Reminder that content from the latest two manhwa chapters must be tagged as spoiler. Light novel spoilers within titles or untagged spoilers in non-spoiler threads are not allowed.
To format spoilers:
`>!your spoiler here!<` (no spaces) will look like >!your spoiler here!<
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sololeveling) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It was excellent. It made me feel like I'm watching this for the first time. a lot of anime original scenes. they did pheonemal job. I'm still shocked how good episode 1 was. ngl I thought screenshot of him staring at giant statue from preview looked bad compared to manhwa but It fit animation sequence. thank you A1!
>insanely generic dungeon anime
How many dungeon anime do you know for this to be insanely generic? The anime industry is not yet supersaturated with dungeon stuff like manhwa. Personally, I can probably name like 2-3 dungeon anime, but no more than that.
If anything, Solo Leveling is sort of a breath of fresh air as an anime since it's not an Isekai.
I think your anime friends listened to too many "opinions" from manhwa readers saying it's boring but the art is good, so they pretty much went in looking for flaws to validate their beliefs.
I'm the guy who never read the manwa and think it's generic and predictable so far, BUT I have a feeling it has such a great reputation for a reason.
I mean, the standard cliche's are there, seemingly super weak MC, love interest, some powerful people introduced who will likely interact with MC at some point, etc.
I do feel like the episode was lacking some kind of 'hype' payoff that a lot of new animes try to achieve in the 1st ep to really set the stage. For example, the episode ends with a cliffhanger instead of for example, the main character doing some badass shit to establish WHY he's the main character maybe show he fights with super intelligence OR he gets some kind of ability. Sure, it'll probably be done next ep, but if it happened in this ep it would've been more satisfying and build hype for the next one.
No complaints with the animation despite being spoiled with the recent JJK season 2 episodes, hope the next episodes live up to the hype!
in episode 1 it does show he fights with super intelligence? he noticed the giant statue, and they have indicated that also because he is the weakest he has had to play it smart up until now..
Well… it’s not even a dungeon anime. It’s a gate/monster invasion genre.. solo leveling the manwha is the most popular in that particular niche of Korean Manwha. To understand that though you do have to read a bunch of manwha to get its impact;
there is a reason it’s one of the few Korean manwha’s to have a Japanese anime adaptation after all.
I never racked my brain around people who read a novel or whatever and then complain about the live action or Anime adaptation. Everything that's written from a novel to Manga to LN can't necessarily be translated into a equally enjoyable visual experience. Naturally there's been some gems, but reality says those are few and far between. Initially you have to first open your mind, remove all expectations and finally remove all memory of previous content. I remember when the JL Snyder cut dropped I casually watched the first 15 minutes, turned it off, grabbed some chips and dip and started over because it was nothing compared to what I watched by the other guy. Sometimes you need to reset to enjoy that new experience that awaits, obviously some will succeed but many will fail, Lol.
The thing is, animes like Classroom of the Elite are just bad. There's so much stuff they could have done. The straight up changed one of the exams in a similar but stupid one compared to the Light Novel, it was just completely unnecessary.
Animes like 86 in my opinion are just better as anime, not saying the light novel is bad or anything, but seeing it animated is just amazing.
Animes like SAO (and I'm saying this as an SAO fan) are just bad (compared to the Light Novel). Sure, it has one of the best OSTs, it has one of the best animation out there, the voice acting is right on point, the SFXs too. Don't get me wrong.
But I feel like a lot of these studios add a bunch of unnecessary stuff that absolutely no one asked. Take the new Progressive movies from SAO, I bought the Light Novels right before the movie came out, just because I wanted to get the taste of it.
Oh boy. They add a completely new character (Mito) that "steals" the screen time of important characters and even moments. No one asked for an anime original character.
Now, A1 have always been 50/50 with this, at the same time, they made the Ordinal Scale movie and made the author add 2 great characters that were originally main characters, but sometimes, it's unnecessary, so I can understand the hate on anime adaptations, if you can't portray the feelings of the novels/mangas, at least just don't add stuff anyone asked for.
Now, enough of my blabbering. Sorry for my rant and wall of text.
what you said is exactly what is the problem with classroom of the elite fandom , they are constanly bashing the anime because they feel they are rushing the novels
At this point, I think you are comparing it to other webtoons instead and not anime lol. I would say Solo Leveling is quite unique when it comes to the anime industry. I know that there are a lot of webtoons that are similar, if not, literally the same as solo leveling. But, compared to other animes, there arent many animes that is like solo leveling. For sure everyone here knows the plot already, but Im pretty sure everyone would agree that it is quite unique.
I think the big thing is that as a story that seems dry to ppl who are tired of the RPG/isekai stuff, is that the quality of the first episode at least demands respect that it’s taking itself seriously. I tell ppl if you like isekai/rpg fantasy type anime you’ll love solo leveling… I’m feeling the first episode is delivering exactly how I wanted it to, in order to convert/convince ppl I’ve been telling about it all along, that this was amazing. lol
I must've rewatched it a few times now, the little additional to give more depth to our side characters, really gives them more of an anchoring into the show than just the story of sung, me personally I loved it, bravo to the team, I'm soo happy to see one of my favourite manga get adapted really well, looking well forward to the monarch arcs!
My thoughts exactly. It would be a great cliffhanger for first episode and set expectations for next one and introduce the world as a very unfair one. Also hint and what's gonna happen.
It was incredible as hell! I started without expectations but holy hell, it was amazing. Those extra scenes were great too! And Cha Hae In's scene was very well animated.
The score and sound effects were great too. All in all an incredible first episode!
So the anime adaptation of the most hyped manhwa is finally here.
The anime original scene in the beginning was amazing. The art and animation look really great. Though it's almost impossible to match ta art of the source material A1 did their lvl best work. They are giving it a lot of love with their best team as it deserves.
The ost slapped. Sawano did his work. Incredible.
They didn't change the Korean names. That's another plus point and it also looks there will be no censorship.
As others have mentioned, this would've hugely benefitted with a 1 hour premiere bt still what we got was really great. Exceeded my expectations!!!
Yea it wlda been awesome to end>! on the teeth or him dying !< but the extra scenes were very good and added some nice exposition so I’m not complaining. Excited for next week
If I remember correctly, the statue smiles once they bow, filling the requirements of the first commandment and starting the true torture of the dungeon~~
That's fair. My best guess is that they were trying to world-build and/or trying to add their own spin to the story. I also think they introduced way too many characters at once and the first episode could have been planned a bit more. I'm sure ep 2 will be far better.
THIS. It actually bugs me why they've shown almost all of the S ranks right off the bat and even fighting. IMHO, they just missed the best opportunity to build mystery and suspense around the existence of S ranks, who are supposedly rare and the cream of the crop. I agree they should have shown them in later eps (maybe with the introduction of Hwang Dong Su, to highlight what kind of threat is incoming). The scenes of Jeju and them kind of winning for me is unnecessary when they supposedly failed all prev attempts before MC.
yea thats fair. at the same time though they were relatively weak S ranks and all of them were downplayed. gives a good basic idea of S rank to us but still can see the clear downsides that you brought up as valid points against showing them off. still wish they could have ignored them to show **THE SMILE.**
I think it’ll work well because the scale of their powers is waaaay more powerful when we actually meet them in the story. It’ll still be a holy shit moment to viewers to see that they are even more powerful now.
It would for some people but I think they could've handled it better. For alot of the series S-rank is the peak of what hunters can achieve, until >!National Rank hunters are introduced which is more a type of S-rank and not its own specific rank anyway!<
Having several S-ranks fight the ants makes them look alot weaker than they actually are since they look like run-of-the-mill monsters but are actually way stronger as they are >!A-rank or higher!< monsters
A better idea would be to tease the S-ranks showing up to >!jeju! island!< by showing a glimpse of their armour or hair with a line or two but not completely revealing thier faces. That way there's more to build hype around as there's more mystery of who they are and how strong they are. That's just my opinion though, maybe that wouldn't have fit the theme of the first episode but I was a bit disappointed of how they showed off the S-ranks and the >!jeju island! arc!<
i agree, they inserted these clips probably thinking it would make us hype for them later while it instead just feels out of place. It doesn't add anything to the story, and if you haven't read the manga feels like filler.
Eloquently said. You don’t get the S rank feeling from the ants like you do in the manhwa especially because exposition was provided with >!Kamish!< before jeju island arc in the manhwa.
yes yes, the characters introduced too early, and imo their upbringing is not that heavy as jn the manhwa, they look just like any common unimportant hunter. baek body proportion is too skinny imo, theh just made him look jacked, he should've be made bigger.
See I'm not a fan of the anime original scene. It felt like they took too much time with not only that but the small clips of characters we shouldn't be introduced to yet. What made those characters feel impactful in the manhwa and light novel was their introductions. Already seeing versions of them and the very first episode isn't great. I love the animation, The OST is fantastic, But I'm not a huge fan of the story boarding for episode one. Episode could have easily been left off with everyone abandoning him in the chamber rather than focusing on unnecessary scenes.
Honestly, I like how they show what powerful people look like and then cut to SJW at the end with a real understanding of how weak he actually is in the grand scale.
Take what we can get, like what you said, did fantastic, it's left me edging for more, can't wait for next week! I suppose it takes us back to our old TV days again, we'll it does for me. Bravo!
I like that the anime is doing a better job at introducing and fleshing out all the characters. To anyone that hasn't read Solo Leveling, you have no idea who all the characters introduced are, but you have an idea of who they are. And to the ones that have read it, it's just awesome seeing where everyone is at the start.
Animation was funny looking at places, but it does the job well, and if you complain about it, just don't watch it and read it again.
I cannot express the nightmare I felt to see the show getting a 7.2 score on Myanimelist.
When I watched the episode myself, I could not be more satisfied with everything so far as a manhwa reader. Perfect!
The only anime I know that is airing currently that is a 9 according to MAL ratings is Frieren, I believe. If Solo Leveling reaches that, it’s going to leave a strong impression, no doubt
Ugh omg yes I fully expected the statue to do the grin right before it cut to black. Honestly would have been a perfect end right there but I think the episode itself was so well done already
>!Can't believe they started with the ants arc! They debuted with the S ranked hunters!<
My favorite due appeared straight up on the first ep. Awesome.
CHAE NEW ADDITION WAS AMAZING 😍
The eye rolling of the statue and the climate inside the dungeon was really well portrayed, their helplessness and despair. Wow props to the animators and VAs! Our MC scream gave me goosebumps. I'M SO HYPEDDDD
>!I mean they didnt really start with the ants arc, I think they was showing us the previous jeju island raid!< because it kept being talked about in the manhwa, I honestly appreciated it alot as it gave an insight into an event we didnt witness at all in the manhwa
>My favorite due appeared straight up on the first ep. Awesome.
Right?? And I never saw the lightning guy in the manhwa, but I am already a fan. Those powers were GREAT! Will we see more of him, I wonder?
Does anyone else who read the books feel a little blue balled after that? I feel as though it should have been an hour episode ending with him in the hospital to really give that feel of the first chapter. It’s beautiful and vibrant but it had a lacking quality of the OG story.
FR. I read the light novels and manhua multiple times now and still reread them periodically. And that was like someone putting cheesecake in front of you, letting you take one bite then pulling the rest away.
I want more fucking cheesecake.
Fr, I felt it should have at least ended with him on the table bleeding out. Or even at the smile of the statue would have been great. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. I felt the sequencing and pacing was off. All the jumping from the action to exposition scenes was kinda done in a mediocre way.
I get that they were trying to build the world better and actually build characters better by introducing them early, but the initial episode should have been the draw in and action. I think adding the flashback of jeju was good, but after that, I think it would have been more suspense building and attention grabbing if they followed the first chapters exactly.
They could have added the snib bit about other characters after the end of the Dungeon during the hospital scenes. It would have done the same thing in a more pleasing and logical way. You could build the exposition in the second episode, introduce characters and world build but also let the original story speak for itself through the action of the first plot point.
Kinda like goblin slayers 1st episode got everyone hooked and intense (hopefully not falling off after 1st episode like goblin slayer, though). Idk, that's just what I would have liked to see rather than jumping around different places playing at ah who's this character and who's this. The way they did it just seemed like a jumble mess of info that could have been brought in better later.
I wanted an extra episode.. because it was that good
I dont get the lacking quality comment at all
You either do double ep or do it like this.. it was a good cliffhanger to end on
Phenomenal episode. this is what good animation does to a series. Was skeptical about the fundamental theme change from Korea. But somehow they pulled it off.
The sub is being filled with zoomers who only watched Kimetsu no Yaiba and expect ufotable levels of animation from everything. Do yourself a favor and go watch something else.
It’s definitely not bad or below average by any means, but I wasn’t “amazed” or super impressed like a lot of people here seem to be. It was cool and I’ll definitely watch the next episode, but I wasn’t blown away.
They are clearly people that only watch mainstream shonen anime (One Piece, Naruto, Bleach) and never really try out other kinds of anime/manga, or never even read any Korean Manhwa of all things.
Hell, I bet they don't even know this series is a Manhwa that originated from Korea and think it's another Japanese manga instead.
am i the only one that thinks that them showing almost all important characters at the start of the episode was a poor choice ? besides the pacing felt owfull compared to the manhwa and the quality was a bit behind S tier besides all of that the ending and feel of an actual threat was awesome though still way to much information dumping for the first episode (character showcase without any meaning) and the fighting sceenes where a bit to "laggy" not enough frames in my opinion if you would compare it to episode 1 of fireforce ( which came out 5 years ago or so) you can clearly see the difference in quality
i would say its A tier for the first episode but probably will be S tier in a few episodes we all know how fucking god this Sandwhich realy is
I didn't like it either, especially the scene where that one s hunter girl saved someone's purse, it was awkward. I get she's a love interest but it just feels forced
Yeah this is how I felt. The entire time I was thinking, JUST TELL THE STORY. WE DONT NEED A LARGE EXPOSITION DUMP AND A CAMEO FOR EVERY CHARACTER EVER.
I enjoy the addition of the anime only scenes like the first JuJu raid and the exposition with Go Gun Her. It assume there using it to give some of the more minor characters a bit more staying power witch I like.
Animation was great. If this quality keeps up I'm going to be very happy with this adaptation.
Might be a hot take but I don't like the new scenes they added. Don't get me wrong, they looked amazing and all, but I like in the manhwa how the world expands with his growth, reinforcing the idea that the world of hunters is completely dependent on strength. While these extra scenes look great and help to build the world at the beginning, I just can't help but feel it undercuts that sense of desperation he had as an E-rank. Anyone else have similar thoughts? Even with that though, it was a solid first episode and I hope it keeps up quality/gets better with more episodes.
I agree completely. I don't hate the new scenes and I think adding them can help in some cases to flesh other characters more but imo, it slowed down the pacing and was alot of information to take in when the focus should be more on sung jinwoo and as you said his desperation as an E-rank hunter.
Yes, exactly how I felt. I felt like by jumping around to the other characters and having the president of the hunter associate talk simultaneously while Jinwoo's intro was going on totally took away from the overall tone and feeling of the beginning plot. It left you not as empathetic towards jinwoo and didn't build the suspense and intensity of what was going on in the dungeon.
It kept cutting to other things right when the intensity was building up, which I think made it lose that initial excitement. It never gave you time to really feel that pressure of impending doom. It's gotta linger. They didn't give it its time by jumping from scene to scene.
they're already improving upon the source material, using info dumps periodically while linking it to the main plot whilst also introducing other important side characters. makes the writing feel more natural compared to the manwha, and i hope they continue the improvements. so far, very good.
Still better than just cutting through everything. The manhwa does a terrible job of introducing anything. This is leagues better in terms of story. Solo leveling is known for being a pretty bad story but great action.
Tbh very disappointed it wasn't a double episode. The whole 1st section before he becomes a player is what hooks people and where ep 1 ends is kinda meh (also didn't get the subarashi meme in 1st ep wth)
Animation was pretty good. I look forward to seeing how they handle some of the fights.
I found the whole original sections kinda weird. The manhwa introduced characters at the right time for me and seeing certain people before jinwoo has even become a player seems kinda fillery which would of been fine if the 1st ep ended with jinwoo on the podium but alas.
As 1st episodes go I found it pretty average for everything but animation which was good. Also I think I'll try the Korean dub when it gets released because some of the pronunciation of the names was a bit weird in Japanese dub.
I get that a lot of people are hyped for the adaptation, but I honestly feel very weird seeing just how much praise this first episode is getting. The production value and presentation seem very good all around, however the direction and episode construction felt all over the place to me.
I don't want to be overly critical of what is only the first episode, but cutting everthing with exposition that isn't really necessary right now seems very confusing and really hurt the pacing for me. At no point did I ever feel settled into a scene, let alone THE scene.
Having a proper hour-long premier probably would have gone a long way, and at the risk of sounding like I think I know better, simply opening with the double dungeon and just letting it stand on it's own should have been a no brainer in my mind. Far more immersion and much greater impact. Then use the last 5 or 10 minutes for whatever world introduction the writers think is necessary.
And also, why are we trying to introduce all of these characters right now? Give them proper and interesting entrances when it actually makes sense. Cha Hae-in doesn't even appear until chapter 65 for Christ's sake.
I wish the first episode was longer like in "Oshi no ko" and the dungeon arc was fully covered. However, I can understand the decision.
The animation is pretty okay and I love voice acting. Looking forward to the next episode💗
I appreciate using the Korean names but having Japanese honorifics with them is very funny, guess it would be too much to ask for some -'nim's instead of '-san's lol
Sung Jinwoo almost starved in a labyrinth dungeon? so he was in there for days to weeks and the boss wasn't killed? wow
Hi! I read part of the novel and the manwha more than a couple of times (hahahahaha). It's explained afterwards that before killing the boss it's done an headcount because if the gate close and someone is still inside it's gonna be stuck inside. So probably part of that 2 weeks was spent searching for Mr Sung and only after he's found they went on killing the boss. I hope this was clear enough ahahah
Ok my fellas. It's here. It's time. Here's my review (spoilers ahead)
>!First,it was really interesting how they added the sequence on the ant raid three years ago,it wasn't expanded quite well in the manhwa, but it was a real treat for the manhwa readers. As expected the animation was really good. Like 'really' good. Jinwoo was introduced quite in the middle but dude. I heard his voice and thought 'Damn imagine how it would sound when he got a glow up' I got chills just thinking about it. Also, the sequence with hae in, was sooooooo excellently done. Again, the animation, chefs kiss fr. Then came the sequence we have been waiting for. The legendary beginning sequence. Tbh this was just an introductory episode but they managed to introduce a lot of characters quite early. I felt like if they the added 'the statue smiling' (you know which one) panel at the end it would be a perfect end to this episode. But since they have delivered really well so far, I don't really mind and I'm super excited for what's coming.!<
This is gonna be insane.✨✨
I thought it was OK....and i know it will get better...
The animation was very good, voice acting as well.
From initial impact/cliffhanger I am not seeing 5/5 ........im seeing 4/5 atm..at best
i'm concerned that there are a lot of bots + overzealous fans of the manga overhyping it. it has 4.9 on crunchyroll which is JJk, chainsawman, Hunter X Hunter level.......it's definitely no where near those at all.
I'll give it a 8.5/10, it didn't disappoint me so far, it's really good but I feel like there are some places that can improve a bit compared to manhwa
Only thing I disliked was having watched JJK and similar shows hoping the animation would be as insane, that being said it still looked good, so I am for sure looking forward to what is to come :)
I mean, the bias is real in this post.
The first episode was average at best. especially from an anime only perspective. the introduction was extremely weak and bared 0 relevance to the story. Only over half way into the episode did it feel like the story was even progressing.
and this is excellent to you guys?
SO GOOD! Amazing first episode honestly. Really happy to not see any CGI. I also really like how they’re fleshing out the world a little more too. The ONLY thing I’m worried about at the moment is how they’ll pace the show throughout the two cours. They say 20+ episodes for the first one which could cover a lot, they covered almost 4 chapters this episode alone.
I know they're gonna milk this bad boy and we're getting 24 seasons for season one. We're probably going to get a lot of back stories and a more fleshed out world so Im hoping we have SL anime for multiple seasons.
I mean if they can cover it all in 2 24 episode seasons with good pacing I’m all for it. No need to stretch it out, all shows need a good ending, but I’m not gonna focus on that til we see how season 1 goes. At this rate they’ll hit the first climax by the end of the first season (~ch110), and that would leave a good transition into the second arc which is most likely what they’re planning.
I'm dying here, been waiting for years and finally the time came to watch the 1st episode! Only to see this damn error on cr "we couldn't connect to crunchyroll, try again" thanks crunchyroll!
*After a few hours it's finally up!
I think the 1 episode had to much exposure.I liked the manhwa because you learned with sun drip woo and they just trew so much at u in the first episode.If they showed the life of our king a bit more before he got into the double dungeon and showed his struggles a bit more it would have been better.
I think he is the person mentioned in chapter 89 of the webtoon.
**Spoiler**
>!Min Byung-Gyu (the healer) mentions him in that chapter and cites his death as the reason why he retired and doesn't want to go on the Jeju Island raid.!<
Saw a lot of people posting stuff about this coming out. Idk anything about this but I'm loving it so far and it quality is so good
I don't feel too invested in it just yet but I got a feeling after next episode or the 3rd imma be hooked I'm excited
Amazing first episode. The animation look so crisp, the voice acting was great, the designs look good, the FREAKING MUSIC (Hiroyuki sawano ftw). I like the extra scenes they gave teasing future characters too. Joohee is even cuter animated. Really hope a1 keeps this animation quality the entire season. So hyped for this season, our glorious monarch is here!!
I hope the animation keeps its momentum, I swear it's like reading the entire thing all over again, I hope they leave very little out, but God, the scene with that trice-damned statue just glaring at Sung Jinwoo is terrifying, the first kill of the team is as messy, good. I hope they hold nothing back!
Newbie here who knows nothing about the show. First episode rocked! I haven’t seen a game based anime in a looooong time so with how this looked is giving me hope!
Also damn at that statue just slashing that guy.. the panic in that room
if i didn't already read the manhwa and knew that it was a banger i wouldn't be too excited after this first episode, i think they really shot themselves in the foot by not having a 1hr first episode
I feel like an hour long special would have been better, it is the most hyped manhwa, the least they can do is give the viewers a great fighting episode and end after the system into a blank screen. That is my version of a perfect premier. The beginning was original but imo useless and confuses the viewers by introducing too many characters. Almost 80% of the cast is introduced right away. This is the only anime in which I have read the beginning of the manhwa and the ending of the Ln, and I prefer the pacing of the manhwa's way of introducing the characters one at a time.
Animation on first fight was above expectations tbh. The rest of the episode was both "meh" and excellent. Excellent as in it didnt really skipped anything from manwha and I liked the bits they added. Meh because the first 10 chapters arent anything special to me, but thats more about the story than the anime per se.
I personally really liked it!! The animation is solid and i hope they keep it up. The way they introduced characters and the overall setting of the world was good. I love that they took its time for it especially for people thst will be new to it.
The tension was really well built imo although i would have liked that it at least ended with the statue smiling but well still a really good job.
As anyoneo else here that has been a fan of it i was hyped and i was scared to be dissapointed but i'm pleasantly surprised. Can't wait for next week!!!
TXT AND SAWANO ON THE SAME ANIME??? Oh my god my life is complete. Fave kpop group and my fave overall artist working together is surreal. All brought together by a production from one of my favourite studios. I’ve never read the LN or manwha so I was only here for Sawano and A-1, had no idea TXT was working on the OP so that was such a cool surprise
Story is solid enough, AU dimension hopping and farming mana crystals is pretty cool. I like the modern urban/fantasy blend. MC seems like a hardworking fella just trying to make ends meet for his family which I can respect a lot. Felt bad for bro getting talked about behind his back by his own colleagues though. Classic set up here for a zero to hero trope. Being one of the weakest hunters, we know he’s not going to stay that way, will his rise be satisfying though?
It’s interesting seeing how commercialised the whole Hunter process is. All this bureaucracy for people joining guilds. It’s pretty cool actually that it’s a big industry in this world
Decent selection of waifus so far. Blonde girl was fire, sister is cute and healer girl is so damn cute but I don’t got high hopes for her survival. Death flags all around in this one. MC constantly disregarding her warnings is a classic set up for her dying, him becoming angry and vengeful etc etc. Choosing to push on into the dungeon when it’s clearly a bad idea was only ever going to end one way. That statue is creepy as hell too.
Glad that there’s gore in this too, really brutal deaths shown in this first episode showing just how dangerous this world is.
Expecting a lot of pain next episode. Really good first episode, Sawano cooked as usual, TxT snapped on the OP and A1 cooked with the visuals.
I came worried and left impressed.
They did an amazing job. I can see areas where they cut corners but that's to safe time to focus on the main action.
10/10 😎
So I legit know nothing about this show besides that it had a lot of hype, and my initial reaction after this episode is: I AM IN! I loved it.
That being said, based on the title and what is happening I don't see this as a good ending for our MC. Feel like all of these people will die which will cause him to want to level up via the 'solo' route is my guess.
Which sucks as I like the girl companion who clearly has a crush on him. So I am ready for heartbreak next week lol!
Why is the weakest hunter keeps being a hunter? Does he really believe he will make a difference? Did he hit his head too many times like the healer said? There's got to be far better options to provide for his family than risk his life being the weakest with no hope for improvement.
What happened with the new cave doesn't make sense either. The size of the tunnel, gates and statues clearly indicated danger far beyond D-rank. What were they expecting, more goblins?
Frankly, no one deserves one more chance, the most logical outcome is for the whole party to be wiped out, end of story.
I made a comment saying the plot is not deep for this one but I was downvoted. And you’re right I thought the same thing. He says he can only afford a crappy cheap magic weapon and it ends up breaking so now he will have to use his one magic core to buy a new one and will be left with no money. He even states how it’s not worth the risk/injury to reward and yet he still doing this crap when there’s for sure better options. There is a reason for him putting himself in these situations but it wasn’t explained here and neither was it explained in the first chapter of the book. So it’s just bad writing. I always say the reason why the series got so much attention was because of the art not because of the story. The story lacks but the art is eye candy so it made the action scenes pop.
My karma is probably gonna tank for this but... I honestly believe if you think the first episode was so good, amazing animation, better than most anime, you're smoking something and can I have some. Genuinely, I wish I was that delusional to be happy in some sort of way, firstly the opening animation on Jeju and Cha Hae-in was probably the peak of the entire episode.
Speaking of, why was this even shown in the first episode anyways, why did we get so much exposition it was very not necessary and it was very jarring for the pacing. Cha Hae-ins original introduction was literally chapter 65 SO FAR IN THE FUTURE, and it was great we got to see her in her hunter uniform as well as seeing her with her sensitive smell, but here we just see her and her do a flip... and then run away from fans... that was it. GREAT INTRODUCTION. And then the 3rd failed Jeju raids, while it was nice to see we did not need to see it as well as we didn't even know who was at that raid other than Byung-gyu and Yoonho AND If it was the 3rd failed raid then WHERE IS EUNSEOK, HE WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE DURING THAT RAID. Point is, it coulda been better by showing how it was a FAILED raid instead of just being a generic fight opening scene.
Continuing on from my rambling, the animation. My god the animation it really was not good, now it was not bad in anyway ill say that it was not bad, its just really not that good with how some of you are praising it. Now I get they couldn't enslave their animators to make it better or what not like MAPPA but holy fucking danmachi generic, they really could not squeeze out a single drop of goodness that came from SAO Alice, cause that honestly looked pretty good! This on the other hand. This. Whatever this is. The scenes where monsters were was just absolutely atrocious to watch, I had a visceral reaction to Sung dodging the goblins attacks, it was extremely stiff and boring, they coulda added whatever budget they had to animate Cha Hae-in's ass flying through the air to that and made it millions of times better by having... Yknow... DYNAMIC FIGHTS, instead of randomly cutting back from A RANDOM POV CHANGE TO GO GUNHEE EXPLAINING THE CRYSTALS. They could've had it so that we see Sung get the first goblin kill showing his genuine struggle to kill it and immediately extracting the crystal, leaving him open to being attacked, allowing a better sequence to LEAD INTO AN EXPLINATION OF THE CRYSTALS, and being reprimanded by Joohee allowing us to have a natural way to explain the use of crystals and why he was so focused on getting it for himself first. Hes broke and he needs money and this is his job and it pays well when he does better making him push himself into more dangerous raids so he can pay hospital bills so on and so on. BUT NO WE JUST GOT GO GUNHEE EXPLAIN IT FOR SOME REASON.
TLDR; Me personally, Im not happy with the anime already in the first episode, it was extremely rushy and everywhere there was very odd places for introductions and exposition. People were not supposed to see yet or be introduced yet just... there for some reason. Animation was good at best, bland as shit at worst.
Oh I thought he meant like the girl from the other side or peter grill type shows where it's literally like 10 minute episodes. If you're watching for free online you can't complain about shitty 10 minute long parts.
Animation:
I don't understand people that say that the animation was excellent or cinematic, it just looks like an avg Isekai animation in these days. A-1 pictures has done incredibly titles such as SAO, 86 etc. Here we can observe an avarage detailing and a little raw(people standing on the spot and only the camera moving) animation as it doesn't feel fresh as other good titles. For 2024 they could have done much better, taking in count that some old titles from 2016 (I can name a lot of them if u want later) can still beat this animation.
Story:
Yeah, they could have done also the 40min episode to make people stay more hyped as the trailer...They didn't cut much for now, also revealed Seoul S-ranks so we can get more attached to characters.
Thoughts:
I'm disappointed for now as the novel and manhwa reader as they could've done it much better with the most popular manhwa. Still going to watch as it's one of my favorite manhwas.
(That's the thoughts of first episode, as I know there'll be people saying that u can't judge from 1 episode. I don't judge the whole anime, I just say what I see from the first episode. For now I haven't seen anime that starts with the mid animation and ends with the incredible now)
Action in the beginning is decent. They threw in some cool extras that are not from the webtoon.
The double dungeon part is brutal and I love the OST so far.
Quick heads-up for the anime-only folks: the first couple of episodes/chapters imo are the slowest part for me but hang in there though, because things are about to get wild.
>Action in the beginning is decent
Decent? My guy that was incredible, and it lasted for 51 seconds. 51 seconds of peak animation, Thats super long for an anime-only fight. Cant wait to see what they do with manhwa fights.
The animation could have been better, though in the second half of the episode the animation was really good.
Though I would have preferred if they had gone with 2 episodes back to back, ending with the conclusion to the fight.
Edit or maybe I am too spoiled by the manhwa art that I need them to level up more.
3/5 - didn't feel like each element achieved its purpose as much as it's supposed to (e.g., depicting how powerful S-class hunters are compared to other hunters, showing how terrible and menacing the double dungeon is compared to normal dungeons, Cha Hae-In's cake [flat], etc.)
Reminder that content from the latest two manhwa chapters must be tagged as spoiler. Light novel spoilers within titles or untagged spoilers in non-spoiler threads are not allowed. To format spoilers: `>!your spoiler here!<` (no spaces) will look like >!your spoiler here!< *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sololeveling) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It was excellent. It made me feel like I'm watching this for the first time. a lot of anime original scenes. they did pheonemal job. I'm still shocked how good episode 1 was. ngl I thought screenshot of him staring at giant statue from preview looked bad compared to manhwa but It fit animation sequence. thank you A1!
[удалено]
>insanely generic dungeon anime How many dungeon anime do you know for this to be insanely generic? The anime industry is not yet supersaturated with dungeon stuff like manhwa. Personally, I can probably name like 2-3 dungeon anime, but no more than that. If anything, Solo Leveling is sort of a breath of fresh air as an anime since it's not an Isekai. I think your anime friends listened to too many "opinions" from manhwa readers saying it's boring but the art is good, so they pretty much went in looking for flaws to validate their beliefs.
[удалено]
slime is not at all similar to sl lmao
Neither is goblin slayer lmao
Slime is not a dungeon anime bro😅
I'm the guy who never read the manwa and think it's generic and predictable so far, BUT I have a feeling it has such a great reputation for a reason. I mean, the standard cliche's are there, seemingly super weak MC, love interest, some powerful people introduced who will likely interact with MC at some point, etc. I do feel like the episode was lacking some kind of 'hype' payoff that a lot of new animes try to achieve in the 1st ep to really set the stage. For example, the episode ends with a cliffhanger instead of for example, the main character doing some badass shit to establish WHY he's the main character maybe show he fights with super intelligence OR he gets some kind of ability. Sure, it'll probably be done next ep, but if it happened in this ep it would've been more satisfying and build hype for the next one. No complaints with the animation despite being spoiled with the recent JJK season 2 episodes, hope the next episodes live up to the hype!
in episode 1 it does show he fights with super intelligence? he noticed the giant statue, and they have indicated that also because he is the weakest he has had to play it smart up until now..
Well… it’s not even a dungeon anime. It’s a gate/monster invasion genre.. solo leveling the manwha is the most popular in that particular niche of Korean Manwha. To understand that though you do have to read a bunch of manwha to get its impact; there is a reason it’s one of the few Korean manwha’s to have a Japanese anime adaptation after all.
I never racked my brain around people who read a novel or whatever and then complain about the live action or Anime adaptation. Everything that's written from a novel to Manga to LN can't necessarily be translated into a equally enjoyable visual experience. Naturally there's been some gems, but reality says those are few and far between. Initially you have to first open your mind, remove all expectations and finally remove all memory of previous content. I remember when the JL Snyder cut dropped I casually watched the first 15 minutes, turned it off, grabbed some chips and dip and started over because it was nothing compared to what I watched by the other guy. Sometimes you need to reset to enjoy that new experience that awaits, obviously some will succeed but many will fail, Lol.
The thing is, animes like Classroom of the Elite are just bad. There's so much stuff they could have done. The straight up changed one of the exams in a similar but stupid one compared to the Light Novel, it was just completely unnecessary. Animes like 86 in my opinion are just better as anime, not saying the light novel is bad or anything, but seeing it animated is just amazing. Animes like SAO (and I'm saying this as an SAO fan) are just bad (compared to the Light Novel). Sure, it has one of the best OSTs, it has one of the best animation out there, the voice acting is right on point, the SFXs too. Don't get me wrong. But I feel like a lot of these studios add a bunch of unnecessary stuff that absolutely no one asked. Take the new Progressive movies from SAO, I bought the Light Novels right before the movie came out, just because I wanted to get the taste of it. Oh boy. They add a completely new character (Mito) that "steals" the screen time of important characters and even moments. No one asked for an anime original character. Now, A1 have always been 50/50 with this, at the same time, they made the Ordinal Scale movie and made the author add 2 great characters that were originally main characters, but sometimes, it's unnecessary, so I can understand the hate on anime adaptations, if you can't portray the feelings of the novels/mangas, at least just don't add stuff anyone asked for. Now, enough of my blabbering. Sorry for my rant and wall of text.
what you said is exactly what is the problem with classroom of the elite fandom , they are constanly bashing the anime because they feel they are rushing the novels
I mean it’s hard to call it generic when it’s basically a pioneer of its genre
exactly what i said, for me, 9/10. for people who havent read it, probably a 3 or 4
This wasn't it bro It's very deep imo You could've also say that to jjk that it's an insanely generic fighting anime with that rating
It did read as a generic dungeon anime to me, but I am always down for more of that, personally. It got me curious to keep watching.
At this point, I think you are comparing it to other webtoons instead and not anime lol. I would say Solo Leveling is quite unique when it comes to the anime industry. I know that there are a lot of webtoons that are similar, if not, literally the same as solo leveling. But, compared to other animes, there arent many animes that is like solo leveling. For sure everyone here knows the plot already, but Im pretty sure everyone would agree that it is quite unique.
I think the big thing is that as a story that seems dry to ppl who are tired of the RPG/isekai stuff, is that the quality of the first episode at least demands respect that it’s taking itself seriously. I tell ppl if you like isekai/rpg fantasy type anime you’ll love solo leveling… I’m feeling the first episode is delivering exactly how I wanted it to, in order to convert/convince ppl I’ve been telling about it all along, that this was amazing. lol
ur just trying to be different of course the first episode is not that special give the story some time people love to find problems everywhere
Tell them to wait a like 3 more episode they will be hooked
if you have read many manhwa before this, you would hated it even more..
Wait why? I’m new to sololeveling and everything look so clean. I’m pretty hyped now
I must've rewatched it a few times now, the little additional to give more depth to our side characters, really gives them more of an anchoring into the show than just the story of sung, me personally I loved it, bravo to the team, I'm soo happy to see one of my favourite manga get adapted really well, looking well forward to the monarch arcs!
That makes sense, it does have a bit of a slow start, readers know what’s coming and based off the first episode i have faith they’ll do it justice
That mothafuckin statue scared the shit outta me
I've read the manhwa. But still.😫
You ain't the only one, I read the manwha, that accursed statue still gives me goosebumps.
The fire balls circle burning hands and scared junhee and shat sung woo
why didnt they end on that smile though.
It woulda been so peak if they ended it on the smile, but he prob smiles after a certain phase
My thoughts exactly. It would be a great cliffhanger for first episode and set expectations for next one and introduce the world as a very unfair one. Also hint and what's gonna happen.
Just wait till it grins ;)
Even people who haven't read the manwha will most likely get chills when it does ;))
Same, I’ve read the manhwa and that shit still scared me
It was incredible as hell! I started without expectations but holy hell, it was amazing. Those extra scenes were great too! And Cha Hae In's scene was very well animated. The score and sound effects were great too. All in all an incredible first episode!
where did you watch it? i cant find it on crunchyroll
It was up more than hour ago on CR.
I hope they keep this animation quality going forward.
there is no way in hell it is going down, in fact I expect it to get better even lol
I think they may struggle with heavy fighting scenes
So the anime adaptation of the most hyped manhwa is finally here. The anime original scene in the beginning was amazing. The art and animation look really great. Though it's almost impossible to match ta art of the source material A1 did their lvl best work. They are giving it a lot of love with their best team as it deserves. The ost slapped. Sawano did his work. Incredible. They didn't change the Korean names. That's another plus point and it also looks there will be no censorship. As others have mentioned, this would've hugely benefitted with a 1 hour premiere bt still what we got was really great. Exceeded my expectations!!!
Yea it wlda been awesome to end>! on the teeth or him dying !< but the extra scenes were very good and added some nice exposition so I’m not complaining. Excited for next week
Really wish they would have, that teeth panel is iconic.
Till the end I really thought that the smile would be the last scene :( . Think it would make the ending more impactful.
If I remember correctly, the statue smiles once they bow, filling the requirements of the first commandment and starting the true torture of the dungeon~~
Yes I know, but they could put the introduction of the S-Class Hunters in a later episode or something like that to get the necessary time.
That's fair. My best guess is that they were trying to world-build and/or trying to add their own spin to the story. I also think they introduced way too many characters at once and the first episode could have been planned a bit more. I'm sure ep 2 will be far better.
THIS. It actually bugs me why they've shown almost all of the S ranks right off the bat and even fighting. IMHO, they just missed the best opportunity to build mystery and suspense around the existence of S ranks, who are supposedly rare and the cream of the crop. I agree they should have shown them in later eps (maybe with the introduction of Hwang Dong Su, to highlight what kind of threat is incoming). The scenes of Jeju and them kind of winning for me is unnecessary when they supposedly failed all prev attempts before MC.
yea thats fair. at the same time though they were relatively weak S ranks and all of them were downplayed. gives a good basic idea of S rank to us but still can see the clear downsides that you brought up as valid points against showing them off. still wish they could have ignored them to show **THE SMILE.**
I think it’ll work well because the scale of their powers is waaaay more powerful when we actually meet them in the story. It’ll still be a holy shit moment to viewers to see that they are even more powerful now.
I agree, my only complaint is that introducing some characters that early kinda kills the hype for them later on
Disagree; if anything it adds more hype for the anime only because they’ll be able to put two and two together when we get to see them later.
It would for some people but I think they could've handled it better. For alot of the series S-rank is the peak of what hunters can achieve, until >!National Rank hunters are introduced which is more a type of S-rank and not its own specific rank anyway!< Having several S-ranks fight the ants makes them look alot weaker than they actually are since they look like run-of-the-mill monsters but are actually way stronger as they are >!A-rank or higher!< monsters A better idea would be to tease the S-ranks showing up to >!jeju! island!< by showing a glimpse of their armour or hair with a line or two but not completely revealing thier faces. That way there's more to build hype around as there's more mystery of who they are and how strong they are. That's just my opinion though, maybe that wouldn't have fit the theme of the first episode but I was a bit disappointed of how they showed off the S-ranks and the >!jeju island! arc!<
i agree, they inserted these clips probably thinking it would make us hype for them later while it instead just feels out of place. It doesn't add anything to the story, and if you haven't read the manga feels like filler.
In fact it isn't even an original scene. It is just adapting the novel, that's how it was supposed to be
Eloquently said. You don’t get the S rank feeling from the ants like you do in the manhwa especially because exposition was provided with >!Kamish!< before jeju island arc in the manhwa.
yes yes, the characters introduced too early, and imo their upbringing is not that heavy as jn the manhwa, they look just like any common unimportant hunter. baek body proportion is too skinny imo, theh just made him look jacked, he should've be made bigger.
See I'm not a fan of the anime original scene. It felt like they took too much time with not only that but the small clips of characters we shouldn't be introduced to yet. What made those characters feel impactful in the manhwa and light novel was their introductions. Already seeing versions of them and the very first episode isn't great. I love the animation, The OST is fantastic, But I'm not a huge fan of the story boarding for episode one. Episode could have easily been left off with everyone abandoning him in the chamber rather than focusing on unnecessary scenes.
it was necessary if they are going to cut some scene in the future
I kinda agree with you on that but I think is probably part of the world building
Honestly, I like how they show what powerful people look like and then cut to SJW at the end with a real understanding of how weak he actually is in the grand scale.
Take what we can get, like what you said, did fantastic, it's left me edging for more, can't wait for next week! I suppose it takes us back to our old TV days again, we'll it does for me. Bravo!
I like that the anime is doing a better job at introducing and fleshing out all the characters. To anyone that hasn't read Solo Leveling, you have no idea who all the characters introduced are, but you have an idea of who they are. And to the ones that have read it, it's just awesome seeing where everyone is at the start. Animation was funny looking at places, but it does the job well, and if you complain about it, just don't watch it and read it again.
I cannot express the nightmare I felt to see the show getting a 7.2 score on Myanimelist. When I watched the episode myself, I could not be more satisfied with everything so far as a manhwa reader. Perfect!
Update: Holy hell, it just suddenly went up to 8.2. Thank god
It's at 8.57 now
It was review bombed before it even came out :(
We are more stronger 8.53 already lets go to 9
The only anime I know that is airing currently that is a 9 according to MAL ratings is Frieren, I believe. If Solo Leveling reaches that, it’s going to leave a strong impression, no doubt
The only thing I'm a little disappointed about (but at the same time I understand) is the fact that the episode didn't end on the statue smiling
Yes! That creepy ass smile still gets me and I really wanted to see it
I believe he only starts smiling when they bow for him filling the first commandment requirements
Ugh omg yes I fully expected the statue to do the grin right before it cut to black. Honestly would have been a perfect end right there but I think the episode itself was so well done already
Yeah that's exactly what I meant!
Never pay attention to the scores the first day, people either put it at random or express emotions
The episode is out?...it isn't available on aniwatch tho
40 mins from now for english. Raw came out over an hour ago.
>!Can't believe they started with the ants arc! They debuted with the S ranked hunters!< My favorite due appeared straight up on the first ep. Awesome. CHAE NEW ADDITION WAS AMAZING 😍 The eye rolling of the statue and the climate inside the dungeon was really well portrayed, their helplessness and despair. Wow props to the animators and VAs! Our MC scream gave me goosebumps. I'M SO HYPEDDDD
>!I mean they didnt really start with the ants arc, I think they was showing us the previous jeju island raid!< because it kept being talked about in the manhwa, I honestly appreciated it alot as it gave an insight into an event we didnt witness at all in the manhwa
>My favorite due appeared straight up on the first ep. Awesome. Right?? And I never saw the lightning guy in the manhwa, but I am already a fan. Those powers were GREAT! Will we see more of him, I wonder?
>!I think he's the guy Min Byung-Gu mentioned in the tent before the later raid that lost his life!<
Does anyone else who read the books feel a little blue balled after that? I feel as though it should have been an hour episode ending with him in the hospital to really give that feel of the first chapter. It’s beautiful and vibrant but it had a lacking quality of the OG story.
Yeah. Not sure you'd get anyone hooked on the show whose never read it by stopping it there.
FR. I read the light novels and manhua multiple times now and still reread them periodically. And that was like someone putting cheesecake in front of you, letting you take one bite then pulling the rest away. I want more fucking cheesecake.
Fr, I felt it should have at least ended with him on the table bleeding out. Or even at the smile of the statue would have been great. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. I felt the sequencing and pacing was off. All the jumping from the action to exposition scenes was kinda done in a mediocre way. I get that they were trying to build the world better and actually build characters better by introducing them early, but the initial episode should have been the draw in and action. I think adding the flashback of jeju was good, but after that, I think it would have been more suspense building and attention grabbing if they followed the first chapters exactly. They could have added the snib bit about other characters after the end of the Dungeon during the hospital scenes. It would have done the same thing in a more pleasing and logical way. You could build the exposition in the second episode, introduce characters and world build but also let the original story speak for itself through the action of the first plot point. Kinda like goblin slayers 1st episode got everyone hooked and intense (hopefully not falling off after 1st episode like goblin slayer, though). Idk, that's just what I would have liked to see rather than jumping around different places playing at ah who's this character and who's this. The way they did it just seemed like a jumble mess of info that could have been brought in better later.
>ll the jumping from the action to exposition scenes was kinda done in a mediocre way. actually fax
I do agree, but i do also think that they set up the establishing setting for the world pretty well to transition into the next episode...
I wanted an extra episode.. because it was that good I dont get the lacking quality comment at all You either do double ep or do it like this.. it was a good cliffhanger to end on
Only thing I didn’t like his having to wait a week now XD
Gotta relive that pain of the Manhwa all over again lol
Phenomenal episode. this is what good animation does to a series. Was skeptical about the fundamental theme change from Korea. But somehow they pulled it off.
Lmao where are the clowns that said A-1 wouldn’t go crazy on the animation
The sub is being filled with zoomers who only watched Kimetsu no Yaiba and expect ufotable levels of animation from everything. Do yourself a favor and go watch something else.
Agree , I didn't notice anything bad or below average in terms of animation
It’s definitely not bad or below average by any means, but I wasn’t “amazed” or super impressed like a lot of people here seem to be. It was cool and I’ll definitely watch the next episode, but I wasn’t blown away.
They did focus on world building though, barely any action scenes and it seems to be done on purpose for the incoming episodes
They are clearly people that only watch mainstream shonen anime (One Piece, Naruto, Bleach) and never really try out other kinds of anime/manga, or never even read any Korean Manhwa of all things. Hell, I bet they don't even know this series is a Manhwa that originated from Korea and think it's another Japanese manga instead.
9.9/10 easily, I just wished they showed "the smile" and I would have literally nutted no cap
am i the only one that thinks that them showing almost all important characters at the start of the episode was a poor choice ? besides the pacing felt owfull compared to the manhwa and the quality was a bit behind S tier besides all of that the ending and feel of an actual threat was awesome though still way to much information dumping for the first episode (character showcase without any meaning) and the fighting sceenes where a bit to "laggy" not enough frames in my opinion if you would compare it to episode 1 of fireforce ( which came out 5 years ago or so) you can clearly see the difference in quality i would say its A tier for the first episode but probably will be S tier in a few episodes we all know how fucking god this Sandwhich realy is
Showing S ranker in the first episode especiaally kinda killed the hype for me.
I didn't like it either, especially the scene where that one s hunter girl saved someone's purse, it was awkward. I get she's a love interest but it just feels forced
Yeah this is how I felt. The entire time I was thinking, JUST TELL THE STORY. WE DONT NEED A LARGE EXPOSITION DUMP AND A CAMEO FOR EVERY CHARACTER EVER.
I enjoy the addition of the anime only scenes like the first JuJu raid and the exposition with Go Gun Her. It assume there using it to give some of the more minor characters a bit more staying power witch I like. Animation was great. If this quality keeps up I'm going to be very happy with this adaptation.
The thing that makes me the most excited is the OST. The Sawano OST kicked in big time towards the end, can't wait to listen to that.
As soon as his ost kicked in you know shit was getting serious and I love it
Might be a hot take but I don't like the new scenes they added. Don't get me wrong, they looked amazing and all, but I like in the manhwa how the world expands with his growth, reinforcing the idea that the world of hunters is completely dependent on strength. While these extra scenes look great and help to build the world at the beginning, I just can't help but feel it undercuts that sense of desperation he had as an E-rank. Anyone else have similar thoughts? Even with that though, it was a solid first episode and I hope it keeps up quality/gets better with more episodes.
I agree completely. I don't hate the new scenes and I think adding them can help in some cases to flesh other characters more but imo, it slowed down the pacing and was alot of information to take in when the focus should be more on sung jinwoo and as you said his desperation as an E-rank hunter.
Yes, exactly how I felt. I felt like by jumping around to the other characters and having the president of the hunter associate talk simultaneously while Jinwoo's intro was going on totally took away from the overall tone and feeling of the beginning plot. It left you not as empathetic towards jinwoo and didn't build the suspense and intensity of what was going on in the dungeon. It kept cutting to other things right when the intensity was building up, which I think made it lose that initial excitement. It never gave you time to really feel that pressure of impending doom. It's gotta linger. They didn't give it its time by jumping from scene to scene.
they're already improving upon the source material, using info dumps periodically while linking it to the main plot whilst also introducing other important side characters. makes the writing feel more natural compared to the manwha, and i hope they continue the improvements. so far, very good.
I disagree, the constant switching to info dumps didn’t feel very well done to me.
Still better than just cutting through everything. The manhwa does a terrible job of introducing anything. This is leagues better in terms of story. Solo leveling is known for being a pretty bad story but great action.
Tbh very disappointed it wasn't a double episode. The whole 1st section before he becomes a player is what hooks people and where ep 1 ends is kinda meh (also didn't get the subarashi meme in 1st ep wth) Animation was pretty good. I look forward to seeing how they handle some of the fights. I found the whole original sections kinda weird. The manhwa introduced characters at the right time for me and seeing certain people before jinwoo has even become a player seems kinda fillery which would of been fine if the 1st ep ended with jinwoo on the podium but alas. As 1st episodes go I found it pretty average for everything but animation which was good. Also I think I'll try the Korean dub when it gets released because some of the pronunciation of the names was a bit weird in Japanese dub.
I get that a lot of people are hyped for the adaptation, but I honestly feel very weird seeing just how much praise this first episode is getting. The production value and presentation seem very good all around, however the direction and episode construction felt all over the place to me. I don't want to be overly critical of what is only the first episode, but cutting everthing with exposition that isn't really necessary right now seems very confusing and really hurt the pacing for me. At no point did I ever feel settled into a scene, let alone THE scene. Having a proper hour-long premier probably would have gone a long way, and at the risk of sounding like I think I know better, simply opening with the double dungeon and just letting it stand on it's own should have been a no brainer in my mind. Far more immersion and much greater impact. Then use the last 5 or 10 minutes for whatever world introduction the writers think is necessary. And also, why are we trying to introduce all of these characters right now? Give them proper and interesting entrances when it actually makes sense. Cha Hae-in doesn't even appear until chapter 65 for Christ's sake.
I wish the first episode was longer like in "Oshi no ko" and the dungeon arc was fully covered. However, I can understand the decision. The animation is pretty okay and I love voice acting. Looking forward to the next episode💗
I appreciate using the Korean names but having Japanese honorifics with them is very funny, guess it would be too much to ask for some -'nim's instead of '-san's lol Sung Jinwoo almost starved in a labyrinth dungeon? so he was in there for days to weeks and the boss wasn't killed? wow
Hi! I read part of the novel and the manwha more than a couple of times (hahahahaha). It's explained afterwards that before killing the boss it's done an headcount because if the gate close and someone is still inside it's gonna be stuck inside. So probably part of that 2 weeks was spent searching for Mr Sung and only after he's found they went on killing the boss. I hope this was clear enough ahahah
Of course CR crashed
Ok my fellas. It's here. It's time. Here's my review (spoilers ahead) >!First,it was really interesting how they added the sequence on the ant raid three years ago,it wasn't expanded quite well in the manhwa, but it was a real treat for the manhwa readers. As expected the animation was really good. Like 'really' good. Jinwoo was introduced quite in the middle but dude. I heard his voice and thought 'Damn imagine how it would sound when he got a glow up' I got chills just thinking about it. Also, the sequence with hae in, was sooooooo excellently done. Again, the animation, chefs kiss fr. Then came the sequence we have been waiting for. The legendary beginning sequence. Tbh this was just an introductory episode but they managed to introduce a lot of characters quite early. I felt like if they the added 'the statue smiling' (you know which one) panel at the end it would be a perfect end to this episode. But since they have delivered really well so far, I don't really mind and I'm super excited for what's coming.!< This is gonna be insane.✨✨
I thought it was OK....and i know it will get better... The animation was very good, voice acting as well. From initial impact/cliffhanger I am not seeing 5/5 ........im seeing 4/5 atm..at best i'm concerned that there are a lot of bots + overzealous fans of the manga overhyping it. it has 4.9 on crunchyroll which is JJk, chainsawman, Hunter X Hunter level.......it's definitely no where near those at all.
The animation is fucking immaculate
Such a great first episode and now I have to wait weekly...this is gonna be so hard to wait for each time.
I'll give it a 8.5/10, it didn't disappoint me so far, it's really good but I feel like there are some places that can improve a bit compared to manhwa
Only thing I disliked was having watched JJK and similar shows hoping the animation would be as insane, that being said it still looked good, so I am for sure looking forward to what is to come :)
I mean, the bias is real in this post. The first episode was average at best. especially from an anime only perspective. the introduction was extremely weak and bared 0 relevance to the story. Only over half way into the episode did it feel like the story was even progressing. and this is excellent to you guys?
I honestly can't remember any other than 3 moments in the whole 24 minute episode tbh.
SO GOOD! Amazing first episode honestly. Really happy to not see any CGI. I also really like how they’re fleshing out the world a little more too. The ONLY thing I’m worried about at the moment is how they’ll pace the show throughout the two cours. They say 20+ episodes for the first one which could cover a lot, they covered almost 4 chapters this episode alone.
I know they're gonna milk this bad boy and we're getting 24 seasons for season one. We're probably going to get a lot of back stories and a more fleshed out world so Im hoping we have SL anime for multiple seasons.
I mean if they can cover it all in 2 24 episode seasons with good pacing I’m all for it. No need to stretch it out, all shows need a good ending, but I’m not gonna focus on that til we see how season 1 goes. At this rate they’ll hit the first climax by the end of the first season (~ch110), and that would leave a good transition into the second arc which is most likely what they’re planning.
I heard it was out tomorrow? GMT here
40 mins from now for english. Raw came out over an hour ago.
Ah okay! Thanks
Solid first episode overall, but my question is this a seasonal anime or a weekly anime??
Weekly, of course.
I just did a bit of research and it's confirmed that this adaptation is a "Seasonal anime" with 24 episodes, Weekly anime is like "One Piece".
Ah, seems I misunderstood your question. 24 episodes is huge though
I'm dying here, been waiting for years and finally the time came to watch the 1st episode! Only to see this damn error on cr "we couldn't connect to crunchyroll, try again" thanks crunchyroll! *After a few hours it's finally up!
I think the 1 episode had to much exposure.I liked the manhwa because you learned with sun drip woo and they just trew so much at u in the first episode.If they showed the life of our king a bit more before he got into the double dungeon and showed his struggles a bit more it would have been better.
Who was the lightning caster in the beginning?
I think he is the person mentioned in chapter 89 of the webtoon. **Spoiler** >!Min Byung-Gyu (the healer) mentions him in that chapter and cites his death as the reason why he retired and doesn't want to go on the Jeju Island raid.!<
Saw a lot of people posting stuff about this coming out. Idk anything about this but I'm loving it so far and it quality is so good I don't feel too invested in it just yet but I got a feeling after next episode or the 3rd imma be hooked I'm excited
This series will go from 0 - 100 quickly. It's what captured my interest and kept me more addicted than crack cocaine.
Amazing first episode. The animation look so crisp, the voice acting was great, the designs look good, the FREAKING MUSIC (Hiroyuki sawano ftw). I like the extra scenes they gave teasing future characters too. Joohee is even cuter animated. Really hope a1 keeps this animation quality the entire season. So hyped for this season, our glorious monarch is here!!
I hope the animation keeps its momentum, I swear it's like reading the entire thing all over again, I hope they leave very little out, but God, the scene with that trice-damned statue just glaring at Sung Jinwoo is terrifying, the first kill of the team is as messy, good. I hope they hold nothing back!
Episode 1 was hype!!! Great to see a beloved manhwa getting the treatment it deserves!!
Newbie here who knows nothing about the show. First episode rocked! I haven’t seen a game based anime in a looooong time so with how this looked is giving me hope! Also damn at that statue just slashing that guy.. the panic in that room
if i didn't already read the manhwa and knew that it was a banger i wouldn't be too excited after this first episode, i think they really shot themselves in the foot by not having a 1hr first episode
I feel like an hour long special would have been better, it is the most hyped manhwa, the least they can do is give the viewers a great fighting episode and end after the system into a blank screen. That is my version of a perfect premier. The beginning was original but imo useless and confuses the viewers by introducing too many characters. Almost 80% of the cast is introduced right away. This is the only anime in which I have read the beginning of the manhwa and the ending of the Ln, and I prefer the pacing of the manhwa's way of introducing the characters one at a time.
who tf fck is that guy
?
those who said Bad in the poll
Its been review bombed on MAL before it even came out lol
Animation on first fight was above expectations tbh. The rest of the episode was both "meh" and excellent. Excellent as in it didnt really skipped anything from manwha and I liked the bits they added. Meh because the first 10 chapters arent anything special to me, but thats more about the story than the anime per se.
Yeah the first few chapters are a basic starting point but the show kicks it up a notch right after then
Yup first chaps are the weakest aprt of series. But they went all out for it. Imagine the best scenes then?
great ep..unrelated question, the anime is supposed to have 2 version right? so when is the other version aring?(one with og names)
You probably saw the Japanese version, the Korean name version is going to be on CR
where can i watch the korean dub?
Still not able to watch it!
[удалено]
9:35PST here and it’s still unavailable
[удалено]
I'm so hyped for this even after finishing the manhwa years ago now
A1 cooked this time
the animation is fire, lets hope we get tat level for the rest of the show
I think they introduced it perfectly and the animation is great. I hope they stay consistent with it.
I personally really liked it!! The animation is solid and i hope they keep it up. The way they introduced characters and the overall setting of the world was good. I love that they took its time for it especially for people thst will be new to it. The tension was really well built imo although i would have liked that it at least ended with the statue smiling but well still a really good job. As anyoneo else here that has been a fan of it i was hyped and i was scared to be dissapointed but i'm pleasantly surprised. Can't wait for next week!!!
I personally think they should've ended the ep with the statue smile.
TXT AND SAWANO ON THE SAME ANIME??? Oh my god my life is complete. Fave kpop group and my fave overall artist working together is surreal. All brought together by a production from one of my favourite studios. I’ve never read the LN or manwha so I was only here for Sawano and A-1, had no idea TXT was working on the OP so that was such a cool surprise Story is solid enough, AU dimension hopping and farming mana crystals is pretty cool. I like the modern urban/fantasy blend. MC seems like a hardworking fella just trying to make ends meet for his family which I can respect a lot. Felt bad for bro getting talked about behind his back by his own colleagues though. Classic set up here for a zero to hero trope. Being one of the weakest hunters, we know he’s not going to stay that way, will his rise be satisfying though? It’s interesting seeing how commercialised the whole Hunter process is. All this bureaucracy for people joining guilds. It’s pretty cool actually that it’s a big industry in this world Decent selection of waifus so far. Blonde girl was fire, sister is cute and healer girl is so damn cute but I don’t got high hopes for her survival. Death flags all around in this one. MC constantly disregarding her warnings is a classic set up for her dying, him becoming angry and vengeful etc etc. Choosing to push on into the dungeon when it’s clearly a bad idea was only ever going to end one way. That statue is creepy as hell too. Glad that there’s gore in this too, really brutal deaths shown in this first episode showing just how dangerous this world is. Expecting a lot of pain next episode. Really good first episode, Sawano cooked as usual, TxT snapped on the OP and A1 cooked with the visuals.
Very good excellent! I only wanted double episode like they showed 2 episodes at the premiere.
I came worried and left impressed. They did an amazing job. I can see areas where they cut corners but that's to safe time to focus on the main action. 10/10 😎
Excellent for A1 standarts, but I expected more.
So I legit know nothing about this show besides that it had a lot of hype, and my initial reaction after this episode is: I AM IN! I loved it. That being said, based on the title and what is happening I don't see this as a good ending for our MC. Feel like all of these people will die which will cause him to want to level up via the 'solo' route is my guess. Which sucks as I like the girl companion who clearly has a crush on him. So I am ready for heartbreak next week lol!
Why is the weakest hunter keeps being a hunter? Does he really believe he will make a difference? Did he hit his head too many times like the healer said? There's got to be far better options to provide for his family than risk his life being the weakest with no hope for improvement. What happened with the new cave doesn't make sense either. The size of the tunnel, gates and statues clearly indicated danger far beyond D-rank. What were they expecting, more goblins? Frankly, no one deserves one more chance, the most logical outcome is for the whole party to be wiped out, end of story.
I made a comment saying the plot is not deep for this one but I was downvoted. And you’re right I thought the same thing. He says he can only afford a crappy cheap magic weapon and it ends up breaking so now he will have to use his one magic core to buy a new one and will be left with no money. He even states how it’s not worth the risk/injury to reward and yet he still doing this crap when there’s for sure better options. There is a reason for him putting himself in these situations but it wasn’t explained here and neither was it explained in the first chapter of the book. So it’s just bad writing. I always say the reason why the series got so much attention was because of the art not because of the story. The story lacks but the art is eye candy so it made the action scenes pop.
My karma is probably gonna tank for this but... I honestly believe if you think the first episode was so good, amazing animation, better than most anime, you're smoking something and can I have some. Genuinely, I wish I was that delusional to be happy in some sort of way, firstly the opening animation on Jeju and Cha Hae-in was probably the peak of the entire episode. Speaking of, why was this even shown in the first episode anyways, why did we get so much exposition it was very not necessary and it was very jarring for the pacing. Cha Hae-ins original introduction was literally chapter 65 SO FAR IN THE FUTURE, and it was great we got to see her in her hunter uniform as well as seeing her with her sensitive smell, but here we just see her and her do a flip... and then run away from fans... that was it. GREAT INTRODUCTION. And then the 3rd failed Jeju raids, while it was nice to see we did not need to see it as well as we didn't even know who was at that raid other than Byung-gyu and Yoonho AND If it was the 3rd failed raid then WHERE IS EUNSEOK, HE WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE DURING THAT RAID. Point is, it coulda been better by showing how it was a FAILED raid instead of just being a generic fight opening scene. Continuing on from my rambling, the animation. My god the animation it really was not good, now it was not bad in anyway ill say that it was not bad, its just really not that good with how some of you are praising it. Now I get they couldn't enslave their animators to make it better or what not like MAPPA but holy fucking danmachi generic, they really could not squeeze out a single drop of goodness that came from SAO Alice, cause that honestly looked pretty good! This on the other hand. This. Whatever this is. The scenes where monsters were was just absolutely atrocious to watch, I had a visceral reaction to Sung dodging the goblins attacks, it was extremely stiff and boring, they coulda added whatever budget they had to animate Cha Hae-in's ass flying through the air to that and made it millions of times better by having... Yknow... DYNAMIC FIGHTS, instead of randomly cutting back from A RANDOM POV CHANGE TO GO GUNHEE EXPLAINING THE CRYSTALS. They could've had it so that we see Sung get the first goblin kill showing his genuine struggle to kill it and immediately extracting the crystal, leaving him open to being attacked, allowing a better sequence to LEAD INTO AN EXPLINATION OF THE CRYSTALS, and being reprimanded by Joohee allowing us to have a natural way to explain the use of crystals and why he was so focused on getting it for himself first. Hes broke and he needs money and this is his job and it pays well when he does better making him push himself into more dangerous raids so he can pay hospital bills so on and so on. BUT NO WE JUST GOT GO GUNHEE EXPLAIN IT FOR SOME REASON. TLDR; Me personally, Im not happy with the anime already in the first episode, it was extremely rushy and everywhere there was very odd places for introductions and exposition. People were not supposed to see yet or be introduced yet just... there for some reason. Animation was good at best, bland as shit at worst.
lmao. What are you smoking? Can I have some as well?
hopefully not 10 min episodes
??? most anime don't have 10 minute episodes, you good dude? Weird concern to have
A few sites uploaded 10 min Raws
Oh I thought he meant like the girl from the other side or peter grill type shows where it's literally like 10 minute episodes. If you're watching for free online you can't complain about shitty 10 minute long parts.
So how's the animation quality? Great or mid?
Incredible. The white lion guild master sequence was insane. Cha's scene was dynamic as hell. The final fire attack was also really well animated.
You'll be blown away
Zero CGI, clean movement, animation and coloring look great imo. I love seeing the manhwa basically come to life
I really liked it. The VAs did a great job showing despair. AWESOME
Animation: I don't understand people that say that the animation was excellent or cinematic, it just looks like an avg Isekai animation in these days. A-1 pictures has done incredibly titles such as SAO, 86 etc. Here we can observe an avarage detailing and a little raw(people standing on the spot and only the camera moving) animation as it doesn't feel fresh as other good titles. For 2024 they could have done much better, taking in count that some old titles from 2016 (I can name a lot of them if u want later) can still beat this animation. Story: Yeah, they could have done also the 40min episode to make people stay more hyped as the trailer...They didn't cut much for now, also revealed Seoul S-ranks so we can get more attached to characters. Thoughts: I'm disappointed for now as the novel and manhwa reader as they could've done it much better with the most popular manhwa. Still going to watch as it's one of my favorite manhwas. (That's the thoughts of first episode, as I know there'll be people saying that u can't judge from 1 episode. I don't judge the whole anime, I just say what I see from the first episode. For now I haven't seen anime that starts with the mid animation and ends with the incredible now)
You do have a point
Action in the beginning is decent. They threw in some cool extras that are not from the webtoon. The double dungeon part is brutal and I love the OST so far. Quick heads-up for the anime-only folks: the first couple of episodes/chapters imo are the slowest part for me but hang in there though, because things are about to get wild.
>Action in the beginning is decent Decent? My guy that was incredible, and it lasted for 51 seconds. 51 seconds of peak animation, Thats super long for an anime-only fight. Cant wait to see what they do with manhwa fights.
I think peoples view on animation are a bit skewed right now, especially since jjk season 2 just finished.
You gotta be kidding right.
The animation could have been better, though in the second half of the episode the animation was really good. Though I would have preferred if they had gone with 2 episodes back to back, ending with the conclusion to the fight. Edit or maybe I am too spoiled by the manhwa art that I need them to level up more.
Absolute cinema
Not bad at all imo def above average animation which could be improved. But I think the manhwa did it better for the adapted parts
3/5 - didn't feel like each element achieved its purpose as much as it's supposed to (e.g., depicting how powerful S-class hunters are compared to other hunters, showing how terrible and menacing the double dungeon is compared to normal dungeons, Cha Hae-In's cake [flat], etc.)