Boss fights. Leveling up skills. Unlocking new weapons. Co-op or solo grinding. Are these parts of your favourite video game? They are mine, but I’m not talking about video games today. No, today I’m going to introduce you to a mind-blowing new anime called Solo Leveling.
Solo Leveling is a South Korean-made anime, first broadcast in 2024. Season 2 has just wrapped up on March 30th, 2025. It has a total of 25 episodes (so far), and Kiwis can watch it on Crunchyroll.
Let me set the scene: portals have started appearing around our world. These portals teleport you to dungeons full of monsters and vicious beasts, but also valuable resources like precious ore that sells for a lot of money. At the end of each dungeon is a boss. Kill the boss, close the portal, and reap the rewards.
Our hero is Sung Jinwoo. He co-ops with other hunters to raid these dungeons. Hunters utilize different classes like healer, tank, or mage and are ranked on a scale of E (weakest) to S (strongest). The majority of hunters appear to be D, C, or B rank. Sung Jinwoo is an E-rank… the weakest of weaklings. He joins raids to carry resources and keep out of the way.
When hunters receive their rank, that is it. It’s set in stone. After episode 2, however, our hero experiences a “re-awakening” and has the unique ability to level up his stats and increase his hunter rank. Well… that is starting to sound very cool indeed. Thus begins our journey into Solo Leveling.
I really can’t say enough good things about this show. Its setting should immediately feel familiar and appeal to gamers, but there’s more to it than just being a “cool setting.”
Jinwoo’s journey has him encounter massive raid bosses, clear dungeons, and unlock skills or weapons that give viewers the same feeling of “THAT IS AWESOME” as if they had just cleared it themselves. In particular, season 1 ends with one incredibly satisfying raid clear that unlocks an absolute game changer. Good luck stopping with that episode; I guarantee you will want to immediately start season 2 to see him use this new unlock in combat.
The action is fast-paced, with most raids taking up 2 episodes before moving on to bigger things. Each fight scene feels unique as Jinwoo utilizes new weapons or skills that he unlocked in previous episodes. His growth is steady and well presented throughout the seasons. For example, comparing early season 1 Jinwoo to early season 2 shows how physically different he is after min-maxing his strength stat before realizing he needs more intelligence. It’s a really unique approach to character design that I haven’t seen done in other anime.
But why are we recommending this? We love gaming here at GamesNight, and I think being avid gamers makes this anime even more enjoyable than it would for someone who hasn’t picked up a controller before. Remember that satisfying feeling when you finally unlocked a new weapon or leveled up enough to use that upgraded magic spell? Solo Leveling gives this feeling every episode. It’s got crossover appeal that I know people here will love, and I urge you to give it a try.
