Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-

Episode 24

I could spend this review ranting at length about the high-budget animation or equally awesome Hiroyuki Sawano-penned music in this episode but that would be stating the obvious. You have eyes. You have ears. If you watch the episode, you will appreciate the music and visuals—I do not doubt this.

I could also talk about the battle between Jinwoo and the Ant King—how the way the Ant King uses smarts and tricks in addition to his raw power makes him feel like the strongest enemy Jinwoo has ever faced. However, what truly interests me in this episode are the stakes in this fight—and what they say about Jinwoo.

This week, it's revealed that Jinwoo came to the island after he lost contact with the soldier he put in Goto's shadow—meaning that Goto, by far the strongest hunter on the island, had been killed. If there was a threat that could take Goto out, the Korean hunters wouldn't stand a chance. So Jinwoo, knowing they were still alive, came to their aid.

Upon arrival, Jinwoo is in no hurry. He almost offhandedly has his soldiers slaughter the ants. It's only when he sees the state of Cha—and learns that his healing potion can't save her—that the stakes begin to rise. Cha's condition puts a time limit on his battle, first against the ant army and second against the Ant King. He can't play it safe in a battle of attrition, he has to take risks and go all out. It's easy to be caught up in the battle that follows. After all, we care about the adorkable Cha and don't want her to die such a meaningless death. But this raises the question: “Why does Jinwoo care?”

If you take a step back and think about it, while we have been checking in on Cha every few episodes across the entire series, Jinwoo has almost no connection to her. They have met a total of three times: once on the mining mission, once in the Orc Dungeon, and once during the Japan/Korea training duel. She's a stranger to him.

Yet, something is driving him to save her. This isn't the first time we've seen this either; he stepped in to save her during her duel as well. Then, in this episode, he not only spends a healing potion on her, but he also uses up the second of the three all-illness-curing elixirs. This is almost certainly the rarest and most irreplaceable item Jinwoo has—and he uses it even knowing that it likely wouldn't work.

And then, at the end of the episode, as he near-panicking racks his brain for ways to save Cha, two things become apparent: 1) that he already has a way to save her—one that will affect him negatively—and 2) that while he doesn't want to use that method, is already committed to saving her even if he has to pay the price. So again, we return to the question: “Why is Jinwoo willing to go this far for Cha?” If there is no logical reason, there must be an emotional one.

What we're seeing here is some serious “show, don't tell” storytelling—a story of love at first sight. Jinwoo doesn't even realize he is attracted to Cha on a conscious level. But on an instinctual one, his repeated actions prove this to be the case. She is important enough to him that he is willing to do anything to save her—even if it harms him going forward. If that's not true love in the making, I don't know what is.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• “True love is the greatest thing in the world (except for a nice MLT—mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich).”

• If you've been paying attention, you can likely guess how Jinwoo will save Cha—and what the consequences might be now that all the S-Rankers have seen his elite shadows and can connect the dots.

• Yeah, Japan's “evil plan” didn't quite work out as they had hoped.

• With this episode, Jinwoo has become unquestionably the strongest human in Korea (if not the world) and everyone—from his old friends to his sister—knows it.

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