Episode 4 – Tower of God Season 2

This week his Tower of God has all of it: thrilling twists; brutal murders and fights to the demise; deepening mysteries and stunning revelations. Sure, it actually has every little thing… besides the required quantity of emotional depth to make it work.

Whereas each character on this episode will get a second or two of focus (typically actually simply as a lot), Wangnan is the middle of all of it. We’re meant to really feel what he’s feeling and be moved by his actions. The truth is, his empathy is what’s on show right here. When Nia betrays him, he doesn’t curse the boy or belittle him for his betrayal, he merely says that he understands and comforts the younger boy for attempting to assist somebody much less lucky than himself. And when Lurker brutally murders Nia, we’re meant to share Wangnan’s anger on the injustice of all of it and empathize along with his have to get revenge by not solely defeating Lurker within the sport, however killing him along with his personal two arms (or a bomb in his mouth, because the case could also be).

Up till this level, it really works nicely sufficient. I imply, it’s not exhausting to color a toddler being murdered for no motive as one thing horrible. It’s the top of this little arc the place issues don’t work out. After Wangnan turns the tables on Lurker, he begins torturing the person whereas laying the groundwork to kill him. However all it takes is Lurker telling Wangnan his sob story for Wangnan to surrender on revenge and spare the killer.

This non-killing hero/forgiveness trope requires way more character improvement and emotional connection than the present has given us to this point so as to take action. It’s one factor for Wangnan to understand that the tower is a meat grinder, turning those that dare climb it into monsters. It’s one other factor completely to forgive a person who actually beat a toddler to demise along with his personal arms for enjoyable not 10 minutes earlier. As an alternative of this massive, defining second for Wangnan – displaying the fantastic thing about his soul and character – it appears like a staggeringly silly alternative.

Regardless of being 4 episodes in, we nonetheless don’t know a lot about Wangnan. All we all know is that he’s a quick talker and a little bit of a coward. We all know that he was left on the twentieth flooring to wrestle alone. We additionally know that he has the potential for nice heroism. However none of that is explored sufficient to make his forgiveness of Lurker any extra palatable.

After all, this lack of significant character depth isn’t only a drawback with Wangnan; all the characters undergo from it. Much more than the earlier episode, this one appears like a drastic truncation of the story. That is exacerbated by the fixed budget-saving measures, equivalent to minimizing character motion the place doable and having very massive battles happen off-screen.

I began the primary two episodes of this present with hope, however after the final two, that hope has nearly disappeared. Possibly this was the most effective the creators of this anime might do with what they’d. Or perhaps they only wished to hurry by way of this arc and get to higher issues. However both means, the outcome is identical: this can be a fairly unhealthy episode.

Judgement:

Tower of God Season 2 is at present streaming on
Crispy bread.