This week’s episode of Solo Leveling will finally make the “where’s the action” people shut up. Last week’s episode was dedicated mostly to exposition, frustrating fans who expected an action-packed episode after the series aired a recap following episode 7. This episode was the action people have been waiting for, building off of the valuable exposition and development for Jinwoo scattered throughout the season to give him some very introspective moments.
Even more, this episode was quite satisfying in its visual presentation. Solo Leveling has done an excellent job showcasing quick movements, clashes between blades, and volatile auras that change with different characters’ killing intent. Jinwoo is no exception from this; his skills and fighting style were the highlight of the episode and he felt like a badass even when he seemed on the defensive. (Spoilers ahead for Solo Leveling episode 9: You’ve Been Hiding Your Skills)
I think the arrangement of characters in this dungeon expedition is actually very interesting and well presented, especially with the narrative work that came last week. Episode 8 featured a glimpse into some of the politics between guilds, how cold hearted they can be, and how feckless they feel the Hunter’s Association is. This is then contrasted with an immediately sketchy and ultimately violent Association member in Kang, and spiced up with the inclusion of several criminals that feel absolutely no remorse.
Like the last time we saw Jinwoo enter a dungeon with others, he compares himself to those around him and it makes it natural for us to do the same. Episode 9 made a very explicit comparison between people who leave others to die and people who opt to kill, having Mr. Kim’s path and Mr. Kang’s path ultimately connect with Kang Taeshik’s and stop any progress toward the boss room. It feels almost like the story is telling us that those ways of living and fighting go nowhere and provide no path toward getting stronger. I can’t say for sure if this tunnel was an intentional metaphor, but either way I’m a fan.
The second level of comparison came when Jinwoo began to compare himself and Kang both in terms of their physical abilities and their mindsets. Interestingly, Jinwoo actually shows himself as pretty merciless even before Kang realizes he’s killed before. When confronting Kang, he asks why the assassin killed the others, and Kang assumes this includes the prisoners. Jinwoo indicates that he very much was not talking about them, meaning he didn’t care at all about them dying and the morality of that didn’t even sit with him.
On top of that, his anger at Mr. Kim dying felt less about the evil of murder and more about (1) Kang killing people with no particular gain (like grinding in a dungeon without getting experience) and (2) his being deprived of someone to direct his hatred and frustration for spending years as the world’s weakest hunter. This episode translated a moment of Kim and Jinwoo’s conversation as “how else can I keep blaming you.” To me, the translation should have been “how else can I keep hating you,” which not only feels in line with the spoken Japanese but also is in line with the comic translation. Jinwoo’s strength comes in part from frustration about being weak. When people who saw him as a weakling die, that means his inner anger loses substance. All of this was brief but, in my opinion, very important to see.
This is one of my favorite fights in Solo Leveling, almost entirely because of the battle aura and the use of skills. Jinwoo’s fights against humans have been too one-sided for skills to get a lot of use. This one showcased skills unique to a specific class as well as some swordsmanship before Jinwoo stepped in. That aside, Jinwoo is just so disrespectful in this fight that I can’t get over it. Healing in the middle of battle like it’s nothing is one thing.
Asking your opponent “are you done talking” is almost as disrespectful as grabbing someone’s face and slamming them into the ground. As far as the fight’s animation goes I actually felt that its first half was pretty meh. Showing speed by having fighters basically appear as lines on screen is cool, but it’s no substitute for actually showing blades clashing multiple times at high speeds. The first half of the fight between Jinwoo and Kang featured numerous cuts, not too many impact frames, and heavy reliance on the speed to avoid a lot of clash.
The second half on the other hand improved a lot on this, basically coinciding with Jinwoo getting serious. After hitting a Goku style warm up and dashing, he upped his game and the fight quality. There isn’t too much to say about that fight other than it looked great overall but had some room to improve. Then again, this isn’t a plot-defining boss fight so perhaps that’s just fine.
The ending of the episode definitely speaks to Jinwoo’s secret running out of time. The upper ranked hunters of Solo Leveling are no fools and Jinwoo is running out of benefit of the doubt. I’m hoping the next few episodes and any extra content they add make his attempts to level up in secret stay as excellent as it’s been.
If you enjoyed Solo Leveling episode 8 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