The ZONE Podcast: Nerdy News and Reviews
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The ZONE Podcast: Nerdy News and Reviews
Solo Leveling (Season 2): The Evolution of Sung Jinwoo, Rising From the Shadows
Sung Jinwoo's journey from E-rank to S-rank continues in Solo Leveling Season 2 as he faces powerful new enemies including demon monarchs and the formidable Ant King on Jeju Island.
• The mysterious "System" allows Jinwoo to level up unlike other hunters in this world
• Jinwoo's shadow army gains powerful new additions including a wyvern named Kaisel and the Ant King, Beru
• The season reveals the existence of Monarchs and Rulers, powerful entities locked in conflict over Earth
• Fight choreography and animation quality reaches new heights, particularly in the Jeju Island raid battle
• Differences between the anime adaptation and original manhwa provide interesting discussion points
• The panel unanimously rates the season 10/10 despite adaptation changes
• Jinwoo's father is revealed to have been trapped in America after escaping a gate 10 years ago
Check out our upcoming "Anime Lightning" reviews for underrated shows that deserve more attention, and stay tuned for full reviews of Sakamoto Days and Sentai Red Isekai.
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solo leveling. Ah man, like it just gets better and better with each season. But before we get into that, I feel like I need to recap season one, since the gentleman here, koki gatsu and talos gundam uh, led the review in my stead. But uh, let's do this right before we roll into season two. So, as we know, solo leveling is a south korean that follows the journey of an initially weak and underwhelming protagonist, son genu, and a world where portals connect earth to dangerous dungeons filled with monsters. So it kind of gives you the little video game kind of vibe.
Speaker 1:So story begins genu e-rank the world's weakest uh struggling to make ends meet. He's trying to help put his sister through school, his mom's in um hospital because the eternal sleep curse and despite his low rank, it's hard for him to make money and enter dungeons and all that shit. He eventually joined a party that discovers a hidden double dungeon, deadly challenges, heavy casualties. Junu almost lost his life and was left for dead when you know, trying to help the others, but miraculously the system helped him out and he woke up in a hospital. He can take on quests, rewards and level up um. This a unique opportunity for him in this world where hunters go about, um, getting their ranks, because once you know, once you get awakened, you get that one rank and that's it. But sometimes there's like a reassessment and yeah, throughout season one, he faced numerous dungeons and enemies, steadily climbing the ranks, gains allies such as the noble hunter uh chai halian, and encounters formidable foes and including the powerful dungeon bosses and otherworldly beings known as monarchs. His reputation grows. He's become not only known for his strength, but also for his strategic mind and leadership skills. The seasoned culminates in a grand battle against an S-rank dungeon boss that threatens the safety of his soul, and, with his enhanced abilities and with the help of his summoned shadow soldiers, genu manages to defeat the boss, showcasing his growth from the weakest hunter to a formidable force.
Speaker 1:That was season one. Now let's get into season two. So, essentially, genu is delving deeper into the secrets of the system and the origins of the dungeons. He learns about the existence of monarchs and rulers. These are these powerful entities vying for control over earth and as he navigates this new landscape, genu grapples with his humanity and his responsibility that comes with his powers. Throughout the season, he encounters new allies, such as the guild master, gokhan he, and formidable enemies, including other monarchs who seek to challenge his growing influence. The political landscape among hunters has become more complex, with alliances and rivalries forming among the various guilds and nations.
Speaker 1:The War of the Monarchs? Is this tension between monarchs and rulers escalating into a full-blown war, with Junyu caught in the middle? So he must make strategic alliances and confront his own limitations as he prepared for this impending battle that could determine the fate of the world. So, as Sinsu 2 concludes, junyu's journey reaches a critical juncture. He faces a series of personal and existential challenges that test his resolve and commitment to protecting humanity. Uh, it ends on a dramatic cliffhanger, setting the stage for a final showdown and promised to answer lingering questions about true nature of the system and genie's ultimate destiny. Uh, that's pretty much the gist of season two, but I have additional notes on season two. This is where I get kind of funny, so if I sound like, oh well, that's not completely accurate, to be fair, I'm kind of doing it for the jokes for the most part, but here's how I really feel about season two.
Speaker 1:So genu kills some polar bears and adds them to the army. This raid captain, kim chul, starts tweaking about genu helping his team survive while his squad gets wiped out. So kim tries to kill him. Genu kills him instead and adds him to the army as iron, which is like this kind of like the bumbling idiot of the generals where he's trying to uh copy igor's flows, where it's like igor's with hand on genu on the head of his enemy, and then iron is like, hey, I'm gonna do that too. And then igor is like this nigga here. Genu then mows through some ice elves easily.
Speaker 1:We are introduced to song il juan, who is genu's and jina's father, who was trapped in a gate 10 years ago but managed to escape the gate, just to end up in prison and america accused of being a magic beast. Genu quest to obtain the elixir of life in order to restore his mother's health. He also decided to drop the ax, so to speak, of being an e-rank in order to participate in higher rank raids and, according to the reassessment, genu is considered the 10th s-rank hunter that the hunter's guild has come across. We get to see some well-endowed women in action in Episode 5. You've seen the post with Libora, gina, and so Jinwoo in particular. You know the Pugilist woman. Jinwoo killed some orcs and, as their leader to this rank, renamed Kargogon as Tusk. Genu also dropped a classic Vegeta line. You know when he fought, when Vegeta fought Android 19, and he asked Android 19, do you feel fear? And Genu said the same thing to the demons and he also dropped a Kamina line. You know when he says who the hell do you think I am to a fucking, oh, fucking ant king? But uh, anyways, uh, no, no, that wasn't ant king, that was the demon monarch, that's right, and he was fighting the demons in the demon castle. Uh, and the demon monarch, like I said, he asked the wyvern, uh, kaisel, to the shadow army. We're introduced to the radiru family, who is his clan of demons. That helps, you knew.
Speaker 1:Uh, the plot thickens when the war against the monarchs, like I mentioned before, becomes more imminent and the s-ray hunkers prepare for the jeju island raid, where a giant flying ant began attacking the mainland. Now, the setup for the jeju island oddly reminds me of mirror room from kamaya and Art from Hunter x Hunter. Just a little bit, just a little bit. And the animation, the designs, the fight choreography is stone cold, as usual. Spades were definitely caught throughout the season, especially with Jinwoo versus the Ant King, who Jinwooenu, excuse me adds to the army as beru and you know, whenever beru shows up, oh, you can see the animation, all that.
Speaker 1:But uh bro, this anime has so much sauce that it retains its five star status for the time being. I can't wait for season three. I can't wait to see what happens, especially on jenny stepping to this red gate, because we know that reggae is also like a very critical art for him as well. So, for time being, 10 out of 10. I fucking love this anime. So I'm gonna open this up to the panel now starting. Starting with Talos Gundam. How you feeling about Soul Leveling, season 2?
Speaker 3:First and foremost, put respect on his name. It is Son Rip. That's what the fuck that man's name is. He aura forms for a living Every episode. He's catching aura in the words of my boy, pancho, what the huss is always watching.
Speaker 2:Every time it's like he raises up people without trying.
Speaker 3:Exactly Every episode is always watching. That's how he put it. But outside of that, let me explain to y'all the joys of being able to at least talk to y'all heathens about the glories, the glories of him getting into what we call his prime and some of y'all Basketball hoes out here oh, lebron is the greatest. No, no, no. This, right here, is what prime LeBron wants to be. That's what the hell this is. This, right here, is what prime LeBron Wants to be.
Speaker 2:Damn Straight like that.
Speaker 3:Michael could never. I want y'all to know Wholeheartedly that this, right here, this man, how Sway Do you? Literally, you, an egress Tag team, and this man Step out of your. This man steps out of your. This man steps out of your cloak in all pure swag, pure swag. Mind you, before this, you didn't even let the, you didn't even let the Chief of the Ice Elks finish speaking. You was the one that cut that man's head off. No, no, no.
Speaker 1:It was his buddy, you know what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying, though. I love the way he did it, though it was like, oh hey, my boy here told me about you and he wanted to scrap with you, and then he cut that head off.
Speaker 3:He didn't get to say he wanted to scrap. He didn't get to say he wanted to scrap as soon as he went to say, hey, he want to click what he want to do again. That man dead what he want to do again. That's basically how that went. That's how that went. He went straight up and was like what that man want to do again? Nah, it's all right, not nothing. Nothing he could have checked. When I tell you that some of these fights, demon King fight, I want y'all to understand. Lord, lord, have mercy. Once again, the Huzz was watching that man. That man literally kept that girl from dying from the lightning, turned around and was like I may not be able to get the demon, I want the dragon. That man said go for it, I want the dragon. That wyvern's mine. This, let you know, this man got taste. This man got taste.
Speaker 1:I mean it makes sense to have a flyer In your army, so yeah.
Speaker 3:Let's step back a tad bit, shall we? Let's step back even further. Well, even further still, right? No, bruhs like going back to it when he got tusked. Oh, oh. Never in all your days have you ever seen such a masterpiece of ass whoopiedry. Like bros, every single fight was goaded. Hands down, hands, fucking down. I'm not trying to be out here and be like Tuck. I ain't trying to be like that. I'm not trying to sit here and be like oh yeah, you know a stand, because I'm an actual fan. Once again, I want y'all to know my boy puts in the work to make sure he is the best.
Speaker 1:I mean to be fair, the Luria blows almost look like JoJo-esque where it's like god damn, he just really beating the dog shit out of some of these enemies.
Speaker 3:Half of them, half of them, he of them, he play with, and I'm going to be real with it.
Speaker 1:Oh no, he really played with the Ant King. He was like really playing with the food with the Ant King.
Speaker 3:Not as much as you think either Like I don't know what you're saying, like you let this man hit you just to be like oh okay, that wasn't it, hold on, let me get you back real quick.
Speaker 2:Huh, bam Right everybody thought that he was like Jinwoo. Oh man, he was so strong, but apparently he just wasn't strong enough to smoke clear, felt a little scratch, hit him back. You know, like wait a second no.
Speaker 3:And like my boy said, like my boy, hensho, said, and he skipped for this, how you gonna play with your food? Like this, what you mean? No, you let this man hit you with poison Poison and you know you're immune. You sat there and played like you were weak and the moment this man walked up, you cut his tongue out. What?
Speaker 2:Oh, actually hold on. That's one thing. That's one of the things that when it gets my turn into it, there's a lot of stuff that's actually changed from the manhwa to the anime here. So that point where you say, cut the tongue out, he only cut the tongue out in the manhwa. He actually didn't do that in the anime.
Speaker 3:I mean yeah, true, In the anime he didn't show, but you know. But let me get to the parts about that real quick. So Japan, Japan, we get salty.
Speaker 2:Now we salty, oh bro. No, no, they have been salty Because they changed a lot of stuff in this anime.
Speaker 3:Hold on One thing I want to talk about. So we salty now Because your boy basically got his ass whooped. So instead of you showing it, you decide oh okay, no, we're not going to show that. We're not going to show that Just because your nigga got his ass whooped. Oh no, no, hell, no, that's because your nigga got his ass whooped.
Speaker 3:Oh nah, nah, hell, nah run that entire fight back run that entire fight back the way it was supposed to be run, because y'all, some bitches, and you knew, you fucking knew, that this man got literally, he got his ass whooped. He got his ass whooped.
Speaker 2:Real quick, jb. Do you know who we're talking about? Though, wait, what? Do you know which character we're talking about that got his ass whooped so bad? That's just from the Japanese squadron.
Speaker 1:The name just escaped me, Like sometimes with the names.
Speaker 3:He's the top S-rank for the Japan squad. The top S-rank.
Speaker 2:Describe him to me Like the appearance, the older guy, the older guy that nobody wanted to squabble with. But then when Jinwoo showed up, he was like no, I want to squabble with him. And then Jinwoo was like I agree, but you need to go all out when you're fighting me. Yes, goto, goto. Okay, goto had two ass whoopings that he was supposed to. That was detailed out in the manhwa that they completely cut out in the anime.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, yeah, no, no, because I noticed that and I was like goddamn, oh, and how. The Ant King thought, oh, is this your king? He was like on some Killmonger show, like where's your king? At, I need to give him the pay.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That was.
Speaker 3:Like I said, my thing was. Like I said, my thing was you knew your dude got his ass whooped in the mongrel. You knew he got his ass whooped, but you want to cut it out. You don't want that. So you want it to show up as like they tied. However, even when it looked like they tied, your boy still came off sweating, didn't even sweat a bit. But okay, I digress, I digress.
Speaker 3:Like I said, y'all wanted to cut some scenes out. I get it. You want to add an extra of your own. Take some scenes away, not put everything in. However, I'm going to say it again for those of you out here Read a book, read a book, read a motherfucking book. That way you can see. Ain't nobody got time for this, nah, nah, because I want folks to know yeah, they trying to play on my boy name, they trying to play on my boy top. Ain't no way in the fuck you let that slide. No, then on top of that, on top of that, the fucking Beru fight. I say again Y'all did not have to. Y'all did not have to do Beru that way. Y'all did not have to Do Barry that way.
Speaker 1:Y'all did not have to. He was on some Galen shit From Seven Deadly Sins Like oh shit, he's way too trying to get out. And then Jin was like no, no, no, hold on, I thought you wanted this move.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to wait, but honestly, that's one of the things that I actually hated, because in that moment it it feels like they hold him Because he didn't do that. He was the ant king.
Speaker 3:He stood like a proud king in the Marwa, so them making him run away was like In the Marwa, because he may not have ran the way he did, but in the Marwa he was running like a bitch. He didn't run.
Speaker 2:The first thing he did was when he took, when he um first time, when because obviously I'm bringing that up too when jimmy first hit him with mutilation, the first time jimmy unlocked mutilation to hit him with it, the first thing he did was pull his hope, was bring to all the answers to a whole army strike. He didn't run until like at the very end, when his army's been defeated and he was at the point of literally about to die after he transformed and everything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what I'm saying, but before then that was it.
Speaker 2:That whole continual running like a bitch. That never happened.
Speaker 3:Like I said he ran then and that part I give them. Once he saw that he was like okay, I'm, I'm completely outpowered, oh no, I gotta go. He was, he ran then but before then, like no, like y'all, y'all, when I say, when I and I say wholeheartedly it was overkill, it was overkill, yeah, the manga made it seem like it was a little bit more fair, but anime-wise that was overkill Y'all literally basically said, oh no, bitch, I'm mad today. So what I'm fixing to do is I'm going to hit you with the 32-piece combo and then follow that up with the 64-piece ultra.
Speaker 1:I feel like they had to ham it up for the season finale. They did.
Speaker 3:They did, don't get me wrong. They did because Barrow was one of the hyped-up fights. Barrow was one of the hyped-up fights and, like I said, because I want to hear what Kofi Guts got to say. But I want you all to understand. Coming up, the Andre fight, I want y'all to know, I want y'all to know I'm going to be like Thanos when that fight come up. What I'm about to do is personal. I'm going to do Is personal. I'm gonna enjoy it, cause every ounce.
Speaker 3:Of what's been happening. Andre deserves. I can't wait. Go Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go Go, come on it was.
Speaker 2:It is most so, look, you know how it is like what iron's hot.
Speaker 2:You know, ride the light and touch it true, so I'm not gonna say I mean, I have gotten up to talent status. However, I definitely can't say I'm not a stan. I'm definitely a fan at this point because I read the manhwa today. All right, I'm not all caught up, I ain't read the whole thing, because the manhwa, no, most people don't realize solo leveling. The manhwa is actually already finished. You're already on the second series, yes, involving his son. We don't rack on. Yeah, we don't rat and rock. I haven't gotten anywhere near that far. Okay, so I still got quite a bit of manhwa to read, but I want to make sure I had a chance to read, to understand it, because I read online. So many people that as many people still loved it, clearly still give it a high rating.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of stuff that changed that they're kind of upset about and some stuff you're like. Okay, I can accept this change and some stuff you're like, but why did you do that? It's like. It's one of those ones like it doesn't make sense. Like, for example, the tv broadcast went out in the anime. That's not what the fuck happened in the month. The reason what happened in the month was that. So in the anime recap real quick our healing man dies, he dies and at that point, after he dies, they're getting destroyed by the Ant King.
Speaker 1:Young Yu. I think that's his name.
Speaker 2:So the signal winds up going out and everyone's calling the broadcast network. We can't see nothing, we can't see what's going on. He's like, well, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do, and stuff like that. In actuality, what happened was in the Monwar. The video was still broadcasting and everybody watched him get killed by the ant king. As soon as he was ran through the media, people cut the feed from everybody and the men, the producers, literally says they still have that moment where it's like, oh, people are calling in asking questions, but instead of saying what can I do? I don't have nothing to show him, I don't have nothing to show them, he's actually saying what should I do? Should I show all of our, all of our heroes being slaughtered? This one black ant shows up out of nowhere and he's killing them. We have lost, there's nothing we can do anymore. And I don't know why they changed that.
Speaker 3:And also to context and reference that to help you out.
Speaker 3:The reason they changed that once again they spliced how they spliced the mom one stuff in certain spots, you know, basically combining areas and stuff, so making stuff run faster than it normally would.
Speaker 3:And as such, with that, because Even though it was supposed to cut out and it didn't cut out in the right spot, I do get how you feel. At the same time, I'm going to say it didn't really take away too much. But at the same time, this is where I say I have to be kind of understanding. And I say I have to be kind of understanding because I know how it works. I have to be kind of understanding when they uh, do this, because you can't put everything in the same spot the same time, as much as we would all like it, they try to add as much of it as possible, say okay, yeah, so this did happen here, but it's going to happen a little differently and everything else, and so you just have to kind of kind of go with it, even though I do agree with you, because in certain areas of it, yeah, I don't agree with them um, splicing some things out or moving some things around because some of it just doesn't feel right.
Speaker 2:So I'd understand you on one of the other things that they wound up splicing, which is when Jiwoo first showed up, he immediately focused on everyone, on healing everybody, giving them all the potion and then understanding that child couldn't be healed and stuff. Because in the monologue, what happens? As soon as he shows up, he shows up scrapping. When Jiwoo shows up, he shows up scrapping. When Jinwoo shows up, he shows up, starts slaughtering ants and then he does not care that the broadcast is going. He immediately hits a rise, brings forth some undead ants and starts rebuilding and building his army up again.
Speaker 3:Like, yeah, he went to whooping the ass.
Speaker 2:But it became a major change for Jinwoo where he started focusing on helping everybody and then was like yo don't tell nobody what you see here. And then you know before he was about to bring up the ant and stuff, but bring up the shadow ant, but then you know it got interrupted. So I understand that aspect. They changed that because Jinwoo in the manhwa is cold. He still does protect people but he's very cold. He lives for the battle. That's a real thing for him. It's one of those things that really awakened in him.
Speaker 2:The system made him that way. He became more of I'm here for the battle, I'm here to slaughter, I'm here to kill, build my army and make myself stronger. That's how he is in the manga. But in the anime they want to change to kind of heavily focus more down on he's the hero. He's going to show up at the last minute to help out, he's going to be that person to still be helping and try to reduce as many casualties as possible. And they make it to where his character is more focused into that aspect. And they make it to where his character is more focused into that aspect, but then kind of like at the end, towards the end, like at the very end of the finale, where he walks. Does the fucking king's walk All his whole?
Speaker 1:army. Oh yeah, the way he like summons all the shadows and all that shit, it's like, oh on, some gang gang type shit. Hey, what up? Playboy?
Speaker 2:Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 4:What's up Playboy? What's up man? I'm Norm Leiter. We got busy at work. I'm here though Happens.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so I will back you up on the change into that one. However, I'm going to put my 10-4 hat because I think and I agree with some people saying to this, I'm putting my tinfoil hat onto this one. The reason they changed the media broadcasting one is because right now there's a bunch of issues going on in Japan about stuff about media coming out and them immediately suppressing it, and that's something that's still happening here in America too. I think it doesn't want to put into the aspect of oh, the government knows what's going on, but they purposely only letting us see so much, there's only so much, feeding us so much. I do feel is one of those moments that, like it's going to be a minor change, no one's going to think too much into it, but I'm that person that does no anyway like you don't.
Speaker 1:You don't even have to tell me that it is more lines of okay, they're being more obvious about it now yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So other thing about it now. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So other thing about it is to exchange um to the fights. Yeah, so Ghetto was supposed to have his ass whipped twice. First thing he was into it while he was getting his ass handed to him by Jim. He was supposed to have that one punch, that moment every person has when they go up against like Tom, and One Punch man, that moment of like I see death, I'm about to die. Oh my god, I am about to die. That thing that actually happens together when he's fighting Chih-Wu.
Speaker 1:Actually that fight ended kind of like the way they try to stop that one fight between Midoriya and Todoroki in my Hero.
Speaker 4:The giant ice go through yeah.
Speaker 2:One change that I want to say some of the biggest changes, but I absolutely loved it in the fight. But this is one of those ones that it's a big, big change into this veru can have the ability to do whatever power, whoever he consumes, just like the chimeric and just like chimerians. And if I'm going to go into that, it's damn near carbon copy, but you know what, they still did it right. I don't care, I think they did fantastic. Damn near a carbon copy, but you know what? They still did it right, I don't care, I think they did fantastic. Even as a carbon copy, they did a good job. They blatantly told you it was a copy and still did a good job. That says something that's almost on the same status as Eddie Murphy. As Eddie Murphy, his most famous stand-up is an exact copy of Red Fox, but he did. His most famous stand-up is an exact copy of Red Fox, but he did it so fantastically that you're just like I can't do nothing but applaud. It feels about the same now hold on.
Speaker 1:Koki, I'm glad you brought that up because Playboy, I am glad you came on to the show because I know how you feel about the Chimera and Art and Hunter Hunter. How are you feeling about Solo Leveling Season 2?
Speaker 4:Okay well, so it took me, oh, one second. It took me, like it took me, a couple of episodes within the fight with the ants to realize the like, the similarities, because, okay, for one, these ants and then the whole king ant shit oh, you're kind of going the king ant eating his mom too yeah, I think you muted.
Speaker 1:I'm calling up because I'm probably at work, so I get it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, okay well, I'll go through real quick. But yeah, so some of the things to understand. He can copy abilities. He never did an ice ability inside the mall. That's never happened. However, I love how they added that in the anime. It plays so fantastic. It shows that this king has fantastic. It shows that this king has diversity. It shows that he really was trying what he could in the fight to really pull out all the stops, type of thing.
Speaker 2:But there were some things that I didn't like, like I already mentioned before about him running away constantly. That did not happen. It was one time at the very end. It was when you realized okay, at this point, tactical retreat is now my only option. I've exhausted every other option into it. Now, the other thing about it is they do have a lot of monologue, like internal monologue, with the end game. He thinks a lot about what's happening. Most of what he's thinking is who the fuck is this guy? How is he so goddamn strong? What the fuck is happening? He does have moments where he's thinking I think I should run away, but then he immediately silences that because he's like no, I'm the king, I am peak and we have a perfect cell moment of I'm the perfect being Can't nobody be above me, type shit.
Speaker 1:Maroon was on that thing, yeah actually.
Speaker 3:Maroon yes, maroon didn't have that moment. Maroon was slightly similar with Cell, but he didn't have that moment as Cell and Barry had cause. Cell and Barry both had that moment of where, oh shit, I'm about to lose. Nah, hold on, we got to do something, like those two.
Speaker 3:That's the reason why I do agree that Beru fits more with the Celle lineup, because with Beru and the Mamba at least Beru literally, as Kofi Gassi said, yes, he had those moments of oh, I need to run, but he shook that off and was like nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, I'm perfection, I got this, I can do this, I can do this. But then every time he would get stopped at it. Then I thought comes back to I need to run. It's looking like I need to run, but he would shake it off. There was a difference and that's the reason why I say I literally gave them only a little grace with the whole thing of. I gave them a little grace because, yeah, I know where you're planning off of, but he was not that scared he was. He was literally willing to throw hands to the bit, to the bitter end, once it got to where it's, the point where his only other option as far, as far as, eventually, even winning was to retreat Was y'all didn't have to make From killing instinct doubt.
Speaker 2:That was the point. Oh, and also one other thing too, as well as the fight, and in that same fight was the moment when, like you said, he goes ultra instinctive thing. They added an anime trope that was not actually in the original manga. So one of the funniest things about it remember one of the most climactic scenes, and this specific scene spiked so much controversy Because people were like, oh, the king was about to kill Jinwoo, the claws was right there to his eye and then Jinwoo just magically gets an upgrade, because that's not what happened in the Marvel. Funny enough, when Jinwoo hit the one of his first special attacks against the ant King, he immediately upgraded to to mutilation. So, unlike what winds up happening is where genuine gets mutilation right before he's dying. That's the anime only trope. That only happened in anime.
Speaker 2:Yeah, then it was never about to make it more exciting, because they felt like so I'm not too mad on that one because, like you said, it's to make the anime more exciting. It's to make it to be like okay, this is a fight, we need to drag it out. The story gets to the point very quick. The manga speeds through very quickly. You get through like fights within like five or six pages in the manga, which is unheard of for a lot of anime and a lot of manga. They drag that shit out all the time but no, in the manga way it gets straight to the point. So when it gets to the anime, they have to drag it out a little bit, make it seem like, okay, let's put them on more even grounds, type of thing. But the two biggest things to understand that's why I also say they really hold the ant king, they hold barrel.
Speaker 2:So the second ass whooping that godo was supposed to have was when he fought against Vero. We just see that, like you said, it happened off screen. Talos already mentioned that it happened off screen. This is one of the biggest things that's frustrating and why that scene was also important. Aside from one, it still showcases that the dude was strong. They did mention this point that he knew he was not on par with Jinwoo, because he even said I've only ever felt one presence so overpowering like this, and that was when. And then it flashed to Jinwoo. They did that invisible moment. Instead of saying his name, it just showcased the thing. It's pretty funny.
Speaker 2:But the other thing about it is this Beru got injured in that fight because Goro was still strong. But the reason that scene was important is because and this is something they completely took out of the anime Beru was just like Jinwoo, as in what I mean is Beru leveled up from fighting Godo. Beru was, in technicality, another player in the system and that's why he was able to recognize so much stuff from Jinwoo. But he realized it was entirely too much to do. It was way too powerful. But they completely cut that out and that's the reason why when he tries to bring Beru into the system, beru immediately starts off as a general rank, because he was another player.
Speaker 3:Why would you cut that? Okay, so Beru, technically, is not a player as much as a lot of folks and I know it ain't just you, coach Gosselin, that think that A lot of people in the Reddit post was like, oh no, beru and Goj were players, there are other players too. No, no, no, not ghetto, no, no, no. The thing is. The thing is they're not players, they're strong. Don't get me wrong, and I'm going to use my example. I'm going to use myself as an example here.
Speaker 3:When I do D&D, think of me as the system. The system picks players, that's y'all. That's those people that play in the D&D. The monsters that are produced by the system range and vary based upon the player. Them range and vary based upon the player. The reason that Barry was as strong as he was was because, for one, it already had the necessary building blocks. It already had necessary building blocks to get that strong, based upon the fact that, way before Jinwoo was around, they lost that raid Because that raid bust open the first time around and they couldn't kill those ants. They lost that raid. Therefore, it made it where that was no more than an ant nest. So they had time to recuperate, build up upon the powers and everything nest. So they had time to recuperate, build up upon the powers and everything else. So that part and then the system, as You'll learn to come find out Was manipulating A lot of things.
Speaker 2:The system has manipulated. What do you mean? Like those red gates? Like it only happened to redgate when he would walk in.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's a lot of stuff. I'm not going to spoil it. However, y'all read and you'll understand that, because of the way the Monarchs and stuff were, a lot of things get manipulated. A lot of things get manipulated. So that aside, right, that aside. So I'm back to it Because I want to hand this back to Kogatsu and I want to hand it back to.
Speaker 3:Playboy when I tell y'all that In the case of Beru, with Beru being, beru was as strong as he was. As strong as he was as strong as Sun Jin Woo when Sun Jin Woo was Just fighting the Ants Not ants, but the elves. So if Sun Jin Woo had fought him, then it would have been a lot of different fights. However, kamu, because Sung Joon-woo had a chance to go through and fight other things for getting the Beru and leveled up Extremely. Yeah, so that's the reasoning on that.
Speaker 2:Now I'll hand it back over to you. Okay, because the thing about it is, the reason that Everyone has this speculation into it Is because of the fact that we see that he does Technically level up in that fight when he fights Godo, and so you're just like yo hold on a second. So if he's actually, if he gets more power For the fight, then yeah, automatically as soon as he's another player wait, this is something crazy and say why would you cut that out? By the way, it still shows something. Okay, that shows more manipulation of the system. Ass. We already see enough where, when monsters and evil in the demon girl, the demon princess, new princess, cuz you know her dad's new king now at the gym will be the demon monarch One is up trying to answer your question.
Speaker 2:If it's too deep of a question, everything starts glitching and resetting. It's like you ask too many questions. Jim, just fight. You don't need to ask no questions, just fight, just get stronger. Don't worry about that. But Jim still got that intelligence. He's like I know this question I'm supposed to ask, but you're not giving me the answers. I see, but also, but you're not giving me the answers. I see, um, but also um.
Speaker 2:Yeah, those are some of the biggest things that have changed. Some little minor things that wound up changing was, uh, jenna hitting the tv and getting upset and throwing off to her room. That was actually the mom that did that because she was really worried and wanted to make sure everything's okay and I don't want to spoil into it, but you know she also doesn't want Jinwoo to be a hunter because of his dad, and even though they did confirm that Il-Hwan who shows up, whoops that one S class like it was nothing and he finally makes it back to Korea. Yes, jinwoo's dad yeah, it's not a spoil, it's already been there. They already announced it in the show. But yeah, that's a whole story with him. I'm excited to see what's going to happen with him. I want to see how they do this, but I'm kind of concerned because, with how much they're making certain changes, it kind of makes me wonder what else is going to be changed. Are we still going to kind of like really still follow the story, or is this going to be another big shift? And I'm hoping that's not the case because it's like just nervous.
Speaker 2:Last thing is this is kind of funny thing. If you ever seen such a leveling, it's hilarious. I watched that before watching season two and I should not have because it ruined a bunch of the fights for me, because I could not do nothing but laugh like when the um, not the demon king, but the big giant red demon, the one that was like super fast and stuff they had, did a whole play thing where it was uh he was, he was named King Kendrick. He was thinking, not like us, while trying to beat on you, okay, anyway, but no, otherwise it gives us real quick.
Speaker 2:My rating is it's obviously still 10 out of 10. It's fantastic. Even with some of the changes into it, it still maintains the highest rating. I still will go back and re-watch this. They definitely upgraded from the Icarus to Blood Red in fight Icarus fights. I will still go back and watch that damn Tekken Rage Art combo that he did in case to. It was funny as hell. But otherwise, yeah, I mean going back and watching some of these fights. Tusk is like probably my favorite shadow, to be honest with you.
Speaker 1:He left a good impression on me for sure.
Speaker 2:That's my last little change. This is one that was pretty interesting. So in the the manhwa they cut this one out too. In the manhwa you see that tusk does wind up like fighting against ants, but he's kind of protecting everyone. So funny enough is that jin who winds up telling him hey, your priority is to protect these s-class heroes, these sClass hunters. If any of them get hurt, even the slightest bit, I will never summon you again, the fucking dude. Yeah, he actually says that shit in the article.
Speaker 1:I mean, to be fair, he did tell Iron I'm like, don't make me regret adding you on, but okay, yeah, in a way he kind of reminds me of Paul from Pokemon to where I'm like, bro, I can get rid of you anytime I want to.
Speaker 2:What gets me is the fact of how powerful Iron was, even though he was born from an A-class hero. Iron is strong as shit being an owl. Considering the fact that Jinwoo has clearly wound up going against other, I don't want to spoil it, but there's a fight that comes up that makes you really question how strong he really is. You're like, holy shit, wait a second.
Speaker 1:It's going to get to a point where Jinwoo's like damn, do I actually have to try now?
Speaker 2:Oh no, not at all, jinwoo. The only reason he tries is because it's anime. Only In the Marvel he damn near never tries. There's only one fight. I haven't gotten that far yet, but my, I'm understanding. There's only one fight. That he actually loses actually does happen. He loses a fight, but that's it. Oh no, it just really makes you question it. This, a class hero, was really playing to the best of his own ability. It's like the hell Because the Fatal Warriors, even though they level up with Chin-Mu, but it's still one of those moments that's just like was that dude actually a lot more powerful than he let on? Was it just that he was much more of a coward? Was that really it? Because Iron is dumb? He's just the dumb brute. He didn't do nothing, but just smash things and have fun with it. He's the true D&D barbarian, like literally.
Speaker 3:Yes, he is the true D&D barbarian.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, with Baru. I'm kind of impressed that Baru was like the first shadow to speak.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I'm going to tell y'all about that one real quick, because they kind of switched that up too. Barry didn't learn to speak Until he ate the hunter. But the way they did it, they changed it around to where he learned to speak From. He learned to speak from Eating the Queen. He learned to speak from eating the queen and see, like I was like no, that's not how that went. That's not how that goes, like we are not all right language.
Speaker 1:That's what I got gotcha boy boy. You got anything you want to add on to all this language from that one. That's what I got Gotcha Boy Boy. You got anything you want to add on to all this shit.
Speaker 4:Yeah, let me get out the kiss on that, bro Gotcha.
Speaker 1:I feel that. But yeah, man, like what Kukigatsu was saying, it's still a 10 out of 10, even though I figured with the Marmora there might be some differences. But hey, man, it was still entertaining for what it was.
Speaker 4:You know, see the fight, I'm not gonna lie Watching Solo leveling from like episode one. That's not what the fuck I expected. Like I ain't expecting nothing like that. They smell with the red and blue. Listen, y'all don't understand. I was just smoking. I was kind of I started to help them, the shit already in my knees, so like when the fight started, bro, and they went to just throwing hands and like buddy eyes with the twitch and trying to follow that shit. That's exactly what the fuck.
Speaker 1:That part, that's exactly what the fuck it was like that part. That's why I love it.
Speaker 4:The choreography, the animation of it all, yeah because it really puts you there, it shows the intensity of the fight, it shows from their perspective what the fuck it looks like. But then they go to the cameraman point of view because you know nobody gets the camera, so the cameraman's going to. So you know nobody gets the camera get. He come by, look, turn around with the flip hands, come down a little bit. Now you feel me. That goes wow.
Speaker 4:But um, honestly though, between the kind of go back on for what y'all was saying as far as like the camera and art and, uh, mirroring, um, actually I do see similarities there slightly, because you know the whole island, the sun and being the king and being the strongest, the most perfect personification of you know, the strongest, or whatever. Yeah, and then like, but see, with Hunter x Hunter, though they had like parallels versus the main characters and Meruem as to Gon getting closer to a monster as Meruem getting closer to a human because people bonded with old girl, but here it's just more like a mission between the two. Like, I ain't gonna lie, jinwoo kind of came and like, like you say, like it was one sided in the moment. The anime does make this shit, like like, honestly, the choreography made the entire thing. But, um, I don't even know why I was doing this shit. Man, I'm just like the fight, the fight itself. It probably peed for me. I'm not gonna lie. That shit gotta be like one of the best animated fights in my opinion.
Speaker 3:Yeah it was gonna be like on some but it's definitely up there it was like on some late Naruto, naruto Shippuden.
Speaker 1:You know like at the point where like say, for instance, I want to say Naruto and Sasuke and Boruto versus you know those people like I forgot, like we're gonna review Boruto and I'll remember anyways, but y'all know who I'm talking about. Right, where it's like they were like um, scrapping against this one dude, and it was like there was like beelining all over the place. Yeah, that moment where they're like what's the animation budget?
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly, yeah, I ain't gonna lie.
Speaker 4:Solo level is snap. They've been snapping since season two. My favorite fight, aside from him and Bero, was him and Snow Ember. That was a good ass fight. Oh hell yeah. I just like the way they did him and Bero with the lights and the speed, because the showcase it's like he did get faster. Oh hell yeah, he's going to win. If you do bullshit in the middle of a fight and you OP, you just sat here and blitzed the whole S-Rank. Oh, not to mention. I also noticed I don't know if y'all pointed this out, but when he was fighting Jinwoo in the beginning, he had got mad and popped a bunch of ice from the ground and I want to say he took that from. I forgot what he named outside outside the cage the nigga with the ice pouch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because he also has a strong. He has a smelling ability, just like Cha does.
Speaker 4:Yeah, now I'm talking about the way the ant had used his ability. The ant used that man's ice.
Speaker 2:But he did not do that in the monro whatsoever, but I think it was a really nice addition. Oh, he didn't do that in the monologue whatsoever, but I think it was a really nice addition. Oh, he didn't do that in the home. Nope, not at all. That's an anime-only thing, but I really think it was a fantastic anime-only thing, honestly.
Speaker 4:Personally Okay. So it kind of changed the perspective of what I was thinking, man. But, like you say, it was what made the fight go on for better, but he didn't do anything like that again to make the fight go on for better. But he didn't do anything like that again. He just did some random ass ice, but I'm like pretty sure he stole that from somebody he just killed. But okay, I expected to see more stuff like that. Now, if he was doing things like that, I feel like the fight would have been a little bit better. He was using the abilities of the people who just killed them probably would have gave him a little bit more, but that shit didn't happen to my mom, so I didn't see that.
Speaker 2:If I can mention one last thing, fellas, I need you to either correct me or back me up onto this one.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:I need your input. So there's an issue going on right now Virginia's necromancy ability. Some people are saying it's slavery, but then some people are countering it. Get out of here.
Speaker 3:I ain't got time for all that this is legit. I ain't got time for all that. They must not know what necromancy actually is anyway. So I don't have that time with that luxury. I ain't got time for all that. Like, if you don't know what necromancy is at this current point in time and I do mean this wholeheartedly if you don't know what necromancy is legit, you need to go and sit your head and fuck down some goddamn world.
Speaker 3:Like no one no one and I mean no one has that literal goddamn time of like you doing the most.
Speaker 2:So some people have already started arguing against it using the evidence of the elf, the elf king, the ice elf king. Because with him specifically, no matter how much Jinwoo tried to make him arise, he did not swear loyalty. He did not want to swear loyalty to Jinwoo, he didn't care. So that's why he resisted. But it also goes back with Egris. It took three tries for him to get Egris and after his second try he had that whole monologue where he was like you can either continue to be here with an empty throne or you can come serve me and we can go ahead and fight together and do more together. I need you as much as I feel like you need me. And that little monologue convinced Egress that you know what. I'm going to go along with you because I feel like we're going to have some great battles ahead, which of course they still do, which of course they still do.
Speaker 2:So I think the last example comes in the news episode that just dropped today during our time recording recording the same day as the 13th episode dropped. So when you listen to it, it's just whatever it's now with Bihon, with the guy as the healer and the fact that he willingly was like I brought you in, but it's like he told me I could hear him telling me use my power. And after he used it, then he was like okay, I released this resurrection and he released it because it's not slavery. So I fully agree with you, talis. That's why I figured she was going to back me up on this one. But I'm like that is a load of nonsense. These people willingly are doing this. Whether it was like you bested me in battle, you cleared it, like Barry said you are king and he willingly goes. Jinwoo was ready to walk away and he said no, before you walk away, give me a name. I don't quite remember your name. You beat me. I will take whatever name you give me.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I'm like didn't they get consent? Didn't each of them give Genu consent to like yes, yeah. So I'm like, were y'all not paying attention to the show? God damn it People. I swear to God.
Speaker 3:Once again, you don't know what a necromancer can do. A necromancer doesn't have to have consent, and he's not a normal necromancer At that.
Speaker 1:It's like, bro, like he they're Using well, he's not even Using dead bodies per se it's more like the shadows, uh, more like their spirit in a way. So it's like what, this spirit? No, no, it's not even manipulation, really, but like, still, though it's like it's not slavery, because, I don't know, people just will pick up any excuse to just, you know, like, be like, oh, oh, oh, this, this, this, and I'm like, um, no, I don't think that's what's happening here, but nah, you know, that's all I had to say about Soul 11.
Speaker 1:I said what I was gonna say in the beginning. Y'all good Like Talos.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm good, I'm good Playboy, you good.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm good, I'm fine. Nah, I feel you man.
Speaker 1:Well, you know what? We're just gonna go ahead and close it out. Thank you for listening to us To the end. Be sure to check us out when we do the Dirty News special.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna do a new thing called Anime Lightning, where I'm gonna do reviews like this, but like, really quick, kind of like what I did in the beginning, it's gonna be like 10, at least 10 anime that maybe got flew under the radar, but they're pretty good in their own right. It's just that let's be real compared to shit like soul leveling, sentai, red isekai, uh sakamoto days like they're not gonna get as much recognition in comparison. So, to be fair, I'm gonna like, I'm gonna check them out, I'm gonna do a review, I'm gonna tell y'all how I feel about them and we're gonna do sakamoto days uh sentai rei isekai and all those other shits. Like, if I don't do it on animate lightning, then chances are I'm gonna do a full review on it later. So, with that being said, y'all go ahead and have yourself a good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good whatever time it is in your area. But ultimately, I want you to take it easy.
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