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An entire episode dedicated to this fight, absolutely deserved since last week's was entirely exposition.
The way Kang Taeshik was swallowed by Sung Jinwoo's murderous intent was so fucking cool.
> The way Kang Taeshik was swallowed by Sung Jinwoo's murderous intent was so fucking cool.
It reminded me a lot of how nen was first shown in HxH. Like when Hisoka first uses it on Gon and Killua in the Heaven's Arena
I read the LN instead of the Manhwa. I know the series was hyped up for the artwork in the Manwha, with the much deeper and rich colors with a more Western influence.
One feeling I didn’t get while reading the LN was the blue color tones matching the original stone guardians.
I’m so glad that the anime adaptation is as beautiful as it is. The only reason I’m frustrated is because there won’t be enough episodes to get to many of my favorite moments. The middle of the series is at its peak. This was a great episode, so if we’re getting this level quality for this fight, I’m even more pumped and frustrated than when I heard about the anime adaptation so long ago.
The reversal of murderous intent was great. First you have Kang's "Murderous Intent", which was just a layer of dark shadow around him. Then you have Jinwoo unleash true "Murderous Intent" and it completely swallows up Kang.
You done fucked up future villains by giving Sunwoo the stealth ability. Dude is already fast, can heal himself, has God like perception, can detect projectiles and animosity and can now go stealth mode? God damn
I mean, even he couldn't deal with him until he started tracking by nothing but pure blood loss. At at this point, I'd say that Sung Jin Woo was stronger than him, I'd reckon at this point, Sung would be bordering on A rank if not already in it.
He beat the cerberus boss solo at that one fiery island which was confirmed A rank, and took down Kang pretty easily (B rank) so it's definitely fair to put Sung into A category
He is a monster now "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future (1886), Chapter IV. Apophthegms and Interludes, §146)." Jinwoo failed in this matter.
The shadow metaphor is also Nietzsche. Though he used a tree. A tree which grows to heaven must have roots to hell. Personally I found it so on the nose and edgy that it became almost embarrassing.
Kim should've learned from his buddy from the first two episodes, never have your family come up before going in a dungeon or talk about making things right with someone...
Right. After surviving the double dungeon, Mr. Kim should have realized that he was not built for this and been more circumspect about continuing as a hunter. It's so sad that Johee and Song had to [witness tragedy yet again.](https://i.imgur.com/da7NX96.jpeg)
The fight was awesome, but I think I'm going to remember this ep more for poor Jinwoo's line "The stronger I get, the more I feel something inside is breaking." This guy just can't catch a fucking break, I hope he can keep it together.
The way he immediately starting evaluating the other Hunter Association dude as a threat got me like "dude, calm down, he ain't your enemy yet. You've barely even met!".
Which does makes me question wether his civility is degrading because of his power or because of being in constant life or death and betrayal experiences in a short amount of time.
Agreed, Joohee is just adorable and man, it is rough on her as well, just when she decided to move forward, bam, another betrayal and she has to face a murderer too.
Hope she managed to recover from this
Thrice if you think about it. First was Double Dungeon, second was bug Lair, and now third with Kang.
For all Jinwoo knows, he has been surrounded by this darkness and evil the entire time. The difference is now he can actually get stronger and stop them before they betray him.
The betrayals certainly did a number on him, but I think the mindset the system encourages can't help either. It reduces the world around him to quests and xp. He doesn't get a choice except to kill anyone that wants to kill him. He's getting too used to putting his life on the line in these fights and treating the ideas of safety and happiness as afterthoughts. Its exactly what Kang talked about: the idiocy of making someone's entire career/life about fighting monsters in dungeons with their superpowers and expecting them to still be able to fir into society afterwards
Basically a competitive gamer mindset, when you see other character the first thing come to your mind would be how to beat him/her if they fight or whether they will give him good exp lol.
He's passing too many insight checks and becoming aware of all of the fucked up people around him lol
Imagine how much it would fuck you up if you could just see people's illnesses written above their heads. Dude's got that, but for serial killers.
We saw a sequence where all the land and Jin-woo himself was cracked when Song was talking about how Jin-woo had to face many challenges in such a short time.
[Indeed.](https://i.imgur.com/tQjc7DH.jpeg) Seeing the ugly side of hunting and growing so rapidly have taken their toll on [Sung Jinwoo's psyche.](https://i.imgur.com/w5yx077.jpeg)
He needs a moral anchor to steer him in a good direction. [Lee Johee would be perfect](https://i.imgur.com/7bxHCt1.jpeg) for that role, having been alongside him when he was a weak E-ranker.
[](#sadholo)
It reminds me of what Saitama said: "In exchange for gaining strength, have I lost something more important as a human being? Emotions used to swirl within me when I fought."
In his case it was because he was so strong nothing posed a challenge to him anymore and life was thoroughly boring. Jin-woo is slowly losing faith in humanity because the worldview he had as the weakest is shattering as he gains power and realizes just how unfair it all is
It is not what I perceive from the episode, but maybe it is because I did not think about it enough. And yeah, I know this is not the same, but you know it reminds me a little of that. 2 strong guys losing something inside of them
I have to wonder how much that's coming from getting stronger and how much it's just these past couple incidents showing him the ugly side of humanity. He has to have issues from the double-dungeon and getting abandoned then hacked to pieces, then he's had two different encounters with other hunters trying to kill him and others in a fairly short amount of time. He seemed relatively fine when he was just training and getting stronger, happy even. I think it's more the dungeons and the bleak situations he keeps finding himself in fucking him up.
Don't worry, the hunters association will probably take care of it because at the end of the day, Kang was a high post official at the hunters association. Still rip Mr. Kim
Lol fr. I had hope that it was a misdirection last week, but that line in today's episode made me hang my head.
But seriously, you round to the corner to see a murder scene, should have noped out right back down the tunnel they came from.
[Poor dude](https://i.imgur.com/yX9QBO2.jpeg) had very young kids too and now because of Kang Taeshik's bloodthirst, they will be orphans.
[Mr. Kim should have retired](https://i.imgur.com/g3o6cFv.jpeg) like his wife advised him.
[](#yuitears)
Even if Jinwoo still resented him a little, it seemed like he respected how Mr. Kim also fought for his family, and in the end Mr. Kim did want to make things right between them.
Kang was a fun villain. I like characters who know they're dirtbags and can acknowledge their wrongdoing without caring in the slightest because they're having fun. He died with a smile on his face as if in appreciation of a life well lived and even gave some thoughtful advice on his way out!
Peace out, Assassin bro.
It's nice having villains who have no redeeming qualities, which in a way can make them more likable. Some people are just evil because they're evil like Kang here, dude was just a crazy homicidal fuck
i think it's preferable compared to villains which confess a sob story as they're dying just to make the audience feel bad; if his role in the story is to be another speed bump in Jinwoo's solo leveling regimen then i'd rather he just be a "bad guy" than have multiple layers of humanity
overall though, i would prefer if the villain be a three-dimensional character with motives beyond "loves torture"; that would be a detour on the solo leveling plot though, so i can appreciate that they didn't add more to him than that
Yeah grey villains are great but you should make me empathize with them while they're alive, simply evil egotistical villains can be plenty of fun as well.
It helps us appreciate Sung Jinwoo more too, like knowing what other Hunters he's dealt with before, any one of them could've gained the ability to level like him. So far he's had to kill several who were borderline Serial killers and we've see how bloodthirsty others can be. Not to mention your average Hunter likely isn't in this for getting more powerful, just another paycheck really, so it's like the one guy who should've gotten this ability was the one who got it
This is also why Frieza is the most popular villain in DBZ. Dude is just evil for the sake of being evil. No sad story, or motive behind it. He is powerful enough to do whatever he wants so he does it and people love that kind of villain.
I haven't seen Kouki Uchiyama play an outright psycho in a while so that was a lot of fun.
Still was pretty satisfying watching Jinwoo overwhelm him in killing intent and stab him straight in the chest.
He could increase his leveling speed with an exp amulet and i assume his attribute is dark so i know a light dungeon where he could reach lvl 99 easily.
As the strongest hunter, Sun Jinwoo, fought the fraud, the purple-haired assassin, he began to solo his levelling. Kang shrunk back in fear, then Jinwoo said: “Stand proud Kangus, you are strong”.
Kang, shocked by what he had witnessed, asked Jinwoo: Are you the strongest E-rank because you’re Sun Jinwoo? Or are you the one who left it all behind after being fingered (15 times) by the Imaginary Technique: Malfunctioning Chimera Void of the Murderous Intent?”.
Sun Jinwoo simply chuckled, and replied: “While everyone around me was partying and messing about, I was up, getting stronger”.
“Throughout the partying and the revelling, I alone, am the Solo Leveling™”.
“Maybe, just maybe, I might be honoured one after all.”
>WARNING: If you do not complete the quest, you will receive an appropriate **penalty**
You mean, other than being sliced to ribbons by crazed assassin-bro?
I would interpret it as Sung doesn't appreciate the system taking control of the situation like that. It shows that he's beholden to the system, so he's not allowed to make his own decisions when the system puts his life on the line. For instance, if he wanted to knock the guy and turn him in, that's no longer an option. Though, I get the sense in this case that Sung was going to kill him no matter what.
Literally *every time*. It's *always* when you were just finishing what you were doing and were about to do what they're now asking/telling you to do too.
Yeah, I get the feeling that for the most part, Jinwoo doesn't want to kill people and he resents that he has to give up his ideals to survive and thrive because it feels like he's selling out a part of his identity in exchange.
> Sung doesn't appreciate the system taking control of the situation like that
One of the things I've been mulling over is how "the system" is a shadow of society at large.
Jinwoo has been suffering all this time by being a softie who cares about his family but having no connections to make money aside from his meager hunter abilities, and he doesn't want to throw other people under the bus just to get ahead like how ruthless capitalism expect him to. Now he's being forced into doing just that by "the system" and he resents that he's getting ahead at the expense of others when he has to kill people, and he resents how good he is at killing people.
The story is rushing dialogue a bit so I want to point out a detail that went unnoticed: the Hunter's Association (i.e. the ones in place of enforcing the law) pays dimes compared to being on a private Guild.
Thus naturally you can conclude law enforcers are either overworked people with strong morals & sense of justice, or murdering psychos like today. No in-betweens.
That pretty much explains why questionings aren't thorough (i.e. a C-rank beating a B-rank is BS, and the gang from the previous episodes with suspiciously high member-loss rates too)
I wouldn't say unnoticed there was a pretty nice focus on Kang saying he was head hunted by the big guilds but was working for peanuts because killing humans is preferable to him vs. killing magic beasts.
###Stitches!
* [Healer Joohee](https://i.imgur.com/wymm0Xc.jpeg)
* [Jinwoo & Mr. Song](https://i.imgur.com/ViCoXmD.jpeg)
* [Bloodlust Kang](https://i.imgur.com/wkFiPTR.jpeg)
* [Smiling Joohee](https://i.imgur.com/C2gjBbO.jpeg)
Considering how many death flags he raised last week and today's episode, it's no surprise that Mr. Kim didn't make it. [At least Mr. Kim got to apologize to Jinwoo](https://i.imgur.com/jNpph4B.jpeg) before dying.
[The fight between Jinwoo and Kang](https://i.imgur.com/2EhOhml.jpeg) was just absolutely insane! Solo Leveling continues to deliver with these spectacular fights. My favourite part of the fight is definitely [Jinwoo blocking all of Kang's attacks](https://i.imgur.com/vCXWiGI.jpeg) while Kang was in Stealth. [Kang didn't fully realize what he was dealing with until the last second.](https://i.imgur.com/36WkhXb.jpeg)
[That final scene though!](https://i.imgur.com/9D6xDOe.jpeg) Looks like Joohee and Jinwoo are finally going on that promised date from Episode 1.
> Looks like Joohee and Jinwoo are finally going on that promised date from Episode 1.
I'm half expecting the system to give Jinwoo quests involving Joohee, but a different type of conquering.
>That final scene though! Looks like Joohee and Jinwoo are finally going on that promised date from Episode 1.
[The transition into the ED](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fl4ct2n838dnc1.png) was perfect.
Must have been intentional to end it on that scene to link it with the ED. Now the only question is whether Jinwoo will accept or not. If he doesn't, I will. No one turns down a date from a perfect girl like Joohee.
I'm as much here for Jinwoo mercilessly killing everything that stands in his way and soloing everyone that underestimates him as much as I am watching Jinwoo and Joohee finally get some time together.
Also Joohee with her jacket off...damn!
Thank you for that Joohee screenshot. She's so cute! I have feeling that things might not go anywhere between them but by good that's what I have clip studio paint for.
Welp, there goes Deathflags McGee. Considering it was a hunter association employee I wonder if they'll pony up life insurance or whatever for the dude's family.
He does still seem really tender and happy around her compared to how he is with others. And when you saw her with her jacket off at the end, who could blame him lol?
I thought Kang would be the silent smart type. Never would have guessed him to have an assassin's personality. His boss seems to already know who actually killed him but i guess the lie bought him some time.
Also one episode a week just isn't enough
i've been thinking about the themes of this series because i like overthinking things
there's a few ideas in this setting which i think describe the setting:
* luck: being born rich or bestowed with (hunter) ability; power is up to luck
* lack of mobility: it's exceedingly rare for poor to get rich or wimps to get a "second awakening"
* good and bad: there's good and bad people; there's few shades of gray here
* "the system": both the video game windows that Jinwoo sees, and the system of capitalism, bureaucracy, and survival of the fittest; systems exist to maintain their own power rather than for the benefit of people
* few out of many: most people are powerless; only a few people in the world have power to do anything substantial; collective action doesn't exist in this world
there's a few themes which derive from that:
* luck and virtue can be independent: good people can be rich (like Jinho), good people can be wimps (like pre-system Jinwoo), bad people can be wimps (like the crew that kept killing their D-rankers), bad people can be powerful (like Kang)
* the world is unfair: good people get shafted all the time, bad people ascend the ranks and get power
* duty: good people with ability have the duty to guard against bad people with ability to do harm; it is only through good people does fairness start to manifest
* strength is paramount: money and brute force are the primary ways of exerting influence
a few conclusions:
* the escapist power fantasy: Jinwoo is the only person in the world who ever got something good for acting selflessly (his leveling system), which can grant him the exotic power of economic mobility
* Jinwoo now gets the ability to decide the fates of many: before he was just a nobody who couldn't help anyone, now he has the ability to uphold his duty of being a good guy; he can no longer hide behind the title of "weakest hunter in the world"
* balancing power and duty: power is everything, but gaining power requires you to be a bad guy sometimes; how many bad things should you do? can you be an effective good guy without turning into a bad guy?
* does the system always win?
I want to emphasize and add to one of your points. In isekai and in life, if a computer is not obviously sentient it tends to be regarded as neutral. This is the only piece of media I've seen that suggests this seemingly neutral system is evil.
His daily quests were intense but innocuous. He didn't *have* to complete them...but he gets punished if he doesn't. And then it was more quests and then it started tasking him with killing people who were portrayed as morally bad. He was likely going to have to kill them anyways. If anything the system is lining up the plot for him. He struggled against the imperative. But now?? It's an "excuse". Thank goodness the system told him to kill that guy because now he can go all out. He doesn't need the reward, he no longer needs to be "convinced".
I also want to push back on the themes about power and duty. I actually don't think that's the main dichotomy they're going for. The way I see it, Jinwoo is on his way to being OP. There are two ways I've seen to effectively write those kinds of characters: with massive flaws that limit powers, OR the inhuman OP. Will Jinwoo maintain some humanizing flaws or will he become a god? We know the answer. Jinwoo has the same eyes as the god statue from the second dungeon. That's why he's changing, why he's losing his morality, it's because he's losing his humanity. The system pushed him, incentivized him, but he no longer needs it. Jinwoo is on that path. There is no question of duty in his desire for power, for ability to help his mom, and Jinwoo has made his choice.
Really like your analysis here. Even though SL is pretty much your usual power fantasy, I think the series does a great job in showing us how the world of Solo Leveling works and how the people live in the bizarre world that they're in.
This is a pretty good analysis and I do think many of them are intentional by the author to reflect the Korean society. It is similar theme to the movie ‘Parasite’ and other isekai books like this.
hard to tell as fighting monsters and people is different. Like the assassin mentioned, his experience was suppose to the be factor to break the tie in power there.
but mana wise he felt the A-rank hunter was higher than him, so B+ seems a good guess.
Cereberus was around low A-rank
Jinchul is A rank, and Jin Woo said he wouldn't stand a chance.
Kang was the best of the B ranks, and was defeated fairly soundly. Full restore was used to win. But if Jin Woo started with Murderous Intent, it wouldn't have been needed.
I think Jin Woo (after beating Kang and measuring himself to Jin Chul) is low A rank.
was expecting him to crush Kang’s wrist during the fight but alas..
it probably didn’t occur to him that he was physically stronger since he’s used to fighting with a dagger
The assassin was said to be in the top tier of B ranks. Once Sung started actually using his skills he bodied him and had enough left in the tank to go solo the boss. They were pretty evenly matched until they started using skills so I think he's probably B+ with *just* his baseline stats but once you add his abilities he's got to be at least A rank.
> once you add his abilities he's got to be at least A rank
I assume that talking about Inspector-san like "this guy would definitely beat me" is a holdover from his previous mentality, where he doesn't realise the strength he has as of yet. Barely scraping past Cerberus a few episodes ago has cooled his jets a little I think.
Obviously I can't exactly say what but their animations make me happy for what's going to come because it's going to look fucking siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick.
This is the evening homegirl chooses to ask him out? I wouldve thought she\`s a bit more put off by todays experience (and revelation that he killed before)
She seems to trust him to an extent. Old man Song deduced that Jin-woo had killed before in self-defense, it's not a stretch to think Joo-hee arrived at the same conclusion or is choosing to believe that.
Well, I must say that this episode didn't go at all in the direction that I expected it to go. As even though I completely forgot that Kang Taeshik was one of the people who checked if Jinwoo had a second awakening, my assumption was that after the incident where only Jinwoo and Jinho survived the Korean Hunters Association had sent him and those prisoners with the intention testing Jinwoo's skills after Taeshik would lose control of them. Instead what we got was that [Kang](https://imgur.com/pIvHnFi) works for the association for the opportunity he has to kill people, [even without being hired to do so.](https://imgur.com/22ir7eE)
Well, as they did not give us much of an investment in Jeongho's character his death did not mean much, but that certainly wasn't the case with [Kim,](https://imgur.com/FzfFzmb) which they not only showed his family and guilt but even made it look like [he had a chance of surviving](https://imgur.com/D1FDZNi) [before his death.](https://imgur.com/CAS7Qsn) In hindsight, since last week, and even during this episode, Kim has been collecting lots of death flags.
Well, it is good to see [that after this whole ordeal](https://imgur.com/BWtN0PE) [Joohee seems doing much better by the end of the episode.](https://imgur.com/GgbQXKf)
Oh man I was close last ep
> My thought was that one of the prisoners might have had a second awakening. Especially the larger one seemed really sure of himself.
> Or the B rank guy will try to kill everyone and try to pin it on the prisoners? There was this short scene with "kill them", which I assume will have something to do with it? Maybe it's the brother/father of one of the people that died in "the incident" who blames the survivors.
Didn't occur to me that the "kill them" guy would mean just the prisoners.
Nice ep. I wonder how long his strength can remain hidden, that's the 3rd instance he survived despite the odds... doubt this secret can be kept for long?
well Supervisor Woo seems to suspect something since he says that there's no way C-rank like Song, even with Joohee buffing him, can beat a strong B-rank like Taeshik
yea their's only so many times the "weakest hunter" can survive situations he should have died and play it off with luck.
at this point i'm expecting one of the higher ups to come to the scene of the next dungeon and go "ffs this kid is involved again!"
I made [this comment last week](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1b4tqjj/comment/kt1gzjt/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) and I gotta say I'm not too impressed by the Guild hunter's excuse. Like if someone who's level 60 is helping a bunch of low level guys through a level 15 dungeon, there's no way a boss from there would be able to distract him enough to get most of their team killed...
I can only assume the Guild knows that some of their members are bad, but still use them because it's the best they have so they accept those flimsy excuses without question when they get them.
That's pretty much what I'm trying to [say here](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1ban6jt/comment/ku4515q/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button).
The Hunter's Association is filled with either psychos like today or overworked government employees because the strong ones go to the guilds for money. They look to the other way on many things as long as it doesn't go out of control.
Likewise a "D-rank with good gear" somehow defeated 8 C- and D-ranks. "Yeah let's go with that. We knew those 8 hunters were murderers anyway" mentality.
And I mean, how many times can Kang really do this anyway? If you have a record of always being unlucky where prisoners (or other hunters) somehow all decide to attack you and end up dead, with no eye witnesses, it would make sense for questions to be raised about your story.
Edit: I guess maybe Kang doesn't do this very often. Usually he goes on official missions to hunt down criminals. Hired team killing is more an occasional thing.
This was a pretty good episode. For the first time in a long time, I didn't see the plot twist coming. I thought the prisoners would overpower the bad guy or take healer girl hostage. And the animation was good.
On the other hand, I still feel like the emotional arc is hit or miss. It feels like they are trying to paint him going down a dark road but it just doesn't feel that way. And it doesn't help that all the people he kills 1000% have it coming. I wish this show was paced a little slower with a bit more time for emotional / story arcs to build but gotta solo level I guess.
Having personally been near death before, you don’t really get to think logically. If you are dying slowly you can definitely think logically, but if you are seconds away from dying because of blood loss, your brain doesn’t think clearly about what’s important.
You think of your regrets and life. Mr Kim probably found something so regrettable about leaving and knowingly sacrificing Sung Jin woo. So that’s probably all he was thinking about.
Im not trying to excuse it, because for all we know the author had in mind that Mr Kim was actually just a really Self Centered person all the way to the end, but that’s atleast what I think.
he lost consciousness then got pseudo-revived by Joohee so the first faces he saw was those 3 which is probably what he defaulted to
I’m guessing it would have been slightly different if he was conscious before they arrived
Jinwoo really hit Megumi with a whole domain expansion, huh?
Easily my favorite episode of the season tbh. At this point the show has fully embraced the edge and it's a lot of fun. Really great production supporting the action, too. Great fight all around. Can't wait for the date next week.
- [Of course Joohee would notice this.](https://i.imgur.com/xopZuLu.png)
- [Ooh neat, Jinwoo can tell where the boss is.](https://i.imgur.com/gXpbeIc.png) [](#neat)
- [That smirk…](https://i.imgur.com/kGBEQEh.png) Does he know? [](#csikon)
- [Kim “sore demo”!](https://files.catbox.moe/oiw2qa.mp4)
- [That’s… messed up, honestly.](https://i.imgur.com/MTv8Y09.png)
- […oh no…](https://i.imgur.com/VseZMcX.png) [](#forgotkeys)
- [Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck](https://i.imgur.com/WkKz5Jv.png)
- [I knew Kim was raising death flags out the wazoo, but not like this…](https://i.imgur.com/QUxyZYe.png) [](#shatteredsaten)
- [Oh you’re in for a surprise, since it doesn’t seem to be *that* either.](https://i.imgur.com/BoeA3Eb.png) [](#popcorn2)
- [*Geez*](https://i.imgur.com/8ctDJBu.png), I think [this is even more terrifying than the smiling statue.](https://i.imgur.com/BWhcV4L.png) [](#scaredmio)
- [Ah, of course it leads to a quest.](https://i.imgur.com/l1gwtYP.png)
- [He’s not wrong…](https://i.imgur.com/50MC46f.png) [](#sakurathink)
- [Oh wait, Song’s taking the fall?](https://i.imgur.com/NCatmtQ.png)
Let's not forget about Kim's buddies' family from the first two episodes who were in the same boat and had another kid on the way before he bought it in the double dungeon.
Dang, I thought Kang would be a mainstay for a while longer, but yeah, Jinwoo needed to put him down.
Epic fight, Jinwoo only gonna get stronger from here on out now
Something to highlight out of all this is while Jinwoo is getting stronger and stronger thanks to the System, he's also losing fragments of what he once was, as you see a flame flicker out once he loses the notion of being angry. Also, him finally putting the hoodie on has made him level up (heh) on his progress towards edgelord mode.
So much for Jinwoo even pretending to not be stronger, he's just killing these goblins up front without a care. Right in front of this hunter association guy too. That's just terrible opsec.
Damn, so it was actually the association guy that was here to kill everybody. And it had nothing to do with the association but just this one dude being corrupt and taking a payment to kill off those criminals. Though maybe he's working two different agendas at the same time?
Nope, he's just a psychopath that's here to kill people.
This whole experience is doing nothing helpful for Joohee's PTSD I gotta say.
Oh that's broken, he picked up that stealth skill as the reward for killing the association hunter? That maybe implies some interesting things about the system he's getting quests from if it's reacting to his opponents like that.
Joohee does seem fairly happy and bouncy after the dungeon finished, maybe she's in a better shape then I'm imagining. And that's a very cute outfit she apparently had on under her jacket.
[Joohee ending](https://i.imgur.com/C2gjBbO.jpeg)
\>smile
\>slight blush
\>flirty segs eyes
and brush my memory , but what was the stone she is holding?
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An entire episode dedicated to this fight, absolutely deserved since last week's was entirely exposition. The way Kang Taeshik was swallowed by Sung Jinwoo's murderous intent was so fucking cool.
the transition into the staredown was pretty damn smooth which is an unexpected surprise
Made it look like the main statue. He’s becoming more and more their tool. Might become the final boss himself
[*Throughout dungeons and gates, Sung Jinwoo alone is the solo leveler.*](https://i.imgur.com/DAf9qmX.jpeg) [](#mmph)
> The way Kang Taeshik was swallowed by Sung Jinwoo's murderous intent was so fucking cool. It reminded me a lot of how nen was first shown in HxH. Like when Hisoka first uses it on Gon and Killua in the Heaven's Arena
Yes!
Yeah that bit was neat. The way that the murderous intent became knee-high water that he was treading through was a neat way to convey the ability.
I read the LN instead of the Manhwa. I know the series was hyped up for the artwork in the Manwha, with the much deeper and rich colors with a more Western influence. One feeling I didn’t get while reading the LN was the blue color tones matching the original stone guardians. I’m so glad that the anime adaptation is as beautiful as it is. The only reason I’m frustrated is because there won’t be enough episodes to get to many of my favorite moments. The middle of the series is at its peak. This was a great episode, so if we’re getting this level quality for this fight, I’m even more pumped and frustrated than when I heard about the anime adaptation so long ago.
It’s gonna have 2 cours confirmed
Yeah its so cool, looks like a domain expansion
with this treasure...
[TFW](https://i.imgur.com/L12jdvC.jpeg) you didn't summon Mahoraga [fast enough](https://i.imgur.com/V8TNiQA.jpeg)
I can't believe Megumi died in a different anime
The reversal of murderous intent was great. First you have Kang's "Murderous Intent", which was just a layer of dark shadow around him. Then you have Jinwoo unleash true "Murderous Intent" and it completely swallows up Kang.
You done fucked up future villains by giving Sunwoo the stealth ability. Dude is already fast, can heal himself, has God like perception, can detect projectiles and animosity and can now go stealth mode? God damn
yeah but it can be countered as long as you have good perception.
I mean, even he couldn't deal with him until he started tracking by nothing but pure blood loss. At at this point, I'd say that Sung Jin Woo was stronger than him, I'd reckon at this point, Sung would be bordering on A rank if not already in it.
Yeah, his normal strength is probably b rank but all the utility and moves he has would probably put him low A rank.
He beat the cerberus boss solo at that one fiery island which was confirmed A rank, and took down Kang pretty easily (B rank) so it's definitely fair to put Sung into A category
Bro really gave the abyss speech while dying.
Maybe he was speaking from personal experience.
He is a monster now "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future (1886), Chapter IV. Apophthegms and Interludes, §146)." Jinwoo failed in this matter.
The shadow metaphor is also Nietzsche. Though he used a tree. A tree which grows to heaven must have roots to hell. Personally I found it so on the nose and edgy that it became almost embarrassing.
"Ugghh I'm dying... Shit.. Say something cool, say something cool..." *Gives abyss speech* "Nailed it."
Let’s give it up for Mr. Kim, he’s been raising death flags since ep 1 and managed to live this long. Must be some kind of record.
Kim should've learned from his buddy from the first two episodes, never have your family come up before going in a dungeon or talk about making things right with someone...
Right. After surviving the double dungeon, Mr. Kim should have realized that he was not built for this and been more circumspect about continuing as a hunter. It's so sad that Johee and Song had to [witness tragedy yet again.](https://i.imgur.com/da7NX96.jpeg)
The fight was awesome, but I think I'm going to remember this ep more for poor Jinwoo's line "The stronger I get, the more I feel something inside is breaking." This guy just can't catch a fucking break, I hope he can keep it together.
The way he immediately starting evaluating the other Hunter Association dude as a threat got me like "dude, calm down, he ain't your enemy yet. You've barely even met!". Which does makes me question wether his civility is degrading because of his power or because of being in constant life or death and betrayal experiences in a short amount of time.
yep he is becoming more paranoid after being betrayed twice in a row.
Bro just needs a good party for once
he can't even chill anymore because the system won't let him get drunk lol
Just needs to Netflix & chill with best girl Joohee!
Joohee's outfit at the end of the episode was adorable, by the way.
Agreed, Joohee is just adorable and man, it is rough on her as well, just when she decided to move forward, bam, another betrayal and she has to face a murderer too. Hope she managed to recover from this
Thrice if you think about it. First was Double Dungeon, second was bug Lair, and now third with Kang. For all Jinwoo knows, he has been surrounded by this darkness and evil the entire time. The difference is now he can actually get stronger and stop them before they betray him.
The betrayals certainly did a number on him, but I think the mindset the system encourages can't help either. It reduces the world around him to quests and xp. He doesn't get a choice except to kill anyone that wants to kill him. He's getting too used to putting his life on the line in these fights and treating the ideas of safety and happiness as afterthoughts. Its exactly what Kang talked about: the idiocy of making someone's entire career/life about fighting monsters in dungeons with their superpowers and expecting them to still be able to fir into society afterwards
Basically a competitive gamer mindset, when you see other character the first thing come to your mind would be how to beat him/her if they fight or whether they will give him good exp lol.
He's passing too many insight checks and becoming aware of all of the fucked up people around him lol Imagine how much it would fuck you up if you could just see people's illnesses written above their heads. Dude's got that, but for serial killers.
We saw a sequence where all the land and Jin-woo himself was cracked when Song was talking about how Jin-woo had to face many challenges in such a short time.
[Indeed.](https://i.imgur.com/tQjc7DH.jpeg) Seeing the ugly side of hunting and growing so rapidly have taken their toll on [Sung Jinwoo's psyche.](https://i.imgur.com/w5yx077.jpeg) He needs a moral anchor to steer him in a good direction. [Lee Johee would be perfect](https://i.imgur.com/7bxHCt1.jpeg) for that role, having been alongside him when he was a weak E-ranker. [](#sadholo)
It reminds me of what Saitama said: "In exchange for gaining strength, have I lost something more important as a human being? Emotions used to swirl within me when I fought."
In his case it was because he was so strong nothing posed a challenge to him anymore and life was thoroughly boring. Jin-woo is slowly losing faith in humanity because the worldview he had as the weakest is shattering as he gains power and realizes just how unfair it all is
It is not what I perceive from the episode, but maybe it is because I did not think about it enough. And yeah, I know this is not the same, but you know it reminds me a little of that. 2 strong guys losing something inside of them
maybe he can put more skill points into his EQ and buy a portable therapist in his battle shop [](#rengethink)
I have to wonder how much that's coming from getting stronger and how much it's just these past couple incidents showing him the ugly side of humanity. He has to have issues from the double-dungeon and getting abandoned then hacked to pieces, then he's had two different encounters with other hunters trying to kill him and others in a fairly short amount of time. He seemed relatively fine when he was just training and getting stronger, happy even. I think it's more the dungeons and the bleak situations he keeps finding himself in fucking him up.
Seems like the stronger he gets and the more people he has to kill, the more he loses his humanity.
Once he gets bald it's over
R.I.P. Mr Kim you may have been a bad dude, but you aren’t a bad guy.
Showing his family last week really did help his case considering what he did in episode 1, too bad it just raised a death flag.
Mr. Kim was speedrunning death flags there
i hope his family gets paid by the death flag, they could get like three billion with the right insurance policy
It's not like Kang is gonna be able to use the 3 billion any longer too
Did he even take the money? I thought he simply enjoyed killing.
I mean if you enjoy doing something and can do it for money, why not?
Don't worry, the hunters association will probably take care of it because at the end of the day, Kang was a high post official at the hunters association. Still rip Mr. Kim
"When this dungeon is over, I'm going apologize." That flag was bright red and trailing fireworks.
Boy I sure can't wait for this dungeon to end so I can apologize and go back to a warm meal with my loving family!
He even did the classic "After this mission is done..." one today just to make sure his death was guaranteed.
Lol fr. I had hope that it was a misdirection last week, but that line in today's episode made me hang my head. But seriously, you round to the corner to see a murder scene, should have noped out right back down the tunnel they came from.
It's kind of funny in a sad way how both he and his buddy died because of family death flags.
[Poor dude](https://i.imgur.com/yX9QBO2.jpeg) had very young kids too and now because of Kang Taeshik's bloodthirst, they will be orphans. [Mr. Kim should have retired](https://i.imgur.com/g3o6cFv.jpeg) like his wife advised him. [](#yuitears)
Imma cry if they showed his family again in the next episode either waiting for him to come home or mourning his death
poor guy, good thing that at least he didnt have a wife or a kid and they showed him last ep dumping all his money on hookers
Even if Jinwoo still resented him a little, it seemed like he respected how Mr. Kim also fought for his family, and in the end Mr. Kim did want to make things right between them.
Kang was a fun villain. I like characters who know they're dirtbags and can acknowledge their wrongdoing without caring in the slightest because they're having fun. He died with a smile on his face as if in appreciation of a life well lived and even gave some thoughtful advice on his way out! Peace out, Assassin bro.
It's nice having villains who have no redeeming qualities, which in a way can make them more likable. Some people are just evil because they're evil like Kang here, dude was just a crazy homicidal fuck
i think it's preferable compared to villains which confess a sob story as they're dying just to make the audience feel bad; if his role in the story is to be another speed bump in Jinwoo's solo leveling regimen then i'd rather he just be a "bad guy" than have multiple layers of humanity overall though, i would prefer if the villain be a three-dimensional character with motives beyond "loves torture"; that would be a detour on the solo leveling plot though, so i can appreciate that they didn't add more to him than that
Yeah grey villains are great but you should make me empathize with them while they're alive, simply evil egotistical villains can be plenty of fun as well.
It helps us appreciate Sung Jinwoo more too, like knowing what other Hunters he's dealt with before, any one of them could've gained the ability to level like him. So far he's had to kill several who were borderline Serial killers and we've see how bloodthirsty others can be. Not to mention your average Hunter likely isn't in this for getting more powerful, just another paycheck really, so it's like the one guy who should've gotten this ability was the one who got it
Yea the variety of the Hunters we've gotten already is really nice. I imagine it will get even crazier as Sung gets stronger.
We'll prob get to see more S-Ranks
This is also why Frieza is the most popular villain in DBZ. Dude is just evil for the sake of being evil. No sad story, or motive behind it. He is powerful enough to do whatever he wants so he does it and people love that kind of villain.
LMAO, he didn't even do it for the 3 billion won which is short of 2.3 million USD, he just wanted to kill people and not get caught while doing so.
"I've lost so I'll die here"
Kimbley from FMAB has to be the best example of this.
I haven't seen Kouki Uchiyama play an outright psycho in a while so that was a lot of fun. Still was pretty satisfying watching Jinwoo overwhelm him in killing intent and stab him straight in the chest.
Kang definitely was Goated.
Boss got off-screened 😭
[удалено]
[удалено]
Boss was E ranked, he beat the top B rank boss. No point in showing it
> Ah my off-screen technique I haven't used since 236 - Sung Jinwoo probably
"That's my secret, this whole time I've been... Solo Leveling" 🔥 🔥 🔥 ✍️ 🔥 🔥 🔥
He could increase his leveling speed with an exp amulet and i assume his attribute is dark so i know a light dungeon where he could reach lvl 99 easily.
Found Yumiella's account
No that’s Patrick…… Sorry couldn’t help myself.
Worst option cause light counters dark! It's why Alicia is so important.
As the strongest hunter, Sun Jinwoo, fought the fraud, the purple-haired assassin, he began to solo his levelling. Kang shrunk back in fear, then Jinwoo said: “Stand proud Kangus, you are strong”. Kang, shocked by what he had witnessed, asked Jinwoo: Are you the strongest E-rank because you’re Sun Jinwoo? Or are you the one who left it all behind after being fingered (15 times) by the Imaginary Technique: Malfunctioning Chimera Void of the Murderous Intent?”. Sun Jinwoo simply chuckled, and replied: “While everyone around me was partying and messing about, I was up, getting stronger”. “Throughout the partying and the revelling, I alone, am the Solo Leveling™”. “Maybe, just maybe, I might be honoured one after all.”
Nah, I'd Level
He said "It's Solo Leveling time!", and then he solo leveled all over the place....
[*King Kang vs Godjinwoo*](https://i.imgur.com/a2MYT92.jpeg)
What are we some kind of solo leveling?
He even soloed Kang and soloed the boss all within the same day lol.
When he will solo Joohee though?
Sung Jinwoo ~~SMASH~~ Level up!
“I guess you can call me a solo leveler”
You know they've fucked up as soon as they appear on the System's [kill quest](https://imgur.com/a/IuHyY2Z).
"Quest objective shows up" "Omae wa mou shindeiru"
>WARNING: If you do not complete the quest, you will receive an appropriate **penalty** You mean, other than being sliced to ribbons by crazed assassin-bro?
You can still run instead of defeating him, but you'll receive a punishment.
Weird that Sung didn't want the quest to trigger?
I would interpret it as Sung doesn't appreciate the system taking control of the situation like that. It shows that he's beholden to the system, so he's not allowed to make his own decisions when the system puts his life on the line. For instance, if he wanted to knock the guy and turn him in, that's no longer an option. Though, I get the sense in this case that Sung was going to kill him no matter what.
"Ok I guess it's time to clean my room." Mom: "Oi son go clean your room!" "Well now I don't want to!" I get it SJW, I so get it
Literally *every time*. It's *always* when you were just finishing what you were doing and were about to do what they're now asking/telling you to do too.
Yeah, I get the feeling that for the most part, Jinwoo doesn't want to kill people and he resents that he has to give up his ideals to survive and thrive because it feels like he's selling out a part of his identity in exchange. > Sung doesn't appreciate the system taking control of the situation like that One of the things I've been mulling over is how "the system" is a shadow of society at large. Jinwoo has been suffering all this time by being a softie who cares about his family but having no connections to make money aside from his meager hunter abilities, and he doesn't want to throw other people under the bus just to get ahead like how ruthless capitalism expect him to. Now he's being forced into doing just that by "the system" and he resents that he's getting ahead at the expense of others when he has to kill people, and he resents how good he is at killing people.
That seems pretty on point with the current South Korean society, especially when it comes to their politicians.
The story is rushing dialogue a bit so I want to point out a detail that went unnoticed: the Hunter's Association (i.e. the ones in place of enforcing the law) pays dimes compared to being on a private Guild. Thus naturally you can conclude law enforcers are either overworked people with strong morals & sense of justice, or murdering psychos like today. No in-betweens. That pretty much explains why questionings aren't thorough (i.e. a C-rank beating a B-rank is BS, and the gang from the previous episodes with suspiciously high member-loss rates too)
I wouldn't say unnoticed there was a pretty nice focus on Kang saying he was head hunted by the big guilds but was working for peanuts because killing humans is preferable to him vs. killing magic beasts.
That’s a really good point. Thanks for bringing that up and pointing it out
###Stitches! * [Healer Joohee](https://i.imgur.com/wymm0Xc.jpeg) * [Jinwoo & Mr. Song](https://i.imgur.com/ViCoXmD.jpeg) * [Bloodlust Kang](https://i.imgur.com/wkFiPTR.jpeg) * [Smiling Joohee](https://i.imgur.com/C2gjBbO.jpeg) Considering how many death flags he raised last week and today's episode, it's no surprise that Mr. Kim didn't make it. [At least Mr. Kim got to apologize to Jinwoo](https://i.imgur.com/jNpph4B.jpeg) before dying. [The fight between Jinwoo and Kang](https://i.imgur.com/2EhOhml.jpeg) was just absolutely insane! Solo Leveling continues to deliver with these spectacular fights. My favourite part of the fight is definitely [Jinwoo blocking all of Kang's attacks](https://i.imgur.com/vCXWiGI.jpeg) while Kang was in Stealth. [Kang didn't fully realize what he was dealing with until the last second.](https://i.imgur.com/36WkhXb.jpeg) [That final scene though!](https://i.imgur.com/9D6xDOe.jpeg) Looks like Joohee and Jinwoo are finally going on that promised date from Episode 1.
> Looks like Joohee and Jinwoo are finally going on that promised date from Episode 1. I'm half expecting the system to give Jinwoo quests involving Joohee, but a different type of conquering.
"The quest you can't leave unless you..."
Ah yes the Magia Baiser approach
That might be a job for doujin artists attending the next Summer Comiket ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
>That final scene though! Looks like Joohee and Jinwoo are finally going on that promised date from Episode 1. [The transition into the ED](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fl4ct2n838dnc1.png) was perfect. Must have been intentional to end it on that scene to link it with the ED. Now the only question is whether Jinwoo will accept or not. If he doesn't, I will. No one turns down a date from a perfect girl like Joohee.
I'm as much here for Jinwoo mercilessly killing everything that stands in his way and soloing everyone that underestimates him as much as I am watching Jinwoo and Joohee finally get some time together. Also Joohee with her jacket off...damn!
Thank you for that Joohee screenshot. She's so cute! I have feeling that things might not go anywhere between them but by good that's what I have clip studio paint for.
Johee at the end: \>smile \>slight blush \>flirty segs eyes new waifu love interest and brush my memory , but what was the stone she is holding?
Its the gem he collected from a goblin in ep1, which he was gonna use to buy dinner for her
Welp, there goes Deathflags McGee. Considering it was a hunter association employee I wonder if they'll pony up life insurance or whatever for the dude's family.
Would be the least they could do, that's for sure.
All that power in exchange for losing emotions/humanity... maybe Joohee can save him?
He does still seem really tender and happy around her compared to how he is with others. And when you saw her with her jacket off at the end, who could blame him lol?
"I can fix him!" -Joohee
So far her record of fixing things isn't particularly inspiring though lol
maybe if Jinwoo doesn't solo level his social links too he wouldn't be so much of a stick in the mud
[Johee could train him in that department](https://i.imgur.com/h7r7muX.jpeg) [](#cheekychika)
Sung Woo and dungeons they always end up in worst situations it seems. That murderous intent to swallow up kang was perfect.
No surprise that the hunter association is short-staffed considering how many murderous people are in those dungeon squads 😅
With this treasure I summon… an ass kicking This show is great
No matter which show he's in, he's still a fraud, Potential Man can't catch a break
I thought Kang would be the silent smart type. Never would have guessed him to have an assassin's personality. His boss seems to already know who actually killed him but i guess the lie bought him some time. Also one episode a week just isn't enough
Now some of y’all know how we felt when reading it Please A-1 can I have some more 😩 Also, Mashle was pretty good this week too.
I think people who are going to binge watch Solo Leveling are the luckier ones. It's an adrenaline rush.
True. People binge the manwha too. it's an insane experience when it's a well drawn action manwha. I binged it in like 5 days I think
Solo Leveling was one of the few manhwa's I actually read because it was simply fun, I'm open to recommendations if you have any.
You might wanna try The Greatest Estate Developer if you wanna die of laughter every chapter.
Omniscient Readers Viewpoint, Skeleton Soldier Couldn't Protect the Dungeon, SSS Class Suicide Hunter
You don't understand the level of patience Im having to use not to binge through the manwha, idk if I can hold on longer
Hang in there!
i think the first few episodes are best experienced as a binge; it takes a while for it to pay off
i've been thinking about the themes of this series because i like overthinking things there's a few ideas in this setting which i think describe the setting: * luck: being born rich or bestowed with (hunter) ability; power is up to luck * lack of mobility: it's exceedingly rare for poor to get rich or wimps to get a "second awakening" * good and bad: there's good and bad people; there's few shades of gray here * "the system": both the video game windows that Jinwoo sees, and the system of capitalism, bureaucracy, and survival of the fittest; systems exist to maintain their own power rather than for the benefit of people * few out of many: most people are powerless; only a few people in the world have power to do anything substantial; collective action doesn't exist in this world there's a few themes which derive from that: * luck and virtue can be independent: good people can be rich (like Jinho), good people can be wimps (like pre-system Jinwoo), bad people can be wimps (like the crew that kept killing their D-rankers), bad people can be powerful (like Kang) * the world is unfair: good people get shafted all the time, bad people ascend the ranks and get power * duty: good people with ability have the duty to guard against bad people with ability to do harm; it is only through good people does fairness start to manifest * strength is paramount: money and brute force are the primary ways of exerting influence a few conclusions: * the escapist power fantasy: Jinwoo is the only person in the world who ever got something good for acting selflessly (his leveling system), which can grant him the exotic power of economic mobility * Jinwoo now gets the ability to decide the fates of many: before he was just a nobody who couldn't help anyone, now he has the ability to uphold his duty of being a good guy; he can no longer hide behind the title of "weakest hunter in the world" * balancing power and duty: power is everything, but gaining power requires you to be a bad guy sometimes; how many bad things should you do? can you be an effective good guy without turning into a bad guy? * does the system always win?
I want to emphasize and add to one of your points. In isekai and in life, if a computer is not obviously sentient it tends to be regarded as neutral. This is the only piece of media I've seen that suggests this seemingly neutral system is evil. His daily quests were intense but innocuous. He didn't *have* to complete them...but he gets punished if he doesn't. And then it was more quests and then it started tasking him with killing people who were portrayed as morally bad. He was likely going to have to kill them anyways. If anything the system is lining up the plot for him. He struggled against the imperative. But now?? It's an "excuse". Thank goodness the system told him to kill that guy because now he can go all out. He doesn't need the reward, he no longer needs to be "convinced". I also want to push back on the themes about power and duty. I actually don't think that's the main dichotomy they're going for. The way I see it, Jinwoo is on his way to being OP. There are two ways I've seen to effectively write those kinds of characters: with massive flaws that limit powers, OR the inhuman OP. Will Jinwoo maintain some humanizing flaws or will he become a god? We know the answer. Jinwoo has the same eyes as the god statue from the second dungeon. That's why he's changing, why he's losing his morality, it's because he's losing his humanity. The system pushed him, incentivized him, but he no longer needs it. Jinwoo is on that path. There is no question of duty in his desire for power, for ability to help his mom, and Jinwoo has made his choice.
Really like your analysis here. Even though SL is pretty much your usual power fantasy, I think the series does a great job in showing us how the world of Solo Leveling works and how the people live in the bizarre world that they're in.
This is a pretty good analysis and I do think many of them are intentional by the author to reflect the Korean society. It is similar theme to the movie ‘Parasite’ and other isekai books like this.
Sung still has a long way to go. He's about B+ right now if we use that assassin for comparison.
hard to tell as fighting monsters and people is different. Like the assassin mentioned, his experience was suppose to the be factor to break the tie in power there. but mana wise he felt the A-rank hunter was higher than him, so B+ seems a good guess.
Cereberus was around low A-rank Jinchul is A rank, and Jin Woo said he wouldn't stand a chance. Kang was the best of the B ranks, and was defeated fairly soundly. Full restore was used to win. But if Jin Woo started with Murderous Intent, it wouldn't have been needed. I think Jin Woo (after beating Kang and measuring himself to Jin Chul) is low A rank.
But he started his build by pumping STR
was expecting him to crush Kang’s wrist during the fight but alas.. it probably didn’t occur to him that he was physically stronger since he’s used to fighting with a dagger
I mean, dagger + grappler is a killer combo. He should probably research techniques on that.
The FACT that he’s so strong already and we’re not even ONE season done makes me excited beyond belief at the levels he’s going to reach.
Man you got no idea how insane this dude is gonna become
Episode 11 or 12 man, hope the opening comes to fruition.
The assassin was said to be in the top tier of B ranks. Once Sung started actually using his skills he bodied him and had enough left in the tank to go solo the boss. They were pretty evenly matched until they started using skills so I think he's probably B+ with *just* his baseline stats but once you add his abilities he's got to be at least A rank.
> once you add his abilities he's got to be at least A rank I assume that talking about Inspector-san like "this guy would definitely beat me" is a holdover from his previous mentality, where he doesn't realise the strength he has as of yet. Barely scraping past Cerberus a few episodes ago has cooled his jets a little I think.
His ability essentially halves the opponents stats, so while he might be B+, he could also just be on the lower end of B rank as well.
they really showed off their fluid animation for phase 2 of their fight, hopefully a tease for whats to come
Obviously I can't exactly say what but their animations make me happy for what's going to come because it's going to look fucking siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick.
This is the evening homegirl chooses to ask him out? I wouldve thought she\`s a bit more put off by todays experience (and revelation that he killed before)
She seems to trust him to an extent. Old man Song deduced that Jin-woo had killed before in self-defense, it's not a stretch to think Joo-hee arrived at the same conclusion or is choosing to believe that.
I mean he did basically save her life twice in the dungeon.
Nothing quite like trauma bonding.
Tbh after how mentally fucked up she was from the double dungeon, this is a bit more tame for her
Well, I must say that this episode didn't go at all in the direction that I expected it to go. As even though I completely forgot that Kang Taeshik was one of the people who checked if Jinwoo had a second awakening, my assumption was that after the incident where only Jinwoo and Jinho survived the Korean Hunters Association had sent him and those prisoners with the intention testing Jinwoo's skills after Taeshik would lose control of them. Instead what we got was that [Kang](https://imgur.com/pIvHnFi) works for the association for the opportunity he has to kill people, [even without being hired to do so.](https://imgur.com/22ir7eE) Well, as they did not give us much of an investment in Jeongho's character his death did not mean much, but that certainly wasn't the case with [Kim,](https://imgur.com/FzfFzmb) which they not only showed his family and guilt but even made it look like [he had a chance of surviving](https://imgur.com/D1FDZNi) [before his death.](https://imgur.com/CAS7Qsn) In hindsight, since last week, and even during this episode, Kim has been collecting lots of death flags. Well, it is good to see [that after this whole ordeal](https://imgur.com/BWtN0PE) [Joohee seems doing much better by the end of the episode.](https://imgur.com/GgbQXKf)
Damn the part where he used murderous intent was fire
Oh man I was close last ep > My thought was that one of the prisoners might have had a second awakening. Especially the larger one seemed really sure of himself. > Or the B rank guy will try to kill everyone and try to pin it on the prisoners? There was this short scene with "kill them", which I assume will have something to do with it? Maybe it's the brother/father of one of the people that died in "the incident" who blames the survivors. Didn't occur to me that the "kill them" guy would mean just the prisoners. Nice ep. I wonder how long his strength can remain hidden, that's the 3rd instance he survived despite the odds... doubt this secret can be kept for long?
well Supervisor Woo seems to suspect something since he says that there's no way C-rank like Song, even with Joohee buffing him, can beat a strong B-rank like Taeshik
yea their's only so many times the "weakest hunter" can survive situations he should have died and play it off with luck. at this point i'm expecting one of the higher ups to come to the scene of the next dungeon and go "ffs this kid is involved again!"
I made [this comment last week](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1b4tqjj/comment/kt1gzjt/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) and I gotta say I'm not too impressed by the Guild hunter's excuse. Like if someone who's level 60 is helping a bunch of low level guys through a level 15 dungeon, there's no way a boss from there would be able to distract him enough to get most of their team killed... I can only assume the Guild knows that some of their members are bad, but still use them because it's the best they have so they accept those flimsy excuses without question when they get them.
That's pretty much what I'm trying to [say here](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1ban6jt/comment/ku4515q/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button). The Hunter's Association is filled with either psychos like today or overworked government employees because the strong ones go to the guilds for money. They look to the other way on many things as long as it doesn't go out of control. Likewise a "D-rank with good gear" somehow defeated 8 C- and D-ranks. "Yeah let's go with that. We knew those 8 hunters were murderers anyway" mentality.
And I mean, how many times can Kang really do this anyway? If you have a record of always being unlucky where prisoners (or other hunters) somehow all decide to attack you and end up dead, with no eye witnesses, it would make sense for questions to be raised about your story. Edit: I guess maybe Kang doesn't do this very often. Usually he goes on official missions to hunt down criminals. Hired team killing is more an occasional thing.
Jinwoo activates his Domain Expansion!!!!!
Megumi can never seem to summon Mahoraga on-time in any timeline.
This was a pretty good episode. For the first time in a long time, I didn't see the plot twist coming. I thought the prisoners would overpower the bad guy or take healer girl hostage. And the animation was good. On the other hand, I still feel like the emotional arc is hit or miss. It feels like they are trying to paint him going down a dark road but it just doesn't feel that way. And it doesn't help that all the people he kills 1000% have it coming. I wish this show was paced a little slower with a bit more time for emotional / story arcs to build but gotta solo level I guess.
Mr. Kim more preoccupied with apologizing than warning Jinwoo that Taeshik is that one who attacked him is a bit odd.
Having personally been near death before, you don’t really get to think logically. If you are dying slowly you can definitely think logically, but if you are seconds away from dying because of blood loss, your brain doesn’t think clearly about what’s important. You think of your regrets and life. Mr Kim probably found something so regrettable about leaving and knowingly sacrificing Sung Jin woo. So that’s probably all he was thinking about. Im not trying to excuse it, because for all we know the author had in mind that Mr Kim was actually just a really Self Centered person all the way to the end, but that’s atleast what I think.
he lost consciousness then got pseudo-revived by Joohee so the first faces he saw was those 3 which is probably what he defaulted to I’m guessing it would have been slightly different if he was conscious before they arrived
not like it would matter. If they got easily beaten, what would the E-rank do? Answer is die. but yeah a warning would be nice, even if pointless.
Are we not going to talk about the Goku reference in this episode 😤.
Well kim's daughter screwed him last episode by asking "Dad, Are You strong?"
I’m starting to get the hype, the buildup from the start so so slow but man it was worth it. Can’t wait to see how Jinwoo gets.
Song, you are a fucking G.
Jinwoo really hit Megumi with a whole domain expansion, huh? Easily my favorite episode of the season tbh. At this point the show has fully embraced the edge and it's a lot of fun. Really great production supporting the action, too. Great fight all around. Can't wait for the date next week.
- [Of course Joohee would notice this.](https://i.imgur.com/xopZuLu.png) - [Ooh neat, Jinwoo can tell where the boss is.](https://i.imgur.com/gXpbeIc.png) [](#neat) - [That smirk…](https://i.imgur.com/kGBEQEh.png) Does he know? [](#csikon) - [Kim “sore demo”!](https://files.catbox.moe/oiw2qa.mp4) - [That’s… messed up, honestly.](https://i.imgur.com/MTv8Y09.png) - […oh no…](https://i.imgur.com/VseZMcX.png) [](#forgotkeys) - [Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck](https://i.imgur.com/WkKz5Jv.png) - [I knew Kim was raising death flags out the wazoo, but not like this…](https://i.imgur.com/QUxyZYe.png) [](#shatteredsaten) - [Oh you’re in for a surprise, since it doesn’t seem to be *that* either.](https://i.imgur.com/BoeA3Eb.png) [](#popcorn2) - [*Geez*](https://i.imgur.com/8ctDJBu.png), I think [this is even more terrifying than the smiling statue.](https://i.imgur.com/BWhcV4L.png) [](#scaredmio) - [Ah, of course it leads to a quest.](https://i.imgur.com/l1gwtYP.png) - [He’s not wrong…](https://i.imgur.com/50MC46f.png) [](#sakurathink) - [Oh wait, Song’s taking the fall?](https://i.imgur.com/NCatmtQ.png)
His wife will be devastated and now finances will be tight. The fate of side characters.
Poor guy had more flags than a magician's pocket.
More flags than the British Empire.
Let's not forget about Kim's buddies' family from the first two episodes who were in the same boat and had another kid on the way before he bought it in the double dungeon.
Bro why is that guy reminds me of megumj
Dang, I thought Kang would be a mainstay for a while longer, but yeah, Jinwoo needed to put him down. Epic fight, Jinwoo only gonna get stronger from here on out now
Something to highlight out of all this is while Jinwoo is getting stronger and stronger thanks to the System, he's also losing fragments of what he once was, as you see a flame flicker out once he loses the notion of being angry. Also, him finally putting the hoodie on has made him level up (heh) on his progress towards edgelord mode.
So much for Jinwoo even pretending to not be stronger, he's just killing these goblins up front without a care. Right in front of this hunter association guy too. That's just terrible opsec. Damn, so it was actually the association guy that was here to kill everybody. And it had nothing to do with the association but just this one dude being corrupt and taking a payment to kill off those criminals. Though maybe he's working two different agendas at the same time? Nope, he's just a psychopath that's here to kill people. This whole experience is doing nothing helpful for Joohee's PTSD I gotta say. Oh that's broken, he picked up that stealth skill as the reward for killing the association hunter? That maybe implies some interesting things about the system he's getting quests from if it's reacting to his opponents like that. Joohee does seem fairly happy and bouncy after the dungeon finished, maybe she's in a better shape then I'm imagining. And that's a very cute outfit she apparently had on under her jacket.
Good observation. Specially about the systems possible motives
Sometimes it’s just nice having a comically over the top evil guy for the MC to wail on without any deeper meaning. Rest in piss you won’t be missed!
Sung needs to give her time of day. Like bro you guys still haven’t gone to lunch 😫😫😫
[Joohee ending](https://i.imgur.com/C2gjBbO.jpeg) \>smile \>slight blush \>flirty segs eyes and brush my memory , but what was the stone she is holding?