Fans should have known it was going to be a recap.
Summary:
- Episode 7.5 of Solo Leveling was criticized for being a recap, even though it was announced as such.
- It was aired to catch up with the production schedule.
- Fans are still unhappy.
Solo Leveling Episode 7.5 being a recap invoked a massive outrage from the fans. The episode is now the most disliked episode of all time on Crunchyroll, and it’s completely understandable.
Fans really didn’t need a recap mid-season — it’s not like people forgot what happened so far. That said, if they watch it and then complain about it, it's the fans' own fault.
It was announced in advance
The anime was announced to take a week off — the episode that week was going to be a recap episode. If you followed the news, you would’ve known it; even if you didn’t, the decimal episode number should have tipped the viewers off. It’s quite common for Crunchyroll to license recap episodes for huge series nowadays.
The fact that the episode was a recap was also noted in its description — you would have needed to go out of your way not to notice. It’s pointless to complain about the episode being a recap. It’s not even part of the main episode count, so it’s not like the anime will have less episodes because of that.
Why recaps are needed
Solo Leveling was initially scheduled for 12 episodes. That still stands true: Episode 7.5 is not included among those. What possibly happened is the studio reserving the time slot for 13 weeks, which would mean that it would have to take one week off.
While that can be done after the anime has finished airing, there could have been legitimate reasons for airing a recap.
A very common reason for airing recap episodes is to ease the production schedule. Recaps are faster to make, and this gives the studio more time to work on the next episode. Occasionally it’s done due to the production being behind schedule.
In the case of Solo Leveling, the animation is one of the biggest selling points, and airing a recap was preferred to letting it deteriorate.
Fans are still angry
Some fans are still not convinced about the point of having a recap. They would have preferred the anime to not air anything at all — but that’s not how Japanese television works. Others point out that some anime air interviews with staff and cast instead, but that still requires extra scheduling.
However, the ultimate point remains the same. Most people should not have watched the episode in the first place — it was hard to miss the fact that it was a recap. While the decision to translate it and put it up is questionable on Crunchyroll’s part, it’s not like this recap actually hurt anybody