This review contains spoilers. 120276120322120319120302 120304120302120315 120303120306 120307120302120319120314120306120305 120306120315120305120313120306120320120320120313120326... Ah Solo Leveling... how I have yearned for you No scratch thatI have not missed it in the slightest. It has barely been a year since the first season concluded but it feels like neither I nor anyone else has truly escaped the series slimy stinky clutches. The thought that a sequel was more inevitable than death itself loomed over my head like a thundercloud and well here we are. But I will do us all a favour and skip the monotonous flowery introductory paragraphs and cut straight to the chase. I want you to think of this writeup as a companion piece to my previous review of this ohsofantastic animehttps://anilist.co/review/24005. What does that mean? It is simple reallyeach and every single criticism I levelled against the first season still neatly applies to this new shiny sequel. The plot? What plot? The characters? Who? Nothing has changed not even a little bit. So in the true spirit of Solo Leveling I will be as redundant as a broken record and bore you to tears with the same points all over again. Once more I shall rant like a crayoneating toddler. 500https://i.ur.com/pvSlG7I.jpeg If the first season of Solo Leveling was a limp soulless energydeprived power fantasy masquerading as a meaningful witty and actionpacked romp then Season 2 is the same damp smelly fartonly somehow even more rigid more lifeless and totally incapable of producing anything that even remotely resembles entertainment interest orheaven forbidtension. Whatever cheap illusions and deceptions the first batch of episodes used to feign grandeur and thrills have since been completely eviscerated leaving behind an absolutely preposterous slop where JinWoohttps://anilist.co/character/129928/JinUSeongs infallible awesomeness is not just the normit is a fullblown religion that is revered at every turn. This universe is still his personal playground where all living creatures exist solely to slobber over him kneel at his feet admire his magnificence and hand him an endless supply of powerups and egostroking moments. Anyone foolish enough to doubt his capabilities or character be it out of scepticism stupidity or just because is speedily proven wrong usually via swift execution brutal humiliation or better yet by becoming yet another one of his silly shadow minions. One of the best examples of the shows ridiculous mindset mantras and messages is the Jeju Island Raid arca socalled epic monumental operation where Korea and Japan join forces in a lastditch effort to finally reclaim the island from an infestation of antlike magical beasts. On paper this whole scenario should be a nearideal recipe for high stakes tense alliances gutwrenching sacrifice and international tension. Well that would be the case in any other series. But this is Solo Leveling and nuance is about as welcome here as a cockroach in a fivestar restaurant. What do we get after several episodes of buildup countless exposition dumps and constant callbacks to past failed expeditions? A pitifully pathetic predictable pseudospectacle that of course our glorious protagonist conveniently sits out at first becausegasphis motherhttps://anilist.co/character/209396/KyungHyePark has just awakened from her Eternal Slumber. Indeed it is a touching deeply personal reason that any person could and would get behind... if only the bastard actually spent time with her during the raid. But no he simply does not do that. Instead he just loiters around elsewhere perching atop skyscrapers and twiddling his thumbs until the plot gets desperate enough to summon him like some genie to swoop in and clean up everyones mess. And what a mess it is. The top Korean hunters are a bunch of disposable mannequins who may fare well against the smaller ants yet the second the Ant Kinghttps://anilist.co/character/159849/Beru steps in they are swatted like flies. The same applies to the supposed crme de la crme of Japans guilds as most of them do not last more than a few seconds their collective screen time being so minuscule you would be forgiven for mistaking them for random extras. Basically the entire battle is nothing more than a setup to cull seemingly strong characters for the sole purpose of manufacturing a nonexistent fake sense of dread and seriousness just enough to trick you into thinking the show understands suspense. We are supposed to believe the Temu version of Hunter x Hunterhttps://anilist.co/anime/11061/HunterxHunter2011/s Meruemhttps://anilist.co/character/23277/Meruem minus the depth complexity or any semblance of autonomy is an insurmountable obstacle no one is able to take down. When JinWoo finally makes his grand entrance the fight lasts about as long as a sneeze as he flattens the insect in record time. Naturally he is rewarded for this effortless bullying session with yet another overpowered shadow soldier because Solo Leveling adheres to the revolutionary philosophy of not struggling should be rewarded with even more power. In other words the arc desperately wants to be like Togashihttps://anilist.co/staff/96893/YoshihiroTogashis Chimera Ant Arc but lacks the ideological conflict the character development and frankly the brain cells to pull off even a fraction of its intensity or wit. There is nothing interesting or fun about any of thisjust more bodies to stack more flamboyant but meaningless skirmishes to gawp at and more proof of how little the show has to offer beyond its shallow powertripping. 500https://i.ur.com/IyC6AMT.png And of course this dreadful formula does not only rear its ugly head in the final arcit is hammered into your skull episode after episode until you are ready to claw your own eyes out. In the Red Gate Arc a group of hunters gets trapped in a dungeon andto no ones surprisethey are hopelessly outmatched by the monsters inside. The team splits into two groups: one made up of cartoonishly evil jerks who mock JinWoo for being an Erank and the other composed of our beloved protagonist and his ragtag band of lowranked nobodies who get to bask in the glow of his greatness and reap all the benefits of his unlimited power without lifting a finger or having to worry about little things like starvation freezing to death or getting torn apart by the ice bears. I think you know all too well how it all plays outthe arrogant hunters pay for their sins with their lives while the weaker hunters get dragged to safety simply by existing in JinWoos orbit. And as always he walks away with more power i.e. levels and troops because... well he just does. The Hunters Guild Gate Arc follows the exact same script down to the letter. A guilds secondstring team enters a dungeon gets demolished by a horde of orcs that should not even be there in the first place and just as all hope seems lostright when they are about to perish at the hands of these terrifying monstrositieswho else but the everflawless JinWoo decides it is time to quit standing around like a twat and wipes the floor with these brutes. The orc shamanhttps://anilist.co/character/184957/Tusk his generals and his army are slaughtered with laughable ease and naturally they get converted into yet another batch of fresh mindless pawns for Jesuskun to boss around. Why would the series refuse to hand its poster child even more might for coasting through life on easy mode without a sign of opposition in sight? Why should these tremendous battles be any less than onesided massacres? Why should the Systems golden boy ever be forced to struggle strategise or suffer actual consequences? Why should a power fantasy be anything other than a power inevitability? Why should the story strive to be more than a cretinous checklist of predictable drab nonsense designed to maximise JinWoos selfaggrandisement? But by far the most mindnumbingly hilarious part of the entire show thus far has to be the Return to Demon Castle Arc. Not only is it an absolute slog to sit throughthanks to its headacheinducing everythingisonfire settingbut it is also so laughably empty flimsy and toothless it feels like a sick joke. JinWoo carves his way through hundreds upon hundreds of demons like a hot knife through butter never once breaking a sweat and when he finally reaches and faces off against Baranhttps://anilist.co/character/306643/Baran the final boss of the entire thing the show really really wants you to believe that this fight is differentthat this is a genuine challenge. Except... it is not. Solo Leveling tries its darndest to fabricate some sense of resistance pretending like Baran is a threat that will not go down easily. However as we all know the main character of this shitfest has never faced a challenge in his life after the first five episodes of the first season. There is never a moment where he is actually outmatched never an instance where he is forced to genuinely fight for survival. And just when you think the show could not be any more farcical a random demon girl JinWoo picked up earlierhttps://anilist.co/character/164675/EsilRadiru chucks a sword at Baran andpoofthe fight is suddenly over. This minor inconvenience is what our hero apparently needed to overpower the devil and beat it into a bloody pulp. This is the big climactic showdown we get to experience at the end of this pisspoor miserable excuse for a storyline. At this juncture filing a tax return would be more unpredictable and suspenseful than watching the animes pathetic attempts at meaningful action scenes. Sure they look cool but what is so impressive about flashy animation and pretty colours when there is not an ounce of personality behind them? Why should I care about what is happening on the screen when the outcome is always always predetermined? Where is the fun I was promised? 500https://i.ur.com/vbdXTfs.png None of it should come as a surprise though because Solo Leveling has never been about being authentic impactful or wellthoughtout. Remember JinWoos mother I mentioned earlier? The woman whose Eternal Slumber was his biggest motivation the emotional anchor of his journey and the reason he desired to be stronger? Yeah that turned out to be a load of sunscorched crap. In reality it was nothing more than an afterthought a checkbox a convenient plot device trotted out whenever the narrative needed to pretend that he had a more serious objective beyond accumulating absurd amounts of levels showing off his realitybending abilities and toying with cardboardcutoutlike characters. And now that she is no longer in a comalike state? What is his motivation supposed to be now? More aura farming like a dipshit? More oneshotting pitiful weaklings left right and centre? More selfcongratulatory scenes to fuel his already skyhigh ego? His entire worthless existence boils down to being the strongest guy in the roomhahthe whole wide world and that is an undeniable fact. There is no tension no personal stakes no growth no introspection no dilemmas and no hardshipjust a neverending montage of him mowing down everything in his path and an evergrowing pile of defeated losers who never stood a chance to begin with. What about the rest of the cast? They surely must have gotten better over time right? Can we call them characters now without insulting the very concept of storytelling? Bzzt wrong. They are still a massive collection of glorified toys for JinWoo to play with humanshaped obstacles for him to trample over expositionspouting dispensers bootlickers designed to sing his praises and whatever else the sick and twisted series can come up with. The strong hunters exist solely to be oneupped by yours trulyevery single Srank in existence without exception. The baddies/monsters are moustachetwirling caricatures who are introduced exclusively to be humiliated and destroyed in the most banal manner possible. The female characters are dense love interests with about as much depth as a paddlecase in point Cha Haeinhttps://anilist.co/character/138789/HaeInCha falls in love with him because unlike everyone else he does not smell like shit. The allies are a cluster of personalitydeprived yesmen who live to admire him. The countless clueless backgroundfilling nobodies question him just long enough to be crushed under the weight of his overwhelming epicnesslooking at you that one cocky cretin from the Retesting Rank Archttps://anilist.co/character/184535/MinSungLee who thought he was important before getting reality checked. When all is said and done these props do not matter because nothing in Solo Leveling is allowed to matter besides JinWoo. Therein lies the problemhe is the story. If you cannot stomach his actions or character you might as well call it a day since there is nothing else here. Everyone and everything merely facilitates his everexpanding empire of shadow minions. The world does not change react or resist. Stakes are nonexistent. Character arcs are dead. Conflict is ridiculous. The script is still doing the tutorial. This is not a narrative that will stick with you for longer than a week. It is not just terribleit is repetitive thoughtless garbage that does not even have the decency to make you feel something. 500https://i.ur.com/8ql7jBQ.gif You know what? This time I am skipping the bit about pitchforks or torchesor any goofy spiel about how this review is not some grand ploy to stop you from watching the show. At this point you are either fully on board with JinWoos antics or like me just really into wasting your time. Either way you already know exactly how much this series is worth. As for me it is that masochistic mindset that keeps dragging me back to Solo Leveling every time it crawls out of the woodwork. It is neither wellwritten nor particularly enjoyable yet somehow I am unable to escape its stupidly intoxicating presence. I hate everything it stands for everything it is trying to peddleand yet I feel nothing but apathy for the product itself. And so I will keep consuming this brainless tasteless mush for as long as it continues to be churned out at such a breakneck pace. 127789 hot dog 127790 taco 127828 hamburger ...120303120322120321 120302120315 120302120324120307120322120313 120320120304120319120310120317120321 120315120306120323120306120319 120313120306120323120306120313120320 120322120317.