Solo Leveling - Episode 1 [Review]
Living in a fantasy-RPG world always sounds exciting, but as Solo Leveling shows us, the reality would be far more intense.
Based on the extremely popular manhwa by the same name, the story takes place 10 years after mysterious gates began appearing and connecting our world to another - which was full of aggressive, magical beasts. Unfortunately for us, conventional weaponry was useless against this threat. Instead, new powers were awakened within mankind that granted them an innate “ranking” among the new organization known as The Hunters.
The highest rank one can be assigned is S, the pinnacle of magical talent and ability. We get to see some of these immensely powerful hunters display their abilities in the early part of the episode - including a healer, a berserker-style fighter, and two different caster-types that command lightning and fire. Superheroes of this dangerous world, the S-rank hunters face tremendous dangers, but are rewarded with a life of fame and prosperity as they retrieve valuable “essence stones” from hostile monsters.
From there, rankings start at A and go all the way down to the lowly E-ranks…which is exactly where our protagonist, Sung, is placed.
One other important thing to note: no amount of effort can help escalate a Hunter to a higher rank once assigned, as it’s based on innate talent and ability.
Jokingly referred to as the “weakest hunter alive”, Sung still drags himself into whatever dungeons he can qualify for - desperately fighting for his life in order to take care of the hospital bills for his ailing mother and university costs for his college-aged sister.
After trudging through another dungeon for a meager reward, an additional dungeon is revealed within. The party is split on whether to move forward, as inner-dungeons are typically of higher rank, but Sung breaks the tie and insists they move forward. Reaching a haunting, circular chamber, the party soon finds themselves surrounded by immensely powerful magic beasts and Sung is faced with certain death as the episode comes to a close.
Solo Leveling is arguably one of the most anticipated shows of the season due to its large manwha fanbase, and so far it appears like the show is delivering in a big way. The display of power from the S-rank hunters provides a delightful tease of some of the higher-level battles we can expect in future episodes, while the political tensions and machinations around using essence stones as a source of clean energy provides some additional depth to the narrative. There have been some minor changes to the kickoff of the story, and there are some who don’t appreciate where the first episode concludes, but all in all it’s a gorgeously animated adaptation that’s sure to bring fans back week after week. It’s definitely on my shortlist, along with Frieren and now Delicious in Dungeon. Some great anime to enjoy this season!
