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It’s been over ten years since gates that lead to another dimension have begun appearing across the world. The battles between the magic beasts inhabiting the dungeons through the gates and the human hunters who have awakened the abilities to fight them show no signs of ending. Ordinarily, a hunter’s abilities do not change upon awakening, with their rank never increasing. However, the low-ranked Sung Jinwoo, known as “The Weakest Hunter of All Mankind,” gained the ability to level up through battle during a raid on a double dungeon.

Jinwoo has become a formidable necromancer with an army of loyal shadows at his command. But he must master these abilities while keeping them hidden from other hunters, all while racing against the clock to save his mother. As he faces humanity’s toughest foes, Jinwoo pushes his body and mind to the limit, and the full extent of his newfound power is revealed. Having completed a job-change quest that earned him the job “Shadow Monarch” and command over an army of shadows, Jinwoo heads into battle seeking the ingredients for the Elixir of Life to save his sick mother.

Crunchyroll, in collaboration with Aniplex, is bringing the world the eagerly awaited second season anime adaptation of the Korean manhwa sensation, Solo Leveling. (Our site’s review of the first two episodes of Season One) If you were lucky enough to catch Solo Leveling -ReAwakening in theaters last year, it featured a great recap of the first glorious season to prepare you for this new season airing this year.

Here’s a mostly spoiler free review for the first episode of Solo Leveling, Season Two which premiered on Saturday, January 4, 2025 on Crunchyroll. A big thanks to Crunchyroll for the early access!

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You Aren’t E-Rank, Are You?

This second season of Solo Leveling drops the audience back at home with Jinjwoo–he’s in bed resting and recovering from the epic battle that he had with Igris–that’s worth rewatching. His first call to action was to pop up at Jinah’s, his younger sister, school for the parent/guardian teacher meetups. This is a great anchor to remind the audience of who and what our protagonist is doing all this for, this part of the emotional tether to his mission–providing for his kid sister and doing what he can to heal his ailing mother. He’s gone from the “Weakest Hunter of All Mankind“ to a force to be reckoned with, a man on different hunter’s radar, and also someone transformed starting with his own will. Sung, Jinwoo, you are that dude. You are exactly who you think you are.

But in Jinwoo’s case–there’s another task added to his ever mounting mountain of duties. By request of a teacher at Jinah’s school, he is asked to talk to one of her classmates, Han Song-yi, who has been working as a hunter. She may be familiar as the high school student who we saw in one of the motley crews hastily put together last season to make the required hunter quota when Jinwoo and Yoo Jinhoo were mining dungeons for treasure. This teen, while determined, is a low level hunter, who will ultimately have a difficult career ahead of her. Attempting to show her the harsh reality of the job, Jinwoo takes her to a raid designated for new hunters of the White Tiger guild. Things do NOT go as planned–as you can guess.

Can we stop and appreciate the new opening animation and song combo here for season two of Solo Leveling?  The opening song is a BANGER! I did not know that LiSA and Felix of Stray Kids would sound so great on a track together, and the song gets me hyped. The new animation sequence for the opening opens to Jinwoo walking away with what looks like a bloody mouth and as he does we see a pomegranate fruit on the ground. The literary nerd within me instantly thought about what the symbolism could represent here. Depending on what part of the world, the pomegranate can represent a great number of meanings. My mind went to Greek mythology, and how the pomegranate is known as the “fruit of the dead.” This feels on par as last season Jinwoo leveled up and changed his job class, picking up a undead army.

Starting with that pomegranate, I followed the color red through the opening: from the red colored enemies of Jinwoo’s undead army to the tassel of Igris’ helmet all the way to the dying reddish light of the day where the country’s top hunters battle against creatures. There’s the red squares of the blackjack/roulette wheel to the red gem of pendant that Jinah–Jinwoo’s younger sister holds up to the light. There’s more red colored enemies that our main characters face off with, the red color of the slashes on impact from his weapon’s attacks ending with another pomegranate towards the end.  I also first leaned on Greek mythology once seeing the fruit as I thought of the story of Hades and Persephone and how one was led into the underworld. We see a glimpse of the past Jinwoo–laying with a bed of lilies surrounding him–resurrection? A trade off? A sacrifice? This is a very intentional piece of animation with some hints and foreshadowing- I bet for the rest of the season.

Back to this review: This first episode of Solo Leveling’s second season really helps establish Jinwoo’s new status after all the training and grinding he did last season. Yes, he’s that dude, yes, he’s a force to be reckoned with, and yes, he’s a problem. He’s back home and leaning on his newfound strengths and knowledge and he’s moving forward with the plan. He gets to perform on a stage and that will include a boss baddie that will challenge him…whom I’m guessing was the short glimpse we had at the end of this episode. Jinwoo is rising to the occasion of his powers and his growing presence in the hunter world–he’s made use of his E-ranking as a hunter to fly under the radar and carry out his business, for sure.

The rising action off the battlefield really drives home the point that Jinwoo is on the radar of many more people now–hunters, hunter management, and more–for better or worse. He’s become too powerful and the timeline of his rise of power and him being at certain locations has pushed some to hypothesize that he’s reawakened. This comes in the form of dangerous and vindictive hunter Hwang Doongsoo who is looking to avenge his older brother, a hunter who lost his life last season. This also comes in the form of hunters who want to turn on him as their circumstances change as we probably see more in the following episodes this season.

“Solo Leveling Season Two arrives on the scene with much spectacle and substance: reminding us what drew us to the anime adaptation of the web-comic in the first place. A solid start for a new season, grounding us in Jinwoo’s purpose and presence in this latest chapter of his adventures.”

Verdict

While the pacing of the first episode of the first season bothered me, this time around the studio got it right with the first episode of the second season. We start off with Jinwoo and a piece of his emotional center: his family via his sister. And we’re reminded of some of the major players on the board who have or will soon have a greater interest in Jinwoo and his abilities. The gate incident brings him and his mission forward with much hinting about power and where his path leads. 

I do love that this first episode of Solo Leveling does not disappoint on the animation quality side. Yes, we can gas up the fight scenes–which I am a fan of. (Shout out to the new opening sequence for season two, embedded above in this review!) Seeing Jinwoo’s new powers manifest in this new dungeon is a feast for the eyes, of course. These battles are only as appetizers for the main dish in the upcoming episode for next week, I’m sure. I am really loving the more subtle details from this episode like how this new version of a gate manifested and the brilliant scene where hunter Hwang Doongsoo is confronted by another hunter upon returning to Korea.

As amazing as it was to finally see Solo Leveling‘s first animated season, it feels just right having it return and be among the first in the Crunchyroll Winter 2025 Anime lineup. We are starting off strong with this action-packed series complete with so many little complexities and a protagonist we’ve been emotionally invested and rooting for. Solo Leveling Season Two arrives on the scene with much spectacle and substance: reminding us what drew us to the anime adaptation of the web-comic in the first place. A solid start for a new season, grounding us in Jinwoo’s purpose and presence in this latest chapter of his adventures.

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Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- 

Streaming on Crunchyroll in January 2025

– SEASON 2 PRODUCTION STAFF –

Original Story by

Chugong

Original Illustrations by

DUBU (Redice Studio)

Directed by 

Shunsuke Nakashige

Series Composition by

Noboru Kimura

Character Design by

Tomoko Sudo

Monster Design by

Hirotaka Tokuda

Art Director

Yasuhiro Okumura

Director of Photography

Daichi Iseki

Music Composed by

Hiroyuki Sawano

Animation Studio

A-1 Pictures

Motion Graphics

Production I.G

– SONGS –

Opening Theme Song “ReawakR” Performed by

LiSA (feat. Felix of Stray Kids)

– JAPANESE VOICE CAST – 

Taito Ban as Sung Jinwoo

Reina Ueda as Cha Hae-In

Daisuke Hirakawa as Choi Jong-In

Hiroki Touchi as Baek Yoonho

Banjo Ginga as Gunhee Go

Makoto Furukawa as Woo Jinchul

Genta Nakamura as Yoo Jinho

Haruna Mikawa as Sung Jinah

Miyu Tomita as Han Song-Yi

– ENGLISH DUB VOICE CAST –

Aleks Le as Sung Jinwoo

Michelle Rojas as Cha Hae-In

Ian Sinclair as Choi Jong-in

Christopher Sabat as Baek Yoonho

Kent Williams as Gunhee Go

SungWon Cho as Woo Jinchul

Justin Briner as Yoo Jinho

Rebecca Wang as Sung Jinah

Emi Lo as Han Song-Yi

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Solo Leveling is animated by acclaimed A-1 Pictures (Sword Art Online). The series is directed by Shunsuke Nakashige (Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld). 

Watch the first season of Solo Leveling only on Crunchyroll.com.

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About Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll is the global anime brand that fuels fans’ love of anime. With the ambition to make anime an even bigger part of pop culture, Crunchyroll offers fans the ultimate anime experience and destination centered around a premium streaming service. Crunchyroll has the largest dedicated anime library, an immersive world of events, exciting theatrical releases, unique games, must-have merchandise, timely news, and more. Anime is for everyone and is accessible to stream across territories through Crunchyroll—whether on the go on mobile, through gaming consoles and big-screen devices at home, or on desktops anywhere.

Crunchyroll, LLC is an independently operated joint venture between U.S.-based Sony Pictures Entertainment and Japan’s Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., both subsidiaries of Tokyo-based Sony Group.

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Cover image: ©Solo Leveling Animation Partners

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The post Spectacle and Substance: ‘Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-’ Episode 1 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.