Tower of God manwha creator Lee Jong-hui aka SIU (Slave In Utero) is citing the physical toll of making a weekly series as the reason why he is currently stepping away from his popular title with no plans to resume work. It's particularly issues with his joints, back and wrist that are causing him pain. He also cites the loneliness of working on a hit weekly series along with the pressure he feels to deliver good material as a reason why he's looking to take an extended- potentially permanent break.
However, SIU isn't closing the door on returning, writing "I hope that readers would be happy, that if one day it is announced that I have decided to return to the series." SIU is asking that his full blog post not be reposted anywhere else so CLICK HERE to read his entire statement.
The overall sentiment among SIU and Tower of God fans is for SIU to prioritize his health. The manga industry is littered with legendary talents and titles who never finished their series or took lengthy breaks because the physical toll and mental pressure was too great. Hopefully, SIU doesn't become one of those statistics and we too at Anime Mojo wish him well and that he prioritize his health.
Tower of Good is a free weekly online webtoon/manwha that posts new chapters every Sunday at 11PM KST (Sunday 10AM EST) at webtoons.com. SIU started the series in June 2010 and its popularity led it to becoming one of the first webtoons to receive official English translations. To date, SIU has produced 486 chapters that have been broken down into 3 volumes. There hasn't been a new chapter released since June 21, 2020.
Knowledgeable manga fans were hyping up the series for years in advance ahead of it receiving an anime adaptation from Crunchyroll and Telecom Animation Film during the Spring 2020 anime season. The series ran for 13 episodes and was fairly popular but to date, there's been no announcement of a second season.
[Original manhwa art vs anime character designs]
UPDATE: A second, more hopeful translation of SIU's blog post has surfaced on reddit. While still talking about his current mental and physical health issues, this particular translation says SIU is struggling with the pressure of making a hit manga series and that he's unsure of when he'll restart the manhwa not that he's quitting for good. Stay tuned to Anime Mojo for further updates.