Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Episodes 1 and 2 Serve Up an Incredible Start

Key Takeaways

• Season 2 of Solo Leveling starts with intense action and potential for even greater growth.
• Reawakening film smartly summarizes major events of season 1 in just one hour.
• Stunning animation and unique monster-human dynamics make season 2 highly anticipated.

The compilation film of the first season of Solo Leveling hit theatres in the US and Canada on December 6. GameRant was given a preview screening of the film, which also featured the first two episodes of the upcoming second season of the series, which will begin airing this January. The total runtime of Solo Leveling -Reawakening- is two hours, with the first being dedicated to catching up the audience with the major events of season 1, while the second hour gave us an amazing first look at Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadows-.

It is likely that season 2 is going to be even better than the first, as it dives right into the action. With stunning voice acting in both English and Japanese, Solo Leveling -Reawakening- is definitely more than just a recap and a taste test.

A Quick Summary of Season 1

Only the Most Important Aspects Were Re-Explored

One issue with the first season of Solo Leveling, particularly in the very beginning of the series, is how it attempts to embed the central idea in the minds of viewers; despite its simplicity and how ubiquitous the concept of interdimensional Gates, the dungeons and monsters therein, and the awakening of Hunters is in fantasy media.

The Reawakening compilation film cuts away some of the fat, removing a fair amount of exposition in order to summarize the story and retain the most important events. The film kicks off with Jinwoo’s horrific death in the Cartenon Temple, and uses the credits to quickly flash through the introductory moments of the series.

Most of the initial setup and character introductions are completely done away with, so while the point is to give you the bottom line when it comes to season 1, it might not be the best way for a new watcher to engage with the series, as they will still need to get more context from the first season. For those who saw the first season or read the manhwa, the way Solo Leveling -Reawakening- handles rehashing the story might be welcomed as it skips the majority of the “cutscenes”, leading to the total runtime of approximately 290 minutes (so almost five hours over twelve episodes) into a single hour.

The threat of the Chimera Ants is just barely explored in the recap of season 1, but in the first episode of Solo Leveling Season 2 – Arise from the Shadows, we see the leader of the Hunters’ Guild, Choi Jong In, discussing the frightening discovery of dead bodies at sea; bodies which were dragged from one location to another by the ants of Jeju Island, which have evolved the ability to fly short distances. It is only a matter of time before they develop the ability for long-distance flight, which would then pose a major threat not just to Korea, but to the rest of the world.

The Series’ First Red Gate

Proof of Sung Jinwoo’s Even Greater Growth From the End of Season 1

The second season begins with Jinwoo attending a parent-teacher meeting at Jinah’s school, where a concerned teacher requests Jinwoo to speak to a student who aspires to become a Hunter. She was present for some of the raids Jinwoo did by himself in Season 1, and happens to be Jinah’s friend, Han Song Yi, an E-Rank Hunter. Rather than simply try to convince her to find a safer line of work, Jinwoo asks his contact at the White Tiger Guild.

Ahn Sangmin, to allow him and Song Yi to observe a C-Rank Raid. Among the raid party were A-Rank Tank Kim Chul and B-Rank Mage Park Heejin. Upon entering the Gate, it turned an ominous shade of red, and Jinwoo tried to call out to Mr. Ahn, telling him to get the Hunter Association to send help as they have the misfortune of coming across a Red Gate, which rather than send the entrants into a dungeon, sends them to a dimension sealed off from their reality of origin and throws them into a nigh-unsurvivable situation where each enemy is B-Rank or higher.

Then I’d say your shadow stretches into some really nasty places…

and you’ll probably get as strong as those places are dark.

You’d better watch yourself, though.

If you gaze for long into an abyss,

the abyss… gazes also into you.

For E-Rankers like Song Yi and Jinwoo, it would normally be their final raid, as Kim Chul designated himself the group leader and opted to cut away the “deadweight”, meaning that anyone lower than Rank C would be left to survive on their own while Kim Chul’s special advance force forges forward to defeat the boss and get them home. The environment they are sent to is a harsh tundra, where sadistic ice elves and aggressive giant ice bears run rampant. Immediately after their arrival, the group of Hunters is ambushed by the elves, who kill off one of them with an icy arrow between the eyes, while Jinwoo catches an arrow that was meant for Song Yi. After Jinwoo’s display of strength, the ice elves can barely hide their excitement, and they disappear to let their boss know that there is an interesting human in the group.

An Incredible Fight

The Dazzling Animation of A-1 Pictures Continues Into Season 2

The best part of the first two episodes of Solo Leveling Season 2 is of course, the showdown that brews between the leader of the ice elves, Barca, and Sung Jinwoo, who, for some reason, can understand and speak the language of monsters. The elves see something in him that reminds them of monsters, so they’re not sure why he doesn’t just hand over the humans. While Kim Chul’s group was getting utterly devastated by the elves hunting them for fun, the fear of ice bears, and just the rough conditions of the tundra, the members who stayed behind with Jinwoo got to enjoy food, shelter, and safety while the main man did all the monster slaying with the help of his new shadow army.

This group included B-Rank Mage Park Heejin; who sensed something special about Jinwoo, and opted not to go with Kim Chul, who lost his marbles after his whole squad was decimated and came back to find the lower-ranked Hunters laughing and eating around a campfire. When Jinwoo and Barca finally engage, it’s an incredible clash of blows between Jinwoo, whom is suspected to be something beyond A-Rank, and a monster that he believes might eclipse him in terms of strength.

While his role in the series is rather short-lived, Barca quickly becomes a very compelling character as this might be the first time we encounter a sentient monster. During the clash, Kim Chul came to understand that Jinwoo is the group’s reason for survival and tried to kill him out of anger, but that only got him a first-class ticket into the shadow army as a powerful Tank now known as Iron. While we’ve seen Jinwoo become a master of convenience over the course of two episodes, he finally faces disappointment when he fails to extract Barca’s shadow.

Without saying too much, it is clear that Solo Leveling fans are up for yet another immensely successful season of the show, which will most likely delve into the highly-anticipated Jeju Island Raid arc. As a recap of season 1, Solo Leveling Reawakening may not be the best way for new fans to get into the series, but is perfect to jog the memories of those who have seen season 1 just enough for season 2 to hit all even harder, and based on those first two episodes, season 2 definitely will.