Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-

Episode 22

This episode starts with Korea's top hunters clashing with Japan's in a “friendly match.” The fight serves several purposes. The first is to give us our action quota for the week—which it does in spades. The second is to introduce us to all the new characters in this arc—and give us insight into their personalities as well as their powers. After all, aside from familiar faces Cha and Bael, we haven't seen much (if anything) of the others.

The third reason for this fight is to build up the relative strength of the Japanese S-Ranks in the viewers' minds. In this episode, we watch them defeat the Korean hunters without much issue—though the Koreans have the excuse of having both a long-range fighter (Lim) and a swordsman who is not good at unarmed combat (Cha) on their side. While it may be surprising to see our heroes as the losers, it's important for what comes at the end of the episode.

When it comes down to it, the newly introduced Japanese hunters are expendable characters in the story. However, if they are stronger than our heroes and then they are defeated by a strong enemy, it shows us just how much danger our heroes are in. This is doubly true when it comes to the second-round fight between Jinwoo and Ryuji. Ryuji is shown to be more or less on par with Jinwoo in a one-on-one fight. Thus, if any enemy can beat Ryuji, it means even Jinwoo would likewise be in mortal danger. And so, as the episode closes and we see the newly evolved ant monster easily dispatching a Japanese S-Rank hunter, the tension builds—especially since Jinwoo is chilling back in Korea, doing his normal daily workout.

While the opening fights and their payoff steal the show this episode, it was everything in between that I enjoyed even more. The buildup to the fight against the ants does a great job of showing us just how important it is to Korea as a whole.

We get a peek at the operation on all its levels. At the top, we spend some time with the Korean S-Rankers who will be hunting for the queen but we also see that the A-Rankers have been stationed on ships around the island to protect the jamming devices and prevent fliers from escaping. Then, on the mainland's coastline, we have the B-Rankers and below acting as the final line of defense against any flying ants that breakthrough. Though a single ant can easily overpower and kill numerous B-Rankers, even semi-retired hunters like Joohee and Song have reunited to protect their homes and loved ones.

In the end, everyone is standing up except Jinwoo. He has his happy ending and wants to enjoy it. Sure, he may claim it's because his mom needs him as she readjusts to life after five years in a coma but this is just a lie he's telling himself. She could easily deal without him for a single day—something she does earlier in the episode when he observes the Japan/Korea match. And while Jinwoo may tell himself that there is no danger with so many S-ranks going together, it's obvious to everyone what the stakes are. If the ants make it off the island, no one is safe. After all, even Jinwoo with his ever-growing army can't protect everyone across Korea all at once.

The real reason Jinwoo isn't going is precisely because he wants to go. Despite saving his mother he still feels the drive to fight ever-stronger enemies. This season, he has nearly made rash decisions when such a fight was dangled in front of him—only to be held back by Cha on both occasions. He is self-aware enough to see that he becomes hyper-focused on such fights to the detriment of himself and those around him. He worries that the more he gives into that feeling the further he is from being the son his mother loves—and the closer to the “monster” he had to become to save her. And that is hard for him to face.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Jinwoo puts shadow soldiers in the shadows of all the Korean S-Rankers and can swap with any of his shadow soldiers at will. It doesn't take a genius to see how he will eventually intervene in this battle.

• They did a good job of power-balancing Cha in this episode. It's clear she was both out of her element and holding back throughout the fight.

• It was a nice touch to see things from the ants' perspective. It's good to see that their motivation is more than a voice telling them to kill humans.

• There are so many death flags waving this episode that I lost count.

---

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