Solo Leveling Season 2 Review – Much Better than Season 1
Article at a glance:
- Better pacing, more over-the-top action, and well-executed cliffhangers make Season 2 deliver on the hype.
- Jinwoo’s emotional depth and Cha Hae-in’s expanded role add more weight to the story, though side characters could use more screen time.
- A-1 Pictures delivers stunning fight scenes, and the OP/ED tracks by LiSA and TK elevate the experience.
I think Solo Leveling Season 2 is one of the most improved sequels. I didn’t really love Season 1; it was not bad, but Season 1 didn’t live up to the hype. Season 2, though, is exactly what I expect out of Solo Leveling. Crazy over-the-top action, aura farming, badass scenes, and a few moments of levity. Season 2 was also really well-paced compared to Season 1. I know I am a bit early, but I more or less know how Solo Leveling Season 2 will end, so it is time for the review.
Only 2 weeks of the Winter 2025 season left, expect a lot of Spring 2025 coverage in the coming weeks, of course. This week alone, we had a ton of announcements to go over. With that said, though, welcome to another review, and today we are talking about Solo Leveling Season 2! Let’s get started!
Plot
Come on, you are not watching Solo Leveling for some deep, intricate narrative. The plot is simple, and it accomplishes the job of making all the fights have stakes perfectly. The pacing is much better from Season 1, and almost all episodes end on a great cliffhanger. It may seem cheap, but well-used cliffhangers are a great way to make stories more compelling.
Another thing I’d like to appreciate is the consistency. The anime is very consistent with its established rules and power levels. Jinwoo is probably the only person who can grow so exceptionally strong over a short time, and even then, he is shown to struggle against strong opponents. There is also real plot progression as Jinwoo actually accomplishes his initial goal of finding a cure for his mother, leading to one of the best character moments in the season, in my opinion.
The Jeju Island arc being almost a 1-to-1 copy of the Hunter x Hunter Chimera Ant arc does hurt the plot a little, in my opinion. It could’ve been a bit more original. And the arc again will likely end with Jinwoo fixing everything. There are some cliches here that I wish didn’t exist, but the plot overall is still good and compelling, so I won’t dwell on all this too much.
Characters
Jinwoo got quite a bit of depth in this season. I don’t know if I’d call it development, but we just get to see more sides of his character. Season 1 only gave us a small glance into how much he cared for his family, while in Season 2, that aspect of his character is one of the main focal points, it feels like. When Jinwoo’s mother finally wakes up, his reaction says everything. I also like how he refuses to go on the Jeju Island raid just to stay with his mother. It makes sense, man, if my mother woke up from a long coma, I wouldn’t leave her side for a good while, too.
The other character of focus in this season is Cha Hae-in. She gets a lot more screen time, and we get to see her interact with Jinwoo in different situations. I don’t think this is even a spoiler at this point, but Cha is supposed to be the main heroine going forward. The anime has made an effort to give Cha extra scenes, and I hope they continue this in the future as well because her and Jinwoo’s love story can use some more depth and time.
I wish other characters were given a bit more screen time like this, too, but well, this season introduces a ton of new characters, so managing screen time between everyone is tough, I understand. Still, characters like Go Gun-hee and Choi Jong-in are fleshed out just enough. Well, enough to the point where we care about them. This also helps in raising the stakes when Beru is going on a rampage.
Another special mention to Goto Ryuji. I think he’s cool.
Animations and Soundtracks
A1 Pictures cooked once again. Season 1 had pretty good animations as is, while Season 2 isn’t that different from Season 1; Season 2 just has more chances to show off the impressive animations. Yes, I can nitpick certain scenes that look worse than the Manhwa. But in general, the anime scenes look on par or better than the Manhwa. A1 Pictures wastes no chance of making Jinwoo as badass as possible. They’re cooking and I am here to eat.
The soundtrack is pretty good as well. The fight music is generally good; it is intense and fits the tone of the fights well. But the real standouts here have to be the opening and ending themes. ReawakeR by LiSA and UN-APEX by TK are awesome songs, and the animations to go along with them are well done too. It felt so good hearing TK again after such a long time.
Wrapping Up
Here are my final review scores for Solo Leveling Season 2:
- Plot – 7/10
- Characters – 8/10
- Animations – 9/10
- Soundtracks – 8/10
- Enjoyment – 10/10
- Overall – 8.4/10
And that concludes my review for Solo Leveling Season 2. As I said, this was a banger of a season, and even though I know how the remaining two episodes will go, I am still very much interested in watching them. Because you just know that the upcoming fights are going to be greatMymy favorite anime of the Winter 2025 season. With that said, I will take my leave here. IRyS dropped a new Eurobeat song, I have to listen to that. See ya!
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