It wouldn’t be a mistake to say that Season 2 of Solo Leveling is one of the series that fans are looking forward to watching in the 2025 winter season.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Season 1. It felt exposition-heavy and had a lot of Jinwoo talking out loud as he navigated the system. The action scenes were good, for the most part, but there were some that fell short. Nonetheless, I was tentatively hopeful that the second season would improve, especially because the first season had already set the world up and we could now really throw ourselves into the fights.
“You Aren’t E-Rank, Are You?” Recap
Season 2 kicks off with Jinwoo leveling up in his looks. He ditches his second hairstyle in favor of an undercut which has all the girls in his sister’s school swooning. It turns out that the girl who Jinho had recruited for their dungeon strike team is Jinah’s classmate. In an effort to show her just how tough being an E-Rank Hunter is, Jinwoo takes her to a C-Rank dungeon only for it to turn into a Red Gate which seals all the Hunters inside, cutting them off from the outside world. The only way to escape is to defeat the boss, wait for a dungeon break, or die trying.
A-Rank Hunter Kim Chul divides the group up, leaving the lower-ranked Hunters in one group and the higher-ranked Hunters, assuming that the former would drag the stronger Hunters down. Unfortunately, he forgot to account for Jinwoo, who has been leveling up so much that he’s close to being an A-Rank Hunter and is resourceful enough to make sure everyone stays warm in the snow and cold. Jinwoo also activates his shadow army for the first time and defeats all the Ice Bears, while Kim Chul loses all of his companions and is forced to flee when he’s confronted by presumably the lead Ice Elf.
Season 2 Rises to the Hype
Everyone, we are so back.
Perhaps it’s because the first two episodes were part of the compilation film, but the animation is very clean and detailed. Season 2 throws viewers into the action pretty quickly, but it didn’t feel rushed. It introduces two key antagonists in the form of the Ice Elves who, aside from being skilled at archery and swordsmanship, are extremely smart, and S-Rank Hunter Hwang Dong-soo who is hell-bent on getting revenge for his brother. This is also one of the few times that we get to see just how powerful an S-Rank Hunter is.
I was so excited to see Igris in action. He’s one of my favorite shadows from the webcomic and his fight with the Ice Bear did not disappoint. You really get a sense of how pervasive darkness is when the Ice Bear strikes, and snow billows out before it rapidly turns black like how ink would spill across a piece of paper. It was also kind of amusing to see Jinwoo simultaneously awed and nervous by his shadow soldier, and admitting that he was not as strong as he could be. Something that the first season fell short on was showcasing Jinwoo’s sense of humor. Yes, since his reawakening, he’s much more serious and “darker” than before, but he’s actually sort of funny in the webcomic? It would be nice to see more of that side of him in the anime.
Season 2, so far, is steps above Season 1. One of the problems I had with the first season was the sheer amount of random jump cuts that took us away from Jinwoo’s action scenes. While the dialogue made it appear as though there was some connection, it was jarring and did nothing to add to the story. Without those jump cuts, the first episode flowed much more smoothly.
I also had some issues with the music choices in the first season, but I quite liked the ones in Episode 1. The static-y motive that played during the Red Gate’s appearance heightened the tension in a subtle yet effective way. The heroic music that played when Jinwoo saved Songyi and the song that played when the shadows fought against the Ice Bears all fit what was happening on the screen.
While it’s too early to say if Season 2 is better than Season 1, I’m definitely having a lot more fun watching it.
Solo Leveling -Arise- is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
