion cumulative views in the global market.
"Tower of God" is a long-running fantasy genre webtoon serialized on Naver Webtoon for 10 years since 2010. It is the work of writer Lee Jong-hwi, who uses the pen name "SIU," and has progressed up to Part 3, Episode 64. As of the 30th, even after 10 years since its release, it is still competing for the number one spot in popularity on Monday Webtoons.
"Tower of God" begins with the protagonist boy "Twenty-Fifth Bam" climbing the tower to save the girl "Rachel," who means everything to him. The exciting storyline and vast world-building set in the unique space of the tower have received favorable reviews from global fans.
This webtoon is mainly set in a tower composed of hundreds of vast floors. The overall story progresses as the protagonist passes tests on each floor and climbs one floor higher in the tower. The tests have fixed rules, and sometimes intense brain play takes place.
In this process, it is not simply about solving puzzles but showing various aspects of humanity. Throughout the work, there are numerous betraying characters, and competition to get what they want is the basic setting. Betrayals also occur due to the schemes of various groups. Thanks to the writer's ingenuity embedded throughout the work, it boasts a strong global fan base. It has been translated into 11 languages, including English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Turkish, Chinese, and Japanese.
With a strong fan base, the Korea-US-Japan joint animation "Tower of God," based on the original webtoon, is also airing with popularity. The famous American animation content company "Crunchyroll" participates as an investor and distributor, and Japan's leading animation production company "Telecom Animation Film" oversees production, attracting attention even before airing.
The "Tower of God" animation ranked 9th on the US Twitter real-time trends after the release of Episode 1 on April 1. It also took first place with a high score of 7,187 points in the weekly popular animation ranking on the community site Reddit. Forbes reported on April 1 (local time) about "Tower of God," praising it by saying, "By the end of the episode, I understood how this story captivated 5 million weekly readers."
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