With Igris summoned, Solo Leveling Season 1 closed the arc, leaving viewers with awe and high anticipation for its next season. Now, Jinwoo has become stronger and more handsome, and he’s gathering fans left and right, not only outside of the anime, but also inside. More attention is focused on Jinwoo from various guilds, trying to recruit an E-rank who is apparently stronger than an S-rank.
So, what can you expect after Igris? I will try to give you some brief teasers (will try my best to not give spoilers). Before that, check out the teaser trailer for Solo Leveling Season 2 below!
7 Arcs in Season 1
Before going further, here’s a bit of a recap.
Jinwoo has a sick mother who is currently bedridden and that’s the main reason he becomes a hunter and joins clearing dungeons. He needs to collect money and at the same time collect ingredients to craft the Elixir of Life (Holy Water of Life) to cure his mother’s mysterious illness. The elixir is said to be able to cure any illness. The ingredients to make the elixir are; World Tree’s Fragment, Spring Water of The Echoing Forest, and Purified Blood of Demon King.
He has a little sister called Jinah who actually opposed him from being a hunter since their dad went MIA and was presumed dead after becoming a hunter. However, after several consolations from Jinwoo, Jinah accepts his brother’s choice.
In his quests after the resurrection and levelling up, he unlocked an ability called Necromancer and an extra skill named Shadow Monarch – to summon the dead and become his servant. He then discovered he could summon the army he killed and later the general of the army – Igris.
**In season 1, Solo Leveling animation covered 7 different arcs from the manhwa. Hence, I expect Season 2 will cover around 7 or 8 next arcs, looking at its momentum. Now let’s get into it.
Arc 8 – Red Gate Arc
Jinwoo discovered that his sister’s best friend – Han Song Yi, is an E-rank hunter despite being a high schooler. Her skills are really in an E-rank. All this while she was being ‘carried’ by other adult hunters to complete a dungeon.
Unable to keep a blind eye to the dangers that Song Yi would be exposed to, Jinwoo acted like how most adults would do – warn her. However, Song Yi who is motivated to gather ‘easy’ money, ignored Jinwoo’s warning. To give her a taste of the truth, he got them a spot in the White Tiger Guild’s training exercise for new recruits. Which is clearing a dungeon that is of a low rank. However, things went south when the gate suddenly turned out to be a Red Gate once all of them stepped into the dungeon.
For those who don’t remember, Red Gate is an unranked gate due to its unlimited possibilities. The first time Jinwoo was killed in a dungeon was also caused by the Red Gate’s sudden appearance. But we all can say this one thing – Red Gate = Catastrophe. And boy, what happened in this Red Gate this time is no joke as well.
Arc 9 – Demon Castle Arc
The System suddenly offers Jinwoo an instant dungeon called The Demon Castle. The instant dungeon is an S-ranked dungeon.
In the anime, the recipe for Elixir of Life is already revealed in the beginning, but in Manhwa, the recipe is revealed much later. Which is in this arc. However, instead of making it worse, the anime made the right choice this time. It makes the objective of Jinwoo in leveling up and being stronger clear.
So would this arc be unnecessary? No. Because this is where Jinwoo will search for ingredients to make the Elixir of Life. Also, this is the arc where he would obtain one of his most powerful shadows and make a new alliance with a formidable foe.
Arc 10 – Retesting Rank Arc
With his reputation in clearing S-ranked dungeons, of course, he needs to be evaluated. This is when Jinwoo discovered a lot of personas behind the Korean Hunters Association. He made some new friends and also some new enemies. In this arc as well, some of the S-ranked hunters will be introduced. They will play a big role further in the anime.
At this point, Jinwoo does not belong to any guilds under the Korean Hunters Association. There are only 10 S-ranked hunters in their world, so, expect the Top 5 guilds’ fights to recruit Jinwoo to their guild after his true rank is revealed.
Arc 11 – Hunters Guild Gate Arc
While waiting for his new rank license, he kills his time by joining a Hunters Guild team in clearing an A-ranked dungeon (can you believe this man? Killing his time with literally – killing?)
Since Jinwoo has yet to obtain his new ranked license, he joined the team as an E-ranked hunter. Hence, he received a lot of bombastic side eyes, criminal offensive side eyes… But tadaa! Surprise, bxtch!
After fighting some A-ranked monsters, the team decided to retreat and continue clearing the dungeon later as some of the members got injured badly and needed to be treated ASAP. However, an unexpected thing happened and the rest is history.
Arc 12 – Return to Demon Castle Arc
Jinwoo’s level has risen a few levels by joining the Hunters Guild in clearing the A-ranked dungeon. He decided to return to the Demon Castle (in Arc 9) and continue exploring the upper floors.
This time, he wastes no time and straight-clean up the Demon Castle while obtaining some new powerful shadows – OP shadows. He even made the Demon King afraid of him, this guy!
Arc 13 – Jeju Island Arc
Jeju Island is a taboo topic for the other S-ranked hunters and also the Korea Hunters Association. This is because they used to dispatch some high-ranked hunters to raid the monsters’ emergence there in the past, but it was a huge failure.
This time, in this arc, the Korea Hunters Association decided to dispatch the S-ranked hunters with high expectations of winning the 4th raid. This arc is the first big important arc that will be a turning point in the plot. From the casualties, the secret reveals, the returning of a retired S-ranked hunter, and also the new monsters’ intelligence.
Arc 14 – Recruitment Arc
After the Jeju Island Arc, a new character is introduced. Her name is Norma Selner and she is a fortune teller. Her skills are upgrading hunters’ level and precognition. With this level of skillset, she works with the Bureau in the USA. Only chosen hunters will be selected by the Bureau to be upgraded by Norma and Jinwoo is one of them.
In order to upgrade a hunter, Norma will need to see the hunter’s soul. So guess what she saw when she tried to peek into Jinwoo’s soul?
This arc is also a big revelation on another side of the Korean Hunter Association and American Bureau. It is also related to arc 8.
Arc 15 – Ahjin Guild Arc
Even though Season 1 covered 7 Arcs from the Manhwa, I predicted that Season 2 would at least cover until this Arc, which is the 8th arc after Arc 7. Why? Knowing the style of A-1 Pictures Studio, they love to end a season with something that looks like closure but actually hints at a bigger plot build-up.
Everything that will happen in Arc 8 – 14 will be concluded in this arc. From the new rank for Jinwoo, the person involved in Arc 8, the monarch introduced in Arc 14, the Guilds, etc. Every single one of the conflicts will be ‘concluded’ in this Ahjin Guild Arc.
From the Manhwa, the conclusion is brilliant. The sequence and the progress are satisfying. But from the Manhwa as well, I know what is coming after what I thought was the peak of plot momentum. Obviously, we are not even halfway there.
Conclusion
My last words are if you thought Solo Leveling Season 2 would be lit, you thought right. Heck, it will be better, judging by how the first season is made. The best thing about Solo Leveling is, when you thought nothing more epic would appear, they will slap your face with – HA HA, YOU WISH!
The second season is currently in the making. Although no specific date has been revealed, it is expected to be released in late 2024. Come fast, please! I’ve read the Manhwa, yes. But I still want to watch the animation because they did it so well.
Until the Season 2 official trailer is released, I will not post any spoilers anymore! But do check other posts regarding different anime here! JAA.. MATA NE~
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