Tower of God season 2 has not gone over as well as fans may have hoped, with the series' visual style being a notable departure from the vivid presentation of its predecessor. The anime is still steadily advancing the original webtoon's narrative, with very little left out as readers may notice, but there's a distinctive lifeless feel to much of the anime with each ing episode. But outside of the disappointing action animation in Tower of God season 2, the bigger issue is overly subdued lighting and a weak color palette, undercutting exciting moments with drab visuals.

By contrast, Tower of God season 1 had a vibrant look, ironically resembling a webtoon come to life despite being a looser adaptation. The anime has plenty of potential as its source material is full of interesting moments, yet many of its scenes are hard to watch intently due to uninspired fight sequences and a drained, uninteresting visual rendition of one of the longest-running webtoons. Plot-wise, Tower of God season 2 has plenty to chew on, but The Answer Studio will have to work hard to win back the viewer base disappointed by its animation, backgrounds, and lighting.

Tower of God Season 2's Lighting Is Near-Unwatchable

The Hit Webtoon Adaptation Encounters Snags in Its Continuation

While it's reasonable to say that the plot makes Tower of God compelling to watch as a faithful webtoon adaptation, the painfully subdued lighting of season 2 is impossible to ignore. There is a clear intent to show the manhwa's events accurately, but moments like Viole's fight against Love relied too much on the spectacle of their shinsu-based abilities, missing the vibrant lights and colors of the webtoon. These issues are not subtle, with weak exposure of the characters who frequently fight in areas devoid of light in Tower of God season 2.

While examples of this are prominent among the Zygaena's Flower and Devil of the Right Arm Arcs of Tower of God season 2, it's also present throughout the rest of the season, with even episode #15 showing it. Many of the series' most thrilling battles take place seemingly under cover of night, with scenes with more heavy exposition often having better lighting. While there are still thrilling moments in Tower of God season 2, it's largely carried over from the love of the webtoon, with anime-only viewers not easily won over when so many other action series handle these sequences better.

Uninspiring Backgrounds Don't Help Tower of God's Situation

Often Flat with Color, Yet Geared Toward Keeping Focus on the Action

While the Tower of God webtoon often has more compelling backdrops that highlight its featured characters than plenty of other series, the anime's second season lacks the distinctive and dynamic feel of season 1. The most egregious example of this was the brown, muddy background of the Zygaena's Flower scenes, with episode #7's fight against Urek Mazino having little for viewers to enjoy besides the character designs. Tower of God season 2 has neither the gorgeous static backgrounds of anime like Mushishi nor the dynamic environments of Dan Da Dan, and certainly falls short of season 1.

Conversely, a less detailed background helps prevent focus from being pulled away from the action to Tower of God's credit. It doesn't help that in recent episodes, like the "One Shot, One Opportunity" challenge, the simplistic backgrounds and moments between action scenes still have limited lighting and uninspiring colors. But the worst part, especially for the Tower of God fans continuing to watch, is that they know what the series is building toward and are still enjoying a superb story.

Tower of God Season 2 Has Exciting Potential Despite Its Issues

A Faithful Adaptation, Even of the Mundane Moments

Part of the issue with Tower of God season 2 is that its truly most exciting moments appear to begin near the end of its two-cour run. The Workshop Battle commonly ranks among fans' favorite arcs across hundreds of chapters. Yet, it is preceded by more limited battles often too short to be exciting, and interesting challenges spread too far apart. The pacing of Tower of God season 2 is accurate to the manhwa. Despite its long run, it promises thrilling developments closer to the exciting moments from season 1, but viewers might not easily be persuaded.

Expectations have been lowered for Tower of God season 2 as it hasn't reached the same visual excellence of The Elusive Samurai or the fantastic combat sequences of Wistoria: Wand and Sword. While it can easily be argued that fans have been spoiled by anime series continuously upping the ante, making it difficult to please modern viewers, and season 2's character designs feel more traditionally anime-like, it's difficult to compare it to the other options. Ultimately, opinions will hinge more directly on the Workshop Battle Arc of Tower of God season 2 and whether it'll rejuvenate the series' appeal.

Source: Reddit