Solo Leveling: Arise from the Shadows

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

Jin-woo, Why U no Go to Jeju?

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

Solo Leveling: Arise from the Shadows S2 Ep 10 Review

At the time this is being written, the Internet was just coming down from the high of the Invincible War. Now, they’re about to hit an all-new high as the Jeju Island Raid Arc begins in full! Unfortunately for the fans, it starts off with a certain person deciding to take a page out of the life of Achilles. For Sung Jin-woo, the Black Air Force Hunter, has decided to sit this one out. why, you may ask? The details will be revealed below.

A Not-So-Friendly Sparring Session

So, to help them prep for the upcoming raid, all the Korean and Japanese S-Rank Hunters have a friendly sparring session. Everyone except for Jin-woo and Goto Ryuji, the strongest S-Rank in Japan. They sit on the sidelines and let the others fight it out, and the fights are fairly impressive. Even when they’re holding back, you can tell these Hunters are the best of the best. The animation is also pretty good, too. Not as fast-paced as previous fights weve seen this season, but entertaining nonetheless. Special mention should go to Baek Yoonho revealing his beast form!

However, when Hae-in looks ready to be hurt by hurt, Jin-woo instinctively steps in to stop the fight. A big win for anyone who ships them! However, its what happens next that makes things interesting. Goto Ryuji has been observing the fights, but he’s also been observing Jin-woo. And after what he just did, he’s very interested in him. So, he walks to him with his translator, and asks him if he’d like to scrap.

And Jin-woo smiles and agrees to it!

How Could the Anime Not Include this?

The fight between the two is short, but no less epic. The studio clearly wanted to put as much of the animation budget into this one scene, and its very entertaining to watch! Too bad the fight gets called off when it was just getting good, and it leaves out a few key details from the manwha.

Firstly, when Goto starts taking things seriously, the System alerts Jin-woo that he’s facing someone with murderous intent. Had it continued, a repeat of Dongsook might have happened.

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Secondly, and this is important, but after the fight ends, Goto Ryuji is trembling. He is shaken to his core because he knows that if they fought for real, he’d lose.

It’s a real shame that the anime chose to cut this stuff out. Instead, they chose to downplay it to make it seem like Jin-woo and Ryuji are evenly matched.

Sadly, this isn’t the only change the anime makes that feels inferior to the manwha.

Jin-woo Should Have Gone.

At any rate, Jin-woo decides that he’s not going to go on the raid to Jeju Island for two reasons. Firstly, after seeing the other S-Ranks in action, he thinks they can handle it by themselves. Secondly, his mom just woke up from a years-long coma. He wants to spend as much time with her as possible and doesn’t want to scare her by putting his life at risk.

There’s no easy way to say this…he should have gone with them.

As happy as we should be that he’s got his mom back, and as understandable as it may be that he doesn’t want to worry her, he should have gone with them. Almost every Hunter in Korea is on stand-by in case the ants make it to the mainland. Even Song-yi and Joo-hee, both of whom quit being Hunters, are ready to help. Yet here is Achilles, sitting in his tent!

I remember reading this in the manwha, and despite understanding his reasoning, I still think he should’ve gone. Between himself and his Shadows, they could ensure casualties were non-existent. By the time the episode ends, the raid already has bodies piling up, and its all due to the Ants secret weapon.

Which brings us to the second issue that makes the anime feel inferior to the manwha: the Ants Trump card.

A New Challenger Approaches

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If you’ve seen or read HunterxHunter, then you should know about the Chimera Ant Arc. If you know about that, you know about Meruem, the inhumanely strong super-ant that threatened to conquer the world. The creator of Solo Leveling must have taken a page from HunterxHunter, because the Ant Queen of Jeju Island had the same idea. She lays an egg that, when hatched, will give birth to her strongest child, meant to lead her children as they go forth in search of food. An Ant King.

While both the manwha and anime show the birth of the Ant King, they portray events differently. The manwha deliberately has things take place at night, so readers don’t see the King just yet. All we see is its silhouette as it celebrates its birth with a massive explosion of aura. On the other hand, the anime does away with the mystique by showing us the Ant King. And it might just be me, but he doesn’t look nearly as intimidating in the anime than in the manwha.  

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It should also be noted that when members of the Japanese Team start dropping dead, it’s treated as far more horrific in the manwha. Though that’s just me.

Enjoy the Carnage

For better or for worse, the Jeju Island Raid Arc has begun in full. And, sadly, its not getting the movie treatment it deserves. Because what is about to happen needs the budget an anime film can provide! Fingers crossed, the anime does what happens justice. If not, there’s always Solo Leveling: Arise.

Which reminds me: if you haven’t played Solo Leveling: Arise, now would be a good time to get in on it. They just added a new Hunter and gave players gifts for Jin-woo’s birthday. Plus, of you feel bad about that dead Hunter, you can learn about her backstory for even greater tragedy.

I Give “We Need a Hero” a 4/5

Jin-woo Washes an Army of High Orcs

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

Solo Leveling: Arise from the Shadows S2 Ep 6 Review

This was one of the episodes of Solo Leveling that I was looking forward to seeing! When we last left off, Jin-woo had gone into an A-Rank dungeon so he could see what they were like. However, his plans to be a simple porter went south when the Hunting party got captured by an army of High Orcs. Now, they’re face-to-face with the boss of the Dungeon who’s ready to rip them to pieces. Little do the High Orcs know, but they’ve merely prepared their own execution, with Jin-woo being the one to carry it out.

Kargalgan the High Orc Lord

To clarify how bad this small army of High Orcs is, the Hunting Party members say that if the Dungeon breaks, they could flatten a few cities. Their mere presence is enough to make the women quake and the men want to wet themselves. Worst of all, their leader, Kargalgan, manages to keep the Hunters paralyzed with just his Haki.

As if to emphasize how dangerous the leader is, he uses the Force to throw the party leader Kihoon around like a rag doll! In fact, the only reason the Hunters were brought to them alive was so he kill and eat them for his army’s entertainment! He was playing with his food!

How does Jin-woo respond to this? He saves Son Kihoon, takes care of a High Orc that tries to attack, and asks him one question:

“Want me to take care of these guys?”

Kihoon says yes. And what follows is Jin-woo’s biggest flex to date as he summons his growing Shadow Army.

Kargalgan is a Victim

In the manwha, the fight between Jin-woo and Kargalgan was the biggest fight up to that point. While some criticisms can be levied against how the Shadow Army was animated fighting in the background (it looked pretty stiff), few, if any, criticisms can be found with the actual fight. Karglagan is an effective fusion of the best kinds of bosses in video games, complete with multiple stages and strategies for fighting opponents. Despite knowing that Jin-woo is inevitably going to win, he shows why he was the leader of the High Orcs. He’s the kind of boss that, were he in a game like Dark Souls, would make most players want to tear their hair out in frustration.

The real highlight this time, though, isn’t even the fight itself; it’s how those watching react to it. The other Hunters go from thinking they’re going to die to being utterly dumbfounded as Jin-woo single-handedly wipes out the High Orcs. While this isn’t the first time Jin-woo has flexed in front of others, the context makes this different. The public still doesn’t know that Jin-woo’s an S-Rank Hunter yet. Thus, seeing the man who served as their porter be stronger than all of them is absolutely surreal. It gets even stranger when Jinchul from the Hunters Association shows up and tells them not to speak of what they just saw. That alone is enough to tell them how important Jin-woo is! And while they don’t fully get it, they’re all happy to be alive and thank him.

Yeah, Cha is into Him

The character whose reaction is the most important, though, is none other than Cha Hae-in. Out of curiosity, she went back to the Dungeon on her day off, only to learn what had happened. She proceeded to run into the Dungeon, armed with only a pick-axe, hoping that she can somehow help. Instead, she gets a front-row seat to Jin-woo showing off his power.

Ultimately, Jin-woo kills all the enemies and adds them to his army, including Kargalgan, now renamed Tusk. Everyone leaves the Dungeon in one piece, and Jin-woo is happy. But his days of pretending to be an E-Rank are over, and he knows it. It’s only fitting that the episode ends outside the Hunters Association on the day Jin-woo’s status becomes official. Reporters are there for a celebrity getting his own Hunter Rank, but after they hear about Jin-woo, he’s the only one they’ll pay attention to.

Get some popcorn ready, because this next episode will be all about the hype of Jin-woo.

I Give “Don’t Look Down on My Guys” a 4/5

Love at first…smell? Yeah, that’s what’s happening

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

Solo Leveling: Arise from the Shadows S2 Ep 5 Review

If there’s a candidate for the best girl in Solo Leveling, then the anime makes a strong case for the strongest female Hunter in Korea, Cha Hae-in. Despite not making as hint her debut until the series was well underway, the anime has gone out of its way to add original scenes featuring Hae-in. When an anime does that, that means they will be important in the future. And now that the anime’s caught up to her actual debut, Cha Hae-in is about to become even more important.

But first, time for some backstory.

Cha Hae-in’s unique condition

As hinted at in the anime, before she became a Hunter, Hae-in was a talented track athlete. Sadly, she pushed herself too hard, leading to an injury that cut her career short. Then, two years ago, she awakened as one of Korea’s handful of S-Ranked Hunters. Now she’s the second-in-command of the strongest Hunters guild in the country. Between that and her beauty, one could call her the Korean equivalent of Asuna from Sword Art Online and very fortunate.

Here’s the thing: she doesn’t see it that way. As shown in the series premiere, she’s not comfortable with how famous she is, something that the Arise gacha game expands upon. Not helping matters is her unique condition: she can smell mana. According to her, it smells horrible, and her job makes her work around people with that smell every day.

Which explains why, after formally meeting Jin-woo, her first impulse…is to smell him.

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Who else is shipping them?

The how and why of why Jin-woo doesn’t smell bad to Hae-in aren’t made clear. Even in the WEBTOON, the best Jin-woo can come up with is due to being the Player. However, none of that matters, because this marks the beginning of Hae-in’s relationship with Jin-woo, one that will come to be of great importance to both.

…yes, the series is shipping them. It helps that she shows up looking for Jin-woo after he heads into the Dungeon on her day off. And thinks of him as she’s trying to fall asleep.

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Jin-woo the miner

So, the real meat of the episode. While Jin-woo is waiting for his updated license to go through, he’s been killing time playing miner. Even without his army, his gains are enough to do ten people’s work. But when the B-team makes an offer to have him be their porter, he takes it.

It’s a good thing, too, because their raid quickly goes sideways.

It was interesting to see just how strong the upper-ranked Hunters can be. More importantly, Jin-woo’s stealthy intervention proves just how strong he’s gotten in comparison to most Hunters. At this point, it’s accurate to say that only a few S-Rank Hunters could scrap with him. However, that becomes a moot point when a horde of High Orcs (Orcs on steroids) show up and give them a choice: go with them or die.

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Jin-woo could take them, but since he’s trying not to draw too much attention to himself, he lets the party leader decide. Having read the manwha, I can tell you that he will step up when things go sideways. And what follows will be one of the first public demonstrations of what Jin-woo is capable of. And if Hae-in manages to see it…let’s just say her interest in Jin-woo is going to be very justified.

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I give “This is what we trained for” a 4/5

Jin-woo stops faking being an E-Rank

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

Solo Leveling: Arise from the Shadows S2 Ep 4 Review

“You’ll be fine as long as you’re not E-Rank.” That’s an important line from the fourth episode of Solo Leveling’s sophomore outing, and for good reason. Jin-woo may have left E-Rank behind a while back, but that’s still his official rank. As long as he stays there, he won’t be able to get into higher-ranking Dungeons. If he can’t do that, he won’t be able to get strong enough to get the last part of the medicine for his mother. With people in power already suspicious of him in light of the Red Gate, Jin-woo decides to stop pretending and make it official. As of this episode, he’s now Korea’s 10th S-Rank Hunter, and everyone wants a piece of him.

Il-Hwang Just won Father of the Year

Those who were expecting to have more heart-stopping action in this episode will be disappointed in the get-go. This is one of the episodes of Solo Leveling that focuses more on drama, exposition, and world-building. It manages to drop many important details regarding the world of Hunters and how they’ve become the new power in the world. It’s already been established that one’s rank can determine their power and influence as a Hunter, but this episode hammers home the strength of a guild. The five strongest guilds in Korea collectively match the strength of the entire government. And in larger countries, the biggest guilds can be run like private kingdoms with no oversight. Is it any wonder why men like Dongsoo can act like they’re Homelander and do whatever they want?

Speaking of which, this episode has Dongsoo in a hospital bed after Jin-woo’s father turned him into a victim. And to add to insult to injury, Il-Hwan basically told the thug “if you even think of setting foot back in Korea or come after my family, I will beat up so bad that you will be longing for death. And not even the reaper will be able to save you, since I’ll just bring you back and kill you all over again!”

What a good dad.

Jin-woo ain’t interested.

So, when Jin-woo goes to get reevaluated and their giant scouter cannot compute his power level, everyone at the office starts freaking out. Sung Jin-woo is officially the 10th S-Rank Hunter in the country. What follows can be described as the process in which the best sports teams trying to recruit a promising young athlete. First comes Choi Jong-in from the Hunter’s Guild, only for him to get embarrassed when Jin-woo blows right past him. Baek Yoonho, who’s team Jin-woo saved in the Red Gate incident, comes too late to even see him!

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The most surprising offer, though, comes from the Hunter’s Association’s own leader, Go Gunhee. Keeping with the anime tradition of elders being insanely strong, Gunhee is also S-Ranked and on-par with Jin-woo. He makes a convincing argument that Jin-woo join the Association and help police the Hunters. That would go a long way to helping prevent Hunters like Dongsuk from getting away with crimes. It’s even implied that he’s hoping Jin-woo could be his successor, an offer he finds very tempting.

Ultimately, Jin-woo declines. Not only does Gunhee respect his decision, he’s so swayed by Jin-woo’s rizz he’s tempted to join him in the dungeons! Either way, Jin-woo just made a powerful ally!

Hae-in Stocks about to go up

Speaking of dungeons, Jin-woo decides to kill time by working as a miner at an A-Rank Dungeon being run by the Hunter’s Guild. And it’s there that he happens to run into a certain Hunter, one that the series has been dropping appearances for all throughout the series.

Cha Hae-in, the second in command of the Hunter’s, one of the strongest Hunters in Korea, and someone who will become very important from this moment going forward. Sadly, the episode ends right as the two have their first, actual meeting in the Dungeon, but before they can speak to each other. Manwha readers will have to wait until the next episode to see the start of their…relationship.

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The one downside to this episode is noted by Screenrant: it continues a worrying trend of the anime cutting out some of the smaller, sillier moments from the manwha. There are plenty to be found in the manwha, and even more to come when one considers what importance Hae-in will have in the future.

Meh. You can’t win them all.

I Give “I Need to Stop Faking” a 3/5. Loses one point for teasing us on Hae-in Scene!

Jin-woo has an army now. DON’T MAKE HIM MAD!

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

Solo Leveling: Arise from the Shadows S2 Ep 3 Review

There’s only one reason why Sung Jin-woo became a Hunter: to provide for his sister and comatose mother. That motivation hasn’t changed since becoming a Player, especially since the Demon Castle Dungeon gave him the means to create a medicine to cure his mother. Having unlocked new abilities and tested them in the Red Gate, it’s time for Jin-woo to return to the Instance Dungeon to see how far he can go. At the same time, things are happening to those connected to Jin-woo that could affect him down the road.

Jinho’s Next Step to Being a Guild Master

Not long after the Red Gate, Jin-woo and Jinho reach the end of their deal: they’ve cleared 19 dungeons together! Rather, it’s more like Jin-woo cleared them, and Jinho helped support him. To his dismay, though, even that becomes pointless with Jin-woo’s Shadows able to carry his gear and mine resources.

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It’s easy to feel sympathetic for Jinho. His father’s seemingly never expected much from him and his brother is a conceited jerk. It’s no wonder that he considers Jin-woo more of a brother than his biological brother. And, despite his now-stoic nature, Jin-woo reciprocates the feeling, to his joy. What’s more, his father actually takes his request to lead their pending Hunter’s guild seriously. However, there’s a catch: he has to recruit Jin-woo.

As expected, Jin-woo’s extraordinary actions are starting to attract attention from those in power. It’s only a matter of time before people start trying to take advantage of his power…or come for his head like Dongsoo.

Yes, that man is who you think he is

Speaking of Dongsoo, this episode reveals the reason he was called back to the US. During a dungeon raid, an American Hunting party found something, or someone: a Korean Hunter. The government detains him for fear of him being a monster, but since he speaks Korean, they bring Dongsoo in to communicate.

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What follows demonstrates how Dongsoo is just as wicked as his older brother, as he immediately realizes the connection the mysterious man has to Jin-woo and lies about the young man’s death.

Before you ask, yes. The man in question, Sung Il-Hwan, is Jin-woo’s father and an S-Rank Hunter, to boot. Ten years ago, he got stuck inside a Dungeon that closed on him. He’s only now found his way back to his dimension, and what happened in-between then, and what he learned, will become very important later in the series. What matters at the moment, though, is that he manages to humiliate Dongsoo before escaping custody. So, like son, like father!

Jin-woo Solos Half the Demon Castle

The highlight of the episode (besides the gratitious cameos of Cha Hae-In) are Jin-woo’s return to the Instance Dungeon called the Demon Castle. With the Red Gate affirming how strong he’s gotten since his job change, Jin-woo feels confident enough to try more of the dungeon.

This time, though, Jin-woo has an army at his disposal.

The second journey into the Instance Dungeon hammers home how Jin-woo’s starting to unlock the full potential of his Shadow Army. Not only can they perform menial tasks, they can also deal with the small fry enemies while he focuses on the ones that matter. He’s learning how to lead his forces into battle like a frontline general or king of old, letting him focus on the big boss of the 50th floor.

The fight between Jin-woo and the Avaricious Vulcan, while brief, is another chance for Solo Leveling to flex its animation budget. Thanks to the monster’s size and movement, it also has the benefit of feeling like a fight from Attack on Titan, which is a welcome addition. As always, though, Jin-woo comes out on top.

By the time Jin-woo makes it to the next boss on the 75th floor, he’s marching in there at the head of a small army. The fight that follows is so fast, it can’t even count as a fight! Just an execution.

Jin-woo is Getting There

So, the good news is that Jin-woo is improving by leaps and bounds, but he’s still not strong enough to solo the Instance Dungeon. The episode ends with him returning back to his dimension, but with some extra confidence instilled in himself. Once he beats the final boss of the Demon Castle, he’ll have the last ingredient he needs for the medicine to save his mother.

There’s bad news, though: he’s attracting attention. The more incredible things he does, the more people realize that he’s not an E-Rank Hunter anymore. If anything, the fact that he keeps pretending to be one will cause him trouble down the road. Sooner or later, he’s going to have to get re-re-evaluated and accept his S-Rank status. Otherwise, things could get ugly.

The good thing about Jin-woo, though, is that despite how strong he’s gotten, he’s not letting it go to his head. He still cares about his family (and Jinho), and he never lords his power over others unless he has to. Hopefully, that doesn’t change because…Jin-woo would be terrifying if he went evil. Like Homelander on steroids.

Great episode, though. Jin-woo is one step closer to saving his mother. And we got to see more of Cha Hae-In.

I Give “Still a Long Way to Go” a 3.5/5

Three Reasons Why Kim Chul is a Chump

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Solo Leveling: Arise from the Shadow S2 Ep 2 Review

A few months ago, being trapped in a Red Gate dungeon would’ve been a worst-case scenario for Jin-woo. Especially if his party leader left anyone they deemed weak behind to die while they fought the boss. But that was before he became a Player and learned how to raise the dead as part of his own private army. Now, the Red Gate is just another way for him to train and build his Shadow army. And as Jin-woo makes clear in this episode, he’s not afraid to use his necromancy powers on his fellow human beings.

To be fair, he’ll only use them on humans who already deserve this fate, like his so-called party leader.

Kim Chul’s Three Strikes

At the end of the last episode, the anime showed us the fate of party leader Kim Chul and his half of the Hunters. Without any food or supplies, they starved, froze, and were then mauled to death by yetis. Chul only survived because he ran away with his tail tucked between his legs.

While the sight of Chul walking back alone and half-insane might make some people feel bad for him, the story makes it clear that we shouldn’t. He knew leaving the weaker Hunters behind would likely kill them, and he did it anyway. Worse, he forced the other members to press on without adequate food and supplies, leading to their deaths. Any military leader worth their salt would tell you sending your forces out without being prepared can lead to disaster. That’s strike one against Kim Chul.

Then, when he gets back to the others and sees them happy around a campfire with food and blankets, he snaps. He wrongly assumes that they deliberately hoarded supplies from him, and thus, that they’re to blame for everyone’s deaths. That’s strike two, and if Jin-woo hadn’t been there to knock him on his back, he would’ve killed everyone present.

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Then, when Chul comes to while Jin-woo’s fighting the boss, he decides to try killing Jin-woo instead of helping him like he should’ve. Final strike! And for his arrogance and stupidity, Jin-woo gives Chul a very special gift: the honor of being the third time he’s had to kill a human being.

And, to add insult to injury, Jin-woo doesn’t even kill Chul himself; he has Igris do it before reviving him as his latest Shadow, now called Iron.

Jin-woo Bodies an Army of Murderous Ice Elves

The real highlight of the episode, though, is the fight between Jin-woo and his Shadow army and the Ice Elves, led by one called Baruka. The fight is frenetic, fast-paced, and seems less like a duel between two opponents and more like a proper battle. As Jin-woo continues to get stronger, though, he’s going to use his Shadows more and more to help him deal with monsters. Thus, this is a prelude to some of the things that he will end up doing as the anime progresses.

Baruka’s a tough opponent, but in the end, he ends up another victim of Jin-woo. The one loss that Jin-woo has to take is the fact that he’s unable to extract Baruka’s Shadow, leaving him out of a valuable soldier in his growing army. However, he manages to get his daggers and the survivors out in one piece, so that’s a win. In addition, he gets another cool moment when the White Tiger’s guildmaster, Baek Yoonho, tries to get answers about what happened out of him. Instead, Jin-woo tells him off for not being grateful he got any of his guildmembers out alive.

As for Dongsoo, he left after thinking Jin-woo wouldn’t make it out of the Red Gate alive.

This episode marks another turning point in Jin-woo’s growth as a Hunter. Until now, he’s only used Shadow Extraction on monsters. Now that he knows he can use it on humans, though, anyone who makes the mistake of crossing him could become an undead minion in his army. Fortunately, he seems like the type who wouldn’t revive another human unless they were already worthy of punishment from him. On a lesser note, this is the third instance where he’s killed a person; if he’s not careful, he could become numb to the value of life and risk losing his humanity. Thankfully, he has his sister and Jinho to keep him grounded.

Speaking of Jinho, when he sees how informal his boss and Song-yi are after the events the night before, he comes to a disturbing conclusion. To be fair, if someone heard two people talking about how they didn’t get any sleep the night before out of context, they might make the same assumption. But Jin-woo isn’t that kind of Hunter.

People love the new OP

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By the way, reports are coming in saying that Solo Leveling broke its already impressive viewer record with the premiere of Season two. And the new OP managed to reach a million views on YouTube in less than three days. The people have spoken: Solo Leveling is a big thing in anime right now!

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I Give “I Suppose You Aren’t Aware” a 4/5

Solo Leveling is Back! And Jin-woo’s Cooking!

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

Solo Leveling: Arise from the Shadows S2 Ep 1 Review

Everyone, rejoice! Today is a great day for anime. For Sung Him-Woo, the Black Air Force Hunter of Solo Leveling, has returned!

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Solo Leveling made huge waves in the anime world last year by being 2024’s first big hit. And now, the story of Sung Jin-woo continues as he finally has a concrete goal beyond leveling up. Within the special S-rank Dungeon only he can access lie the ingredients to a miracle potion that can cure anything. If he gets his hands on it, he can use it to awaken his mom from her coma! The bad news is that he’s still not strong enough to clear the Dungeon. The good news? He’s no longer fighting alone. He’s got an army of shadow warriors to help him, and he’s going to use them. Which leads us to the season premiere as Jin-woo puts his black Air Force energy through its paces in a Dungeon raid gone wrong. Again.

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But first, can we talk about how amazing the OP to season two of Solo Leveling: Arise from the Shadows is? Besides the killer animation, there’s also the fact that the song is sung by LiSA and Felix from Stray Kids. She’s one of my favorite J-Pop singers, and for good reason. She’s done the theme songs to some the biggest anime of the century, including Sword Art Online, Fate, Demon Slayer, and more. Regardless of the criticisms to SAO, “Crossing Field” is a very exciting OP. And “Gurenge” is practically a legend at this point. While the OP for the first season wasn’t that interesting, the one for season two is the exact opposite, being an absolute head-banger that I desperately want to find on iTunes.*

*(It’s on iTunes Now!)

Jin-woo’s Master Plan to Convince Sister’s Friend to Stay in School

It’s parent-teacher day at the school of Jin-woo’s sister, Jinah, and since he’s her legal guardian, he has to go in their parent’s place. And despite just waking up, Jin-woo shows up looking super-cool, leading to yet another moment where young ladies drool over him. The man’s rizz is off the charts, and he doesn’t even realize it!

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The good news is Jinah’s on track to get into the medical school she’s aiming for, so there’s no problems there. However, her teacher asks Jin-woo with help with another student who’s a friend of Jinah. Her name is Han Song-Yi, and she recently awakened as a Hunter…as an E-rank. She’s the girl who’s been in Jin-woo and Jin-ho’s party as they go Dungeon hopping for their plan to make Joonho a guild master. And now, she’s planning on quitting school and becoming a full-time Hunter.

It’s not out of the ordinary for young, talented people to decide they’re wasting their time in public school and simply drop out. Some of the great movers and shakers in history never finished school. However, Jin-woo knows firsthand how dangerous being a Hunter is, especially if you’re an E-Rank. He might not have the scars, but he’s got the hospital bills to prove it! Thus, Jin-woo decides he needs to set Sang-yi straight before she gets herself killed. However, instead of lecturing her about how dangerous it is, he decides to go for the “sink-or-swim” approach. He speaks to her and tells her that he’s gonna let her go on a Dungeon Raid with him, and manages to get them a spot on a raid by the White Tiger Guild.

Red Gates. The Bane of Every Hunters Existence

Unfortunately, Jin-woo’s plan works too well. As soon as the party enters, the Gate turns into a Red Gate. That’s when the Dungeon mutates and sends the people inside into another dimension altogether, where the monsters are stronger, and they can’t get out unless they kill the boss or the Dungeon breaks.

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From this moment on, the Dungeon raid becomes a survival horror…for everyone that isn’t Jin-woo. One Hunter dies immediately to an ice arrow. The A-rank Hunter in charge of the raid decides to leave lower-ranked Hunters to die while the others clear the Dungeon. As the end of the episode shows, they die and the leader, Kim Chul, runs away scared for his life. In contrast, everyone who stayed with Jin-woo lives and thrives after he takes out the ice bears and their leader.

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Speaking of which, the fight with the ice bears and their pack leader marks the first time that Jin-woo uses his Shadows in battle. While it’s not as epic as one would think, keep in mind that this is still a new power to him. However, as he gets stronger, his Shadows will follow suit as he gains more of them. Eventually, he will have his own army. As far as animation goes, though, his little skirmish is decent.

Don’t expect to see Dongsoo again this season.

Speaking of skirmishes, Jin-woo narrowly avoided getting into one with S-rank Hunter Hwang Dongsoo. He flew back to Korea to kill Jin-woo and Joonho for the death of his older brother, only to arrive at the gate too late. At his current level, Jin-woo could likely go toe-to-toe with Dongsoo, but there’s no guarantee he would come out on top. In addition, fighting him in front of the leader of the White Tiger Guild and Joonchul from the Hunter’s Association would just bring him unwanted attention. Right now, anonymity is good for him.

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This first episode doesn’t reach the same heights as the series premiere, but it doesn’t have to do so. All it needs is to reintroduce people to the story and show the direction it’s heading in. As far as action goes, it’s only going to get better as time goes by. Having read the manwha, trust me when I say that by the time the series hits its climax, it’s going to need a theater to handle everything.

But if you really want more action right away, you can always play Solo Leveling: Arise.

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Solo Leveling: Arise is a free-to-play action RPG available on mobile and pc that lets players experience the story of Solo Leveling for themselves. Players can take control of Jin-woo and have him hack, slash, and rizz his way through the dungeons as he levels up and goes from the weakest Hunter to the strongest in the world. They’ll have all the RPG mechanics of the System at their disposal as they help Jin-woo get stronger to take on the threats found within the dungeons. And with more skills, special attacks, and weapons than I can hope to count available to them, they can make Jin-woo into their ideal Hunter.

But wait! Jin-woo won’t be fighting alone in this game. Through the rewards you gain by completing events and parts of the story, you can earn resources to upgrade your equipment even further. More importantly, you can unlock characters from the story that you can either play as or have support Jin-woo throughout the story. Not only are all of these characters voiced by their VA’s and Seiyus from the anime, but they can also be leveled up so they can keep being of use to you. To sweeten the deal, if you level them up enough, you can unlock their backstories and learn how they became Hunters. There are even original manwha stories detailing their origins for you to read and enjoy.

While the combat in Arise can get a bit repetitive at times, the game provides its own solution. If you set your characters to ‘auto’ mode, they will clear dungeons and story chapters on autopilot. It’s perfect to level grind without having to put in the effort of controlling your character! Plus, the cutscenes are a combination of the in-game engine and using panels from the original manwha, allowing for a diverse way to experience the story of Solo Leveling. Fair warning, though: the story does extend far beyond where the anime is right now. So avoid going any further if you’ve only watched the anime and want to avoid spoilers!

Get Solo Leveling: Arise now for PC and Mobile, release on Steam to be announced.

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I Give “You Aren’t E-Rank, Are You?” a 4/5