Solo Leveling Crashed and Burned for Me - Sigh
Time to Vent
Solo Leveling Crashed and Burned for Me – Sigh. Heya folks! Thought I’d vent a bit and talk some trash about my disappointment in Solo Leveling. This will be a different style of writing from me, as I like to experiment. Consider this my day-to-day, excited, conversational “otaku talk.” There will be a mild spoiler alert, but don’t worry—I’ll give y’all a heads-up!
So, let’s get right to it.
I was ga-ga about Solo Leveling season one and partway through season two, hence my showdown Aeni article a little while back. It was pretty dope! It had cool animation, vibrant colors, a decent storyline, good pacing, fist-pumping music, and more. I could see why so many North American YouTubers loved it. Hey, I was on the bandwagon too, remember?
Then my enthusiasm started dissolving—I mean, the whole wagon started to dissolve for me. When I hit the last two episodes of season two, my ass hit the ground in a painful kind of way. Simply put, I was turned off and soured by the whole experience.
How does an amateur animation viewer like myself change my tune so fast? Well, let’s start with the main character, Sung Jinwoo. “I was a wimp, and now I am super overpowered (OP).” Well, this is the norm for most isekai anime, so that wasn’t too much of a problem… until… until…
Another problem is that the attitude of the main character just fell flat as each episode wore on. Earlier, I was guessing that this character was just losing his humanity as he got more powerful. What a cool concept, right? But…
***********MILD SPOILER ALERT ***********
Sung Jinwoo became so overpowered by episode 11 that the big bad boss only scratched him in the end! That’s a fail. No challenge means no stakes, which means I’m totally disengaged. In addition, his attitude becomes too apathetic and dismissive about everything, as if nothing matters anymore. Such a disappointment for me—even though I might be still correct about my earlier thoughts of him losing his humanity.
This is the thing with over-the-top/OP characters—the only way to beat them is by putting stronger peeps against them, right? If you’re already too strong, then your side characters mean nothing, and you’ve got a runaway-Superman problem. This isn’t a comedy One Punch Man routine; this is supposed to be serious, so why is it this way?
He’s so OP that by the end of season two, the new ominous characters/threats, followed by ominous music, did nothing for me. We know that Sung will mow everything down anyway.
***********MILD SPOILER ALERT ***********
The Crash and Burn of Solo Leveling Conclusion
Up until around the ninth episode, I was really onboard with Solo Leveling. But by the end, it felt like watching a live baseball game where your team lost 9-0, yet they decided to keep playing until the bitter end. Now, I’m not craving the third and final season at all. I’ll probably watch an episode or two, but in all honesty, I’ve been turned off.
Instead, I started watching the goofy but fun and light-hearted anime Shangri-La Frontier, and I’m kind of enjoying it. Singing mafia boss rabbit at the forge?? C’mon! Cutesy obnoxious love story, a Luffy-style feel (One Piece), and some good action. I am feeling the vibe on this.
It was nice to meet you, Solo Leveling, but bye-bye.
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