Review of Solo Leveling Season 2: Arise from the Shadow

Season 2 of Solo Leveling took Season 1 and injected it with crack cocaine. Everything great about Season 1 has been amplified to the moon. The most obvious improvement has been the animation, particularly with the fight scenes. While Season 1 obviously had some great fight scenes, Season 2's fight scenes were legitimately groundbreaking for the industry. The animation was crisp but clean. The fight scenes were also improved by a much more developed plot. Season 1 felt a lot like exposition, with Jinwoo fighting mostly by himself to gain the needed power for later fights. Season 2, however, actually puts meaning into these fightsbeyond the pure power up, and pulls in other characters to actually witness and appreciate Jinwoo's power. The plot improved in other areas as well, such as with Jinwoo's family, potential love interests, and more developed side characters across the board.

I'm only not giving this a 10 because there are some intrinsic flaws with Solo Leveling as a franchise. As Jinwoo gets stronger, the only plot tension at this point is whether Jinwoo arrives on time. I also think that while the animation style was great, the actual still art felt a bit tame compared to comparable manhwa panels. I get that there's a difference between what's on the page and what's on the screen, but this felt less like that and more so like a difference of opinion on how to adapt the artstyle.

These are only minor faults compared to all of the strengths of the season, however. If you were hesitant because of Season 1, force your way through in order to get to this: you WON'T regret it!