Solo Leveling Arise

All Hail Sung Jin-woo, our Glorious King

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Solo Leveling: Arise from the Shadows S2 Ep 13 Review

It pains me to say this, but the second season of Solo Leveling has come to a close. But after everything that has happened this season, there’s likely not an anime fan out there who hasn’t heard about it. After seeing what he managed to do in the last episode, there won’t be a person in Korea who doesn’t know about Sung Jin-woo, the hero of Jeju Island. Since Solo Leveling is such a good story, though, the falling action is as good as the climax. However, the anime did manage to miss a few details that feel like a mistake to leave out. And for good reason.

Why did the anime skips this?

Looking back on last week’s episode, one problem with its ending (besides being horribly timed) was it left out a key part of Jin-woo’s thoughts. He later acknowledges this to Chairman Go, but in the manwha, Jin-woo spends the time after his failed attempts to save Cha Hae berating himself. He acknowledges that Hunters like Byung-Gu wouldn’t have died if he had chosen to go on the Raid from the start. It’s an important self-criticism that serves as a reminder that, despite now being the strongest in Korea, Sung Jin-woo is still human. It feels like a mistake not to include that in the anime, and that’s only the first one the episode makes.

The second has to do with how it portrays the way Jin-woo saves Cha Hae. I can’t remember if the anime brings it up, but Jin-woo actually has a moral code regarding his necromancy. Having learned he can revive dead humans, Jin-woo vowed to never use that power on another human unless they were evil or deserved it. Kim Chul proved to be a horrible man, so he got that treatment. In contrast, Byung-Gu was an incredibly kind person who hated violence. The fact that Jin-woo was willing to break his own rule is meant to highlight how serious and desperate he was about saving Cha Hae. In addition, whereas he revived him on the first try in the anime, he almost fails to do so in the manwha. Jin-woo has to actually convince Byung-Gu to come back to save someone one last time before it works.

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Beyond that, though, the outcome remains the same. Cha Hae’s life is saved, and Jin-woo agrees to let Byung-Gu rest in peace. It’s a very emotional moment that earns him a great deal of respect from Byung-Gu’s comrades.

Besides, Byung-Gu is nothing in comparison to the real reward: the Ant King himself. Or should we say, Beru?

Welcome to the force, Beru

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The anime does a really good job of capturing the importance of Jin-woo reviving the Ant King. The fact that he can already talk, something no other Shadow can do, emphasizes how special this Shadow is. Also, Beru is a combination of two names: Bernard Weber, a French author who wrote a fiction series about ants; and Meruem, AKA the OG Ant King. Beru more than proves worthy of being Jin-woo’s first shadow general, helping to wipe out most of the remaining ants. Thanks to Jin-woo and the Hunters of Korea, most of the leaderless ants are easy pickings. What could’ve spelt the end of Korea becomes a huge victory for the country.

As for Japan…well, the man in charge brought what happened upon himself. Now he has to live with the fact that 70% of his country’s S-Ranks are dead. And will likely lose his job in the near future.

By the way, Jin-woo does try to revive the Ant Queen in the manwha, but he abandons that when he realizes that the Queen’s useless as an undead Shadow. That, and it divides the loyalty of the Shadow Ants.

Commence the Praise!

With Jeju Island no longer a threat, Korea is free to mourn those lost. While people give him valid criticism (which he acknowledges), everyone says that Sung Jin-woo is the hero of Jeju Island. While he could’ve helped from the start, joining at such a critical moment saved Korea from destruction. Thus, most people are giving him all the glaze (like I have been.) He’s now the apex predator of the country; the strongest.

So, what now?

Thanks to the experience from the Raid on Jeju Island, Jin-woo has hit an important milestone: Level 100. He’s stronger than he’s ever been. And while some might sit on their throne and reap the rewards, Jin-woo isn’t like that. He’s already making plans to form his own guild with Jinho. And at that this point, he doesn’t need to hide the fact that he can solo an entire dungeon. Yet, not everything is well.

During the cleanup on Jeju Island, one of the teams of Hunters were attacked by two unknown beings. I can’t say who they are without spoiling things, but let me make this clear: Jin-woo will need to fight them in the near future. And right now, not even he may be enough to win. Which is why he needs to keep getting stronger. Not to protect his title, but to protect the people he cares about.

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Now we Wait

Sadly, this is where the season of Solo Leveling comes to an end. At this time, there is no news that can confirm nor deny whether there will be a third season. However, given its meteoric rise to prominence in the anime world in just over a year, people are going to want to see the rest of the story animated. Its not a question of if it will happen, but when. And with the fights only going to get crazier (trust me), Solo Leveling could wind up being one of the biggest anime of the decade.

Until that day comes, though, feel free to go and read the manwha for yourself. Or stick around for a review of the game Solo Leveling Arise. Or go watch YouTubers like AniNews or Anime Balls Deep as they break down the series.

Edit: Third Season drops next year.

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I Give “Onto the Next Target” a 4/5

Solo Leveling Just had the Biggest Anime Fight of the Year

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Solo Leveling: Arise from the Shadows S2 EP 12 PRAISING SESSION

Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone who identifies as neither, this is the episode that we all waited to see. The Jeju Island Raid Arc has all come down to this: Sung Jin-woo, the Black Air Force Hunter with max-level charisma, vs the second coming of Meruem, the Ant King! And it is no exaggeration to say that this was a fight that Solo Leveling fans have waited to see since the days of the manwha! And despite some concerns over it being limited to a single episode, the studio managed to deliver! When the time comes for the best anime moments of 2025, this fight will be on the list!

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Straight Up Aura Farming

For those wondering how Jin-woo got to Jeju Island so fast, it’s part of a new ability he recently acquired: Shadow Exchange. He can swap places with one of his Shadows, allowing him to fast travel to their location. Thankfully, he thought ahead by planting Shadows on all the Hunters in case things went south like they did. Now that he’s at the island, though, he’s ready to do some pest control.

Everyone who’s been watching Solo Leveling already knows how strong Jin-woo is. Most of the Hunters present have an idea about how strong Jin-woo is. However, this marks the first chance for everyone in-universe to see what happens when Jin-woo cuts loose.

The real show, though, starts when the Ant King returns to the nest and his subjects. The two of them start aura farming as they approach each other like Jotaro and DIO, with the Ant King demanding to know if Jin-woo is the King of the Humans. All Jin-woo does is mock the Ant King for being a talking bug, prompting the ant to use intimidating shout on him, to no effect. Then the two start trading blows like they’re in an extreme boxing match on steroids. To the Ant King’s credit, he manages to trip Jin-woo up for a moment using poison to paralyze him. However, Jin-woo has gotten to the point where poison no longer works on him.

PEAK CINEMA

And this is where the real fight begins, as the Ant King goes one-winged angel mode, complete with the angelic pose, to try and overwhelm Jin-woo in a test of speed. For added effect, the anime takes a page from Attack on Titan and starts belting out angelic choir music! When that happens in an anime, it’s a sign that things are about to get crazy. And the fight that followed was beyond crazy.

As someone who wanted this entire Arc to get the movie treatment, I must admit, I was concerned that the anime wouldn’t live up to the hype. Having read the manwha and played the gacha game in advance, I had very high expectations for this moment. Thankfully, the anime knew where it had to put its animation budget, because from here on out, the fight was a textbook definition of sakuga animation.

This Was Worth the Wait!

I only started reading Solo Leveling after the anime debuted, so I only had to wait a year for this to come out. However, the die-hard fans who loved this series from its manwha days had to wait half a decade to see this in animated form! Regardless of how long we had to wait for this, it was worth every second! This is why Solo Leveling is now considered the top-rated anime series of all time. The new gold standard for anime! It deserves all the praise!

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Once the fight is over, though, Jin-woo has to deal with the consequences of him not being there when the others needed him. Multiple Hunters are already dead, but the one that concerns Jin-woo the most is Cha Hae-in. She’s on the verge of death, and for all of his power, Jin-woo seems incapable of saving her. For the first time since he got his black air forces, Jin-woo feels utterly powerless. He outright admits to himself that he messed up not joining them from the getgo. The fact taht he addressed the criticisms about himself is a sign of how good a character he is. Sadly, the episode decides to end on another cliffhanger right as things look hopeless for Cha Hae.

Cliffhanger or not, this episode was worth the wait. It deserves all the awards and the praise! If you have not watched Solo Leveling yet, then what are you doing with your life?

I Give “King of the Humans” a 5/5

Why is Jeju Island so Important to Solo Leveling

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Quick 411 on the Jeju Island Arc

In the original Solo Leveling manwha, the story opens right as Sung Jin-woo is facing certain death in the Double Dungeon. However, the anime chose to start things off differently. Instead, it begins with a scene on Jeju Island, where a group of Hunters is fighting for their lives against Monsters. This original scene was the first of several added throughout the anime, most of which would revolve around Jeju Island. There’s a very good reason for this: it’s the anime’s way of building up to one of the most important arcs in the entire story. And if you’re reading this, it means that the anime is making that arc into its season finale and not giving it the Demon Slayer: Mugen Train treatment or theatrical release, much to my dismay.

Personal feelings aside, this is meant to serve as a quick summary of what makes Jeju Island such an important location in Solo Leveling. And why what’s about to happen is going to be a speedrun of Hunter x Hunter’s Chimera Ant Arc on steroids.

Four Years Earlier…

The story begins four years before the events of Solo Leveling. An S-Ranked Dungeon spawned on Jeju Island, the largest island in the Korean Peninsula, forcing Hunters to attempt to close it. However, due to it being the strongest possible Dungeon, and how weak Korea’s S-Rank Hunters were back then, they failed to close it in time. As a result, it underwent a Dungeon Break, AKA what happens when the Monsters inside can spill over into the Human world. In this case, it was legions of ants the size of your average human being, if not bigger.

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Thousands of people ultimately died at the monstrous mandibles of the insects, and the Hunters and Korean Government were powerless to stop them. All they could do was get everyone left alive and get them off the island before they met the same fate. Thus, Jeju Island was left abandoned, a wasteland devoid of any human life while its buildings served as an eerie monument to the Hunter’s failure.

And the ants were free to multiply and make the island their own kingdom. But Korea wasn’t going to sit back and let things remain as they were.

Three Years of Failures

Over the course of the next three years, the Korean Government and its top Hunters made repeated attempts to take back the island. To say that they proved disastrous would be an understatement. Their third and latest attempt not only failed, but it cost the life of one of their S-Rank Hunters. Baek Yoonho, Guild Master of the White Tigers, had to watch as that man died and couldn’t do anything about it! And their mutual friend was so traumatized that he quit being a Hunter altogether!

After that failure, the Korean Government decided they couldn’t afford to risk more lives, especially with how few S-Rank Hunters they had. So, they decided to leave the island and its ant masters alone, hoping that once they ran out food, they would either starve or turn on each other.

It didn’t work.

The Chimera Ant Arc on Steroids

The Ant Queen that served as the Dungeon’s boss wasn’t a mindless beast; she was intelligent. Intelligent enough to realize that if things remained as they were, her children would die. Unfortunately, that meant evolution kicked into overdrive. The newer generations of ants started being born with wings and the ability to fly. Slowly but surely, the first scouts started making their way to the surrounding nations, all of them full of humans and animals upon which they could feed.

In other words, if those ants aren’t taken care of now, then they would overrun Korea, Japan, and even China. And the rest of the world could be next.

The earlier comparisons to the Chimera Ant Arc from Hunter x Hunter weren’t hyperbole. Both center around fighting a colony of incredibly powerful, super-intelligent ants. If left unchecked, said ants could spread enough to conquer the world and turn humankind into its food source. And if that wasn’t scary enough, the Hunters of each story have to face an opponent that is beyond their worst nightmares. The only difference is that what’s about to happen in the Jeju Island Arc is going to be speed-running through the entire story and look far cooler doing so!

Regardless of whether the Jeju Island Raid Arc is a movie or just the season finale, the coming battle will be Solo Leveling’s biggest to date. It’s the kind of battle that will make even the internet-breaking feats of Jin-woo vs the High Orcs look tame. For a series that seems to thrive on serial escalation, that should not be taken lightly! So make sure you are prepared and have snacks ready. You will need them!