Solo Leveling Anime Series

Jaime and Tony talk about the new anime series Solo Leveling that's airing on Crunchy Roll. Any video game fan will recognize all the fantasy video game references that this show alludes to.

Transcript

tanomsak
Hi guys welcome back to good game radio I'm your host Tony speaking and I'm here with hiie tonight. We're talking anime solo leveling the show on crunchy row that hiimy you got me watching the day and ah. You ready to talk about some solo leveling.

00:21.74
Jaime G
I am and I am and um, just for context it was a little bit of a misunderstanding I don't I don't know what I said but apparently Tony was thinking that solo leveling was a comedy and as soon as he starts watching the show. He's texting me saying. Dude, what is this? This is not comedy I'm thinking I never said this was comedy. But.

00:42.59
tanomsak
Right? Well yeah, I'm sitting down I'm like on mean watch a show How many kids telling me about you keep bringing it Up. He's like it's pretty good. It's video game related. Let me check it Out. So I sat down. Um ah, watch it on my playstation. Ah, and you know hey you're going Through. You'll be following some ah like these portals that have opened up around the world and people that are called Hunters that have this innate ability that ah that came out of them. To to fight the monsters that come out of these gates and they use ah the loot that they get off of these monsters to like you know, pay for their bills and and then there's some things that they can use for energy resources or whatever. But yeah.

01:27.63
Jaime G
And well, there's there's some more restrictions beyond what Tony's talking about. So yes, there's these portals that just pop out of nowhere and apparently if a crew of hunters don't go into these portals and clear the dungeon within so many days of the portal appearing. The things that are inside of that portal will come out into the human world and you know all chaos ensues. So that's kind of like where the general premise of this starts and you're quickly introduced to our main protagonist where he is recognized and known.

01:50.92
tanomsak
Yes, yes.

02:05.81
Jaime G
And he's just legendary for being the worst hunter to have ever existed because all these hunters are ranked by class and apparently they can tell what your class is by doing some some sort of test and so this guy is invited constantly.

02:19.60
tanomsak
Bright. Yeah.

02:25.72
Jaime G
To just like the worst. The absolute easiest dungeons and sometimes he's only invited because they just need to fill the party up and and if you've ever played a raid or something. You know that you have to have the right number of people in your part in your party but you usually want to have the best players but in some cases they just bring him in and they tell them okay man you can only grab you. You can only get paid for the stuff items that you loot which he doesn't anyway, long story short. They end up finding a secret dungeon inside of a dungeon and if you ever played an rpg or played Diablo you're like okay I've I've seen this before but. They're inside of an ee rank which is you know, very bad ranked dungeon and then they're like hey there's another one in here. Let's let's go check it out. There's probably another set of easy boss fights in here. Well it can it is completely opposite to that right. So this is kind of the premise here's how the things get set up somehow you know the a lot of people here are lost. He figures out a way to get people out. He figures out a way to say. Okay, if I do this, we can all survive and people don't do that right? classic.

03:49.30
Jaime G
I don't know is this human syndrome where they say good luck. Nice knowing you peace but he ends up surviving somehow and he wakes up at the hospital and people are are giving and giving him his regular checkup talking to him asking if he remembers what happened. And everyone leaves the room and finally he's saying am I the only one who can see this and he's basically seeing his what's what's the right name for this Tony his dashboard his.

04:21.48
tanomsak
Brett his ah his personal ah stat card.

04:29.10
Jaime G
So right? he he can see his stack car. He can see his hp his level his inventory. He starts getting daily notifications that say you need to do exercise you need to do this so you can get um experience and level up. And you know the quickly. The show tells you what happens if you don't do this. So I think Tony around here is where you were able to see the show up to or am I have I already crossed. Yeah.

04:55.78
tanomsak
Right? So I don't have I don't have a membership to crunchyro but you are allowed to watch a few of episodes that are not in english they're in Japanese you have to read the subtitle in english those are free. On crunch a row. So the first 3 episodes were available in that format. So they're talking japanese but it's in english subtitles and you can follow along no problem but then beyond that you got to pay for the subscription I haven't convinced myself convince myself to go ahead and pay for the subscription. Especially when I have a trip coming up but I might do the subscription ah just long enough to watch the show and.

05:40.30
Jaime G
You oh if you want you we can. You can come over to my place on Saturdays because because the new episodes released on Saturdays we can have a solo leveling ah pizza party that way you don't have to pay for that. That's fine. Um, and by the way you said something here key you said that you can only see it with subtitles on.

05:47.52
tanomsak
No, Okay, yeah, we could do that? Um, but yeah.

05:58.51
Jaime G
That's a different conversation but that is the way to properly watch anime. Don't forget about the dubbed stuff s sub is the way to go. Okay, so go on. Sorry yeah.

06:05.71
tanomsak
Ah, right? So yeah I mean I I'm sitting there watching the episode where you know, ah they're getting ready to go into the dungeon and ah it's it's it's funny because it's like ah the girl the one girl the the ah the healer.

06:22.21
Jaime G
You the healer right.

06:23.94
tanomsak
Comes up to him. She's like what are you doing here. See you both died last time and he's like oh you know I got to make money my mom the whole. My mom needs is in the hospital and she's got she's sick or something and I got to pay out the bills and raise my sister. Um. But everybody's like like you said like they're say hey man welcome and everybody's happy right? and somebody asked why why? Why is she some sort of great hunter or something and he's like no man if that guy's on this on this. It means it's gonna be easy because he's he's the lowest rank and the worst worst.

06:54.10
Jaime G
Right.

06:59.55
tanomsak
E Rank Hunter ever. That means it's going to be easy and then they go in and it's anything but easy and I'm sitting there watching and they find that secondary dungeon right? after they've killed like what they thought was the dungeon master or the dungeon boss and they're like why is. We. There should be like another chest or something and then oh look, there's another tunnel over here then and they go down there and ah and they find these like big set of doors and everybody's like man that looks kind of creepy that doesn't look like it matches this level dungeon right? um.

07:31.35
Jaime G
But this guy's here with us.

07:35.30
tanomsak
Yeah, but this guy is here and then they take a vote like caused a leader of the group was too cowardly to make a decision so they do like ah a vote group vote it was like what ah 7 and 7 4 and 7 again. So they needed a tiebreaker. So guess who the tiebreaker was. The the dude the protagonist who's like the weakest and they're like hey man you decide we going in or we going home. He's like a mom' sick I gotta I gotta make money I don't yeah I I haven't gotten anything out of this yet. So. We're going in and then they go in and then I don't want it. Yeah, it got real real quick. That's what I texted I texted you guys I like hey man I thought you said this was a comedy I like there's body parch flying.

08:13.71
Jaime G
It It gets it got real real fast. Yeah, ah.

08:27.39
tanomsak
Everywhere I'm seeing guys get get capitating getting their arms dripped off all like and even a he man I mean what happens to him at the end of this episode like there's not hardly anything left to him.

08:29.13
Jaime G
Yeah.

08:44.35
Jaime G
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

08:48.35
tanomsak
And the that you know is his thinking. It gets them out of it like the the the few survivors that there are it survived because he he was able to solve the riddles right? and ah and he ah.

08:59.19
Jaime G
Yeah, yeah.

09:05.66
tanomsak
And he sacrificed himself basically for them and but he ends up surviving but as a side effect he now has ah the ability to see these monitors which you know give him quests and ah give him statistical updates on where he is and.

09:22.78
Jaime G
And he has an item box. Dude.

09:25.30
tanomsak
But nobody else can see him. Yeah and he gets stuff like when he completes the daily quest whatever which he did not complete the first day and he almost paid for it like if he didn't complete the quest he will get. He would get teleported to like a but zone where he get. He was forced to do like ah.

09:30.66
Jaime G
And right.

09:43.24
tanomsak
What it was the original Quest would have given him like oh you need more Stamina Oh you don't want to do the quest. It gives you staa? Well we'll put you in a situation where you're going to get more stamina.

09:49.79
Jaime G
You good Guess what? you're you're going to be chased down by boss fights and and all you can do is run or you you're you're down.

09:59.54
tanomsak
Right? But ah yeah, so that's where I kind of left off and like he he finally committed to doing the daily quest and then he got ah a reward of an instance dungeon like oh this is a key for an instance dungeon that nobody else can see. And the key to the story is like these hunters Once you get tested like everybody gets tested ah to see what ability that they have right? and then if you have the ability you're given ah that gives you your rank and then you're recruited by Guilds right.

10:22.35
Jaime G
So yeah to figure out your what your what your rank is yeah.

10:34.90
Jaime G
I I thought that was funny by the way how they're like as they're coming out of their tests. They're like hey I represent so and so do you want to join our gild here's the benefits and perks it so it was like they're scouting them. So.

10:35.98
tanomsak
To fill out their.

10:44.31
tanomsak
Right? Yeah, right? Yeah they're like they're getting recruited like sports teams right? So like how join our guild ah and of course to hire the rank the better the package right? So ah, the thing about it is. It's like. Once you get tested for your ability level. There's no changing your ability level. That's the level that you'll always be right? There's so there's no improving moving from the lowest rank to the next to the next and next you're you're locked in well, he. Is now able to improve his ability theoretically this is what I'm gaining ah garnering but he did he got tested when he came out because they thought maybe did he had what they called a second awakening and he he actually scored the lowest like you can almost possibly score.

11:26.56
Jaime G
But but but he gets tested again.

11:33.62
Jaime G
A second awakening. Yeah.

11:39.85
Jaime G
Yeah, right? So it was like.

11:41.80
tanomsak
And in habitability right? because he thought oh man I have a second awakening I could be a higher class and then like oh sorry, it's our mistake like literally you did they leave the building and they got 2 guys are talking like it's the worst core I've ever seen like.

11:49.96
Jaime G
I'm an a class.

11:58.20
Jaime G
Right.

12:00.75
tanomsak
Yeah, like I think he scored a 10 right? It's like you know like e class is like 55 like most people that are in the lowest level or scoring on 55 and he's scoring a 10 like he he almost has no ability so you can't take on these monsters. Unless you have an ability of and like conventional weapons don't work against the monsters only magical ah hunter given abilities work against the monsters. That's why they're so important like the whole world requires hunters. Yeah, so but.

12:33.99
Jaime G
Swords and Axes and Shields Yeah, right. The Rpg Man Rpg logic.

12:39.18
tanomsak
Yeah, right? I mean it won't work if you can kill them with guns and stuff and that's why at the beginning of the show the beginning of the show opens up with a battle right? because ah, it's like an island and there's like Japanese Navy ships and they're sitting off the coast and they're all like man I wish we could join the battle. That's going on on the island the captain's like doesn't do any good. Our weapons won't work right? So then they go into the battle and you see like a line of dudes that are lined up and waiting for this like horde of giant ants that are come right.

13:08.85
Jaime G
I Couldn't figure that out because I was thinking like wait. There's like all these Navy ships outside and then all and there's like all these guys in like medieval times armor like at the beginning I was yeah.

13:19.63
tanomsak
Right? They're I'll dress like ah luring like they were lurping ah and then like and then they started to get in the bow and these guys are getting like torn limb of limb I'm like is this like a video game like there are like. Are they like playing this out in like some sort of computer room somewhere and then they like oh man I Die Then we go back in you know, like no it was real like these guys are literally dying ah fighting these giant ants and like all they had was like a knife. But.

13:40.20
Jaime G
I Know that was real I.

13:52.41
tanomsak
So it's cool. It's a really cool concept I I really enjoyed it and I was I was just having a good time with like and you said this was a comedy I'm I'm seeing body parts everywhere.

13:59.70
Jaime G
He well? well well Tony after the main character goes into the instance dungon. Um, he realizes he goes. He starts filing fighting like trolls. He's like I can take these but then you know a more. Difficult character shows up and he has his basically his weapon breaks and he opens up his inventory. He's like there's a sword in my inventory so he starts using that right? So he starts leveling up. And as I said before he has no idea he's like do I go to stamina vitality strength. He's just putting all of his eggs into strength. That's all he knows. That's all he picks eventually he realizes that the name. Because he can see the name of of the character. He's fighting or the type and he says okay if it's white if the name's white. It means that he's a lower level than I am if he's red. He's kind of like comparable to what I am but he likes looks down the. Looks down to fly the stairs on the subway he's like whatever is down. There is a lot stronger than me so well. Well I was going to tell you this is kind of important because it kind of gets to something that I didn't pick up on but jrod actually.

15:17.20
tanomsak
Well just having that information is so that would be so important right? like ah.

15:29.46
Jaime G
Ah, noted for me which was pretty cool so he goes Down. He ends up fighting this boss that has I'm not going to give you the details but he has like scales that he can't break with it with the sword he has but finally he realizes. He's so Strong. He basically chokes the but the the the dungeon master to death because he's just like that strong. Um, and I was like okay, whatever. So anyway, so he no, he's he's He's yeah yeah, so he comes out right in.

15:57.47
tanomsak
Yeah, he doesn't look that strong because he looks like that the littlest kid in the class.

16:07.82
Jaime G
It turns out that from a different ah portal some other monster started coming out and he's just walking by. He's just coming out of the instance dung and people are like oh you're a hunter these guys need help because they're just getting massacred so he goes in. Yeah.

16:20.57
tanomsak
Oh that was the one that opened on the freeway right? Yeah, okay.

16:27.10
Jaime G
And and he's like these guys just have tanks. They have a couple healers. There's no way that they can beat. You know the the main boss and I didn't pick up on this I didn't pick up on this but he's like looking at the main boss and he's like well if they can just penetrate his death defenses. He can. They can win so he grabs the the sword he has the the one that broke earlier just throws it and hits the bad guy on the head and then that's enough to like weaken him where all the other guys kill him but there was a detail that actually Jeva pointed out and this is what I'm liking about the anime. He's like.

17:00.13
tanomsak
Ah, ah.

17:06.14
Jaime G
Did you see that the name was white was like no, he's like yeah he knew right away that he could take him because he knew there. It was like a lower level than he was was like oh ok, so anyway you know fast forward to that latest Episode. He's getting into this this thing he knows what he's doing. It's it's again, really getting to this whole world atmosphere that they're creating and the things that they're that he's doing as a character are really well thought out things that. Do happen in rpgs and this this time it really the the latest latest this episode they same thing they invited him until until a party because they're like we just need somebody to come in with us. They give him a contract. They're like guaranteed paid out all you got to do is you know travel with us carry our bags our equipment and whatever we pick up but you're going to get ah a cut of this if if we make it out and so he he agrees to and man humans will be humans. At some point the guys just basically leave him in a room to be bait for the bus and and he's like stand back I got this. But anyway it is. It's It's a cool concept. Um.

18:18.76
tanomsak
Right.

18:34.36
Jaime G
I was talking with Tony and he said well it's not that new. There's an another series of of books and audio books that I've been listening to which is very similar to this but to me, you know if if you're if you like anime if you like anime that somehow is tied into. Video game narrative video game things. This is if you like anime and rpgs. This is a good blend of the 2 there's a lot of questions that are still left unknown. But I think it's it's it's starting to pick up and if you stay with it beyond the first 2 episodes which are like like what is going on. You have no idea. Ah it starts getting better and better and Tony if you if you really are interested man. We can do something on Saturday or Sunday come over to my place we'll we'll just stream and get get you up to speed on the ones you've missed.

19:11.33
tanomsak
Right? right.

19:22.28
tanomsak
Right? Okay, cool. Thanks for the offer. Yeah, but listening your description like I am my my concern for your for this show is like moving too fast Maybe like see leveling up too fast.

19:39.77
Jaime G
He is he is and and before before he's checking out at that hospital. You know he's doing all his daily daily challenges. The nurses are like oh you got to give me your number because he's now like pre ripped.

19:40.71
tanomsak
Um.

19:49.99
tanomsak
M.

19:58.90
Jaime G
Still skinny but like really cut and he's like oh they probably want my number because they need to send me results. Sure let me give. Ah yeah, he's leveling up and I think again I think it's going to be more exploring how.

20:07.36
tanomsak
Ah.

20:17.32
Jaime G
The healer that he was friends with they don't nobody understands how this guy made it out alive after the events of the first 2 episodes.

20:25.48
tanomsak
Right? It was ah they listed the case as a unexplained phenomenon or something like that like how did he get out alive because everybody said that he like had let his leg was ripped off and he was missing in harm and stuff and the guys got all these things intact.

20:31.14
Jaime G
So right.

20:39.56
Jaime G
Right? right.

20:43.38
tanomsak
And there's nothing like like his his the friend that was the healer she tried to heal his leg to put it back together and she couldn't and she was like a D ranked healer or something like that. So be like she wasn't like low. She was like a leaste a mid-level.

20:48.70
Jaime G
Yeah, yeah.

20:54.43
Jaime G
B Actually I make no she she she was like yeah.

21:02.18
tanomsak
But she went into she didn't want to go like she was always being asked and this is so true. This is so true when you play games where you need healers like nobody wants to be the healer So you're always asking a lower level healer.

21:19.40
Jaime G
And right my point exactly they get that The animate gets the real dynamics of how people do these parties and and play them right? and also the lo diluting mechanics they're like.

21:20.14
tanomsak
To come with you into a higher level dungeon than that. They're really able to heal in.

21:33.76
tanomsak
Yeah, yeah.

21:38.50
Jaime G
You can only take the loot that you pick up. Um.

21:42.71
tanomsak
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and he had that knife that broke like the 1 piece of loot that he ever got it really was awful. Ah yeah.

21:48.90
Jaime G
It right? and it breaks so I'm I mean at least I watch a lot of animmate. But at least this one drew me in because the whole rpg element to it and the fact that he's figuring it out in. Again I'm seeing a lot of the things that you see in a lot of rpgs I was like hey it's I'm interested in this. So if you I think if you're looking for something that's a new anime There's not a lot of spoilers out there because it's just you know we're up a 2 episode 5 at this point.

22:14.26
tanomsak
That it's Preco.

22:27.36
Jaime G
It's it's something to check out.

22:30.40
tanomsak
Yep, yeah, definitely check it out. It's it's ah it's it's It's pretty good. Actually I'm I'm I'm pleasantly surprised like I'm you were kind of under showing it to me the couple of times you've talked about it's like I like ah I'll go ahead and check it out I like because it it.

22:41.36
Jaime G
Well I'm glad that wait that way you sided that? Okay, it's good.

22:47.85
tanomsak
Was familiar with the concept based on the other audio books and stuff from the other series I was telling you about earlier but like so that's one like let me check this out. See how close it is in in the in how they implement that concept So pretty good.

23:04.38
Jaime G
Yeah.

23:07.70
tanomsak
Um, enjoying it and definitely can't wait to see what the show goes right? So solo leveling on crunchy row for you guys if you want check it out all right? and hopefully we have some more episodes talking about but the show so you know it's just not a one of so.

23:10.34
Jaime G
Yeah man.

23:27.35
tanomsak
Ah, when we talk about Tv series of stuff. We usually like to follow through all the way to the end and see how they come out. So yep, all right? So thanks for joining us and then we'll get you on next steps up.

23:29.78
Jaime G
Right? We we do beginning mid and end season.

23:39.35
Jaime G
See you guys.