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Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Ep. 3 “Still a Long Way to Go” is a very misleading title. It implies that Jin-woo has a very long way to go before he’s strong. It’s quite the contrary in this episode. He’s so powerful that he’s turned the action game into a real-time strategy game.
Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Ep. 3 “Still a Long Way to Go”: Details
Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Ep. 3 “Still a Long Way to Go” is the third episode (you can read my review for the anime film containing Ep. 1-2 here) of the second season this dark urban fantasy and portal fantasy action anime. You can read my reviews of all 12 episodes of the first season here.
Said anime series is the anime adaptation of the South Korean web novel and webtoon of the same name by writer Chugong and featuring illustrations by Jang Sung-rak (aka DUBU), with h-goon adapting it into a manhwa form later. A-1 Pictures (Black Butler, Sword Art Online, Lycoris Recoil) is the animation studio behind this anime film. Crunchyroll is the company licensing this anime film for its global release. Save for in SEA region, where Medialink is the company licensing this anime film there.
Production Cast
Kōji Furukuwa is the director behind Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Ep. 3 “Still a Long Way to Go”, with Noboru Kimura as the writer, Hiroki Hirano as the storyboarder, and Hirotaka Tokuda as the chief animation director. As for Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- as a whole, Shunsuke Nakashige is still the director, and Noboru Kimura is still the screenwriter. Yasuhiro Okumura is the background art director, Yuji Kondo is the editor, Tomoko Sudo is the character designer, Hirotaka Tokuda is the monster designer, Toshitaka Morioka is the CG director, Naomi Nakano is the color designer, Ryo Tanaka is the sound director, Daichi Iseki is the VFX director, Sotaro Shiriaishi is the prop designer, Hiromu Oshiro is responsible for motion graphics, and Hiroyuki Sawano composes all the music we hear in the anime film.
Speaking of that music: the opening theme song for this second season is “Reawaker” by Lisa (feat. Felix of Stray Kids). Meanwhile, “Un-Apex” by TK from Ling Tosite Sigure is the ending theme song.
Voice Cast
Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Ep. 3 “Still a Long Way to Go” features the voice of Taito Ban (Aleks Le in English dub) as Sung Jinwoo.
Other notable voice roles include Genta Nakamura (Justin Briner in English dub) as Yoo Jinho, Haruna Mikawa (Rebecca Wang in English dub) as Sung Jinah, Reina Ueda (Michelle Rojas in English dub) as Cha Hae-in, and Rikiya Koyama (English dub voice actor unknown) as Sung Il-hwan.
On the antagonist side, we have Junichi Suwabe (Matthew David Rudd in English dub) as Hwang Dong-soo.
When and Where to Watch
Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Ep. 3 “Still a Long Way to Go” made its airing and streaming (aka. simulcast) debut on January 18, 2025. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll. In fact, you can watch this entire anime series only on Crunchyroll due to it being an exclusive there.
Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Ep. 3 “Still a Long Way to Go”: Synopsis
Alas, Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- only recently premiered. In fact, Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Ep. 3 “Still a Long Way to Go” just made its debut five days ago as of this writing. Thus, you will all get the official synopsis of this episode from Crunchyroll instead of a spoiler-filled plot summary. Here’s that synopsis below:
Having completed his promise to Jinho to clear 19 dungeons, Jinwoo is stronger than he was when he fought the Cerberus. In order to gather the ingredients for the Elixir of Life and save his mother, he once again enters the S-Rank Demon’s Castle dungeon.
Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Ep. 3 “Still a Long Way to Go”: The Good
Honestly, the best part of Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Ep. 3 “Still a Long Way to Go” is the animation. A-1 Pictures and their team of animators have once more done a marvelous job of animating this episode. Mostly in the fight scenes, which continue to retain a high level of fluid animation. You can easily see what’s going on in the fight, even when it’s a massively obese demon zipping around at high speeds and rapid-firing swings at Jin-woo. It’s moments like these that makes you remember that the studio is responsible for anime series like Sword Art Online, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, and Lycoris Recoil; which all feature some very impressively animated action scenes. All indications that cool action sequences are their bread and butter.
Oh, and the story is starting to gain some sort of flesh to cover that action. Jin-woo is still really the only main character in the anime, but at least his Shadows are starting to interact with him to provide a consistent supporting cast. They may barely have any personality, but it’s better than nothing. Also, the worldbuilding is starting to pick up at an interesting pace. With that worldbuilding being fueled by characters who currently have nothing to do with Jin-woo at the moment. Let’s hope that changes in the future.
Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Ep. 3 “Still a Long Way to Go”: The Bad
Alas, Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- Ep. 3 “Still a Long Way to Go” still suffers from a distinct lack of notable protagonists aside from Jin-woo. It feels like this anime depends almost entirely on its action sequences, and doesn’t really dive into its own lore so far. What’s particularly egregious about this is the fact that Jin-woo is in command of Shadows who should know more about the lore than he does, and yet he makes no attempt to question them about that lore. It feels like a missed opportunity there, and one that I hope will be corrected in the future.
Honestly, if you want anime with as much plot as they have action, then I suggest checking out Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, and/or Zenshu. They will be certain to scratch your itch for both action and story.
Tune back in to THS to find out more about Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- and other anime when we do.
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