Premise: Dungeons opened up on contemporary Earth, and people (now called Hunters) awakened to powers to combat the monsters inside the dungeons or, if left unattended, bursting out of the dungeons. Hunters are ranked according to abilities, which awaken and are set for life. Sung Jin-woo is a bottom-tier Hunter until he encounters a god-like monster, dies, and reawakens with the unique power to grow his abilities.
The series grapples with the disconnection and abuses that come with power.
Jin-woo starts out getting treated poorly by his fellow hunters except for a B-ranked healer who worries over him, but he persists in his Hunter career, because he’s his family’s provider. His father went missing long ago, his mother is afflicted with a permanent magic sleep, and he’s funding his little sister’s studies on her way to becoming a doctor. When he realizes that his expanded powers can heal his mom and provide a secure future for his sister, he obsesses over leveling up.
But it comes at a price.
It’s one thing to have no empathy for the mindless monsters in the dungeons, but higher-ranked Hunters sometimes use their privileged strength and the isolation of the dungeons to abuse other Hunters either for their own enjoyment or as part of get-rich-quick schemes. We get to cheer for Jin-woo reversing these traps as he’s continuously underestimated with his low official rank, but the violence of the self-defense wears away the sweetness we saw in him at the beginning. Killing the predatory Hunters becomes no different to him than killing the standard dungeon monsters.
I appreciate how clear it is that the trauma of Jin-woo’s life-changing encounter has an extended impact on every character who was present. His healer would-be sweetheart retreats to a mental institution then moves back in with her emotionally abusive parents. The team lead who abandoned him lost an arm and must grapple with what the loss and the consequences of his risky decision mean for his identity, both as a Hunter and a martial artist. We even get to see how one of the bullies from the team is still haunted by his decision to abandon Jin-woo, how it haunts his wife and career decisions, and we even get to see him decide to apologize to Jin-woo when he encounters him later, without even learning about Jin-woo’s new-won power.
The impact on Jin-woo is clear, too. Left behind by everyone who had said they’d stand with him, his trust in humanity is crushed. He spends most of the first season withdrawn, hurting, and resentful. Here and there, his isolated shell almost cracks when he talks to his sister, the healer, or the team lead, but every time, he chooses to appreciate them in the moment and continue keeping to himself. (I shouted at him for so long that he needs to take the B-rank healer up on her offer of a date! They could be so good together!) His isolation reinforces his obsession with leveling up alone and in secret. Or as secret as he can while using the team required by regulations to access the dungeon gates that are enough of a challenge to help him grow.
Kudos to the author: Jin-woo encounters an opportunity to become a necromancer, and I was sure he would take it and seal his own destruction. He accepts it and grows his shadow army, fallen monsters (mostly) loyal to him and under his control who cannot speak or act apart from his will. While certain ones show their own personality, it’s clear that they’ll never offer him healthy relationships. I was sure at that point that this would be Jin-woo’s descent into isolation and destruction.
Rather, the shadow army appeared to be a turning point on the way to healing. He found entities he could trust completely, and it gave him the confidence to start accepting more of the human connections repeatedly offered to him.
Let’s take a moment to talk love interests. Because of course there are. (Eyeroll.) I’m on team B-rank healer, who could very naturally grow with Jin-woo, though she isn’t in a position to understand how he handles the darker tendencies he’s been pushed toward. Late in the show (there being two seasons out at the moment), we’re shown that the previous newest S-ranked Hunter (in Korea) hates the smell of other Hunters and takes an interest in him because he doesn’t smell bad. I protest. This is the most contrived context for a romantic interaction I have ever seen. But maybe the author will layer on some other meaning later on to make it worthwhile. They’re certainly skilled enough to.
Verdict: Is this yet another power fantasy anime? Sure, but that’s the genre.
And it was totally worth it to see this sweet kid who’s been carrying the weight of the world gain enough power to heal his mom. It was totally worth it to see the tears of relief streaming down his face. (Yay for showing this powerful man just accepting his emotions!)
The story isn’t over. The father has been lurking in the background, and I think we have another heartfelt reunion coming.
While it feels like Jin-woo has maxed out his skills and there’s nowhere left for that story to grow, there’s one more plot introduced that has me intrigued–and it’s not the other S-class hunter who’s out for his blood. (Yawn.)
Just before gaining the last items needed to heal his mother, Jin-woo encountered a monster who not only spoke but begged for her life. He spared her and might have taken her into his entourage if that dungeon hadn’t reset when he left. (I liked her! And now she-as-she-became is gone! I’d have accepted her as a love interest, unlike Hunter-smelling girl.) We’re getting hints that some of the monsters are intelligent, have societies, and fled to the dungeon dimension from a greater threat. (Let me plug my crit partner’s book here for similar themes when it’s published.)
I look forward to this kill-the-monsters show to take a turn toward That Time I Was Reincarnated As a Slime and shift from destruction-is-victory to construction-is-victory. I want society to get out of a tear-it-all-down mindset and shift to building up instead, so I am cheering for more and more popular stories to model that. And especially to model the transition from one mindset to the other, which is the hardest part.
So, here’s hoping we get more seasons of Solo Leveling.
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