The Tower of God hiatus ended in May 2021 with a ToG creator update giving fans an idea of the long-term status of the Kami no Tou Webtoon.
On May 6, 2021, the official Twitter page for the manhwa/Webtoon stated that the Tower of God Chapter 486 release date is set for May 17, 2021.
“Tower of God New Chapter Will be Released On May 17th,” the page tweeted.
Even better, five new chapters were released on May 17, 2021!
Here’s a comment from creator SIU:
“It’s been a while everyone. I’m back. To all of you that’s been waiting I give my apologies and thanks. Although I may fall short, I hope you enjoy it,” SIU tweeted.
A new blog post from SIU also provided more details on May 16, 2021. It turns out that SIU returned earlier than originally planned… and his health problems are not over!
“Hello, long time no see. The Tower of God series returned a little bit faster than the scheduled date. It’s good to see you all again.
In fact, I was originally planning on started working again around the end of June and returning after that. Hmmm…
To be honest, my body hasn’t fully recovered as I wanted it to. While undergoing more tests in various fields and finding more problems, I realized that full recovery may be much further away and much more unrealistic.
As long as this is a serialization, and if the disease is difficult to fully cure, I thought it would be best to start preparing the serialization by coming back sooner, so… haha
It’s a little weird. It was a conclusion that neither I nor the people around me understand well, but… Anyway, so I came back a little faster than expected.
Some of the chapters I had drawn before were so old that I redrew them and there were also a few things I had to get ready. On top of starting work on the hard copies again, the preview manuscript quota increased from 3 to 4 chapters… so the amount of work further increased, accordingly.
In fact, from around April, I was very busy. Now you may be thinking, why I’m I whining out of the blue right after coming out of a year-long hiatus. But this blog’s entire point has always been me complaining and lamenting things when I can’t on the main Webtoon. Please understand. (since wen…)
Actually, setting aside all those personal problems, when you are an artist on hiatus you will always have a sense of being frustrated as if something is clogged up somewhere. Of course, when you start serializing that has its own difficulties. As everything is changing around us in these times, I only have the uttermost respect for my many peers, seniors, and juniors who draw webtoons.
Although I prepared a lot of different things, like reducing break time and trying to come back as soon as possible, I feel very sorry for the readers who been waiting for such a long time. You may like the fruits of my efforts or you may not. It may be no longer the same as it has been 10 years ago, and sometimes rather than going for the best I can I just want to draw a comic.
Still, at least as an artist, I just want readers who waited to enjoy. That’s my heartfelt desire. Well, I can only be so greedy. But having you guys enjoy my work… the life of an artist can be so difficult sometimes.
Anyway, I made another long post after a comeback. Hahaha…
Probably from now on, there is a high possibility that I will not write blog posts after every chapter every week like before. I’m thinking I’ll simply make comments or just post on my other social media accounts. Unfortunately, due to the multiple circumstances at play, I think it’s best that I reduce the channels I’m active on and focus on my work. I’ll let you know about that as I decide.
Well then… I kept you guys waiting for a long time, but I once again ask you guys to enjoy my work as I close this post. Have a peaceful and enjoyable night, and I’ll see you with the next week’s chapter.
For my readers, love you, stay healthy, and thank you _ _
(They sprung the chapter by surprise on me at 10:30. I didn’t even know so I was surprised before going to write here. Haha)
(Thank you to Naver who has been patient with the hiatus and taking care of me)
Tower of God Official Trailer To celebrate The Return for the series on 16th May! pic.twitter.com/tliC8b2t67
— Tower of God 🐢 (@ToGManhwa) May 13, 2021
SIU’s health problems are not a simple cure
The announcement has been a long time coming. On October 19, 2020, a new post on SIU’s blog announced that he was coming back in mid-November and the exact Tower of God 486 release date would be announced soon. Unfortunately, SIU updated the same blog post several weeks later in November with bad news.
While working on the Webtoon he began experiencing pain in his wrist. Based on a doctor’s recommendation, he’s been taking medicine and reducing his work hours. A test showed that his ligaments were “damaged and inflamed”. Worse, the ligament had “weakened a lot from the previous examination”.
On the positive side, SIU has been exercising regularly and his back and neck have improved. But he was still waiting to see how his wrist would improve. As such, SIU removed the notification that he was planning on returning in November.
On November 22, 2020, he also clarified this announcement. At the time, SIU said that if there was any sign of his wrist getting better after resting then he would talk to the people in charge about scheduling a return date, and then the fans will be notified. But even back then he was warning everyone that he would try not to make a hasty decision.
“I was in a hurry when I tried to come back and this happened,” he wrote. “As I said, maybe it will take a few more weeks.”
Unfortunately, that prediction proved to be too optimistic. On December 13, 2020, SIU released another Tower of God hiatus update on his blog.
It turns out he’s been working slowly while on hiatus and he’s already completed 10 chapters. Instead of resting completely, he tried reducing his workload during the hiatus since he was concerned about maintaining his studio (he employs other people as assistants).
SIU says the original plan was to return by November, but while working on the return manuscript pain in his right arm started up so he was examined at a hospital. At the time, the test results were not serious, but then later on the pain intensified and he was admitted to yet another large hospital.
“Tested again over the course of several weeks and found other abnormalities,” SIU wrote. “I have been diagnosed with a problem, and if it’s left unattended, it can lead to lifelong pain and discomfort both in work and in everyday life.”
Every Tower of God Fan While Waiting for The New Chapter Release Date. pic.twitter.com/6n5eOccOod
— Tower of God 🐢 (@ToGManhwa) May 3, 2021
Doctors have told SIU that if he rests for about half a year he can prevent the deformation of his body and return to normal. As such, he made the decision to extend the Tower of God Hiatus by “about 6 months”, which should have meant that the Webtoon could return by mid-2021 at the earliest.
Finally, on May 1, 2021, Webtoon itself provided a Tower of God hiatus update on Twitter. Webtoon announced that Tower of God’s return was in Summer 2021. The exact timing of the Tower of God 486 release date wasn’t announced at the time, but since “summer” typically means the July to September 2021 timeframe that means SIU’s return was several months earlier than expected.
Hopefully, SIU is sticking closely to the doctor’s recommendations and will return healthy and ready to release new chapters at a steady pace.
Thank you for your patience, and now your reward 😌 #TowerOfGod to return Summer 2021 only on #WEBTOON. pic.twitter.com/LQjdAZjPqT
— WEBTOON (@webtoonofficial) May 1, 2021
NOTE: This news story was updated once SIU or Webtoon announced the exact date for Tower of God’s return.
Earlier in 2020, SIU described what he has been doing while on break and he spoke about his plans for the length of this hiatus.
The last time the Tower of God Webtoon was updated was on June 29, 2020, on the Naver website. SIU’s health problems were cited as the reason for the hiatus.
“Hi, everyone. This is SIU. I’m going to take a break from publishing Tower of God for the time being due to health reasons. I feel very sorry to all my readers about having to pause in the middle of a series like this.
“I’ll try to get lots of rest and get healthy again so that I can continue the story when I come back. Thank you for your constant support. I’ll see you all again when I’m feeling better.”
At the time, SIU stated he was uncertain how long the Kami no Tou hiatus would last. He recommended that fans subscribe to receive a notification when the Tower of God hiatus has ended.
Essentially, SIU was saying that the Tower of God Webtoon is on indefinite hiatus, but that did not necessarily mean he’d planned a long break to rival that of the Hunter x Hunter hiatus.
The Kami no Tou hiatus update from September 2020
In a Naver blog update published on September 21, 2020, SIU described how he is “living a normal life.” He also relayed that he is still working on manuscripts, stating, “…this workload is a lot less compared to when I was actively” working on the ToG Webtoon. He says he’s worked on a few drafts but the “process of making new chapters has been delayed.”
SIU says that several of his assistants abruptly quit and he spent some time training new assistants. Since SUI is not getting “paid for my uploads while on hiatus” he feels a “pressure that’s becoming more suffocating” because he still needs to pay his assistants in order to maintain the studio.
“I thought that if I started uploading soon, I thought I would be pushing my still aching body and mind to the limits,” SIU wrote.
“I had this sense that I wanted to come back with as many chapters as possible, which makes it harder to rest. Sometimes I think these days whether I live to upload or if I upload to live. ”
Generally, SIU has been exercising multiple times a week, taking long baths, and avoiding social media and the internet to help with his joint pain and “aching back and wrists.” SIU also admits that he quit social media because he was “afraid of the length of hiatus. Authors feel like criminals when they’re on hiatus.”
As for how long the Tower of God hiatus will last, SIU wrote, “I don’t know how much longer it will take, but I’ll rest well, and I will come back when I’m ready and the time is right.”
How the Tower of God Season 2 anime is affected by the hiatus
Anime fans are still waiting for the Tower of God Season 2 anime announcement by Crunchyroll. Fortunately, the Tower of God Webtoon hiatus should not have any effect on the production of the anime series.
To put the anime in perspective, Tower Of God Episode 13 ended by adapting Chapter 78, which is the end of the first “season” of the Webtoon series. The Webtoon already reached Tower of God Chapter 485 before the hiatus began, which means it would take multiple consecutive years of anime seasons before coming close to catching up to the Webtoon.
Therefore, the Tower of God Season 2 anime should not be delayed by the Webtoon hiatus.