Solo Leveling Season 2 Episode 3’s Subtle Changes to the Manhwa Yield Mixed Results

Solo Leveling has grown exponentially as an IP since the anime first aired solely a 12 months in the past. With a extremely profitable online game, Solo Leveling: Arise, and a powerful movie debut, ReAwakening, below its belt, the franchise is arguably rising even quicker than Sung Jinwoo’s Shadow Army. Solo Leveling Season 2 Episode 3, “Still a Long Way to Go”, is the first episode to tread new floor for many who already noticed the ReAwakening movie. Even given its continued loyalty to the supply materials, Episode 3 makes acquainted materials appear new once more, bringing Jinwoo’s story to life in a means that solely anime might, in an episode no SL fan will need to miss.

Solo Leveling Season 2, Episode 2, “I Suppose You Aren’t Aware”, wrapped up the Red Gate arc properly with an incredible struggle between Jinwoo’s Shadow military and the Ice Elves that positively lived up to the hype. Jinwoo emerged from this battle even stronger, with quite a few new and highly effective Shadow Soldiers below his command, and the eyes of the White Tiger Guild and the Hunter Association extra fixated on him than ever. In Episode 3, Jinwoo returns to the web site of his hardest battle from Season 1 as the collection by some means manages to sustain the pacing from the prior episode’s bombastic boss battle.

Episode 3 Starts With a Slow Build That Heats Up Quickly

A Series of Vital Conversations Make Up the Bulk of the Episode’s First Half

While Solo Leveling’s motion and energy fantasy shenanigans are its bread and butter, there may be nonetheless plenty of nice story and memorable characters beneath the floor. Early in Episode 3, followers get to see some extra slice-of-life model moments with Jinwoo’s Shadow Soldiers, making up a smile-inducing detour that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. The episode itself nonetheless stays extraordinarily devoted to the manhwa by way of the plot traces it follows, following the sequence of occasions nearly precisely. As such, a lot of the first half of the episode is encompassed by vital conversations between the characters. Two of the most significant character plot threads at present ongoing in Season 2 are that of S-Rank Hunter Hwang Donsoo, and that of Jinwoo’s non permanent raid accomplice Yoo Jinho. Both of those plot traces are expanded by way of temporary conversations in Episode 3 that get proper to the coronary heart of issues.

Dongsoo is the brother of Hwang Dongsuk, whom Jinwoo killed – together with Dongsuk’s total gang of ruffians – early in Season 1 below a do-or-die quest from the System. While he was planning on ready for Jinwoo to go away the Red Gate again in Episode 2, Dongsoo acquired an vital name that pressured him to go away the scene earlier than he might perform his murderous mission. Episode 3 reveals what that decision entailed. It seems, Dongsoo was known as by his associates in America to interview a person who was discovered inside a gate, and who claims to be a Hunter from Korea. This man seems to be Jinwoo’s dad, Sung Ilhwan.

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Solo Leveling Season 2 Keeps Contradicting the Manhwa Canon (& That’s a Good Thing)

Solo Leveling has added anime-only scenes which have had attention-grabbing implications for Jinwoo’s character, and that pattern continues into Season 2.

As anticipated, the realization that he’s speaking to the father of the man he desires to kill units Dongsoo off, main to a terrifying battle between S Ranks that takes place off-screen. Even although the struggle isn’t proven (it goes the identical means in the manhwa), this excessive rigidity interplay remains to be a excessive level of the episode, because it’s satisfying to see Dongsoo lastly meet his match by way of bravado and energy. What’s extra, Ilhwan’s superior data of the truth of the Gates hints at a fair better thriller that suggests an inkling of why Solo Leveling’s world-building extends far past the mere floor degree fantasy setting that many different anime would like to accept.

Another character of the utmost significance in Episode 3 is Yoo Jinho. One of his main plot threads comes to a detailed right here, whereas yet one more opens. His dialog with Jinwoo at a restaurant is an endearing second for each him and Jinwoo. It’s unlucky this episode eliminated a minor element in the manhwa of Jinwoo’s alcohol being “purified” by the System earlier than he drinks it, as these sorts of moments did add a depth to the System that made it really feel omnipresent in even the most minuscule moments of Jinwoo’s life. The different main interplay that makes up the episode is Yoo Jinho’s dialogue along with his father. Jinho’s total objective in getting his Guild Master’s License was in order that he might turn into the head of his father’s Guild so as to preserve it in the household. Despite his solely being a D Rank Hunter, Jinho’s drive and need to run a Guild is admirable in a world the place solely the robust maintain energy. Unlike Jinwoo, who continues to acquire extra social standing as he ranges up and will get stronger, nothing is handed to Jinho, including an admirable facet to his arc.

Cha Haein is Relegated to Pure Fan Service in Episode 3

One of Cha Haein’s Final Moments Before Her Manhwa Introduction is All-But-Wasted

In plenty of methods, the anime is doing an ideal service to the manhwa by way of added scenes that introduce characters earlier (like Cha Haein and Go Gunhee), trace at vital future occasions (like the Jeju Island Raid) and even humanize Jinwoo greater than he was in the anime, contributing to total higher character growth. These added scenes have largely helped to enhance the characters, however the extra scenes together with Cha Haein are proven, the much less the anime truly makes use of her for any actual function. The manhwa may have introduced her much later which made her a extra shallow character than she might have been, however the anime isn’t actually including a lot to her with scenes of her swimming in a pool as she does in Episode 3. Objectifying Haein may go in the quick time period, but it surely received’t truly contribute to making her a extra likable or relatable character in the long term.

Even the temporary flashback she will get right here to her dialog with Cho Jongin fails to make her far more attention-grabbing or heroic. Cha merely asks Cho why the details about their upcoming raid to Jeju is being saved a secret, and that’s the extent of her position. The significance of this scene is that it displays a change from the manhwa, which noticed the Jeju Raid publicized earlier than Baek even heard about what was taking place there. It’s a scene price exhibiting, however the remainder of the lead-up to the flashback is such apparent fan service it is arduous to justify it. If something, Cha Haein’s inclusion in Episode 3 appears extra like the anime’s technique of merely reminding followers that she exists, relatively than of really utilizing her to transfer the story ahead in any profound means. It’s ironic that Cha Haein’s deep dive into the waters of the Hunter’s Guild doesn’t truly give viewers something a lot deeper about Haein or the guild’s politics.

The anime is already nearing the level when Cha was formally launched in the manhwa, so there isn’t far more house to add additional tidbits that may develop on her characterization. In truth, this episode adapts the first chapter that asserts her by identify in the manhwa, although she nonetheless isn’t bodily proven till a bit later. In quick, this can be a essential second for Cha in the anime, so it’s a disgrace that the writers couldn’t consider one thing a bit extra substantial to do along with her right here. The hints of her all through Season 1 had been nonetheless welcome, and this under no circumstances fully units her again as a personality. Unfortunately, it additionally doesn’t do a lot for her both, aside from to emphasize that she’s a lovely lady who’s in nice form as could possibly be expected of an S Rank Hunter.

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Solo Leveling: A Complete Guide to Which Chapters the Anime Adapts

The first arc of the Solo Leveling season 2 has simply completed, so followers could make a superb guess about how a lot materials season 2 will cowl.

The Anime Makes The Demon’s Castle Even More Sinister Than the Manhwa Did

The Music and Animation Combine to Give Solo Leveling’s Demon’s Castle New Life

While they miss the mark in some methods, Episode 3 doesn’t fully drop the ball with its anime-added scenes. An superior delicate piece of foreshadowing comes right after the OP, as Jinwoo and Jinho sit down for a celebratory meal now that theyve accomplished the final of their agreed-on 19 raid missions. A easy close-up of a scorching range cooking meat is proven, with a scorching flame beneath. This was not in the manhwa, however in the context of the episode, it suits completely with the burning flames Jinwoo will quickly be surrounded with upon his return to the Demon’s Castle later in the episode.

The title of Episode 3, “Still a Long Way to Go” is a reference to one in every of the most iconic scenes of Jinwoo throughout the present arc in the manhwa. The scene in query additionally makes up the cowl artwork of the official launch of Manhwa quantity 4, which the anime remains to be in the thick of, so it’s a really becoming title. The scene depicts Jinwoo standing on prime of a mound of corpses inside the Demon’s Castle, confidently staring off as if on the lookout for the subsequent struggle. While there, he muses “Still a long way to go”, as he realizes he’s not even midway to the prime of the humongous Demon’s Castle. What stays unstated on this line, nevertheless, is the indisputable fact that even so far as he has grown as a Hunter by way of the System, he nonetheless hasn’t gotten wherever shut to his peak. It’s a strong scene contemplating all it took to get him right here, however the anime makes an attention-grabbing name in fully omitting the scene regardless of immortalizing it in the episode’s title. It’s as if the animators felt it finest to honor DUBU’s beloved artwork by not making an attempt to recreate it precisely, however merely acknowledging an vital piece that exhibits the benefit in nonetheless studying the manhwa, even with how wonderful the anime appears to be like.

While the manhwa remains to be price studying in a post-anime world, there’s no less than a number of issues the anime will all the time higher by advantage of the medium, like sound design. The sinister soundtrack and devious laughter of the demons as Jinwoo reenters the Demon’s Castle give the episode an added layer of horror that wasn’t doable in the manhwa or mild novel. The sheer scale of the dungeon can be given new life in panning photographs in the anime, and the assorted scenes of Jinwoo in the Castle that reduce out and in between conversations is definitely a legitimate means to preserve issues upbeat all through an episode that comprises a good quantity of dialogue.

Jinwoo’s Short-Lived Return to the Demon Castle Makes For a Superb Self-Contained Episode

One of the triumphs of the ReAwakening movie was that the first two episodes of Season 2 that it coated made for a stellar stand alone arc to match into a movie format. Season 2 Episode 3 pulls off the same feat in a single episode. It’s not unusual for anime collection which might be adapting manga (or on this case, manhwa) storylines to finish episodes at the center of fights with cliffhangers and unresolved story beats that require followers to wait till the subsequent episode to see what happens. While the bigger story of Solo Leveling is completely nonetheless removed from full, bringing to a detailed this temporary journey again to the Demon’s Castle multi function episode was a superb directing choice, because it included all the important particulars with out sacrificing the collection’ pacing. A-1 Pictures is aware of that Solo Leveling has more than enough action and pleasure to make each episode worthwhile, and it doesn’t have to drag out every struggle or vital dialog to preserve viewers engaged.

There are plenty of transferring elements in Episode 3, which retains the story intriguing whereas nonetheless not slacking on the motion that almost all followers actually got here for. The story continues to head in thrilling instructions as the anime’s improved characterization over the supply materials for characters like Yoo Jinho lastly begin to see actual payoff. While that very same payoff isn’t fairly achieved with Cha Haein’s personal anime-only scene right here, simply seeing her in any respect will probably be sufficient for a lot of followers. Capping the episode off with an superior struggle scene in opposition to the Demon’s Castle’s fiftieth ground boss Vulcan (Solo Leveling’s model of Diablo’s Butcher), Solo Leveling Episode 3 offers viewers a bit little bit of every thing, . This episode doesn’t want a serious cliffhanger to pull viewers into the subsequent episode. All followers want is Jinwoo’s promise in the closing moments as he walks off display: “next time I come here, I’ll finish it.”

Solo Leveling Season 2 is at present streaming on Crunchyroll.

Solo Leveling Episode 15, “Still a Long Way to Go”

Jinwoo has fulfilled his promise to Jinho to conquer a dungeon 19 instances, and his degree has elevated since he fought Cerberus. To collect supplies for the ‘Holy Water of Life’ which will remedy his mom’s sickness, he as soon as once more challenges the S-class dungeon ‘Demon Castle’. The situation imposed on Jinwoo to clear the quest there may be to gather 10,000 demon souls.

Creator(s)

Chugong

Cast

Aleks Le
, Justin Briner
, Rebecca Wang
, Dani Chambers
, Michelle Rojas
, Kent Williams

Studio

A-1 Pictures

Creator

Chugong

Based On

Manhwa

Pros

• The anime provides a layer of horror to the Demon?s Castle
• Episode 3?s animation and motion remains to be superior to have a look at
• The episode is well-paced with a combination of every thing followers might need

Cons

• Cha Haein?s added scene goes nowhere
• Small omissions from the manhwa are questionable although not dealbreakers

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