Solo Leveling Season 2 Episode 12 Unleashes a Historic Battle As Sung Jinwoo Takes On the Ant King

We might have a worldie on our hands with Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-, episode 12, perhaps the most anticipated event of the entire series, Sung Jinwoo’s dramatic battle against the Ant King in the climactic conclusion to the Jeju Island Raid Arc, lives up to the immense hype garnered by fans. It was an absolute marvel that baited its viewers into lowering their expectations, only to completely smash through them with the most incredible fight of the series thus far. It was a genuine spectacle bolstered by brilliant choices in direction and the unmistakable touch of composer Hiroyuki Sawano.

This episode might be downright historic, as A-1 Pictures delivered an absolute masterclass with Sung Jinwoo vs The Ant King as the series protagonist solidified his status as the strongest Hunter in Korea, and Solo Leveling solidified its status as the greatest manhwa adaptation we’ve seen so far.

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The Cameraman Never Dies

Help Arrives, But So Does Peril

The episode opens with a shot of the absolutely shellshocked A-Rank camera operator who accompanied the Korean strike team into the ant nest. He remains completely unscathed, but the psychological effects will be severe; however, despite the horror he’s witnessed, he remains focused on broadcasting the events that take place in that cave, which he manages to do just as Jinwoo prepares to confront the Ant King. Sung Jinwoo’s shadow army protects the heavily injured Korean S-Rank Hunters from their certain doom as he arrives at Jeju Island just in time to prevent further catastrophe.

Iron uses his Rage ability to attract the attention of the majority of the ant horde, while Jinwoo’s other generals, Igris, Tank and Tusk unleash unprecedented levels of carnage on the swarming insects. Igris takes on much of Jinwoo’s “rule of cool” as he deftly slashes through the ants while his comrades rampage around him in a satisfying sequence that shows off the organization of Sung Jinwoo’s shadow army.

Having carved out enough breathing room for themselves, Jinwoo is able to administer health potions to the injured Hunters; however, Cha Hae In’s situation is dire, with her HP being far too low for health options to be effective, like the perilous circumstances surrounding Jinwoo’s first trip to the Demon Castle Dungeon. Jinwoo tries to administer the Elixir of Life, but it fails to heal her wounds because they do not constitute an “ailment”. He tries to think of something else, but unfortunately, Jinwoo’s presence has attracted the Ant King. The swarming ants all stand aside for their King, and his ominous aura fills the nest once again. Baek Yoonho and the others are naturally very disturbed by the Ant King’s return, but he has his sights set on one person. The two stand face to face, brilliantly recreating the iconic panel from the Solo Leveling manhwa, with Sung Jinwoo bathed in a blue light and the Ant King in a bright red.

The Slugfest Begins

Sung Jinwoo vs The Ant King is Misleading At First

The real meat of the episode was very much the fight between Sung Jinwoo and the Ant King. Up to this point, the visuals had been good but nothing necessarily mind-blowing compared to some of the earlier episodes of the series, especially with the early-episode rampaging of Jinwoo’s shadows. When he and the Ant King finally come face to face, the insect asks him, “Are you the king of the humans”, but Jinwoo doesn’t answer, merely scoffing at the idea of a talking insect. The Ant King lands the first blow, a punch so heavy, the impact caused the ground beneath them to shatter and sent shockwaves that the sidelined S-Rank Hunters had to guard from. Jinwoo takes the hit, and for a moment, the Ant King believes he’s won. When Jinwoo is visible again, there’s no sign of damage, and he uses his Ruler’s Hand Skill to pull the Ant King into the ground, smashing him with a similar level of impact to the punch, before slamming a punch of his own into the bug’s thorax. The bug recovers from the impact, which hadn’t moved his feet an inch, before returning with a punch of his own.

They trade blows in this manner for a while, and even at this early stage, their battle is already causing carnage to the environment, with the A-Rank cameraman noting that it is taking everything in his power to stay on his feat in the face of such a fearsome battle. In the midst of this slugfest, there are moments of high-detail animation that catch the eye, which, in retrospect, were the signs of what was to come later. The slugfest stage of Jinwoo vs the Ant King had high impact, with decent animation that fits the series in general, but almost felt like they’re holding out on us by sprinkling impact frames and high-detail frames in between the use of slo-mo to play up the impact of the punches. This isn’t to say it looked bad, but it wasn’t pushing the envelope either. The sound design in this episode was also really something, with each punch having an incredible, well, kick to them.

The Marvel of Sung Jinwoo vs The Ant King

A Relatively Tame First Half Sets Up A Historic Battle

When the Ant King realizes he’s being pushed back, the fight reaches a turning point, as the bug uses a special poison ability derived from Jeju’s marine life to put an end to the battle. Thinking he’s won, he throws the killing blow but Jinwoo blocks it as Kindiaru’s Blessing removes the negative status effects enacted by the poison. After Jinwoo slams the Ant King and he goes flying back, the insect starts to panic, and Jinwoo can pick up on its anxiety, perhaps due to his improved Perception. He’s also anxious to put an end to the fight quickly, as Cha Hae In’s life hangs in the balance.

This is an important turning point in the battle as the visuals gain an even greater sense of dynamism in the movement. Jinwoo dashes into another flurry of attacks, but the Ant King uses his wings to escape. Realizing that he can’t compete using poison, nor can he stand to go blow-for-flow with Jinwoo any longer, the Ant King unleashes his trump card: a final transformation that he activates in a gloriously animated transformation sequence which highlights his exoskeleton bursting away as his body contorts itself to a form better suited to the complete evisceration and annihilation of the enemy.

The real battle begins after the Ant King transforms, and the soundtrack that plays from here on out highlights the genius of composer Hiroyuki Sawano, as the theme, which hasn’t been heard prior to this point, swells with the kind of dramatic overtures that a Boss Fight warrants. From here on out, the animation quality breaks through a ceiling and lands squarely in the realm of something transcendent. The fight, which had been a slugfest at first, turned into an all-out war as the Ant King’s transformation gives him a remarkable speed boost that ups the tempo of the fight overall. Jinwoo unleashes a new weapon: a pair of Demon Monarch’s Daggers, and immediately he finds himself blocking a potentially fatal strike from the Ant King.

A Historic Win For Sung Jinwoo

The Legendary Hunter Who Cleared the Jeju Island Gate

The two trade blows in a clash that is insanely fast and causes even greater damage to the environment than before. They move so fast that they’re at times indicated solely by blue and red lights, much like in the battle between Jinwoo and Igris in the first season of Solo Leveling and the music reaches a climax as Mika Kobayashi’s visuals colour the marvelously animated clash with the kind of intensity and gravitas it needed. There was even a point in Jinwoo’s beatdown of the Ant King that seemed to replicate young Naruto’s iconic barrage on Sasuke, which further emphasized the positioning of both characters as kindred spirits, yet opposite. As the brilliantly animated clash continued, the sheer movement, speed, colours and choreography of the battle were absolutely inspired and completely quashed any feelings that the fight left much to be desired.

The Ant King continued to notice Jinwoo not just keeping up, but overwhelming him entirely. At some point, the Ant King realized he couldn’t win, so he tried to escape, but Jinwoo’s amazing use of the Ruler’s Hand Skill quelled that escape, creating a brilliant series of shots of Jinwoo standing in front of a wall of flames with the Ant King lying at his feet, looking up at him as if in supplication. He tries to escape, but Jinwoo doggedly pursues him before butchering him. Seeing their king perish, the other ants flee.

Over the course of their fight, there were a number of jaw-dropping sequences, like Jinwoo’s barrage shortly after his Fatal Strike Skill upgraded to Mutilate, resulting in the Ant King’s extremities all being lopped off as he wonders how anyone could be so powerful, or when Jinwoo saw his murderous reflection in the ice wall the Ant King set up to separate them. The battle was a masterpiece, and the shock on Baek Yoonho’s face as his eyes trailed the clashing lights was exactly the look on the faces of fans everywhere as they watched that fight ensue. This might just be one of the greatest fights in anime history, but the battle isn’t won as Jinwoo will have to figure out how to save Cha Hae In before it’s too late. There aren’t enough words to describe just how incredible the 12th episode of Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- is, but there’s one word that keeps coming up: “historic”.

Solo Leveling

Release Date

January 7, 2024

Directors

Shunsuke Nakashige

Writers

Noboru Kimura

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  Taito Ban

  Shun Mizushino (voice)

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  Genta Nakamura

  Kenta Morobishi (voice)