Having worked in construction, Tsutomu Nihei chose to quit to become a manga artist. That experience certainly influenced his work in manga, beginning with his first serialized work, Blame!, which ran for six years. That manga, in particular, establishes his interest in architecture with his art putting a lot of the detail into the title’s gigantic cyberpunk megastructure, often using double page spreads to sell its world-building. As Nihei would go on to write and draw subsequent sci-fi manga, his latest title Tower Dungeon marks his debut into the realm of dark fantasy.
When an evil necromancer slays the king and carries off his daughter, hiding her in the legendary Dragon Tower, her steadfast Royal Guard assails the stronghold in order to save her, only for the way to get blocked by powerful eldritch creatures. As the army faces countless casualties, they press ordinary folks from the surrounding villages into service, including Yuva, a sturdy young farm boy with a strong back but no experience in battle.
The term “dungeon crawl” refers to a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing board games and video games in which heroes navigate a labyrinthine environment, battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. It seems that Nihei is taking cues from this genre here, featuring a group of heroes, each with their own set of skills, battling numerous monsters as they travel through the levels of a tower that seems never-ending.
Kodansha
While this doesn’t reach the hyper-detail of Blame!, going for looser line-work especially when it comes to the character designs, Nihei’s artwork gets across the bleakness of this world, from the villages being ruled by a kingdom to the central setting that is the Dragon Tower. With the author’s stark use of black-and-white inking, there are numerous pages featuring wordless panels that showcase the eerie atmosphere of the dungeons. Throw in the freakish-designed monsters, ranging from skeletal knights, dragons and Lovecraftian creatures, and there is some disturbing imagery going on.
Sadly, despite an intriguing premise and solid artwork, the overall narrative is not interesting. First off, we don’t see what motivates Yuva, our central protagonist who seems like the Luke Skywalker archetype in terms of his farm-boy origins, nor does he develop much of a relationship with the rest of the group. Whatever dangers they go through, there is a coldness to these characters that is hard to engage with, especially when the pacing is so rushed there is never any time to get to know anyone.
An intriguing premise and solid artwork are not enough to save Tsutomu Nihei’s latest manga from its storytelling issues.
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