Solo Leveling Season 2 Episode 3 Review: Changing the Manhwa Isn't Always Making the Anime Better

Solo Leveling Season 2, Episode 2, “I Suppose You Aren’t Aware”, wrapped up the Red Gate arc nicely with an amazing fight between Jinwoo’s Shadow army and the Ice Elves that definitely lived up to the hype. Jinwoo emerged from this conflict even stronger, with a number of new and powerful Shadow Soldiers under his command, and the eyes of the White Tiger Guild and the Hunter Association more fixated on him than ever. In Episode 3, Jinwoo returns to the site of his hardest battle from Season 1 as the series somehow manages to keep up the pacing from the prior episode’s bombastic boss battle.

Episode 3 Starts With a Slow Build That Heats Up Quickly

A Series of Vital Conversations Make Up the Bulk of the Episode’s First Half

While Solo Leveling’s action and power fantasy shenanigans are its bread and butter, there is still a lot of great story and memorable characters beneath the surface. Early in Episode 3, fans get to see some more slice-of-life style moments with Jinwoo’s Shadow Soldiers, making up a smile-inducing detour that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. The episode itself still remains extremely faithful to the manhwa in terms of the plot lines it follows, following the sequence of events almost exactly. As such, much of the first half of the episode is encompassed by important conversations between the characters. Two of the most vital character plot threads currently ongoing in Season 2 are that of S-Rank Hunter Hwang Donsoo, and that of Jinwoo’s temporary raid partner Yoo Jinho. Both of these plot lines are expanded through brief conversations in Episode 3 that get right to the heart of things.

Dongsoo is the brother of Hwang Dongsuk, whom Jinwoo killed - along with Dongsuk’s entire gang of ruffians - early in Season 1 under a do-or-die quest from the System. While he was planning on waiting for Jinwoo to leave the Red Gate back in Episode 2, Dongsoo received an important call that forced him to leave the scene before he could carry out his murderous mission. Episode 3 reveals what that call entailed. It turns out, Dongsoo was called by his associates in America to interview a man who was found inside a gate, and who claims to be a Hunter from Korea. This man turns out to be Jinwoo’s dad, Sung Ilhwan.

One of Cha Haein’s Final Moments Before Her Manhwa Introduction is All-But-Wasted

In a lot of ways, the anime is doing a great service to the manhwa through added scenes that introduce characters earlier (like Cha Haein and Go Gunhee), hint at important future events (like the Jeju Island Raid) and even humanize Jinwoo more than he was in the anime, contributing to overall better character development. These added scenes have mostly helped to improve the characters, but the more scenes including Cha Haein are shown, the less the anime actually uses her for any real purpose. The manhwa may have introduced her much later which made her a more shallow character than she could have been, but the anime isn’t really adding much to her with scenes of her swimming in a pool as she does in Episode 3. Objectifying Haein may work in the short term, but it won’t actually contribute to making her a more likable or relatable character in the long run.

Even the brief flashback she gets here to her conversation with Cho Jongin fails to make her much more interesting or heroic. Cha simply asks Cho why the information about their upcoming raid to Jeju is being kept a secret, and that’s the extent of her role. The significance of this scene is that it reflects a change from the manhwa, which saw the Jeju Raid publicized before Baek even heard about what was happening there. It's a scene worth showing, but the rest of the lead-up to the flashback is such obvious fan service it's hard to justify it. If anything, Cha Haein’s inclusion in Episode 3 seems more like the anime’s means of simply reminding fans that she exists, rather than of actually using her to move the story forward in any profound way. It’s ironic that Cha Haein’s deep dive into the waters of the Hunter’s Guild doesn’t actually give viewers anything much deeper about Haein or the guild’s politics.

The Music and Animation Combine to Give Solo Leveling’s Demon’s Castle New Life

While they miss the mark in some ways, Episode 3 doesn’t completely drop the ball with its anime-added scenes. An awesome subtle piece of foreshadowing comes right after the OP, as Jinwoo and Jinho sit down for a celebratory meal now that theyve completed the last of their agreed-on 19 raid missions. A simple close-up of a sizzling stove cooking meat is shown, with a hot flame underneath. This was not in the manhwa, but in the context of the episode, it fits perfectly with the burning flames Jinwoo will soon be surrounded with upon his return to the Demon’s Castle later in the episode.

The title of Episode 3, “Still a Long Way to Go” is a reference to one of the most iconic scenes of Jinwoo during the current arc in the manhwa. The scene in question also makes up the cover art of the official release of Manhwa volume 4, which the anime is still in the thick of, so it’s a very fitting title. The scene depicts Jinwoo standing on top of a mound of corpses within the Demon’s Castle, confidently staring off as though looking for the next fight. While there, he muses “Still a long way to go”, as he realizes he’s not even halfway to the top of the humongous Demon’s Castle. What remains unspoken in this line, however, is the fact that even as far as he has grown as a Hunter via the System, he still hasn’t gotten anywhere close to his peak. It’s a powerful scene considering all it took to get him here, but the anime makes an interesting call in completely omitting the scene despite immortalizing it in the episode’s title. It’s as though the animators felt it best to honor DUBU’s beloved art by not attempting to recreate it exactly, but simply acknowledging an important piece that shows the merit in still reading the manhwa, even with how excellent the anime looks.

While the manhwa is still worth reading in a post-anime world, there’s at least a few things the anime will always better by virtue of the medium, like sound design. The sinister soundtrack and devious laughter of the demons as Jinwoo reenters the Demon’s Castle give the episode an added layer of horror that wasn’t possible in the manhwa or light novel. The sheer scale of the dungeon is also given new life in panning shots in the anime, and the assorted scenes of Jinwoo in the Castle that cut in and out between conversations is actually a valid way to keep things upbeat throughout an episode that contains a fair amount of dialogue.

One of the triumphs of the ReAwakening film was that the first two episodes of Season 2 that it covered made for a stellar stand alone arc to fit into a film format. Season 2 Episode 3 pulls off a similar feat in a single episode. It’s not uncommon for anime series that are adapting manga (or in this case, manhwa) storylines to end episodes at the middle of fights with cliffhangers and unresolved story beats that require fans to wait until the next episode to see what happens. While the larger story of Solo Leveling is absolutely still far from complete, bringing to a close this brief journey back to the Demon’s Castle all in one episode was an excellent directing decision, as it included all the vital details without sacrificing the series’ pacing. A-1 Pictures knows that Solo Leveling has more than enough action and excitement to make every episode worthwhile, and it doesn’t have to drag out each fight or important conversation to keep viewers engaged.