Tower of God Season 2 - Cour 1 and 2

All in all it doesn't improve upon S1 as a package but I'm willing to live with it.

With the very mixed reception to this season, i found that the reason lies in your own expectations.

I will put forth a more realistic review and will compare each of my categorical points to S1.

Unfortunately this won't be as good of a review as i failed my principles and was part of the 'weekly gang' for this series.

If we're being honest, we were blessed this time around with the diligent work of "The Answer Studio" bringing us double the episodes we had last season.

They have given the community hope that the wealth of material from probably one of the best ongoing manhwa right now would finally ``get adapted. I'm sure the author SIU(Slave in Utero) was somewhat pleased with their efforts.

The first thing to note is that this is "The Answer Studio's" adaptation. This isn't Mappa, This isn't Production IG, this isn't A1 pictures, this isn't the great titans Ufotable, Kyoto or David Production. We must humble whatever marvellous depictions we cultivated in our dreams and come back to reality.

There's no real chance of a large and prominent studio taking on a continuation project for a source with such a large amount of content. We really mustn't lament their efforts, for many fans like me our call was truly "Answered".

Was it bad?
Definitely Not.

Paradoxically, I will say, it's impossible not to be disappointed. This series, "Tower of God" is without a doubt a TITAN of it's respective medium and so it probably deserved a TITAN studio adapting it. However this doesn't put to shame what we have gotten which, for me, is more than good enough to satisfy my soul and leave me wanting more from this same studio.

Art and Animation - Worse than S1 overall, but with peaks higher than S1.

Here's some impressive highlights from E01 S2 Cour 1:

We were a litle catfished from the preview, the first 2 episodes looked and sounded great and were a slam hit across the community and social media garnering millions of views and attention, but unfortunately it was impossible for it all remain at that quality.

With our downscaled choice of Studio, unfortunately, we had very inconsistent animation ranging from spectacle to amateur, rife with poor scene to scene direction and a lack of creativity.

ToG S1 had it's own unique charm in the motion and drawing of it's characters. It couldn't always maintain the standard it set but it was more consistent and more confident in the difference in style from the webtoon. This difference was well received by many including myself. In my case, S1 is what inducted me to this series so i was quite surprised that the webtoon looked so much different. The animation in S1 was just cleaner overall and genuinely had few things to complain about when in motion. It was a decent enough example in this respect.

This season's attempt from "The Answer Studio" instead opts to faithfully preserve the webtoon style, which was a welcome change, but it might have been a step too far for them. Firstly i will say, the presentation isn't so smooth and does take a while to get used to. They aren't able to keep up the quality set in the first few episodes. The art-style is sharper, more defined, more colourful sometimes requiring more work to get it looking fluid in motion. The limitations of this studio became all too evident, and these problems became clearer and more pronounced as you delved deeper into the stack of episodes. The scene to scene movements, perspectives and fight sequences, looking absolutely amazing at times whilst preserving the webtoon style and on the other hand utterly repugnant almost fan-made at other times. The first episodes and last episodes of each cour however were standouts for being much better in this respect but this inconsistency with abominable lows such as in episode 8 of the First cour really riled up the community. Especially after that eigth episode the social media accounts of this studio got bombarded with a wave of critiques from disgruntled viewers.

I'd love to blame the general public for being such ungrateful spoiled children but in all honesty some of those episodes were verifiably indefensible.

The Episode 8 in Question..

Spoiler, click to view

Spoiler, click to view

Sound - Didn't measure up to S1

General sound effect direction was fine, the sound effects sounded great and added the much needed push to the scene when the animation was sometimes lacking.

But with the soundtrack score, especially after listening to the released soundtrack from Kevin Penkin. it just can't help but feel the wasted potential. It may be the case that i cannot recall correctly due to watching this weekly as opposed to binging S1. However i do see the magnitude of difference, in the utilization of the tracks. S1's usage of Penkin's score was pure wizardry it completely took over the show's identity invoking such a wealth of different feelings, emotions and goosebumps. It completely enhanced every plot-point bolstering the show's psychological appeal during it's various game challenges. The kind of music that just pulls you into it's world, creating invisible layers of depth that captivate you, the same kind that did wonders for Made in Abyss.

I wouldn't blame the composer this but rather it's just the entire structure of direction employed here. None of the major scenes hit as hard as they could have and the tracks were heavily under-utilized. We're dealing with one of the best western composers in Kevin Penkin here, with a S1 soundtrack so good it still rings in my head to this day. But it just doesn't measure up. Don't get me wrong it still sounds great when the tracks hit but S1's direction made it almost ethereal, giving me goosebumps at times. Perhaps i'm desensitized to it all but to be honest i just didn't hear these tracks as much as they should have been used.

It would be foolish to say there was any lack of effort with the tracks, they at least doubled their efforts especially with the OP/EDs getting the likes of NiziU and Stray kids. On it's own it's quite amazing, but intertwined inside the experience of the show it doesn't bloom as it should.

I may seem harsh but i gave last season's Sound a 10/10 so you must imagine i expected something similar.

Here's some samples..

A few of my favourites.

Spoiler, click to view

▶ ▶ ▶ ▶

My favouite out of the OP/EDs

Spoiler, click to view

▶

Story and Plot - Obviously Better than S1

The direction just wasn't as great as it could have been. Only a few major moments hit for me, many good moments were skipped over or presented with very little emphasis or backing from soundtracks and scenery. In terms of what they adapted, obviously the content that was adapted blows S1 out of the water, It's much more interesting less annoying and more consistent. I can't say it's due to Answer Studio however it did better than the previous studio. It's just that the source produced far better this time around. Tower of god is known for it's rough S1 start which put of fmany based purely off the 2nd half of season 1. This time we had 24 episodes as well as concluding the Work-Shop Arc maybe they could have planned some OVA's to cover a lot of the interactions they skipped over, it doesn't seem like they did a bad job here, it's just that we all would have loved more of it, and we're especially sad that it ended.

Characters - Obviously Better because of source.

They brought about alot of new characters as well as the old favourites. There were a great number of arrivals but it never felt overwhelming. Many of the other reviewers disagree. I believe the time they spent reusing old characters shows wisdom and competence in writing, it also served to bridge and and support many of the new additions to the cast. The characterization was mostly good showing a decent amount of dimension with dialogue which would rarely make you cringe. it was quite enjoyable and mature actually. But not all interactions were adapted which was quite a shame as some of the more obscure ones do decently well in explaining developments and were expedient for those who actually enjoyed the story beyond it's main plot.. Where are the OVA's and side series? It's a lot of work but it seems they aren't keen on the fan reception.

Enjoyment - I enjoyed it better than S1

I will admit if anything was carried well from the source it's the humour, the humour always hit quite well with the new MC introduced in this season providing a lot of the comedic relief whilst also building up their character in quite an endearing fashion. They also do a good job of portraying power levels and keeping the plot convenience realistic. You won't see power of friendship with the weakest opponents overcoming the final boss for plot. Most of defeats of powerful antagonists are due to planned joint efforts by the main cast as well as powerful foreign entities with clever plot exposition.

We have quite the interesting conundrum, whilst S1 had story and plot events which many complained were hard to stomach it takes the edge with it's innovative artsyle, production and sound direction. This season is a workhorse of sorts with double the episodes, blessed with the sunny-side of the chronology of events and strict adherance to the manwha/webtoon style however it falls short slightly as a package.

Final Ratings.

Cour 1

• Animation 6
• Sound 8
• Plot and Story 6
• Characters 7
• Enjoyment 6

33/50 - 6.6/10 - 7/10

Cour 2

• Animation 7
• Sound 9
• Plot and Story 6
• Characters 7
• Enjoyment 7

36/50 - 7.2/10- 7/10

Overall - 7/10

I await Season 3, hopefully from this same studio.
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Hope this helps.````