Second Emulation

Solo Leveling and the New Frontier of Anime Epics

• Shawn Juarez • Episode 59

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Ever wondered how the underdog narrative is flipped on its head in the mesmerizing universe of Solo Leveling? Prepare to embark on an adventure through the eyes of Sung Jin-woo, the lowly E-rank hunter whose world is turned upside down when he becomes the sole participant in a secretive, game-like system. We tear into the fabric of this gripping tale, dissecting how Jin-woo shatters the mold of your average anime protagonist. His race against time to heal his mother draws us into a world where magical abilities dictate social hierarchy—a world that thrills with its intricacies and leaves us hanging with a cliffhanger that promises even more excitement to come.

Get set to have your mind blown by the series' audacious blend of nostalgic art and pioneering animation, where each fight scene is an adrenaline-fueled masterpiece. We rave about the voice actors who breathe life into these characters, especially in the English dub, and the soundtrack that weaves itself seamlessly into the very heart of the narrative. Solo Leveling scores a resounding victory in our review, deservedly earning a standing ovation for its creative prowess and cultural resonance. Grab your headphones and join us as we celebrate the triumph of modern anime storytelling that Solo Leveling so boldly exemplifies.

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 📍 ​Welcome to Second Emulation, the podcast that explores all things pop culture, from movies and TV shows to the latest anime releases. Join us as we dive into the world of entertainment, sharing our thoughts, opinions, and insights on the latest trends and releases. With a focus on what's hot and what's not, we're your go-to source for all things pop culture. So sit back, relax, and let's get started

I'd like to welcome you back to another episode and thank Emily for that intro and today I'll be talking about solo leveling not just an episode review but the entire series as the season has just finished and not too long ago we just got confirmation that season two is been confirmed I don't know about you but I'm excited because that  Last episode was a cliffhanger.

So let's get into it. 

What makes this a very interesting Anime was that it's actually a web toon Korean manga. So  the webtoon  Came out many years and gained Popularity and there was so much hype  behind it now  Crunchyroll is known to take, you know,  special IPs and turn them into anime, and they've done this, I think, with I can't think of the name, but there was another IP that they took There was a webtoon and they made it into a anime.

So it's nice to see that Crunchyroll has is taking another leap of faith, especially with an IP that has this much, you know,  Community behind it this much, you know fans behind it so when it got announced that the anime was coming to Crunchyroll  People went crazy the fans went crazy now  The premise of this is essentially  We have the main character  Sung Jinwoo, whose Thanks.

for we  we all know you know the basic  anime kind of trope is that we have a weak character so this starts off is that  Song Jin woo, you know, he's a weak character or E rank in a world that's, you know, dominated by hunters. He's classified as an E rank and he goes on a raid with a group that uncovers a double dungeon and, you know, an attempt to help the group survives.

He self sacrifices his you know, for them to like escape. And in the last moments before he dies, he ends up getting a notification which tells him that he has essentially  met the qualifications for the quest to be granted this, I guess, item or this achievement. Does he accept?  He says yes and he is reborn. 

And  like  other typical animes in this same type of format where the character is either reborn or gets stronger,  this one's a little bit different.  This almost follows that premise of that archetype or motif or the trope that, you know, we start off with a weak character and that character with a second coming is strong is overly powered.

Now,  what kind of sets this apart from other animes that we, we kind of that's come before it, that it introduces a different kind of mechanic. And the mechanic I see, it kind of is reminiscent of like, 

of  hack.  And for those who don't know about hack, hack  was a a prelude death game, if you would say, in virtual reality. It came before S. A. O., and other games in that same genre. But, it had that same type of mechanic where the player itself, you know,  had to do achievements or obtain items or was the administrator was able to break the system. 

And the reason why I use that as an example is that throughout the series, throughout the series, we get to see  Sung Jin woo, who  Before, in the first episode we see him as a character, and then after, you know, the first episode we no longer classify him as a character anymore. During his, his rebirth, we now he's classified as the player.

He is now the outside looking in. He is now within the system. You can technically call him Neo. He's a, he's essentially the Neo within the grand scheme of things. That everything that he does is, you know, he's a Neo. Within the system to get him stronger or him achieve a new level  for for his benefit  now  and it's interesting because It's built like a game for him So everything that he has everything he can do you know is for his benefit His body changes  He's able to like it's like a game system Essentially, which is why I brought up hack is that and it's interesting because no one else can see  These notifications that pop up.

No one else can see it  But him which is interesting  Now when with that being said  we also need to kind of  kind of emphasize that Okay.  Jinwoo  started off  in this world that was created for solo leveling is that there's a caste system here. There's people are placed into these ranks based on what can only be determined as their own.

In it magic ability. There are regular civilians and then there's people who are, who have a magic abilities and who are placed in these caste systems. From Eran all the way to a and then SI guess S tier is the highest. And once you're placed into this ranking, you can't change. It is, you know, it determines your, your status.

The.  The wealth, your fortune jobs. Essentially things you can do going forward. And  as Jin woo was ranked as E rank,  he was  not gonna cheer.  Poor. He was struggling  and he had a family to take care of. His mom. What we've, you know, was in the hospital was called a disease known as the sleeping disease Where they once you go to sleep you can never wake up or there's no cure for to wake up like  our version of a coma  But  There was like, yeah, it's their version of a coma.

Like you can get it at any moment. There would be no cause for it or a normal person could get it and they would be done. So there'd be no physical cure. Like you couldn't, there'd be no precursor for it. So his drive,  To go on these raids was to find a cure for his mom. So, being in a caste system as an E Rank,  and making very little money was very  dehumanizing for this character.

For Jin Woo. And so,  That was one thing that was interesting because normally in these animes when you get someone you know who's overpowered  they start ranking in the dough they start kind of like  they want the spotlight  and after the first episode we notice that  Jin does not want that he does not want the spotlight he  pretty much wants to be left alone  And this goes into right in character dynamics.

How does Jinroo interact with the world around him? Now, prior to his reawakening, he  He was essentially the butt of everyone's jokes. They made fun of him. They essentially mistreated him because he was a low ranking person. So, if he were to die, it would've, you know, been  It would be nothing for other members in this party.

And then he was always getting healed. He's always having near death experiences. His equipment was always breaking. Like he was struggling to survive in these raids alone just to make it. So  him joining was just another, you know, person to stay, to keep alive. So His interactions with people was kind of devoid like he developed an attitude of his interactions with other people, and that just kind of became more profound as he, you know, in his second reborn state, As he, you know, got stronger. 

His personality, it did change, but he became more detached, except for his love for his sister and his mom. Now,  not to say that he had any friends.  I don't think he, he had friends other than like acquaintances.  And as I mentioned earlier, there's this caste system. So everyone in this caste system is, is goal driven.

Each one is driven by money and power and resources and hunters are tree like, like celebrities. So wherever you are on the totem pole is going to, you know, and your status is going to work in your favor. You'll be allowed into certain places. You'll get I think I'm going to to affect the gear and money that you have, so  is very.

Important in this world that people were always striving to be, you know, CBA or S tier because it meant, you know, in this world you would, you know, be headhunted by Guild guilds that would essentially take you on, give you salaries, take care of you, and you'd go on these raids and make money. 

Now, in just this series alone, for a character dynamic, we don't get too much. We do get a lot of, you know, individuals trying to take advantage of, you know, Jin Woo in scenarios just think just by at a glance thinking that he is because he's still classified as a E rank that he's still weak and the only you know  Character dynamic that we do get our interaction is Jin Ho, which is a  B rank You know You Hunter who's worn this flashy gear and has comes from a family of privilege and they end up, you know, kind of bonding out of necessity essentially because they're in a group that's  the way how things have go about is that  in the world  You raiders or hunters can go on these raids and you don't know if you're going to make it out and they Can classify as a total player kill or total annihilation of a raid party can be deemed as an accident and Sometimes if there's too many accidents which they classify as some of these Raiders or hunters kill off their own party so they can take all their resources and not have to share so what end up happening is  You know, genu and Gen Ho got partnered with a group that intended to do just that, and out of necessity they end up,  you know,  persevering 

as a result of that, which means, you know, Jin Ru had to essentially defend himself. I'm not getting too many into the details, but if you've seen the episode, it's.  You know Pretty, pretty graphic, but very pleasing because it's the moment where, you know, you feel like he finally gets to like enact revenge and realize that he doesn't have to be seen as bad.

prey anymore, he finally gets to be a predator, and in this, so in the world that's been established here, in Solo Leveling, these hunters are viewed as predators, and civilians are like prey, and sometimes they view themselves above the law, and that's how they go around thinking in the world, is that they can just take and kill whoever they want and no one they're untouchable.

And so in that brief moment, they kind of met their match and it was so gratifying to see that  in that moment we do You get to see the little character dynamic there  with  Jin ho and Bokoblin.  Jinwoo, which I want to say it's,  it's like a friendship, but kind of not almost like a business relationship in a sense is that he realizes how powerful he is, but will keep his secret and realizes that He may need him in the future, so might as well,  I'll work for you instead of the other way around.

I'll do this, I'll do the things that you need, and you keep doing what you're doing, and I'll, I'll do all the stuff you want me to do in Dungeons, man, because you can take care of it.  Type of arrangement. And even though he's wealthy, he's like, you got this and I, I'll do whatever you say,  you know, 'cause I've seen what you're capable of.

And to be honest, you can do this all by yourself and I'll just, you know, take care of the resources.  And I felt like.  You know, in a series like this, when you have someone who's overpowered and someone who is detached, like  Jin Woo, you need  that type of companion who is Even though they're not a friend, but, and it could just be like an arrangement, maybe just for business, but someone who just has his back and, you know, it could be just loyalty, a business ship loyalties, like I'm not going to betray you type of thing. 

It was nice to see that, you know, you know, someone he could, could find in that You know, was loyal to him, to a fault that wasn't gonna portray him no matter what.  And, you know, turn him in, you know, so that he could benefit. Because again, in this world.  You got hunters who are, who view themselves as predators and then they could backstab each other at any moment.

If it means they will get ahead in the world and make profit. So it was nice to see that  in this rare instance, even though,  you know, Ginu didn't need him. He could really do everything on his own.  You know, like the anime says, solo leveling, it was nice to see that  he could  use  a friend or someone to confine in to help him, you know, going forward. 

Now, the art style animations were a little different and they kind of were giving me some throwback and called actually some callbacks. There was a Some inspiration from DBZ there, that Jin Woo did a little Goku stretch before a fight So that was interesting. The art style did kind of remind me of Doc Hack.

I kind of said that earlier about the like the video game vibe. The art style did kind of give me that Doc Hack sign, a little bit of Doc Hack video game throwback in Chainsaw Man. So it did kind of give me that kind of feel to it. And then the animation, the camera angles were just  really just crisp and clean, I mean when it came to the fight scenes, they were pulling no, no stops.

We were getting like,  you know,  as what people were calling it budget, budget type fight type type of scenes, they were just putting everything they had into these fight scenes into these angles,  it felt like You  To like use this meme, like the cameraman was right there, you know, observing the whole thing.

Like he was in the thick of it. It's the best way to describe it. And it was interesting because, you know, you don't typically see  that type of style and animation in anime back then. And so it's interesting to see that. You know,  that type of animation come forward now in anime where they're really trying to like, be aggressive with like the emotion, the, the, the fight, the physical interactions  with the two characters.

Like really get you involved in that particular scene. And it was interesting to see that because, you know,  I come from an era of Dragon Ball Z, you know, anime where it takes, you know,  dialogue between  a villain and the main character, you know, before a power up would take, You know, four or five episodes, and then the fight scene of an actual fight would take another five to six episodes. 

So it would just be so delayed. So it's just, it's,  we've come a long way. I would say, you know, from anime in the past to now, and it's just nice to see like, you know, these new art styles and animations being blend together.  It was really impressive and I was really hyped for it. It got me, it got me going and excited.

Every time I saw Jin woo, you know, go on the offensive, go on the attack just any scene with him in it where he was actually doing something was really impressive. It could have been like something simple with him just interacting with a notification or him doing like a running scene.  But the more the most impressive scenes I thought by far were like him fighting  Cuz that's where just like it would  shit just went crazy  Now would audiences like this that would depend everyone has a different genre of anime that they like, you know mine, you know  Tapers on a seasonal basis, depending on how the anime is marketed to.

Like, if I, you know, if the sizzle reel catches my eye and I think this is great, I'll, I'll watch it and give it a couple episodes.  It's great. It just depends, you know, but this, This was like deep rooted in my brain as the sea was planted. And the hype for this was Was planted a long time ago, and I think the audience really and would really like this, if you were a fan of the web tune, I believe that you would really enjoy this.

The fact that they're, they took their time. Even the voice actor who's doing the voy voice for Jin w has even stated. That he got a chance to even artistic creativity help write some of the lines for the English dub to, you know, work with. Knows how important the role and the character is and he wants to do the fans proud.

So, with hearing that and knowing that, you know,  The anime is going in a good direction.  I think the fans, you know, can, you know,  be happy.  And yeah, you'll get some of them who, you know, will have their opinions, which, you know, everyone has their opinions on anime. But I think the fan, the people will be great, you know, if you're a fan of, if you like, you know, the genre of, you know,  I guess you can call it this falls in the realm of like  isekais then you know this is a good anime to follow and the webtoon is really good it has a really good marketing I mean the merch is going to be off the chart If you want to Funko bombo the link will be in the description.

Going up, so I can only imagine what season two is gonna be like. And they've already confirmed season two  right after the series, the season one has ended. So I'm pretty excited.  Now  my rating for this, I'm gonna give it a a  five out of five.  For this anime, I'm going to give it a 5 out of 5,  because I,  the story was good the animation was good, the music, oh my god, the music. 

Helped move the story along, gave it the feeling, I hope they have a soundtrack for this so I can, you know, listen to it. 'cause that hardest during those moments of like,  you know, impactful moments that that music just came and it hit,  I want a soundtrack for solo leveling. I, I want that music, it just. 

Not Yeah, I would five out of five, you know  It's good and not as many enemies that I've seen will get a five out of five I'm hoping that they could you know season  You know that sees no, you know, put it forward Keep pushing forward and get that five out of five, but that's my rating for this anime Overall, I think they did you know a You Tremendous job on solo leveling.

My rating for this is a 5 out of 5. Other individuals might watch it and give it a different rating,  but  that's all I have to to say about it.  And thank you for listening. Hope  I hope you enjoyed this episode. I know the format was a little bit different and the reason for that is going forward when I do anime reviews, they will be the review of the entire series a set of episodes now with the That being said, I know that I did start episode reviews of Demon Slayer, The  Swordsmith Village Arc.

Those will be recorded into one episode of the entire series going forward. So that is one  thing that I am working on, on redoing. I know that I have episodes that I've did already. I'm going to go ahead and re record those into one giant series, and it'll be an updated, a complete review of the entire Swordsmith Ark.

And going forward, this is the format that I will be doing  for the anime reviews. As  I can no longer do  one episode formats,  it takes too much time to do those with so many animes coming out. It's just easier to do  the review after the whole series is done. Thanks  So that is the update going forward on the format and thank you guys for listening links in the description for all the socials, and  you guys have a great day.

Catch you in the next one. 

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