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EP. REVIEW: Tower of God Season 2


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Aerdra



Joined: 02 Feb 2022
Posts: 424
PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 7:55 am Reply with quote
Quote:
The pacing just feels rushed. We get downtime, test rules, and the first few fights of the test all in a single episode. A ton happens but none of it has time to land to have any real emotional effect, like watching an abridged compilation film rather than the actual anime series.
Exactly how I felt watching episode 3. I rewatched the rules explanation a couple times and still don't understand the test. Battles not involving the protagonist happened offscreen.

Was FUG ever formally introduced? I guess they're enemies to the tower, but it seems like this word suddenly popped up out of nowhere.
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garfield15



Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 1532
PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 9:08 am Reply with quote
Yeah episode 3 completely drained the excitement I was having with the show. The first two episodes were decently intriguing but something about the game in episode 3 wasn't working for me and I also couldn't ignore the hit the animation style had taken anymore.
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Dnautics



Joined: 03 Aug 2022
Posts: 88
PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 11:08 am Reply with quote
I find it hilarious people are whining about the animation when season 1 was not well animated. At the time I didn't think much of it but after re-watching season 1 I realized how bad it was. The first few episodes of season 2 have me hooked so I can care less about the pacing. I feel like people are expecting too much out of Tower of God - it was never a A+ shonen.
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Jabootu



Joined: 17 Jan 2024
Posts: 235
PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 11:29 am Reply with quote
Events might be rushed, but the action and character moments seemed slow to me. It's not really a complaint about the quality of animation, but what they do with it. I have a place in my heart for shows that don't have huge budgets but use editing and music and superior voice acting and smart directorial choices to make the key scenes genuinely exciting; Tsukimichi, Reincarnated as a Sword, Eminence in Shadow, etc. None of those are Mappa shows, to say the least, but they are made by skilled people who know how to marshal resources and how to maximize what they can do to great effect. The final episode of Eminence Season 1, for example, had probably the best sound design of any episode of anything I can think of. So good it drew my attention and keeps it after many, many repeat viewings.

The action here seems leaden. Everything just seems to move a bit too slow and there's no snap to anything. We might be rushing through the plot but in the micro the show feels unbearably slow to me. I wasn't the hugest fan of season 1 but this is already treading steadily towards my drop list.
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Matros



Joined: 22 Feb 2021
Posts: 315
PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 2:51 pm Reply with quote
Dnautics wrote:
I feel like people are expecting too much out of Tower of God - it was never a A+ shonen.


Blame all the fans who kept saying it's Korean One Piece. lol
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2624
PostPosted: Wed Jul 31, 2024 12:17 am Reply with quote
Dnautics wrote:
I find it hilarious people are whining about the animation when season 1 was not well animated...
There was a time where criticisms of animation were reserved for the quality of animated motion and rendition of moving artwork but these days, I think it is being applied as much to how much animation there is. In that connection, I would say S2 here definitely has less and I can see why people are complaining for that.

S1 had relatively more action but scenes that needed motion were animated and well enough to not make the motion or artwork look particularly bad, so in my book the quality was average. Some people didn't like the art style of S1 (rough line art) and that seemed to be the real criticism in many cases rather than how well the artwork was rendered in motion. This season the style is a little more polished and so I think it looks a little better but the rendition of that into motion isn't as good.

Being four episodes in, I think we are observing a change in theme. Where S1 was about self-determination S2 looks to be setting up being about personal growth and the side-effects of choices. In S1, Bam trusted and tried to live amicably with everyone in his vacinity and let things happen but got burned and as a result, determined to actively seek answers to some of life's questions. But we see that absent good companions for balance, that has lead him to isolation and bitterness. I expect we will see he will find a better direction in the company of his new companions.
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Matros



Joined: 22 Feb 2021
Posts: 315
PostPosted: Wed Jul 31, 2024 11:44 am Reply with quote
[quote="Hiroki not Takuya"]
Dnautics wrote:
Some people didn't like the art style of S1 (rough line art) and that seemed to be the real criticism in many cases rather than how well the artwork was rendered in motion. This season the style is a little more polished and so I think it looks a little better but the rendition of that into motion isn't as good.


Well the rough line art was a line filter and not something drawn by the artists, it was just a stylistic choice to give the aesthetic more personality. This season, one could argue, the style is more faithful but as a result more bland. Especially when artowrk looks rough in a lot of places due to the tight schedule or whatever other reason.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2624
PostPosted: Sun Aug 11, 2024 7:43 pm Reply with quote
Ep4 Dub- I'm sure most people find Wangnan's forgiveness of Lurker a baffling turn, as do I even after seeing it again, coming so close on the heels of Nia's unjustifiable murder, but I appreciate Mr. Le's English performance for not trying to sell it emotionally but present it to the audience as a demonstration of reason over emotion to achieve a more just outcome and let the audience make of it what they will.

Also, detecting the continuance of Japanese names of some of the characters not matching the subtitles or English, like S1's "Yoru" versus "Baam". In Ep2 the "leader board" makes it really obvious as "Miseng" and "Goseng" are rendered and pronounced in Japanese as "Mana" and "Kana" respectively. Wangnan is worse..."oushi"....WTF?
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Daidan12



Joined: 13 Aug 2024
Posts: 40
PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2024 12:29 pm Reply with quote
Hiroki not Takuya wrote:
Also, detecting the continuance of Japanese names of some of the characters not matching the subtitles or English, like S1's "Yoru" versus "Baam". In Ep2 the "leader board" makes it really obvious as "Miseng" and "Goseng" are rendered and pronounced in Japanese as "Mana" and "Kana" respectively. Wangnan is worse..."oushi"....WTF?

His name is Ja Wangnan, if you play with the order a little it means spoiler["I am a prince"] in Korean, so in Japanese it changes to Ouji Naru that meansspoiler[ "I am/will be a prince"]. It's a faithful translation.
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catstigereye



Joined: 25 Oct 2009
Posts: 352
PostPosted: Tue Aug 27, 2024 3:54 pm Reply with quote
Did the reviewer not understand the end of the episode? We got to see the flesh and blood Emily trapped as an app resource. That was obvious to me… just wondering..
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2624
PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2024 11:30 am Reply with quote
I thought it was clearly the case too...Cute bit that she looks to be in a Giant Fighting Robot "Emile" so we may get some obligatory "mecha" action before long (?).

Ep10-The plot is finally progressing at a good pace and interesting that Kuhn is a target as well as Bam. Will be more interesting if "Usagi-chan" is in league with the FUG puppet-masters...
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11553
PostPosted: Wed Sep 11, 2024 4:22 am Reply with quote
Did the Godhand just enter the chat, or did someone's N.O. channel erupt again?
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Aerdra



Joined: 02 Feb 2022
Posts: 424
PostPosted: Wed Sep 11, 2024 8:35 am Reply with quote
Watching season 2, I feel like individual episodes are mostly fine, but I'm just lost when it comes to the big picture.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2624
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2024 11:25 am Reply with quote
Ep11- Y'all remember years ago at the beginning of S1 and the people screaming about "that betraying b*itch, I hope she dies in flames, F her in particular!" long before the anime got to the deed? I always thought it odd there was so much vitriol over a character that didn't do anything in particular other than shove Bam at an opportune moment. Well, here she FINALLY does something! Yeah, best not to turn your back on her, she has issues...
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malvarez1



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 2024
PostPosted: Tue Sep 17, 2024 9:43 am Reply with quote
I better not see people complaining about Jujutsu Kaisen’s animation after this…this is an actually bad looking show, a phrase people throw around too casually nowadays. Tower of God deserved way better, and the depressing thing is, it’s probably too late. I doubt we’ll ever get a remake, and I don’t expect future seasons to look much better.
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