Review of Solo Leveling Season 2: Arise from the Shadow
I actually liked solo leveling S1 from the perspective of someone who never read the manhwa. At the time, I didn’t have many complaints. But now, here we are in S2. It’s not like this season is bad when it comes to delivering an experience. The action is still top tier, but that’s already a given for this series so I won’t go into detail praising it. Honestly I don’t even know how else people could praise it aside from the action, animation, art style and music? The same goes for its flaws, how else could people criticize it besides calling it simple and generic?Personally i never had major issues with the story. Like I said I enjoyed s1 even though it didn’t bring anything new to the table. It’s a very beginner friendly anime and even for veteran anime fans, not everything has to be complex or groundbreaking. So what else does this season offer? It keeps things straightforward, dungeon expeditions, key power ups and major battles that deliver that solo leveling excitement.
However, if you’re a decent anime watcher, not even a full on veteran, just someone with around 300+ anime entries like me, you’re bound to experience a lot of déjà vu. My mind kept screaming, "Bruh am I rewatching an anime I’ve already seen?" This feeling built up to the point where it became mentally exhausting, especially during the Jeju Island part. It felt like I was watching one of my favorite arcs from another anime being ripped off. It left me with this emotional void fighting a monster I would already seen before just in a different form.
Jinwoo’s character also feels much less likable this season. He comes off as edgy with little to no personality compared to s1, except for ep 9 and the finale, but even then, it still feels empty. Most fights lacked tension and when there was tension it often felt artificial.
On a side note unrelated to SL, I find it funny that some of my friends won’t watch stuff like wind breaker (the delinquent anime) just because it only offers a good amount of fight choreography but lacks a strong story. Yet they’ll watch solo leveling any day even though the same logic applies. What more does this series have to offer?(The difference is that one is non-fantasy). I guess people will always prefer to hype fantasy action, no matter how generic the story is just like solo leveling and demon slayer. But no matter how successful these types of anime get they’ll always face criticism for their simplicity.
If you’re wondering why I felt that way watching this season, it’s because H×H and SL's Ant Arc but i won’t go into detail since it's a spoiler free review i guess. I wasn’t sure how to put into words what I was feeling while watching the latter half of the series. Something about it triggered a strange, almost panicked reaction in me. At first, I couldn’t figure out why, but after thinking it over, I ended up writing this review in the mixed 'feelings' section just to get that feeling out of my system. Just a warning though, you probably couldn’t relate.
Is this anime worth watching? Yes, if you’re just looking for cool MC moments, back to back. It has this vibe where you can almost feel like you’re the MC yourself, owning that protagonist energy (just me trying to look at it from an action lover’s perspective lol). But it might be a bit hit or miss if you're more competitive when it comes to watching things and want an emotional or meaningful payoff.
Overall, 10/10 production quality from A-1 Pictures, but solo leveling s2 itself? I'd rate it between 6 and 7 out of 10.
Hopefully this review doesn’t come across as discouraging anyone from watching Solo Leveling. I’m just sharing my personal thoughts about it, and it’s actually my first time reviewing something too.