Solo Leveling Episode 2 “If I Had One More Chance” Review

Solo Leveling episode two is out now and spoiler alert — it’s a banger. Let’s talk about it!

Spoilers ahead for Solo Leveling episode two

Solo Leveling Episode 2

Solo Leveling episode two picks up right where the premiere left off (shocker, right?) and leaps into the action right away. And the action is brutal to say the least.

Jinwoo and the rest of the party — or what’s left of it, I should say — try to figure out how to stop the towering god-like statues before they get killed. Unfortunately, some of the remaining hunters tried to hightail it out of the dungeon right away and got stomped in a way that made me feel like I was watching a sequel to Attack on Titan.

After witnessing more death and chaos, Jinwoo is able to figure out how to stop the statues from attacking and possibly find a way out of the dungeon. He realizes that the commandments from the first episode detailed how to survive and escape the dungeon, so he tells everyone to bow their heads and keep them down in order to “revere God.” They do, and the main statue twists its face into a horrifyingly unsettling smile that, again, is reminiscent of a Titan.

This allows them to proceed to the next commandment “praise God” — Jinwoo eventually realizes some of the statues are holding instruments and tells everyone to run towards those statues as they light up and start playing when someone approaches them. Unfortunately, it only works when a single person is at the foot of a statue, as Jinwoo soon discovers after approaching a statue with Joohee.

So Jinwoo rushes to the last statue but is cut short by a massive foot crashing down on his leg, tearing it off as he crawls the rest of the way toward the statue.

Finally, the third commandment “prove your faith to God” requires a sacrifice, so they all walk into the altar that has appeared in the center of the room and as they do so, the statues with weapons start approaching them and the dungeon door opens up. Apparently, the statues won’t move if you have eyes on them, so Jinwoo tells everyone to stay and keep eyes on the statues rather than run towards the door, because he thinks it’s a trap.

Nobody listens to him, so in the end the party leader Song carries Joohee out of the dungeon as Jinwoo is left by himself to die. And man, is it a brutal death.

Thoughts

First off, this is the first episode of Solo Leveling where we get to hear the OP, and I have to say it’s really good. I’ll admit, I wasn’t hooked in the beginning, but I always make sure I give the entire opening of a new show a chance and I’m glad I did. The back half of the song was completely different and fits really well with the show.

I expected this week’s episode to be intense, and it did not disappoint. I really wasn’t expecting it to go all out with the brutality as much as it did, but I’m here for it. We’ve got dudes getting sliced in half and getting vaporized with nothing left but their shoes, if A-1 — the animation studio behind the show — keeps it up, they could have a great successor to Attack on Titan here with Solo Leveling.

Jinwoo “dying” at the end caught me a bit off guard too, or at least it would have if I didn’t already know he was going to die and then (spoilers) be brought back to life, since it was in the description of the show. I would’ve liked for that to be left out of the synopsis, because the main character of a new show dying at the end of the second episode would’ve been a really neat cliffhanger. But it is what it is.

I enjoyed this one a lot, so far the show’s just getting better and better. I just hope it’s able to maintain that quality and consistency the whole time.

Solo Leveling airs Saturdays on Crunchyroll!