Solo Leveling -ReAwakening- (2024)

When a series of gates open connecting various timelines, it signals the arrival of some pretty impressive monsters upon whom human weaponry is useless. The salvation of mankind is going to rest with a generation of hunters. These are rated S-E, with E being the most junior in terms of experience and skill. That's how we meet the young "Sung Jinwoo". He's a relative novice who is also broke. He can't even pay the rent, so accepts a task joining a team who are entering a dungeon that's only been deemed safe for "C" level hunters. Pretty swiftly he realises that he's being manipulated by his so-called partners and faces an enormous great beastie that looks something like a red-eyed woodlouse. Only by pushing himself to the limit, can he hope to defeat it. This is when he discovers that by levelling up he gains more power, more resilience, weaponry, agility (and becomes considerably better looking!) - and that's the start of a series of well-drawn and lively animations illustrating his increasingly difficult battles to ascend the ranks of hunters earning friends and enmity as he goes. It's quickly paced and more characterful than many of the action animé series, this one, with loads of action right from the start. Though it does inter-twine the fantasy adventures with a bit of the human-side activity, most of this is staged within the confines of a game that presents a range of adventures that are exciting to watch. Jeopardy? Well, no, not really. It's all clearly building to a denouement that isn't going to be included in this amalgamated three-episode feature, but as stepping stones along the way it's also a bit more stand alone than some of the cinematic partial-serialisations that we see. On the downside, it does rely on quite a lot of onscreen textual information that isn't always the easiest to read when fleetingly put onto a big screen, but the escapades with the likes of a deadly red knights and some menacing ice bears help this to flow quite entertainingly.