Tower of God Composer Waited 10 Years to Adapt the Series

Crunchyroll made a huge impact with the announcement of several new original productions in the works, and one of the major standouts recently premiered as part of the Spring 2020 anime season. A collaboration with Webtoon, SIU’s long running Korean webcomic Tower of God officially debuted its big anime outing and is already a hit with fans. Along with the anime’s large world, wide cast of characters with kooky personalities, and mystery, much of what fans have come to love is the score provided by Kevin Penkin, who had previously worked on music for Made in Abyss and The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Speaking with Crunchyroll about the music production for Tower of God, Penkin mentioned how working on the music for the series feels like a culmination of ten years of work, “There’s a couple of things that really stood out to me about this project. I’ve never had the chance to stretch my legs in quite the same creative way I was able to here. I feel like I’ve been gearing up to write this music for 10 years. From collaborating with good friends, to intense string recordings in the Dvorak Hall, it was a really transformative experience.”

When asked if he had researched the original webcomic before working on the music for the Tower of God adaptation, Penkin talked with Crunchyroll about the amount of research he did when coming up with the music for the series, “I got a lot of the reading material ahead of time, similar to Made in Abyss. I felt it was really important to establish the world, not just the characters. This was also my first manhwa. So trying to find a sound that truly represented what a unique world and art style SIU created was really important to me.”

Penkin even broke down a lot of the styles and inspirations coming into the anime, “The soundtrack is quite eclectic. The first couple of tracks I wrote covered some fun combinations such as harps with Dubstep wubs or Bulgarian choirs with Drum & Bass. What I found worked really well for Tower of God was aggressive and sudden changes in texture or style.”

Tower of God continues to impress with every episode, and this starts from the music. If this strong premiere streak continues, then fans might be in for one of the best anime of the year overall! What do you think? Have you been enjoying Tower of God so far? What do you think of the soundtrack? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!

via Crunchyroll