Solo Leveling Episode 9 Review: Jinwoo Faces An Unexpected Enemy 

A new episode is here, and now, we will see Jinwoo surviving the new mission where things suddenly go south. Read ahead to find out more. 

Solo Leveling Episode 9 Overview

Solo Leveling, also known as Only I Level Up or Ore dake Level Up na Ken (俺だけレベルアップな件), is a South Korean web novel written by Chugong. It started on KakaoPage on July 25, 2016, and was later fully published by D&C Media on November 4, 2016. The English version is licensed by Yen Press.

The story was turned into a webtoon on March 4, 2018, illustrated by Jang Sung-rak. The first season of the webtoon ended on March 19, 2020, and the second season ran from August 1, 2020, to December 2021. D&C Media has published seven volumes of collected chapters as of February 2023.

An anime TV series produced by A-1 Pictures is premiering soon in January 2024. Additionally, there’s a Korean drama adaptation in the works, and a spinoff webtoon called Solo Leveling: Ragnarok is scheduled to come out in 2024.

I have tried my best to keep the review as spoiler-free as possible, but there are certain elements that I had to mention to give proper feedback.

– Minor Spoilers –

Solo Leveling Episode 9 Review and Recap: Too Late To Apologize

Today’s episode gave one of the best plot twists ever, and I was honestly surprised how things turned out. The episode starts with the mission where Jinwoo rejoins his old squad alongside four prisoners and Kan Taeshik from the Hunter’s Association. The hunt starts without any problems in the beginning, and things go pretty well at first. I was worried that the prisoners might try to antagonise Jinwoo and his friends, or they might kill Taeshik and be later defeated by Jinwoo himself.

But things take a very interesting turn, where my expectations got outright thwarted, and we see the real danger of this mission. An interesting lesson that we can learn from this episode is how just because an evil intent has a noble cause behind it does not make it any less evil.

Plus, we should also not judge anyone by their appearance or their social status, as anyone can be a cold-blooded murderer who is just waiting for the right chance to show their original intention.

The episode also focuses on how big of an impact everyone’s abandonment of Jinwoo had on their psyche. Kim Sangshik, who previously ran for his life, deeply felt ashamed about what he had done in the past. It was in this mission that he wanted to make amends for himself and ask for forgiveness from Jinwoo even though he knew that he would not get any sympathy from others.

But the highlight of the episode is definitely the intense action sequences that we had to witness involving our hero. He is obviously changing for the better and gaining powers left and right, but he does realise that he is also losing a part of himself in the process. Perhaps he is losing his humanity in his journey to attain power, and he can not help but walk that path.

Also Read: Solo Leveling Season 2 Reviews

Verdict 

This episode caught me off guard, and I was really impressed with the plot. The way the studio has been animating this series proves just how passionate they are about this project, and I believe they will continue to do an impeccable job. If you still have not started Solo Leveling, then you are definitely missing out, as this is hands down one of the best shows of this season.

Also Read: All of Our Solo Leveing Reviews