Season 2 Tower of God is almost done with its first cour (Return of the Prince) and there is quite a bit to unpack about it. The first episode felt quite bleak, it wasn’t bad, but something was missing. The following few showed some promise; it felt as if the art style just took some time to get used to and that the story would manage to carry the adaptation through until an acceptable ending. But, as we hit the mid-season, cracks started to show and the Tower of God we once knew just faded.
It was around the sixth episode that it became obvious that the animation couldn’t keep up with the story. The demanding battle scenes weren’t all that great with many stills and the slow-paced moments were dull with a lack of color, movement, and just overall spirit that I’m going to attribute to the fact that it feels like they’ve only used a single track for the soundtrack during big moments. Dubstep-like music in some scenes (like the Mazino fight) felt weirdly out of place because the characters’ movements just lacked the energy that was required to keep up with it.
As for the story… SIU created a dynamic world with somewhat clear rules and logic. I’ve already mentioned that the first season didn’t really utilize this, the worldbuilding in it leaned more on mystery than anything else and we were left without some important details about the tower and the way the world functions. Yet, the second season completely ignored the first season’s logic. Studio and staff change was unfortunate and I’m sure it’s quite difficult to continue where someone else left off, especially when such big core changes were made, but if you are a viewer who hasn’t read the webtoon you will have no clue about most of the technical terms that get thrown around.
Following the webtoon more closely does mean that characters get more time to develop and present their motives, reasons for fighting (climbing?), and pushing their limits. Still, some of them feel like afterthoughts or are there in passing, especially Wangnan, who serves as Khun’s replacement. What will happen to him once Bam unites with his best friend is an interesting question, considering how quickly we got over some characters’ deaths and disappearances.
All this is not to say that Tower of God: Return of the Prince is not enjoyable. It’s just not as satisfying as the first season but with some extra work (reading the webtoon) you can get into the storyline pretty easily. Animation-wise it is what it is, it matches the webtoon more but I’m sure most fans who started with the anime initially will always miss those pretty colors that worked so well with SIU’s character designs. The Workshop Battle arc begins in October, therefore continuing the second season into the fall. The Answer Studio has quite a few titles under its belt but only a few TV anime. And none of them had the current-day scheduling experience (Golgo 13 premiered in 2008) so it will definitely be interesting to see where we land with this adaptation.
Tower of God: Return of the Prince is streaming on Crunchyroll.
© Tower of God 2 Animation Partners
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