The first episode of the new season was absolutely beautiful from an audio-visual standpoint. I am not a big fan of most anime that exists for (primarily male) wish fulfillment fantasies, but Solo Leveling is an exception. The things that make it worth watching to me are the amazing animation, art, and music. The new opening song (“ReawakeR”) is an absolute banger by Lisa and Felix from Stray Kids. This anime really knows how to appeal to what’s hot. Now, let’s talk about the season pilot.
Organization Note: I have categorized this with the tag “Solo Leveling Season 2” but I will be following Crunchyroll’s pattern of continuing the episode count where it left off from season one. That’s why this post calls the new installment “Episode 13.”
Episode 13: You Aren’t E-Rank, Are You?
Episode Rating: 8/10
The first thing to discuss is Jin-woo’s refusal to allow his sister to become a hunter. If Jin-Ah wanted to become a hunter, I think she should be allowed – but only if she’s an adult, which we can say for our purposes means eighteen or older. As far as I know, Jin-Ah is still in highschool, and could be as young as sixteen. So, I understand Jin-woo wanting to protect his younger sibling until she’s mature enough to make an informed decision. He isn’t being misogynistic or anything – he’s being a good guardian while their parents are out of the picture.
There was a short but interesting scene where the old dude (Gun-Hee Go) was sitting and talking to the red-haired dude (Jong-In Choi). According to recent reports, Choi says, monsters from Jeju Island have evolved the ability to fly. I am interested in hearing more about that island and how the hunters plan to eventually conquer it. Also, this goes for almost every scene in the episode, but the lighting was beautiful.
The main event of this episode was when Jin-woo’s training group gets trapped inside a red gate. A red gate is one that blocks entry from the outside. In addition, nobody can leave the dungeon until the boss is defeated. Jin-woo immediately takes it upon himself to protect Song-Yi Han, who came with him for the training opportunity of a normal dungeon. It’s great that Jin-woo wants to defend those weaker than himself, but I don’t know why he does. There hasn’t been enough actual character development. Little has been done to develop Jinwoo past surface-level.
Jinwoo’s dynamic with Song-Yi Han was both cute and annoying. It was cute because Jin-woo clearly cared about the younger girl. I like caring and protective characters. It was also slightly annoying because you just know Song-Yi will develop a mad fan-girl crush on Jin-woo simply because she’s a pretty female character in the story. Most of the girls and women are doomed to be helplessly in love with the hero in this sort of anime. It’s not that Jin-woo isn’t cool; it’s just that the character writing is a bit shameless.
A new female character appeared in this episode. Her name is Hee-Jin Park and she’s an extremely cute B-rank Hunter with beautiful green eyes. I hope she turns out to be a character I like, because so far, none of the women in this series are relatable to me. I thought it was cool that she knew Jin-woo was strong almost right away. The group leader (an A-Rank Hunter named Chul Kim) also started picking up on that. People of a certain skill level can apparently tell when others are at their level.
Another character to mention is the big guy who wants to kill Jin-woo. His name is Dong-su Hwang and he’s an S-Rank Hunter. Based on his brief interaction with Woo, he seems completely unhinged and inclined toward violence as expected. This is bad news for Jin-woo. (Note: the VA playing Dong-su is Junichi Suwabe, who has an extremely sexy voice. As a result, I can’t help but find even this big thug somewhat attractive.)
The last thing to mention is that the fight scenes inside the red gate are beautifully animated. The ice bears look metal and it was so cool to see them fighting Jinwoo’s undead army. It was also wonderful to see Igris again as he totally destroyed the ice bear boss. What an awesome character to have under one’s command! On a final note, the ice elves have fantastic and intimidating designs, too. I look forward to seeing them fight Jinwoo and his army. To be continued.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke
Tag: Solo Leveling Season 2
