tsutomu nihei

A glimpse of Tower Dungeon (manga)

David Skelector Fantasy, manga, megadungeon

I briefly mentionned Blade & Bastard in an earlier post and if you’ve been reading my blog a bit you know I’m a big fan of Ryoko Kui’s Dungeon Meshi (Delicious in Dungeon). Tower Dungeon by Tsutomu Nihei (author of Blame!) would be another one in this rare breed of manga that goes DEEP in the dungeon aspect of fantasy.

Or maybe I should say HIGH, ’cause y’know, it’s a TOWER DUNGEON…

Brought forth from the Heavens by the Big Bad Evil. It’s so colossal that I think oxygen-deprivation should legit be a problem.
The way to access it is via the old decrepit mountain fortress that is conveniently close to its base.
The Tower, Tower of the Dragons more precisely , appeared very recently. A makeshift bridge is all there is. Watch you step.
The interior is a proper labyrinth, with nice verticality.
You can bypass some Levels by climbing these rickety stairs outside, which obviously entails its own risk.
The structural integrity of this 18km high, 3 km wide Uber Tower, is far from perfect.
As for its denizens… They’re a close-knit bunch, a bit exclusive of outsiders one might say.
And have seen better days themselves.
What is he saying? Some kind of warning?

I should add that Tower Dungeon is kind of the opposite of something like Blade & Bastard (or most fantasy stuff really) which is also interesting but follows a set of fantasy conventions to a fault. Most things in Tower Dungeon are unique to this original setting as far as I can tell.

Highly recommended!