Workshop Battle is a major step up from Return of the Prince. It is a far more focused story with an understandable core conflict. Bam is trying to keep everyone he cares about safe at his own expense. At the same time, his new friends and Khun are putting themselves in harm's way to try and free him from FUG. And if this weren't enough, the rest of his old party, having no idea that Bam is still alive, are out to kill his alter ego, Jyu Viole Grace.

All this adds some real stakes and drama to the story as three groups of heroes—each with their own motivations and amounts of information—clash throughout the Workshop Battle's various challenges. There are a lot of solid emotional beats throughout as characters fight and reconnect—often discovering new things about themselves in the process.

While the story generally works when it comes to the three main teams (Bam's old team, his new team, and his FUG team), it's everything outside of them that gets confusing. Dozens of new characters are in this season to keep track of—many with secret motivations and shifting loyalties. It can be hard to remember who's who, much less what they are doing and why.

This is especially true about the various villains of the arc. We're lucky to get a few lines of exposition about their goals and/or backstory—much less anything more akin to “show don't tell.” And even what little we do get feels unclear. It feels like we're just getting the broadest of strokes at best—like a lot of backstory was left on the cutting room floor.

Moreover, the story suffers from “always another villain syndrome,” where we seemingly get a new “final boss” after defeating each one—robbing our heroes of victory. It can feel frustrating—like the story is being needlessly drawn out. However, in the end, the story does at least give us time to embrace victory along with our heroes. Everyone, from Bam's old team to his new one—to Bam himself—has been on a long journey to reunite. Now, they have finally succeeded. Getting more or less an entire episode of epilogue showing them reconnecting is a welcome reward to end the season.

Unfortunately, while the plot and payoff are serviceable enough, the animation remains the show's biggest detriment. This is especially true in battle scenes. The choreography is confusing and doesn't flow well. The camera often cuts away at the moment of impact, making it unclear if attacks connect. People stay in static poses instead of moving in fights, and the character proportions/level of detail range from passable to abominable. It doesn't look as bad as Return of the Prince—however, that is an incredibly low bar to set and damning with faint praise more than anything else.

The music, on the other hand, is excellent throughout—almost to the point that it clashes because it feels too good for this anime. Kevin Penkin's score gives Tower of God an epic, otherworldly tone that permeates the whole production. It makes the anime feel more like a surreal adventure than the series of poorly realized fights it often is. The opening and ending themes, "Night" and "Falling Up" by Stray Kids, are also earworms in their own right. If Workshop Battle has one thing to be proud of, it's how it sounds.

All in all, Tower of God: Workshop Battle is an improvement on Return of the Prince in every conceivable way (other than with the music, which has been consistently excellent throughout). Yet, it still manages to lag behind the original anime. It's a shame because there is certainly a story worth telling. The general plot and the relationships between the characters are solid—there's a reason the Tower of God webtoon is a worldwide hit, after all. However, cuts and other storytelling issues mixed with the subpar visuals make for a show that's often hard to watch, much less love.

Despite all that, I hope this isn't the last we see of Tower of God in animated form—I hope we can get something with a bit more budget and visual style.