Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-

Episode 16

While both this episode and the last had a focus on world-building, this week's episode does a much better job of incorporating Jinwoo into it (rather than having him deliver unrelated action scenes in a pocket dimension). Simply put, Jinwoo has realized that his time of utilizing his secret identity as “Humanity's Weakest Hunter” has come to an end. While up until now it's let him fly under the radar while he grows in strength, it's now acting to block his further growth. No one would let an E-Rank Hunter into an A-Rank Dungeon—and that's where Jinwoo needs to be to continue leveling up.

Thus, this episode becomes an exploration of the unintended consequences that come from Jinwoo's decision to reveal himself as Korea's 10th S-Rank Hunter. Jinwoo is set to upset the balance of not only the Hunter guilds but Korean Society in general. It's rather complicated, so let's take a deep dive into what was revealed and what it teaches us about the state of the world.

In Solo Leveling, S-Rank Hunters are unstoppable by any normal means. They are walking WMDs. They are each country's protectors and greatest weapons. However, there is also no practical check to their power other than another S-Rank hunter—and as we saw last week when two S-Ranks clash, the destruction is massive. It's better to just let them do as they want and act above the law.

This means that, in society at large, it is not the government or the people that have the power: rather, it's the guilds with the most S-Rankers. Currently in Korea, there are five guilds with roughly equal power. Were Jinwoo to join any of them, the balance would be broken as the guild he joined would for all rights and purposes rule Korea.

This is the political quandary that Jinwoo has stumbled into in his mission to get stronger and save his mother—and the reason Go Gunhee comes to see him in secret. Go Gunhee offers Jinwoo a position at the government-owned Hunters Association—but that's only lip service. What he's offering is to pay Jinwoo to do nothing—to preserve the tenuous balance between the guilds by letting Jinwoo live comfortably with his family away from the battle.

The issue is that, in the current state of the world, any of those top five guilds can pay more and deliver fame and luxury far beyond anything the Association can. All Go Gunhee can do is appeal to Jinwoo's morality, explaining the consequences of what will happen should he join a top guild.

Here, we get a deeper look at Jinwoo and who he has become. Jinwoo's various battles have burnt away everything extraneous from him as a person. He has only one goal: to protect his family. At the moment, this means focusing on curing his mother of her mysterious illness. After that, it's simply a matter of providing for his mother and sister. Sure, he wants them to live as good of a life as possible, but as an S-Rank hunter, he can easily provide for them on his own.

Neither the Association nor the various guilds can give him what he truly wants. Joining the Association would put him out of the fight—unable to level up and make the elixir to save his mother. Meanwhile, joining a guild would give him access to the dungeons he needs to enter but it would also result in a massive loss in his personal freedom—his ability to do what best serves his personal goals.

At the moment, there is no easy solution for Jinwoo. He uses his last days as a nobody to prepare—to find a way to sell some of the high-level items he has while preserving the secret of how he got them. This is where we get our next bit of world-building—a look at how the big guilds do things. It's not just a small group going into a dungeon, killing the boss, and looting what they can. Instead, it's killing all the normal monsters as quickly as possible (but in a way that leaves their corpses intact for scavenging) and spending most of the dungeon timer gathering every resource within before killing the boss at the last possible moment. It's a herculean effort where dozens of hunters work together to strip the dungeon bare. It's a cool deeper look into this world of hunters and one that makes total sense given the value of all that's inside.

All in all, this is a great episode even with its near-total lack of action. It makes the world feel real and complex in a way the series hasn't before. We can now clearly see that Jinwoo's actions from this point on will not only affect himself but many others as well—and that makes his choices feel all the more important.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• I'm so happy that this anime has taken the extra step and had Cha Hae-In as a recurring background character since practically the beginning. We've seen her many times, and have seen both her powers and her personality in action. She feels like an established part of the world, not just some super strong badass coming in out of left field.

• Judging by Cha Hae-In's reaction, Jinwoo is now on par strength-wise with retired S-Rank Go Gunhee.

• While Jinwoo is committed to his goal of protecting his family, it's clear that part of him loves the fight far more than he's willing to admit.

• I have to admit, I am a bit unclear on how participating as a miner will give Jinwoo the plausibility he needs to sell his items. Wouldn't anything he found be the property of the Hunter's Guild? He is technically working for them, after all.

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Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.