English Dub Review: Solo Leveling “A Knight Who Defends an Empty Throne”

Overview:

Out of the blue, a “job-change quest” pops up in Jinwoo’s window. Feeling that it may help him get stronger, he enters the gate. Inside, he fights wave after wave of enemies, culminating in a knight who brings back memories of the Cartenon Temple.

Our Take:

I follow a few VAs on different social media but I mostly stick to my favorites. Aleks Le, the voice of Jinwoo, falls into this category. I’m aware that these episodes include parts of the manhwa that are fan favorites but some of the things I saw people saying to Aleks if he messes up one of these parts was embarrassing. I know the argument about subs vs dubs will probably never end but the talented VAs who put in all their effort don’t deserve the treatment they get a lot of times. For this episode specifically, Aleks said he coughed up blood the next day after the work he put in and after watching the episode I can see why.

Now onto the episode itself, the easiest way I can sum it up is that it was a treat for the eyes. This fight scene was awesome. Igris, the knight Jinwoo fights is the biggest test he’s had up to this point. A-1 Pictures went all out with this fight scene, I loved every second of it. But now it’s going to come full circle because the best part of the episode was Aleks Le. He was one of my favorites before this series and he has had a lot of great roles but this might be his best work yet. The raw emotion he brings to Jinwoo is so good that now when I’m reading the manhwa I read Jinwoo’s lines in his voice. Aleks said to let him cook for episode twelve and I fully believed in him before this but everyone else should have bought in after this.