English Dub Review: Solo Leveling “If I Had One More Chance”

Overview:

Jin-Woo and his party have to survive a merciless trial.

Our Take:

Jin-Woo’s party find themselves trapped in a room with giant killer statues. They’re slaughtering members of the party left and right. However, everybody would survive if they just listen to Jin-Woo. He ends up being the one to figure out how to clear the trials. Unfortunately, this a thankless job and it doesn’t go smoothly whatsoever.

This episode is incredibly intense. It grabs my attention a lot quicker than the first episode did and this is a superior episode in general by far. We see how dangerous the job of a hunter really is. Plus, we see how stupid and selfish a lot of the hunters can be. I’m really not a fan of several party members. Everything would work out better if they just listen, but they decide to do their own thing. Either that or they just decide to value their own lives and not even think of saving their comrades. It’s understandable given the situation, but that still doesn’t make it the right thing to do.

Jin-Woo really shines as a character in this episode. He’s the weakest hunter, but everyone in the party would probably be dead if it wasn’t for him. We also get to meet his sister and mother here. I’m curious to learn more about their story in the future since they’re the whole reason Jin-Woo is risking his life.

The voice acting in this episode is superb. The best performance goes to Aleks Le, the voice of Jin-Woo, by a landslide. He gives it his all, especially in the last few minutes of the episode featuring delivery that is remarkable and his performance nearly brings a tear to my eye.

I liked the first episode fine, but this is the episode that’s really making me excited for what this show has to offer. There’s a lot more action, emotion and intrigue here than in the previous episode. If Solo Leveling continues on this track, then it might be an anime of the year contender.