Review of Solo Leveling Season 2: Arise from the Shadow

Honestly went into this season not expecting much after a very mediocre first season, but I'm glad to say Season 2 of Solo Leveling surprised me. Thats not to say this season is without it faults, which it definitely is, but there is a considerable leap in quality from S1 to S2. Sung Jin-Woo steals the show again and in a considerably greater magnitude this time around. It felt exciting to see him get held to such a high standard by all other characters of the show and deliver on these expectations epically. Solo Leveling Season 2 at least knows its target audience, playing into whatwas best about Season 1 and surpassing it 10-fold. It doesn't produce the same boring, artificial character development as Season 1, focusing more on high adrenaline moments which is where Solo Leveling exceeds. However, this comes at a cost of further emptying the personalities of the supporting cast, their lack of contribution being especially felt towards the latter half of the season. Going forward, I have hope that Season 3 could develop characters besides Sung Jin-Woo further and gave them epic moments that mirror his. As well as this, the storyline remains mundane, and the style really falls flat compared to the sea of high-quality animation we have been getting from other anime recently.

To conclude, Season 2 of Solo Leveling offers a lot but also leaves a lot to be offered. If you only care for badass action, you'll love this season. But if you hoped for further development of Solo Leveling's world and characters, you would find yourself disappointed.