First Impression: Solo Leveling Season 2: Arise from the Shadow

Perhaps the biggest action series of last year returns with…a parent-teacher conference? Season two of Solo Leveling begins with Jinwoo attending his sister Jinah’s conference in place of his comatose mother and being asked by the teacher to look out for a different student—Jinah’s friend, Song-Yi. So he does, deciding to go the tough love route by taking the girl, who is an E-rank intending on becoming a hunter, to observe on a raid with the White Tiger group. But there’s a problem: their C-gate becomes a red gate, meaning that the enemies within are much stronger than C-rank, and the gate is closed off from aid. But that’s not the only issue—the White Tiger leader decides to effectively leave Jinwoo, Jinho, and the other lower ranks to die while leading the higher-ranked hunters toward the boss, whose defeat is the only way to victory. Meanwhile, the beasts at Jeju Island, now winged and able to fly, loom large over Korea, and a certain S-rank has returned to Japan, bent on revenge against Jinwoo and Jinho.

I have to say—I wasn’t terribly excited about the return of Solo Leveling, despite enjoying the first season dub and being a huge fan of the manhwa and the original novels in particular. Season one was beautifully animated (almost the equal of the webtoon), but the story felt so piecemeal in its execution, like so many game adaptations. I completed the season but felt let down. However, the returning staff seems intent on correcting the issues from season one. Instead of a slam-bang sort of opening, there is a focus here on telling a coherent story, adding in some potential romance for Jinwoo, and making sure the audience recognizes the characters, giving them dialogue that helps us place them within the tale. And then there’s the action parts, too, which swoop in near the end of the episode to turn up the adrenaline. Ice bear fight? Pretty wicked. And with an awesome OP with another incredible song by LiSA (“ReawakeR” featuring Felix from Stray Kids), there was more than enough excitement to go with the better writing and direction. I’m once again excited about this adaptation. LET’S GO!

Solo Leveling can be streamed on Crunchyroll.

Twwk
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