Solo Leveling: ReAwakening Review

Solo Leveling is a franchise by a Korean web novel and adapted into an anime series. The series gets its first film adaptation with Solo Leveling: ReAwakening.

Sung Jin-woo (Taito Ban) is a weak E-Ranked monster hunter who is bestowed with special powers after dying during a raid and is resurrected. Sung secretly becomes one of the powerful monster hunters and is underestimated by potential rivals. However, Sung’s new powers and abilities might mean he’s destined for something greater.

Many films have been based on anime series and have often taken different approaches to adapting the source material. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 was a prequel to its series, Spy x Family Code: White was a standalone adventure, and The First Slam Dunk and HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle focused on different protagonists. Solo Leveling: ReAwakening took the worst approach possible since it was the first season edited down to a feature film, and the selling point was it also contained a preview of the first two episodes from the second season. Fans of the series will be annoyed because they are being sold an abridged version of something they have already seen, and newcomers will miss out on character development and world-building. The production of this film seems like a way for the producers to milk some more money out of pre-existing material.

At best, Solo Leveling: ReAwakening can be seen as a sampler for newcomers. It did have lots of monster, and dungeon crawling action that can give people a fantasy fix. Sung had to fight various monsters, from goblins to giant spiders to noble knights, as well as some human episodes. Even though the monster hunters are tasked with protecting the world from supernatural threats, they were playing a real-life version of World of Warcraft and Dungeons & Dragons. Hunters picked classes like warrior, mage, healer, etc…, and went on dungeon-crawling missions. Hunters could access a digital interface like a video game so they could access their inventory and mission objectives. However, the consequences of failure can be dire because death cannot be reserved.

Solo Leveling: ReAwakening acted as the CliffsNotes version of the first season. It gives newcomers a general sense of the major plot points like Sung using his newfound abilities, making potential allies and enemies, and having more personal drama involving his mother and sister. The film was a streamlined experience and it was clear that some storylines and episodes were cut to ribbons so the film could focus more on the monster fighting.

The action and animation were of a decent standard. There was violent action that could satisfy anyone’s bloodlust. As the film progressed the fights became more impressive as Sung fought stronger opponents. This was when the film was at its most entertaining. The preview of the second season was intriguing since it took a party of hunters into a fantasy world instead of an enclosed space. It felt like Log Horizon, another MMORPG-influenced anime. Since the animation was intended for television which forced the creators had to use shortcuts to help stretch out the budget. It brought back memories of a gag from the second season of Invincible about tricks animated shows have to use.

Solo Leveling: ReAwakening might draw new audiences into the series, but the people who would be most likely interested in a Solo Leveling movie, i.e. fans of the show and anime will feel short-changed.