Solo Leveling: ReAwakening

 Solo Leveling, a South Korean web novel and comic by Chugong, was a pretty big deal long before it was adapted into an anime early this year. And now, with the second season fast approaching, its fans can get a taste of the action in Solo Leveling: ReAwakening. What can new fans expect?

In this two-hour movie, the audience will get a 75-minute Viewer's Digest of the anime's first season, followed by a nearly seamless edit of the second season's first two episodes. I'll explain later what I mean about "nearly seamless" while I get into the actual content of this movie.

In the backstory, portals to fantastical "dungeons" keep popping up around Earth. Meanwhile, a few people get superpowers, and it's up to these "Hunters" to fight off the monsters on the other side. Otherwise, the monsters will inevitably invade Earth. A Hunter's Power Level is stagnant, which is a problem for series protagonist Sung Jinwoo, since he is literally called the World's Weakest Hunter. One day, "The System" takes pity on him and "ReAwakens" him with the ability to Level-Up just like an RPG Character. After a while, anyone expecting an easy target will get a nasty surprise. It's even nastier when Jinwoo ascends to become a Necromancer.

During one of his Dungeon Raids, Jinwoo and his new friend, Yoo Jinho, are left to die by their guild at the fangs of a Spider Boss. Jinwoo kills the Spider, and later, the treacherous guild members. Their leader, Hwang Dongsuk, has a brutish brother named Dongsoo, who arrives to take vengeance during part two. By that point, Jinwoo - Jinho was already hushed out of the story - and his new guild are fighting Ice Monsters in a snowy dungeon. Jinwoo takes down the monster Polar Bears, but the Ice Elves are a different story. 

The film works as an appetizer for the series as a whole. There are plenty of impressive battles between the hunters and various monsters. The villains, whether they be humans or monsters, are quite monstrous, and their ghoulish smiles will etch into your memories. It just makes it cathartic when Jinwoo gets down to business and deals with them. Them taunting Jinwoo over his "weakling" status makes for great dramatic irony. The concepts of the system were intriguing enough to get me to check out a bit of the show on Crunchyroll when it was done. Maybe it will get you interested, too.

Let's talk about a few supporting players. Jinho's screentime is relatively short, but his chipper personality and heroic determinism will win you over in no time. Dongsuk's nice guy act is legitimately convincing, which makes it all the scarier when he drops it. A few other highlights include Jinwoo's sister Jin-Ah and aspiring hunter Han Song-Yi, both of whom help humanize Jinwoo. Another hunter, Kim Cheol, is legitimately scary when his sanity cracks during part two. But when he's killed and resurrected into one of Jinwoo's Shadow Warriors, Iron, he becomes surprisingly and legitimately goofy. One of the most memorable antagonists is Igris, a Red Knight who becomes Jinwoo's number one Shadow Warrior after a long and brutal fight. 

Where it doesn't work is that it loses some details in its Viewer's Digest form. The film rushes Jinwoo from world's weakest to world's strongest so fast that his character growth barely registers. We barely know Jinwoo's raid party during "The Double Dungeon Event," a name barely explained here, which makes two of them being murdered by the psychotic hunter Kang Taeshik not that impactful. Jinwoo's sick mother is alluded to, but she also barely registers in the plot. Ironically, these lost details aren't enough to leave new viewers stranded at sea. They can understand, for example, the concept of ReAwakening even if it's also barely explained. 

Now, what did I mean about "almost seamlessly" earlier? During part two, there's a repeated shot of Cheol charging at Jinwoo during his battle with the Boss Ice Elf. It's either where the show comes out of a commercial break, or part of the last time segment at the start of an episode. I'm thinking it's the latter. Otherwise, the two episodes really do flow together.

We have another month before Solo Leveling's second season - subtitled Arise from the Shadow - comes out. Solo Leveling: ReAwakening won't have much time before it's crowded out of theaters by a whole slew of other films. So, if you want a taste of things to come, you have to get to theatres now. If not, the whole first season is there on Crunchyroll. I think it's worth a try either way. That's it for now.