Chapter Tower of God Chapter 537 Spoilers & Discussion

[EternalWinter]

@Demonspeed @Lady pompom @kkck

The translated chapter is out!


From Shiin ^_^

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 4, 2022, Original Post Date: Apr 4, 2022 ---

Im waiting for it too cause I did a quick skim with the last pages and can't find any except snippets from here and someone's mobile translation in Twitter. Though it should be sometime soon within the week (I don't know much what happened to the usual translator but I hope they're doing fine)

@axolotl sorry for the delay

 

[Jyu viole grace]

Translated chapter[by alpha scans]----

Tower of God Chapter 537 - Alpha Scans

Bam, who was alone all his life has entered the tower to chase after his only friend, Rachel, but how will he survive without having any special strength or power?“What do you desire? Money and wealth? Honor and pride? Authority and power? Revenge? Or something that transcends them all? Whatever...

alpha-scans.org

@Demonspeed @Lady pompom please pin

 

[Jubei_Kibagami]

I wouldn't even say it's a trick, I think it's her merit. She's the best SB we've seen in action so far, of course, she's never going to be someone as powerful as EVK and a top-notch fighter in many ways, but she's capable of killing someone like her and that makes her scary as an ally.

Trick... merit.... either way, I just was saying that she's atypical and more of an exception to the rule.

The point is it's a bit inaccurate to say that anima don't primarily use their summons in battle.

I just checked the page, and the only two that we don't see use summons from either the ONSET or certainly when the battle got difficult (i.e., their trump card) is the aforementioned one-off of Lefav and Yas who is listed as an anima, but uses it more as a(n always-present) mount.

Being an anima is exceedingly rare as well. It's so super-useful and rare it's a bit silly to say that those born with such a gift wouldn't default to using it primarily in combat, as we've seen play out *more often than not*.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 4, 2022, Original Post Date: Apr 4, 2022 ---

Anima

Anima (부리미, Boorimi; or "Charmer") is a Special Position and refers to someone who subjugates (부림, boorim; "to make someone into a servant") and controls Shinheuh and other creatures to do their bidding.[1][2] As Anima is a special position which is not a standalone position but an additional...

towerofgod.fandom.com

 

[sazon]

Trick... merit.... either way, I just was saying that she's atypical and more of an exception to the rule.

The point is it's a bit inaccurate to say that anima don't primarily use their summons in battle.

I just checked the page, and the only two that we don't see use summons from either the ONSET or certainly when the battle got difficult (i.e., their trump card) is the aforementioned one-off of Lefav and Yas who is listed as an anima, but uses it more as a(n always-present) mount.

Being an anima is exceedingly rare as well. It's so super-useful and rare it's a bit silly to say that those born with such a gift wouldn't default to using it primarily in combat, as we've seen play out *more often than not*.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 4, 2022, Original Post Date: Apr 4, 2022 ---

Anima

Anima (부리미, Boorimi; or "Charmer") is a Special Position and refers to someone who subjugates (부림, boorim; "to make someone into a servant") and controls Shinheuh and other creatures to do their bidding.[1][2] As Anima is a special position which is not a standalone position but an additional...

towerofgod.fandom.com

And if you take into account that all the animal shown were all with slto level shinheuh or with hax skills

 

[zoradante1]

Now that i'm thinking about it,it seems like it will be a long time until we see real side of baam's personality which surfaced a bit againist white and made him go all out, considering how he said ''Oh surely,i'm no match for daddy'' it's likely he is still not confident in his powers which makes him overestimate everyone again and again. Either he thought like 10 years old kid who is thinking ''Oh,my daddy is strongest!! '' which i don't think(though i wouldn't be surpised if he did) or he is still a pu**y and princess. I don't think we will see a Baam going all out unless you squash his one of his friends like a bug which i think if SIU wants to bring a serious baam again in order to confront traum,he will kill one of baam's close friends again,which i don't mind as long as it's khun and rak. I mean i'm tired of them already. Not funny, not interesting enough, boring characters with nothing absolutely new, so i don't mind them dying.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 4, 2022, Original Post Date: Apr 4, 2022 ---

Plus with this chapter,i think it's quite likely confirmed already that halland is the kid elaine talked about.

 

[Jubei_Kibagami]

And if you take into account that all the animal shown were all with slto level shinheuh or with hax skills

Exactly. With the exception of Lefav's useless crabs and Yas' always-there (until he wasn't, RIP) cat-mount, every single one listed that we've seen in actual combat had a summons that was integral to their fighting brand, irrespective of their actual position. YHS is another iffy one because SIU has not shown his anima skills in so long, and he excels in so many other ways as well, but I do count him because when the fighting got heavy with Ren the highlight of the battle was both using summons. Ren obviously as a WC was more showy with all his summons as well.

I mean, it's not a technical 'position' but it is has so much utility it kind of should be (it either supersedes their 'actual' position entirely or accounts for how that position is fought). Even Dorian Frog's wiki lists his position as anima only (probably bc the actual standard one is unknown), but this just goes to show how important having a summons is to his fighting style.

Yes, Rei can be a SB... hell, he can do *any* position well, but when push comes to shove his first resort is summons. All the way down to EVERY regular known to be an anima have relied on their summons.

Put another way, taking away the shinheuh from the equation puts *most* anima in an exposed position. YHS, a genius, can get by. As can Yas who focuses more on transformations. Rei can because like every FH he can do anything. And Lefav because she has a special weapon as a focus. But alllll the other anima we see are left exposed as they tend to rely on their summons. And even those 4 listed exceptions largely do as well in various ways, Lefav aside.

Can Rei do much more than be an anima? Of course. Is he MOSTLY known as being the ultimate version of one, that defaults to fighting with summons? Yup.

 

[The Crypts]

Disagree. Summoners, anima, use their summons to do their bidding that is related to their fighting style. A fisherman will use a summons to fight like a fisherman, same with a scout, and so forth. We've seen it time and again that more often that not, those with the ability to summon first default to summoning creatures.

While an anima isn't a position per se, it's relevant to their position and is then their PRIMARY/DEFAULT combat power. From the lowest to the FH.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 4, 2022, Original Post Date: Apr 4, 2022 ---

Oh, so THAT is how the Captain already slipped in to get to fall into the suspendium (Sofia is in on it). Seeing as they (Luslec and Capitano) are one and the same.

source: me

It’s *usually* NOT the primary combat ability.

For some Anima it is, for most others, it’s not.

The examples of anima in the story are sufficient evidence for this.

Additionally, how do you utilize a shinheuh in your primary ability? Say as a fisherman, or a light bearer? Each shinhueh has it’s own characteristics, which are very much unrelated to the uniqueness of team fighting positions, and Shinsoo manipulation characteristics, which fundamentally decide a primary position.

If an individual depends exclusively on a shinheuh for combat strength, that’s on the individual, not a feature of the Anima position.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 4, 2022 ---

Dokoko and Hellam laughing at you here

Dokoko is fisherman and Khel Hellam is a spear bearer?

How is this laughing at the factual definition of an anima as defined by the author?

 

[Jubei_Kibagami]

MOAR:

From the wiki,

"The Definition of the Position
The battles in the Tower are mostly fought as teams and the Position (포지션, pojisheon) of an individual is the role they play in a team. Of course it's possible to battle without dividing into specific Positions, but it's more efficient to utilize Positions. Most of the names of the roles are derived from the battles of the first 10 Great Families, as such, they are mainly based on the men vs Shinheuh battles, rather than the men vs men battles. However, this doesn't mean that current Positions are worthless in men vs men battles."

The takeaway is that positions stem from the OG13 themselves, as they were the first to fight up the tower (and bring the associated weapons into the tower in the first place, see the wiki by the guy from the workshop talking about weapons being modeled after what was brought in) and in doing so mostly fought giant shinheuh.

That means that they weren't endogenous to the tower, but, like weapons, were exogenous from the irregulars.

Unlike, for instance, being an anima which we know existed in the tower prior to the irregulars coming in.


Sooooo, of course an anima position isn't one of the 5 modeled after fighting shinheuh. But, it's just as important. Further, since positions come from fighting shinheuh as a team rather than fighting PEOPLE proper, the game is changed when fighting WITH shinheuh (versus other shinheuh or people doesn't' matter).

As @Demonspeed mentioned, the positions are more important in games, and/or fighting giant shinheuh (often going hand-in-hand).

As we are seeing mostly man-on-man (oh my!) fights, 'positions' proper means less and less with these HR fights.




I'd posit that anima isn't a position due to these two things: a) it's so rare it's hard to make it one of the main 5 styles as most don't have access to it anyways, and b) it was never utilized primarily in the kaiju battles the original irregulars had when climbing, and their weapons as well. That said, those that do have it rely on it heavily.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 4, 2022, Original Post Date: Apr 4, 2022 ---

It’s *usually* NOT the primary combat ability.

For some Anima it is, for most others, it’s not.

The examples of anima in the story are sufficient evidence for this.

Additionally, how do you utilize a shinheuh in your primary ability? Say as a fisherman, or a light bearer? Each shinhueh has it’s own characteristics, which are very much unrelated to the uniqueness of team fighting positions, and Shinsoo manipulation characteristics, which fundamentally decide a primary position.

If an individual depends exclusively on a shinheuh for combat strength, that’s on the individual, not a feature of the Anima position.

Yeah, sorry, the facts are inverse from what you claim. I even posted the known list. Summons ARE primarily used by MOST anima, and are certainly integral as to their brands as individuals.

 

[The Crypts]

Exactly. With the exception of Lefav's useless crabs and Yas' always-there (until he wasn't, RIP) cat-mount, every single one listed that we've seen in actual combat had a summons that was integral to their fighting brand, irrespective of their actual position. YHS is another iffy one because SIU has not shown his anima skills in so long, and he excels in so many other ways as well, but I do count him because when the fighting got heavy with Ren the highlight of the battle was both using summons. Ren obviously as a WC was more showy with all his summons as well.

I mean, it's not a technical 'position' but it is has so much utility it kind of should be (it either supersedes their 'actual' position entirely or accounts for how that position is fought). Even Dorian Frog's wiki lists his position as anima only (probably bc the actual standard one is unknown), but this just goes to show how important having a summons is to his fighting style.

Yes, Rei can be a SB... hell, he can do *any* position well, but when push comes to shove his first resort is summons. All the way down to EVERY regular known to be an anima have relied on their summons.

Put another way, taking away the shinheuh from the equation puts *most* anima in an exposed position. YHS, a genius, can get by. As can Yas who focuses more on transformations. Rei can because like every FH he can do anything. And Lefav because she has a special weapon as a focus. But alllll the other anima we see are left exposed as they tend to rely on their summons. And even those 4 listed exceptions largely do as well in various ways, Lefav aside.

Can Rei do much more than be an anima? Of course. Is he MOSTLY known as being the ultimate version of one, that defaults to fighting with summons? Yup.

This is inconsistent with the definition given by the author AND actual examples in the story.

For example, Yas is an excellent fisherman with or without his shinheuh. So is Elaine (Kaiser), Lefav as well, is an excellent Spear bearer without her shinheuh involvement, Pudidy in close combat with Jinsung another example.

An Anima is not a combat position, just as a Guide isn’t. It’s a special position that denotes a unique ability in the tower. If an anima depends on the subjugated shinheuh exclusively, then that’s a weakness of that individual, not a feature of an anima.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 4, 2022, Original Post Date: Apr 4, 2022 ---

…. It’s pointless.

 

[Jubei_Kibagami]

Additionally, how do you utilize a shinheuh in your primary ability? Say as a fisherman, or a light bearer? Each shinhueh has it’s own characteristics, which are very much unrelated to the uniqueness of team fighting positions, and Shinsoo manipulation characteristics, which fundamentally decide a primary position.

Take Ren for instance.

While he's a WC, even to go as far as being an instructor, when push came to shove his fighting was with.... summons.

He's certainly not in the minority but the majority for being an anima and defaulting to using animas.

Do I need to repost the list and we can go case by case? It was faster posting the exceptions, because most animas that we know about rely primarily on their summons in their fighting styles.

 

[Big-Bird]

This is inconsistent with the definition given by the author AND actual examples in the story.

For example, Yas is an excellent fisherman with or without his shinheuh. So is Elaine (Kaiser), Lefav as well, is an excellent Spear bearer without her shinheuh involvement, Pudidy in close combat with Jinsung another example.

An Anima is not a combat position, just as a Guide isn’t. It’s a special position that denotes a unique ability in the tower. If an anima depends on the subjugated shinheuh exclusively, then that’s a weakness of that individual, not a feature of an anima.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 4, 2022, Original Post Date: Apr 4, 2022 ---

…. It’s pointless.

-Dokoko relied almost all the time on the Windbird
-The same goes for Candidi
-Same for Didiano
-Same for Alphine
-Same for Holan
-Pudidiy obviously did too or he wouldn't have made the comment about not taking it with him.

I don't understand what the argument is about, but don't start denying reality. The majority of the anima we've seen rely on the shineuh to fight.

For an anima their shineuh represents the majority of their fighting strength, there is no harm in that, their shineuh is only an extension of their strength like the Arie swords.

 

[Jubei_Kibagami]

This is inconsistent with the definition given by the author AND actual examples in the story.

For example, Yas is an excellent fisherman with or without his shinheuh. So is Elaine (Kaiser), Lefav as well, is an excellent Spear bearer without her shinheuh involvement, Pudidy in close combat with Jinsung another example.

Here are your examples, two of which I isolated as exceptions to the 'rule' (the 'rule' being that MOST anima primarily default to using shinheuh in battle):

1. Yas - a clear exception; already noted. In a battle at least. However, his summons is always present.
2. Elaine - the most glaring takeaway from her fight with Baam revolved entirely around fighting with a summons, clearly. Her position is irrelevant.
3. Lefav - a one-off exception in many ways; already noted.
4. Pudding - fights PRIMARILY with owls, and that's the FIRST thing he pulls out (as as this chapter shows he sucks without them, as soon as they are bypassed he's exposed). His position is irrelevant.

So, would you like to itemize the other known anima? Other than YHS at this point every single other one is NOTABLE as fighting with a summons. Let's just look at the known anima regulars - ALLLL of them rely on summons in fighting. Their positions, known or otherwise, are completely unimportant when it comes to fighting. This extends to the rankers as well - again, for the most part. To include allll the way up the foodchain to Rei himself, who CLEARLY defaults to using summons. 2 for 2; 100% of the time he's squared off it has been first and foremost with... summons, you guessed it.

An Anima is not a combat position, just as a Guide isn’t. It’s a special position that denotes a unique ability in the tower. If an anima depends on the subjugated shinheuh exclusively, then that’s a weakness of that individual, not a feature of an anima.

Repeating it twice doesn't make it a fact. I've already pointed out how MOST anima do in fact rely on summons in battles. That's simply the case for the known group of animas we have. Calling it a 'position' or not is more of a matter of semantics. The question at hand is "Do anima mostly rely or default to using shinheuh in combat?" - and the answer to that question, more often than not, is a a resounding YES.

…. It’s pointless.

Yeah, probably.

 

[The Crypts]

Take Ren for instance.

While he's a WC, even to go as far as being an instructor, when push came to shove his fighting was with.... summons.

He's certainly not in the minority but the majority for being an anima and defaulting to using animas.

Do I need to repost the list and we can go case by case? It was faster posting the exceptions, because most animas that we know about rely primarily on their summons in their fighting styles.

You’re drawing your own conclusions, which has nothing to do with the exact words of the writer.

An anima is not about a primary combat ability. Shinheuh can fight, of course, but that’s not the default strength of an individual who has anima abilities.

If an individual has subjugated shinheuh who has superior combat abilities to himself, that’s the individual. Animas can and are excellent in their primary combat skills. The ability to subjugate is a secondary inherited skill.

 

[Jubei_Kibagami]

From the wiki:

"
Known Anima
Rankers

• Yu Han Sung
• Lo Po Bia Ren
• Dorian Frog
• Lo Po Bia Traumerei
• Lo Po Bia Yasratcha
• Lo Po Bia Dokoko
• Lo Po Bia Didiano
• Lo Po Bia Lefav
• Lo Po Bia Candidi
• Lo Po Bia Orari
• Lo Po Bia Pudidy
• Lo Po Bia Perseus
• Lo Po Bia Kirin
• Unnamed Branch Head 1

Regulars

• Verdi
• Lo Po Bia Elaine
• Lo Po Bia Alphine
• Sunwoo Nare
• Angel

This list also doesn't have LPB Yorarai as well. Hell, EVERY ONE OF THE MAIN 20 LPB BRANCHES is known by and for their summons, which are used in battle.

Anywho, *most* everyone listed above primarily rely on and default to fighting with shinheuh. Positions be damned.

Facts.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 4, 2022, Original Post Date: Apr 4, 2022 ---

You’re drawing your own conclusions, which has nothing to do with the exact words of the writer.

An anima is not about a primary combat ability. Shinheuh can fight, of course, but that’s not the default strength of an individual who has anima abilities.

If an individual has subjugated shinheuh who has superior combat abilities to himself, that’s the individual. Animas can and are excellent in their primary combat skills. The ability to subjugate is a secondary inherited skill.

Interesting way to gloss over the fact that a known WC primarily uses summons to fight, and is not in the minority for this (irrespective of position) as an anima.

I'm drawing conclusions from the source-material itself.

 

[The Crypts]

-Dokoko relied almost all the time on the Windbird
-The same goes for Candidi
-Same for Didiano
-Same for Alphine
-Same for Holan
-Pudidiy obviously did too or he wouldn't have made the comment about not taking it with him.

I don't understand what the argument is about, but don't start denying reality. The majority of the anima we've seen rely on the shineuh to fight.

For an anima their shineuh represents the majority of their fighting strength, there is no harm in that, their shineuh is only an extension of their strength like the Arie swords.

Whether or not they rely on their shinheuh is moot. That is NOT their primary combat ability. The shinheuh is a unique combat tool only they can use in addition to their primary combat ability.

Those who have gotten dependent on their shinheuh to fight, is their own limitation, not THE definition of what an anima can do.

 

[Jubei_Kibagami]

Whether or not they rely on their shinheuh is moot. That is NOT their primary combat ability. The shinheuh is a unique combat tool only they can use in addition to their primary combat ability.

Those who have gotten dependent on their shinheuh to fight, is their own limitation, not THE definition of what an anima can do.

lol, it's not "moot" if MOST rely "primarily" on summons in "combat" as a function of their "ability." - your exact words above.

Most certainly do.

 

[sazon]

If anima position were not the main one of the LPBs, it would not be inherited by them.

Does an anima need to totally depend on its shinheuh? No, but that doesn't mean these creatures aren't your main strengths.

Elaine as talented as she is with needles and spool manipulation, she was chosen as Princess LPB because of her rare ability to summon a spirit wolf.

Hollam calls himself the greatest genius of the LPB family because of his ability to control extinct shinheuh.

All LPB potential is based on their anima abilities.

Lefav may not fight her own directly, but they are paramount to her, as they are her defense.

Yasratcha is a real exception here, his cat seemed to be more of a pet than helping him in battle.

And as stupid as it is, Pudidy proved to be the best anima fighter so far because he has a perfect duo with his owls and although it is a great merit that he can keep up with HJ in martial arts, when the owls are out of the game he is pressed, meaning your anima skills are still your main weapon

 

[Jubei_Kibagami]

Question: is it MORE important that LPB Didiano is a scout (guessing, we don't know, who cares) or has access to a turd-flinging lemur? In the context of his fight that is.

If you say 'scout' is the first thing you think of, or what is his most important function in battle, I know you're being dishonest.

You could replace Didiano with almost any other anima from that list.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 4, 2022, Original Post Date: Apr 4, 2022 ---

When being stuck on technical definitions over practical observations is more important.....

 

[sazon]

Whether or not they rely on their shinheuh is moot. That is NOT their primary combat ability. The shinheuh is a unique combat tool only they can use in addition to their primary combat ability.

Those who have gotten dependent on their shinheuh to fight, is their own limitation, not THE definition of what an anima can do.

It is implied that the anima control the beasts by mind control techniques.

lefav's explanation of kraken exemplifies this well.

It's not a person's strength, but their talent/potential as an anima to control a given creature.

If the shinheuh were subjugated by force, Dokoko would never have a windbird

 

[Jubei_Kibagami]

So let's see, being an anima is this super-rare, super-useful blessing that only a select relative few in the tower have access to.

And yet those that do should, what:

a) very much utilize this rare gift primarily, or
b) ignore rare gift as their main tool in the toolbag, instead focusing on the fighting styles associated with their primary stated positions



Gee, is it any wonder why we see more of one of those than the other?

LPB would be even more trash, less than any other FH house by far, without the one feather they have in their cap - the ability to use anima powers.

How is any of this even up for debate?

Oh, right, because SIU gave us hard definitions a decade ago in his notes. Just ignore the decade of material that's come since then.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 4, 2022, Original Post Date: Apr 4, 2022 ---

WGW lo po bia didn't summon anything, she is not anima? But she is high ranker and brach leader.

Tower of God - [Season 3] Ep. 101

What do you desire? Money and wealth? Honor and pride? Authority and power? Revenge? Or something that transcends them all? Whatever you desire—it's here.

m.webtoons.com

We don't know. Not every LPB is an anima. The likelihood seems to increase the further up the, ahem, food chain you go though.

I wouldn't be shocked at all if her rematch with EVK doesn't include summoning a giant spider though.

Hell, she seems to be fused WITH a summons by appearances.

 

[Zahard's Prophet]

Regardless of whether his shinhueh are his primary combat ability or not, there's no reason that they need all be specialized for combat purposes. The frog seemed primarily a support-type long range shinhueh. The dragon and the kraken could probably either no diff High Rankers near the Top 100, if what they're doing to Yasratcha is any indication. I don't see why people are so upset with Traumerei so far: either SiU was going to keep having characters tremble in awe at the FHs until the last 50 chapters of the manwha and we were all going to complain about the pace, or he was going to string some feats out along the way as morsels for us to gnaw at. He seems to have gone for the latter approach.

Moving into speculation territory, Traumerei is the lowest-ranking FH. (?) He still seems completely untouchable to anyone except the strongest in the Tower, but maybe his strength is less the depth of his fighting power in terms of sheer 1v1 potential and more its breadth. He's a walking army.

 

[Big-Bird]

Whether or not they rely on their shinheuh is moot. That is NOT their primary combat ability. The shinheuh is a unique combat tool only they can use in addition to their primary combat ability.

Those who have gotten dependent on their shinheuh to fight, is their own limitation, not THE definition of what an anima can do.

Yes, they are, but just because it's a secondary position doesn't mean it has to be inferior to the main position.
Some people rely so much on their Shineuh that we have to guess their real position (does anyone know Holan's position?)

You can't whine about "limitation" like a prayer when your only examples are exceptions and not the rule.