Daily Comic Book Mission #050: Tower Dungeon #1

Welcome back to your daily comic book mission from ComicBook.Beer, where today I’m taking a look at a relatively new, as of this recording, manga from Tsutomu Nihei named Tower Dungeon, issue number one. I think there are a couple of these out by now. It’s got a 2024 copyright, 2025 for the English translation version. And this one is for those of you who enjoyed Knights of Sidonia and Blame!.

I’m a huge fan of Tsutomu Nihei. I think he’s just a terrific illustrator. His writing is kind of all over the place sometimes. Occasionally it’s really good, like the Knights of Sidonia series, which is where he gained a lot of popularity in the West after the anime came out, which was really good. And then Blame! made its way to the West in those nice big special edition collections.

He’s put out some other stuff, at least what we’ve gotten over here in the US, including Aposimz, which I wasn’t really a huge fan of. But Tower Dungeon sits somewhere in between Knights of Sidonia and Blame! for those of you who I think would get into this one.

It’s got a bit of a gaming element, but most importantly, his sense of exploration in storytelling is really good. That’s what he excelled at in Blame!. So those of you who read Blame! know what I’m talking about. It’s like this constant mission into the unknown, where they’re descending into these depths of whatever it was.

In Tower Dungeon, they’re climbing a tower, reaching different levels. There are end bosses, and it’s totally like an RPG dungeon-crawling gaming element mixed with a character who feels like a cross between Nagate Tanikaze from Knights of Sidonia and Kyrii from Blame!.

The main character is kind of clumsy and foolish, but he’s got a heart of gold. He does the right thing, works hard, and succeeds, but everybody around him is messed up in one way or another. This is a manga, so you read it right to left, black and white, and it’s got a lighter art style than what you’ll find in Blame! and the earlier half of Knights of Sidonia. But I think it’s better than Aposimz.

It’s very much the Tsutomu Nihei style with lots of architectural designs and castles, huge scenic shots. I don’t know how he comes up with this stuff. It’s wildly imaginative and sets the stage in a really interesting way.

What’s going on? I’m not entirely sure yet. He drops you into the middle of this story where there’s a kingdom in some other world. The government collects soldiers and sends them on a mission into this floating tower to save the princess.

So it has that total video game element. They start on level one, with zombies and undead monsters attacking them. Then it gets more challenging. By level 10 there’s an end boss, and by level 50 there’s a huge end boss. They keep going from there, and it seems like this is the beginning of something much larger.

There are several volumes out now, so readers just learn a bit about Yuva and some of the other characters, one of whom is like a magician or sorcerer. You get to learn about them briefly. This first manga really just gets you started on this imaginative adventure, and I like it. I’m actually looking forward to it. I might pick up number two later today.

His writing is often two-dimensional, but what he does really well is this sense of going somewhere, of exploration. He has a great mind for sending his characters into this maze of chaos, and the reader gets to follow along and watch whatever nonsense happens to them.

That’s really done well here. It’s not as good as Knights of Sidonia, which I think is his best. Probably not as good as Blame! yet either, but it’s just the first issue, so maybe it gets there.

That’s why it’s your daily comic book mission. I’ve only read this once. I’ve read some of the Red Sonjas and Conans I talk about ten times each. But I like this one, and I think you might like it too if you enjoy his other work.

So check it out. Tower Dungeon number one, published by Kodansha.

I think this is worth a couple reads, not just because the artwork is really nice and fun to look at, but because he does these great intricate background shots. His camera angles and his choice of lenses in his mind are really interesting.

I think I need to read it a few more times to figure out what’s going on. It’s not entirely clear from the first book. There’s quite a bit to unravel. Hopefully he goes somewhere with it.

Tower Dungeon number one is your daily comic book mission from ComicBook.Beer. Cheers.