Tower of God Season 2’s dreadful subtitles spur accusation Crunchyroll “wants it to fail”

The latest episode of Tower of God Season 2 has drawn more ire from viewers due to some poor subtitling that has people wondering what’s going on behind the scenes.

In July of this year, Tower of God Season 2 premiered, after four years of anticipation. The anime show kicked off in 2020 to a strong reaction, causing a second season to be greenlit in short order. Unfortunately, a number of issues, including the global shutdown and studio changeover, hampered animation.

But we got there eventually, and the mystery of the Tower continued unravelling in 2024. Sadly, the quality hasn’t been quite up to snuff, and Episode 7 has some egregious subtitling that’s aggravating onlookers.

The episode, entitled ‘Her Name Is Emily’, contains phrasing that seems awkward, stilted, and downright comedic at times. In one instance, the titular character literally says, “My name is Emily” with a completely straight face.

In another scene, she appears to randomly say, “I’m a chat robot”, something commenters on Reddit are suggesting is actually from Episode 8. A reference to Viole adds weight to that belief, but that makes the episode no less interminable to watch.

Compounded with other issues from earlier in the seasons, people are questioning what’s happening with Tower of God as a property. “WTF is Crunchyroll doing? It’s as if they want Tower of God to fail with how they’re treating it,” writes one Redditor.

“To make matters even worse, the subtitles work perfectly for literally every other available language EXCEPT for English. I’ve never been more pissed off,” says a commenter.

The subtitles have now been fixed, but some reputational damage is starting to sink in on this season.

If you’re tired of Tower of God, you can check out something from our list of underrated Shonen anime, and our upcoming anime guide will tell you what releases to look out for.