Solo Leveling’s long-awaited anime debut came on January 6 as it hit Crunchyroll early in the year. But does it live up to the hype? Let’s talk about it!
Spoilers ahead for the premiere of Solo Leveling
Solo Leveling
Solo Leveling is probably one of the most hyped-up new-school anime since Jujutsu Kaisen. It’s based on the digital comic series of the same name published on Tappytoon, a South Korean digital webtoon platform
The official synopsis for Solo Leveling is as follows:
Known as the Weakest Hunter of All Mankind, E-rank hunter Jinwoo Sung’s contribution to raids amounts to trying not to get killed. Unfortunately, between his mother’s hospital bills, his sister’s tuition, and his own lack of job prospects, he has no choice but to continue to put his life on the line.
So when an opportunity arises for a bigger payout, he takes it…only to come face-to-face with a being whose power outranks anything he’s ever seen! With the party leader missing an arm and the only healer a quivering mess, can Jinwoo somehow find them a way out?
Credit: Yen Press
Until I watched the first episode, I knew literally nothing about this series, so I went in hype-free without any expectations other than that it’s supposed to be good. So was it?
Episode 1
The basic premise of Solo Leveling seems to be “What if World of Warcraft (or any popular MMORPG) was real,” which is a concept that many of us, no doubt, have thought about before. In fact, there was a Cartoon Network series back in 2011 called “Level Up” that explored the concept as well.
Ten years ago, the real world and the “dungeon world” basically fused together allowing people from the real world to enter portals into a dungeon to fight monsters and collect loot. When that happened, people were awakened with a certain amount of power. Those who had been “awakened” were deemed hunters and given a rank: S, A, B, C, D, and E). The caveat to said power is that once your power is awakened, there is nothing you can do to increase it.
Fast-forward ten years, and Jinwoo Sung, the main protagonist, is known by many as the weakest hunter in the world. A timid but determined E-rank hunter, Sung fights through dungeon after dungeon, narrowly escaping death each time in order to provide for his family.
In the first episode, Sung follows a group of fellow hunters into a D-rank dungeon — of which many of the other hunters say should be incredibly easy given the fact that Sung was called in for it.
The team easily clears through the dungeon, except for Sung who gets stabbed by a goblin and must be saved by resident healer Joohee. However, they realize the dungeon hasn’t closed and a cave has appeared, so they take a vote on whether or not to enter. It comes down to Sung for the tiebreaker, who decides they should continue further into the dungeon, because he needs money to help his family.
After walking for 40 minutes, the group finally finds what appears to be a door leading to a boss room. They enter to find a circular room filled with massive statues and some religious text. After the group leader reads the text out loud, the door slams shut leading to a mass panic amongst the group.
One of the hunters decides he’s had enough and stomps away, only to be cleaved in half by one of the massive statues…it’s then that the hunters realize the dungeon isn’t a D-rank dungeon anymore, and the episode ends.
Thoughts
I really enjoyed the first episode of Solo Leveling! I tend to get caught up in the typical seinen and shonen anime, it was a nice change of pace to start up another fantasy series (I promise, I will return to you “So I’m a Spider, So What” — one day).
I thought the animation was pretty good for a first episode, nothing jaw dropping but I wasn’t really expecting it to go as hard as say Jujutsu Kaisen season 2, or Attack on Titan. I mean, we’re still in the first episode here. I’m sure there’s more to come and I can already see the potential for the next heavy-hitter with Solo Leveling, I’m excited for the episode two!
Solo Leveling airs Saturdays on Crunchyroll.
Wallflower Writing 
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