Kami no Tou: Koubou-sen

High Hopes for Workshop Battle! But I have something to fear.

The Return of the Prince arc started off magnificently. First two episodes were enjoyable but story and animation fell off really hard after that. Except for EP 5, from EP 3 to EP 8 were boring and lame. Yoru vs Mazino fight (It can't be considered as a fight though. Urek only used 0.001% of his power and Yoru almost died lol.) But pace and vibe ruined this EP. I really liked that part in the Manwha. EP 9-11 were nice and attractive. I loved EP 12 & 13. EP 13/Last EP of The Return ... of the Prince made me emotional when I rewatched it. I don't know why but it did. It was wholesome.

As for The Workshop Battle, it also started off brilliantly. First 2 episodes, EP 14, 15 & 16, are splendid especially EP 15 & 16. I hope animation won't fell off like what happened in The Return of the Prince arc. Story will get better from now on, they just have to focus more on animation, pace and action scenes. I hope my fear will not come true.

Overview of Early Episodes: Animation: 7/10 ~ Fight Scenes: 8/10 ~ Artstyle: 8.7/10 (Credit goes to Taniho Miho) ~ Background Music: 100000/10 (Credit goes to Kevin Penkin) ~ Pace: 8/10 ~ Vibe: 7/10 ~ Voice Acting: 8/10 ~ Story: 8/10 ~ Direction: 5/10 ~ Enjoyment: 8/10. Overall- 7.7/10. But I'll give this 10/10 this is my favourite show ffs. I can't downvote this anime just because CR ruined it. People love Tower of God for its vibe & small details and the adaptation always ignores that.

Tower of God has officially reached the Workshop Battle arc, arguably one of the most hyped arcs by readers of the source material.

After the extremely lackluster Season 2 cour 1, many have hoped that improvements will be made to this highly anticipated arc. The main question everyone is wondering: Has this studio stepped up their game to deliver a satisfactory adaptation? Well let’s break it down.

MUSIC (10/10)

Once again, this show is carried by the one and only Kevin Penkin. His OST’s are absolutely fantastic, and their quality have certainly not diminished. Once again, his music has become one of the highlights of the show. ... In addition, Stray Kids are back to give us a banger of an opening and ending. The music gets full marks.

PACING (5/10)

As I have not read the source material, I can’t speak to the pacing of the manhwa. However, looking objectively at this show, the pacing seems to move far too quickly. Characters are given half baked motivations for why they do what they do. Certain characters have met each other, but their relationships aren’t explored in any detail. It’s extremely hard to care much for what’s going on around us, if we don’t understand why things are happening.

ANIMATION (7/10)

Compared to the last cour, there seems to have been at least an attempt at animation here. Scenes are much smoother than they were in the previous cour. All things considered, I would say the animation all around has improved, but still hasn’t reached the heights that Season 1’s unique style brought to the table.

CHARACTERS (6/10)

The Worshop Battle Arc has brought back the original cast of the show with our favorite characters from Season 1 being brought back. The issue; we don’t understand what some of these characters are doing or why they are doing it. While it’s nice to see old faces, without knowing their motivations it’s hard to care about their return. Endorsi and Rak are the only characters that have seemed to have stayed consistent to who they were.

PLOT (7/10)

Overall, the plot is relatively interesting. Obviously this seems to be a battle arc, but with the return of former cast members, it could very well bring something to the table, so I suppose I may have to edit this review depending on the how the end of the season goes.

OVERALL (7/10)

At the end of the day, your opinion will be your own. This season still has not met the heights that Season 1 set. I recommend you watch this only if you want to give the show another chance. If you have decided there isn’t much point in continuing, I would recommend dropping it here.

Okay, so we all pretty much know the story by now, so let’s skip the recap and get straight to it.

What’s changed since Part 1? Well, you could argue a lot has changed - or maybe nothing at all. What has changed is the animation, and not in a good way. Somehow, it’s managed to get even worse compared to the Part 1, setting a new low for the series. For anyone coming off the high of Season 1, this is a crushing disappointment. Don’t believe me? Here’s an example: the first seven minutes of Episode 9 feel like they’ve got maybe 200 unique frames. ... I’m talking actual frames here. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. Running animations are just three frames on loop, and the fight scenes? They’re as dynamic and smooth as a gazelle with broken legs having two strokes at once. If you managed to make it past Episode 8, congratulations - you’ve got more patience than I do. For me, it was unbearable. The animation isn’t just generic - it’s outright bad.

The music is still great, but it’s completely buried in the background now. It doesn’t carry the same punch it had in Season 1. Whoever was responsible for the sound design dropped the ball hard here. All they had to do was copy-paste what worked before, but somehow, they still messed it up.

Let’s just call it like it is: giving this IP to this studio was a massive mistake. Years of waiting, years of hype, and what did we get? A flaming disaster with nothing but ashes left behind. At this point, I honestly think you’d have a better experience just reading the source material while listening to the music from Season 1.

It’s not like this adaptation was doomed from the start. They had everything they needed to succeed - Season 1 proved that. But whatever spark it had, it’s completely gone now.

To sum it up: whether you liked the unique art style of Season 1 or not, Season 2’s animation is just plain awful, art style be damned.