Highlights
- Jinwoo undergoes a complete physical transformation, with increased muscle definition and a more chiseled appearance, showcasing the effects of his newfound abilities.
- Jinwoo embarks on his first C-Rank raid, but soon realizes that he and another hunter have been set up by their teammates, highlighting the dark side of the hunter industry and the lack of surveillance in dungeons.
- The episode ends on an exciting note as Jinwoo faces off against a powerful C-Rank boss, demonstrating his growing confidence and determination to overcome any challenge.
In the fifth episode of Solo Leveling, protagonist Sung Jinwoo’s transformation is all but complete, as the results of his new lease on life begin to show. Taller, bulkier, stronger, and more confident than ever before, Jinwoo is discharged from the hospital and soon takes up his first Hunter raid since the Cartenon Temple Double Dungeon incident.
While it was slower than the previous episode, Solo Leveling episode 5 introduces us to someone who’ll be particularly significant going forward, while also revealing a much darker side to the Hunter industry yet to be explored in the series, and sets up very nicely for the upcoming sixth episode.
Solo Leveling: The Thrill of Battle
Jinwoo's abilities improve with every victory, and he starts to enjoy battling. Close by, a dungeon break forces Joo Hee to face her trauma.
Jinwoo Looks and Feels Completely Different Now
With the introductory arc done, and the Hapjeong Instance Dungeon cleared, Jinwoo’s overall appearance and demeanour is completely different. In fact, he’s so different, the nurses at the hospital have taken notice of his attractiveness, but don’t understand exactly how someone like that was admitted without anyone noticing. Various shots of his morning exercise routine show just how much more muscle definition Jinwoo has gained since his admission, and even his face has lost its boyish innocence to a much more chiseled appearance. By his own observations, the various increases to his base attributes have translated into a number of physical changes.
One way Solo Leveling illustrates Jinwoo’s improved physical attributes is through his effortless completion of his Daily Task of 100 push-ups, and sit-ups, as well as a 10km run. While he has changed drastically, Jinwoo’s overall personality hasn’t changed much, so when a nurse asks for his contact information, he misunderstands the obvious romantic intent behind it, showing his lack of experience in that regard. Soon after being discharged, Jinwoo is reminded that rent is due (literally), so he signs up for a particularly dangerous job: a C-Rank raid. Since his rank is low, Jinwoo can’t sign up for raids that are beyond C-Rank, and the jobs ranked lower than that just don’t pay enough.
Solo Leveling: Determination of the Weak
Jinwoo wakes up in hospital after the Double Dungeon ordeal, and discovers just how demanding and dangerous his new life as a Player can be.
Jinwoo Embarks on His First C-Rank Raid
Like the first three episodes of the series, this fifth episode of Solo Leveling dedicated some of its runtime to exposition and worldbuilding. Jinwoo’s C-Rank raid job is an easy one, since he is already notorious for his weakness, the party who commissioned him don’t expect him to fight alongside them. All he has to do is carry their equipment and ensure he doesn’t get hurt. For a C-Rank Dungeon, the Hunter Association policies require that the raiding party have at least 8 members, while higher-ranked Gates are often tackled by entire Hunter Guilds, like the White Tiger Guild, which has been shown a few times in the Solo Leveling anime so far, including the opening scene depicting the Third Jeju Island Raid. The party has six recurring members and no Healer, which surprises Jinwoo, but the party leader, C-Ranked Hunter Dongsuk, assures him that this is how they’ve always conducted their raids; through outsourcing to make-up for their low numbers.
Jinwoo signs a contract that indemnifies the party from any and all harm that may befall him while on their raid, which is fairly standard practice, but strange for a group without a Healer. The second filler member is Yoo Jinho, a D-Rank Hunter who is the son of a rich and powerful businessman. Jinho had a cameo appearance in episode 1, when he got his ranking assessed at the Hunter Association HQ. While they’re treated very well by the party members, when they arrive at the Boss’s lair, they find a huge trove of mana crystals, which brings up the conversation of money. Jinho looks over Jinwoo’s contract and realizes that he is entitled to the spoils of combat with monsters, but not the crystals, which seems unfair. Dongsuk reassures Jinho that he plans on distributing their loot equally, and asks the two newbies to stay behind while the rest of them return to fetch the mining equipment that one of them left in the car because he didn’t anticipate such a big haul.
The Dark Side of the Hunter Business Rears Its Ugly Head
What made things uncomfortable for the two newcomers was that the group arrived while the Boss of the Dungeon was asleep. Jinho was worried that their presence would wake the magic beast; however, Dongsuk reassures them that the sleeping giant arachnid wouldn’t awaken unless provoked. After Dongsuk and his friends leave, Jinwoo is left putting together the pieces of the puzzle that leave him feeling somewhat uneasy. At Dongsuk’s command, his allies seal up the exit to the boss’s lair, leaving Jinwoo and Jinho alone with the giant arachnid boss sleeping inside. Jinwoo realizes that this was their intention: to trap them inside with the boss. The reason why this particular group of Hunters is made up primarily of Fighters and Tanks and no Healers is because they’ve developed a habit of enlisting unsuspecting weaklings for raids to make up for numbers, but with no intention of actually sharing the spoils of the raid with them.
A group that works this well together would have more recurring members, especially if this is how they usually go about it. Jinwoo realizes that he and Jinho were never included in the division of the spoils because this group intended to have them killed in the Dungeon before taking out the Boss for themselves. It’s an extremely grimy way of conducting business and something that Jinwoo remembers hearing about from Chiyul. Since there’s little to no surveillance in the Dungeons, many Hunters have lost their lives to their peers because fraudulent activities of this nature hardly ever leave any witnesses.
The Final Scene Sets Up For An Epic Battle
When Dongsuk issues the order to his teammates to plug up the Boss Room, the ensuing destruction awakens the Boss, a huge spider known as the Giant Arachnid Buryura. As a C-Rank Boss, an enemy like this would prove to be difficult for a full party of 8 appropriately-ranked Hunters, let alone a duo consisting of a D and E-Rank. Despite the supposed gulf in strength, Jinwoo’s anchor thus far has been comparing his current dilemma to his ordeal in the Cartenon Temple. When he realizes that his current predicament doesn’t even compare to what he felt back then, Jinwoo’s usual caution is replaced by a sense of excitement at the chance to do battle. Asking Jinho to watch the gear, Jinwoo unleashes his Kasaka Fang Dagger and prepares to squash the bug himself.
When it emerges, the menacing black exoskeleton is accented with white markings around the eyes that make its overall appearance reminiscent of Venom from the Spider-Man franchise, an interesting anime-only detail. While it wasn’t the action-packed blow-out of the previous episode, the fifth episode of Solo Leveling had a number of interesting moments and expands upon the growing world in an interesting way. Overall, the anime is running at a good pace and the series' tendency to end an episode on a high note will continue to pique interest in the episodes to follow.
Why is Everyone So Excited About Solo Leveling?
Solo Leveling is one of the most anticipated anime of the year. What is it that has anime fans so excited?
