Ore dake Level Up na Ken – 04

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“I’ve Gotta Get Stronger”

I don’t know… Did anyone else feel the animation was just quite stiff? For example, in the end, Jin-woo launches his projectile to help the assault team with the golem – which was supposed to be the jaw-dropping moment of this episode – kinda just felt flat. Could be just me, but there’s an overall stiffness that permeates throughout the show, most prominently in characters in the background, and actions scenes that are supposed to go all out feel just kinda bland? I don’t know man, again just my opinion, but I’m starting to see a lot of shortcuts being taken – and the overall hype around this show has slowly been dying I certainly have not seen a lot of people talk about it except those that are fans of the manhwa like myself. I don’t see it picking up past the heights that it already achieved, especially because some of the cooler fights are reserved for much later in the story. So I’m not sure if A-1 was hoping to ride the hype train that is the success of the manwha and hope fans would chuck it to general anime jank.

Here’s the thing – last season we had the excellent animated show JJK that was simply gorgeous in every frame, every episode was bigger than the last, and now that Solo Leveling has come around hoping to garner some of that shonen market – well it’s not exactly wowing me per-say. But I am enjoying it, it’s fun to see Jin-Woo finally grow a pair and start throwing himself at enemies despite not knowing the true extent of his power. Furthermore, we have Solo Leveling Arise to look forward. And I’m not sure if they’re doing it on purpose or what but they’re uploading weekly previews on their Twitter (no I’m not calling it X) that pretty much outsell the anime itself. A marketing stunt no less – but seeing those short clips side by side with the anime – leaves a lot to be desired from the anime itself.

Another thing that sort of bothered me was – why we need so many flashbacks I get they’re important – because they needed to emphasize that part of the story for Jin-woo’s sake, but at the same time the only real flashback was the one where the old dude (I forgot his name) encourages Jin-woo to prove them all wrong because he is being harassed and called the weakest hunter of all of humanity or something like that. Everything else was just unnecessary, but I digress. Of course, I’m being a little harsh on the anime but I sort of was expecting more from an adaptation I adore, I thought this could be my next JJK but the animation is just not there. Not in the way I was raving about JJK and recommending it to all my friends and saying they were missing out. with Solo, it’s just like – yeah it’s all right – you’ll have a fun time if you’ve read the comic, but otherwise the animation is kinda mid. The thing is we mostly watch anime – because it’s animated.

I like that Jin-woo is showing that brave face and he is slowly changing to be more like the Jin-woo we know and love. Yeah, he pretty much strangled the snake giving it a big hug!

Oh man – it’s a little embarrassing that the anime is trying to show off while Arise is slowly capitalizing on the momentum to pull in some numbers and views for their Netmarble game. Which I could totally review for RC *wink**wonk* hahah jk… unless???

Arise is just dropping with the style and flashy animation that this series desperately deserves. So yeah let me know if you feel the same way – I’ll still be watching though – oh yeah and sorry if this review is a little late – it’s my bday next week! And just had some time to sit down and cap and write this review, what do you think so far of Solo Leveling?

Full-length images: 36.

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