Tower of God season 2 episode 3 review: Great character development and setup for the future comes at the cost of a mundane installment

Heading into Tower of God season 2 episode 3, one of the biggest issues was that several of the characters introduced so far in the season had gotten little to no developmental focus at all. Officially released on Sunday, July 21, 2024, the anime’s latest outing thankfully began correcting this, albeit by casting a wide net rather than focusing on one specific character.

Nevertheless, Tower of God season 2 episode 3 does begin correcting this wrong, in turn, teasing fans exactly who is likely to survive this next exam and be a part of Bam’s new team. However, unfortunately, this comes at the expense of a relatively uneventful episode, albeit one that does set up an exciting and action-packed follow-up next week.

Tower of God season 2 episode 3 review: Character development and a clear setup for Bam’s eventual team are the positives

Tower of God season 2 episode 3 review (Image via The Answer Studios)

As mentioned earlier in this Tower of God season 2 episode 3 review, this latest installment for the highly anticipated Summer 2024 anime series does begin to right some of the season’s wrongs thus far. This is most notably achieved via the characters of Hon Arkraptor and Yeo Goseng, who each get some key moments to help develop them further.

Arkraptor’s key moment comes in the form of a flashback explaining how he lost his daughter, seemingly showing her being taken away by what appears to be some sort of religious group. It’s a subtle but effective way of communicating his values, especially with the placement of this flashback coming as he’s trying to confirm the young Yeo Miseng’s safety. It helps to establish that while he may be climbing the tower for selfish reasons, he’s very capable of being selfless.

Tower of God season 2 episode 3 takes a different approach for Goseng, instead characterizing her via a brief monologue on how meeting Ja Wangnan has changed her. While the clear emphasis on her having grown into a more confident and assertive character is surely the highlight here, her monologue also helps to further develop Ja as a true leader. Although he may have his personality quirks, it’s clear he’s able to inspire others with his words and actions.

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This wide-net approach is encouraging for a few key reasons, first by nature of making up for “lost time,” for lack of a better word. The second is that it also highlights who the key players will be in the story moving forward, of which at least Arkraptor, Goseng, and Ja are seemingly confirmed as part of this group.

While far from confirmed, it’s clear that the series is taking steps to make viewers care more about these three, in turn boosting their odds of being long-term characters.

Tower of God season 2 episode 3 also does this via The Trustworthy Room test, only focusing on those characters most central to the series’ plot right now. While it’s unlikely that all of these characters survive, it’s clear that the series is setting itself up to at least have decent development to build on for those who do.

Beyond this, the episode continues to succeed in areas prior installments have as well. This includes voice acting and consistency in animation quality, even if the animation itself is still somewhat lacking, as well as humor and scriptwriting being two other major positives.

It’s been a rocky start to the sequel anime series thus far, but its course is seemingly being corrected as the first third of the season reaches its end.

Tower of God season 2 episode 3 review: Poor pacing and a continued lack of spirit in animation are the negatives

However, where Tower of God season 2 episode 3 does continue to fail is its generic and uninspired art style. Although the actual quality of the animation is not just acceptable but great, it’s bogged down by an overall aesthetic that is simply unappealing compared to the first season. Although Mule Love and Bam’s fight in the next episode could begin highlighting what this approach has to offer, there’s not much to inspire fans’ confidence so far.

However, a more pressing issue of episode 3’s direction is the somewhat questionable pacing. Essentially, the entire first half of the episode focuses on Ja and co doing slice-of-life-esque activities, and the rules to the test are explained. While there are moments of significance peppered throughout, it’s generally a questionable choice that seemingly does nothing but pad the episode for time.

While it’s impossible to assert that Tower of God season 2 episode 3 could’ve both started and ended the test in the same episode, this time could’ve been allotted more intriguingly. One possible route is lopping off the slice-of-life focus at the beginning to give more of a look at Bam and Love’s fight. In turn, this may have begun showing fans what this art style has to offer, generating more intrigue in the series.

Tower of God season 2 episode 3 review: In summation

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Tower of God season 2 episode 3 is something of a mixed bag in that while there are plenty of rights to get excited about, there are also some major wrongs still lingering. In between these two extremes are decisions that aren’t necessarily bad, but certainly questionable when considering where that effort could have otherwise gone.

That being said, the third release of the anime’s second season gives fans much more to be excited and encouraged about than to be dismayed by. This will hopefully be capped off by an amazing fight between Bam and Love in the next issue and could potentially set up an intriguing path forward depending on what fans are shown.