©Courtesy of Crunchyroll
Video games are a brutal meritocracy. Your stats and levels are a direct result of your past play. The only way to raise them is by upping your game. However, Sung Jinwoo exists in a video game-inspired world, where the “player-characters” are blessed or cursed with very different starting endowments. Sung was one of the chosen elites to experience an awakening of superhuman powers, but as a lowly level “E-rank hunter,” his initial powers were not so super. Recently, though, he experienced a secret “re-awakening” that tremendously boosted his powers. Of course, it also makes him the focus of suspicion and next-level dangers in director Shunsuke Nakashige’s feature-length anime Solo Leveling: ReAwakening, based on Chugong’s Korean web-novel, which now opens this Wednesday in theaters.
In this world, “gates” leading to monsters just suddenly started appearing ten years ago. Apparently, this prompted the “awakening” of hunters, who mysteriously plug into a “System” that duly sends them out to slay the monsters and reap the rewards that come from the experience (in a very video game kind of why, but sometimes there is actual loot to plunder as well). After his initial awakening, Sung was merely classified as an E-level (the lowest of six letter grades, “S” being the highest). However, he did the best with what opportunities he was allowed, to support his younger sister and their hospitalized mother.
Then things changed. Sung still does not understand how or why, but for some reason the mysterious “System” governing the ecosystem of hunters and gates chooses him for an exponential upgrade. It is best to keep his new strength under wraps, or risk accusations of deliberately misrepresenting his rank. Nevertheless, his re-awakening comes at a fortuitous time, because some of the raiding parties recruiting E-level members intend to use them as expendable bait.
©Courtesy of Crunchyroll
Essentially, the theatrical cut of ReAwakening represents a feature-length distillation of the first season of the anime series and then advances through the second episode of the as-yet unseen second season. As a feature-film it essentially stands on its own, but Nakashige’s does not waste any time on recaps and shows little patience for exposition. Viewers basically get thrown into the deep end to figure out the systemic rules as they go.
In all likelihood, the more gaming-literate you are, the easier it is to relate to the Solo Leveling world. It is all about defeating level bosses to gain their weapons. That also means ReAwakening probably consists of 85% action, 10% intrigue (mostly involving Hwang Dongsoo, a top-ranked hunter, who blames Sung for his scummy brother’s death, perhaps not without reason), with 5% left for Sung’s personal drama.
Consequently, it is relatively easy to accept and enjoy ReAwakening as a rock-‘em-sock-‘em anime spectacle. Produced by the A-1 Pictures animation house (with additional “motion graphics” from Production I.G), the many, many battle scenes are animated with unusual clarity, despite the frenetic mayhem they necessarily entail. As a result, viewers can readily follow the blow-by-blow and discern shifts in momentum.
©Courtesy of Crunchyroll
Indeed, Sung’s duel with the shadow knight, Igris the Blood-Red represents a highly cinematic accomplishment in animated fight choreography. His battles with ice-bears and ice-elves in the snowbound gate also look great on screen.
Of course, that leaves Sung little time to ponder the meaning of existence or explore his own feelings to any extent. He must fight to survive in each gate and when he finally leaves, he tries his best to make up for lost time. Screenwriter Nobou Kimura’s one-darned-boss-after-another narrative creates a breathless pace, provided you enjoy the hack-and-slash combat (if not, it will probably feel rather repetitive).
Regardless, battles are what the Solo Leveling franchise is all about—and Nakashiga and company have quite an aptitude for them. In some ways, it is like Crunchyroll’s previous theatrical release, Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom, in that both films present an in-world vision of a gaming-inspired universe from the perspective of an average mortal-turned-warrior-hero, but Solo Leveling prioritizes action, whereas the former emphasizes world-building.
If you want to watch bosses fall and monsters vanquished, Solo Leveling: ReAwakening is your golden ticket. However, it never caters to newcomers, preferring to hype the pre-existing fanbase for further adventures. Mostly recommended for those fans, Solo Leveling: ReAwakening releases this Wednesday (12/4) in North American theaters.
Grade: B-
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Here’s the trailer of the film.