To an S-rank overnight?
Summary:
- Jinwoo’s level increased significantly in the latest episode.
- This development happened too fast.
- The fast pacing feels right for some fans, though.
Solo Leveling (Ore dake Level Up na Ken) Episode 4 was one of the most exciting for now, and it’s a no-brainer.
With this episode, the series reached another level of exciting action and stunning visuals, we saw the first proper boss fight of Jinwoo, and the title of the anime finally started to make sense, since the main protagonist leveled up significantly.
He levels up too fast
But this is exactly the problem of the episode. During his dungeon fights, Jinwoo received so many “level up” notifications that we’ve lost count. Fans speculate on his current rank and think that he might have even moved two ranks forward.
This trope of getting from 0 to 100 overnight is kind of overused, fans think, and while Solo Leveling did it with a beautiful picture, epic soundtrack and an overall feeling of excitement, something is still lacking.
This fast leveling up is not the only issue we see with the episode. Jinwoo’s personal character development also raises a couple of questions.
Confidence boost
He seemed to know perfectly well that he was the weakest hunter among his peers, but we see him defeat a dozen monsters in one dungeon and he’s already full of self-confidence and exudes this badass vibe that so many shounen protagonists have.
Character development is usually one of the best parts of a story, and it’s always curious to watch weak characters turn into true heroes or even killing machines. But the beauty of it lies in its gradual build-up. And Solo Leveling denied viewers that.
We still don’t know where Solo Leveling is going with this, and maybe the higher Jinwoo’s level is, the more struggles will appear on his way, so it’s too early to call “bad writing”. But Episode 4 was rather puzzling.
Still, there are fans that are truly enjoying the fast pacing of the series and even add that it feels right for an anime like Solo Leveling. They don’t want to watch a weak and crying character for 12 episodes, they want epic battles right now.
As we said, the episode does look incredible and leaves you wanting more like all the previous episodes of Solo Leveling. So we can’t wait to see where this is all leading us, and how Jinwoo’s character development will unfold in the future.