Animisery – A Blog About Living Miserably with Anime (Among Other Things)

If you’ve read my previous blog post then you’re aware that I’m trying to catch up on the anime that I missed in 2024 which, as you may have guessed by the title of this blog post, includes Solo Leveling’s first season. To be quite honest, I had no interest in this show when it was airing and I absolutely ignored it and all the related hype from everyone around me because I presumed it would bounce off me so hard that the resulting ricochet would’ve put a hole in a wall and I’m not into fixing walls right now. I was right! But, surprisingly, I was also wrong!

For the record, I know I’m a year behind but season two is airing right now so it’s kind of relevant? It’s not like this is a blog about timely anime discussions anyways.

I dabble in manwha from time to time. It’s not my preferred comic medium of choice but the nature of manwha makes it so easy to binge and consume en masse and I can’t help but appreciate that. Comics specifically designed to be read my scrolling on a phone? That is undoubtedly an absolute S-tier genius level move. I’ve read a few manwha and I’ve found a few stories that go with a main character who is an absolutely jobber at being a combatant but gets a super secret hack that changes everything and now he’s the best ever!!!! Wow guys!!!!

(Side note: SSS Class Revival Hunter is a fun read.)

I didn’t realize that this exhausting trope in manwha was kind of popularized with Solo Leveling. I’m fully aware that Solo Leveling was originally a novel series and I can confess that I attempted to read the series but fell off shortly before finishing the first volume. I wasn’t enjoying myself and why bother if it isn’t fun? Life is too short to read books you hate and all that.

So I came into Solo Leveling knowing the core premise with expectations that I wouldn’t be hooked and would watch it for the sake of having watched it. A-1 Pictures, however, made Solo Leveling an absolute feast for my eye holes and my brain is juuuuuuuuust underdeveloped enough to stay around if something is pleasing on the eyes which worked in Solo Leveling’s favor.

I try not to be a prude any more. I haven’t seen enough anime to warrant having a highbrow “hmmm yes shallow and pedantic” elitist opinion. I mean, it wasn’t until 2021 that I learned what a keyframe animator was but good lord is Solo Leveling gorgeous. As vapid as the source material really is in season one, Solo Leveling more than made up with the sheer visual spectacle that permeated throughout the entire twelve episodes.

I know a lot of fellow anime enjoyers/fans/otaku/whatever state that the animation doesn’t matter if the story and characters suffice to entertain them. I think that’s a very noble notion but I’m unfortunately vain (as it concerns anime at least) and I sometimes crave cinematic beauty and wonder to gawk at every now and then and Solo Leveling provided that in troves. I didn’t particularly care about Sung Jinwoo or really any of the cast in any meaningful way. They could’ve honestly perished on the final episode and I would’ve struggled to manifest any energy to care in any adequate way. Actually, that’s a tad hyperbolic. I do actually love Yoo Jinho but I am also a dedicated Kuwabara fan so just give me a comedic side character and I will fall in love. If Yoo Jinho dies then I’ll actually be done with the show if I decide to watch season two.

Solo Leveling is such a show of spectacle that I think it’s the only meaningful about it in my experience. I never had a single modicum of investment with Jinwoo or any of his supporting cast; I was just invested in seeing what extreme balls to the wall power fantasy shenanigans were going to ensue next because they were that damn gorgeous and silly. For example, episode seven had me hooked in like few other anime have ever managed and it wasn’t because I was so concerned with Jinwoo’s safety or motivations in any way. Jinwoo was just in a huge fight with a cerberus and literally everything was on fire and some primordial part of my brain wanted to screech and fling my feces at the screen because that’s how entertained I was. It was an animation extravaganza with visuals like candy and I was just a kid in a candy store determined to rot my teeth.

So what point I’m trying to get at is that I think Solo Leveling would’ve absolutely destroyed my perception of anime if I was in high school and had maybe only a few anime under my belt as opposed to the few hundred that I have now. To several friends I’ve mockingly amused that “I bet Solo Leveling goes so hard if you’re in high school” and I don’t think that’s honestly very fair from me of all people. My observation is just that Solo Leveling reeks of a gateway anime in how edgy it actually manages to be without descending into the absurd (a la Mirai Nikki and Magical Girl Site) and just the raw fluid marvel of animation that it manages to be.

There are so many elements within Solo Leveling that seek to appeal to a younger audience and obviously that’s almost seemingly by design. Jinwoo is almost seemingly meant to represent the unprepared youth as they enter the work force and are tasked with responsibilities that they may not be well equipped for. He needs to support his family yet isn’t blessed with the kind of skills or capabilities that will ensure his success. His title as the “Weakest Hunter” means that his expectations by his fellow hunters are almost always miniscule and he’s not expected to thrive in his role. Maybe Jinwoo would’ve been something for me to see myself in when I was in high school and thusly idolize his sudden growth and achievements?

Or maybe this is all just a wish fulfillment power fantasy and of course this would appeal to the young people because who doesn’t love killing god with unimaginable blessings that you just happened to get because you and only you are special and also the “chosen one”? Read into it what you will, I guess.

It’s the kind of story that just serves to be the thread which links all the narrative beats together and nothing more. It’s a solid enough time just to witness it all if you’re an anime only like I was. I was stuffing the Chex Mix, my go to anime binge snack, in my mouth by the handful and getting crumbs everywhere with reckless abandon while I gorged myself on the show. I was, in a sense, going full on Cocomelon tablet toddler time mode with the show and just letting the sensory fulfillment wash over me. I had to Google the name of almost every character to talk with my friends afterward but that could also just be due to the general passage of time and the correlating brain damage.

At the end of it all, I bet some kids in high school do legitimately latch onto this franchise with the kind of vice grip that will allow them to forgive and forget any lack of nuance of the story within. There’s also a huge amount of cynicism there within on my part as I just groaned with some of the more exaggerated “mall ninja this is so cool” elements of the show. Like yeah okay “shadow monarch” is definitely the kind of title a kid who’s making a very awkward D&D dark elf paladin would employ for sure. One man’s gripe is another man’s greatness though.

Sometimes all that matters is that you’re actually entertained by your entertainment (wow that’s redundant) and Solo Leveling delivers like UPS on that promise. I can joke with my friends all I want that Solo Leveling is just “turn your brain off” anime but what valid assessment can I provide when it hooked me in enough to dispose of my brain for around four and a half hours? I threw out all these complaints and more about Sword Art Online when it dropped and I’ve given up on the fight of criticizing that long ago because “just let people have fun” and all that. It’s not my circus.

Hey, A-1 Pictures did that anime too, huh? I guess history just repeats itself. Enjoy your Sword Art Online for a new generation, kiddos. At least Jinwoo doesn’t have every single female character in his zip code thirsting after his manhood like Kirito did. That was kind of insufferable.

Check out my podcast, the Anime Brothers podcast, wherever you get your shows and feel free to comment and reach out if you want to talk about this anime and more! Thank you so much for reading this!