I’ve been commenting week by week about the tendency Solo Leveling has to alternate between action-focused and plot/worldbuilding focused episodes. This week, for the first time, I feel as though they’ve hit a Goldilocks blend of both that moved the episode forward at a respectable pace, wove in combat to satisfy that “punch thing hard” part of the brain, and didn’t jump between the two in a jarring way. While mostly faithful to the comic, this episode introduced a few subtle changes to the story which, in my opinion, all paid off quite well; each change had a very clear goal and that goal was achieved without fuss. Overall, the art, animation, and of course voice acting were stellar this week. If all of that weren’t enough, there were some very cool scenes this week and probably the coolest magical creature we’ve witnessed in action thus far. (Spoilers ahead for Solo Leveling episode 7: Let’s See How Far I Can Go)
Friends, Enemies, and Minions Who Find Your Phone Number
The first half of this episode is interesting in that it’s basically four sets of reactions to Jinwoo slaughtering a whole strike team. His reaction is to buy some fried chicken and beer with a bit of his earnings (respect). I’m glad the reaction wasn’t solely that though. We get to see some brief but valuable introspection from Jinwoo in this episode, especially as it relates to his personality. He didn’t struggle a bit to kill during last week’s episode and he’s very aware of what the “usual” him would have done in that scenario. But, as his conclusions about his new self would predict, he shrugs this off pretty easily. I feel as though this section was honestly more for the viewer, but it was nice nonetheless. His final words on the subject about being stronger for his family still feel very in-character for pre-awakening Jinwoo as well. It’s almost as if he’s losing sensitivity to anything that impedes his strength while keeping it for things that motivate him to move forward. That makes me wonder what will happen should he ever be forced to decide between family and power down the line.
The Hunter Association and Dongsoo Hwang’s reactions were mostly about the latter’s older brother, Dongsuk Hwang. His death necessitates action from multiple strong potential adversaries. This even further underscores how risky Jinwoo was by ignoring his admittedly pathetic pleas for his life. Had he listened for a few more seconds he may have at least known what he was getting himself into. As for Jinho Yoo, he gets right to business and tries to make use of the new connection he’s made for his own ends. As far as rich trust fund kids go I’m finding myself enjoying him a lot as a character. His reactions to imminent danger feel quite human in comparison to others. He had some false pride but dropped it immediately the moment he was humbled. He seems to have a strong sense of when to stay in his own lane and how to make that lane better; usually in uber rich kids I tend to see the exact opposite.
The Limits of Jinwoo’s Hubris
The second portion of the episode involves a new instance dungeon, a fiery castle and landscape guarded by a Cerberus-esque dog. Appropriately, this monster dogwalked Jinwoo for 5 minutes straight and it was oddly pleasing to watch. Maybe it’s because I’ve been experiencing powering up only to get smacked by a boss myself recently (thanks Persona), but Jinwoo needed to get checked a little bit, especially after boldly entering what he assumes is an S-rank dungeon. Evaluating the scenes themselves, I feel like this episode had the best individual sections of combat in Solo Leveling thus far, but that this fight as a whole is second to the spider overall in terms of animation quality. That said, the bar is high and this was amazing. The music was a nice touch and added to the “boss you’re underleveled for” vibe of the scene. Combat was fairly good, though I actually think the most impressive animation came from each moment Jinwoo got smacked. Blood specifically was flying around a lot in this episode and the staff managed to add large volumes of it to the screen while maintaining the natural feel of it as a fluid, even during high speed scenes.
As usual, Taito Ban’s voice acting added layers and layers to each moment. During some of the more guttural screams I found myself genuinely worried for his vocal chords, as much as I appreciate the dedication. This episode opted to move Jinwoo’s drinking of Kasaka’s Venom Gland to this section, and it added a nice rebound to the fight without coming out of nowhere. Personally, I feel like the way Jinwoo was getting handled in the beginning was more than a 20% physical damage reduction could solve, but that’s just me being picky.
Ultimately, this close of the episode was a satisfying win and a satisfying stop. It’s clear that Jinwoo can get power-hungry now, but he’s not so far gone that he’d charge into a flaming castle after almost dying (three times!) to its guard. I’m looking forward to seeing how he decides to engage with his family and others regarding this potion. If his mother is cured out of nowhere, someone is going to have questions. Additionally, I’m glad he has a fight against a well-known hunter locked in, even if the timing is conveniently in the future. The next episode will be a recap episode, possibly due to Taito Ban contracting Covid-19 or possibly to give the team a well-deserved break. Either way I hope they all rest well.
If you enjoyed Solo Leveling episode 7 then be sure to vote for it in our weekly poll! The series is streaming on Crunchyroll with new episodes airing on Saturday. As of January 20th, Crunchyroll is also streaming the English dub of the anime.
© Solo Leveling Animation Partners
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