Tower Dungeon
Jun. 22nd, 2024 07:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingTsutomu Nihei’s newest manga series, Tower Dungeon, is a grim and grisly dark fantasy about a small team of knights attempting to rescue a princess from an evil wizard at the top of the mysterious Dragon Tower.
I can only assume that this purposefully bog-standard fantasy premise is a bait-and-switch for the actual story, which is as brutal and fiercely imaginative as any of Nihei’s sci-fi dystopias. Instead of being set in the claustrophobic cable-choked interior of a spaceship, Tower Dungeon is filled with vaulted ceilings and crumbling stone walls, but Nihei still dazzles the reader with labyrinthine passageways and an awe-inspiring sense of scale.
Nihei’s signature body horror is on full display in Tower Dungeon, which is populated by the shambling undead, grotesque human graftings, uncanny automatons, and abject abominations. Also, even when they’re not monstrous, Nihei’s armored knights are a lot fun to watch.
There’s fanservice, sort of? But not really, and I’m not complaining. If I had to guess, I’d say that Nihei has a crush on Malenia, the badass armored Valkyrie-type character from Elden Ring, but don’t we all.
The story pacing is excellent, and the action sequences are balanced by downtime and light banter that never feels as though it’s trying too hard to be funny. The characters offer very little exposition, but the background setting is intriguing. Given my experience with Nihei’s previous manga series, I’m not really expecting the story to make any sort of cohesive sense, but I’m happy to join this strange journey wherever it leads.
I think, honestly, that this is the Dark Souls manga I always wanted. I hope it gets an English translation.
I can only assume that this purposefully bog-standard fantasy premise is a bait-and-switch for the actual story, which is as brutal and fiercely imaginative as any of Nihei’s sci-fi dystopias. Instead of being set in the claustrophobic cable-choked interior of a spaceship, Tower Dungeon is filled with vaulted ceilings and crumbling stone walls, but Nihei still dazzles the reader with labyrinthine passageways and an awe-inspiring sense of scale.
Nihei’s signature body horror is on full display in Tower Dungeon, which is populated by the shambling undead, grotesque human graftings, uncanny automatons, and abject abominations. Also, even when they’re not monstrous, Nihei’s armored knights are a lot fun to watch.
There’s fanservice, sort of? But not really, and I’m not complaining. If I had to guess, I’d say that Nihei has a crush on Malenia, the badass armored Valkyrie-type character from Elden Ring, but don’t we all.
The story pacing is excellent, and the action sequences are balanced by downtime and light banter that never feels as though it’s trying too hard to be funny. The characters offer very little exposition, but the background setting is intriguing. Given my experience with Nihei’s previous manga series, I’m not really expecting the story to make any sort of cohesive sense, but I’m happy to join this strange journey wherever it leads.
I think, honestly, that this is the Dark Souls manga I always wanted. I hope it gets an English translation.
