Posted in: Anime, Crunchyroll, Movies, TV | Tagged: anime, Solo Leveling, Solo Leveling - Reawakening

Solo Leveling -ReAwakening-: Aleks Le on Playing an Anime Antihero

Solo Leveling -ReAwakening- lead voice actor Aleks Le spoke with us about playing an anime antihero and previewed the second season.

Solo Leveling -ReAwakening- is the feature-length recap of the first season coupled with a sneak peek of the first two episodes of the highly anticipated second season. Sun Jinwoo is the antihero of Solo Leveling, the weakest hunter in a world besieged by demons who dies and is reawakened with the ability to level up his powers to secretly become the most powerful and dangerous hunter in the world, but at what cost?  Jinwoo is not a typical anime shonen hero. Once he awakens, he's no longer earnest, neurotic, or crippled by self-doubt. He becomes a more calculated and increasingly ruthless killer, and playing him involves more nuance and complexity than the usual white hat hero. We were given a chance to talk to Aleks Le, who voices the English version of Jinwoo on the week of Solo Leveling -ReAwakening-'s theatrical debut. Le has

Solo Leveling Features a New Kind of Anime Antihero

Jinwoo is an anti-hero. He's not an earnest, self-effacing teenage hero common in anime but an adult with a mission to provide for his family, save his ailing mother, and ultimately save the world, but when he awakens to his new power, he slowly becomes a different man. He's clinical, analytical, increasingly ruthless, and terrifying, and he secretly becomes the most powerful and dangerous hunter in the world. Aleks Le talked about how Solo Leveling's main character is different from other anime's heroes since he has read the entire manhwa series and knows where Jinwoo's journey is going.

"There's just so much ground to cover that it really helps to know where he goes. In this particular case, it is very much helpful to have that context," Le said. "I think it's really cool to see him start to question the source of his power more, which is the system. And I think it's really cool to start seeing him interact with everybody else because in the first season, he was kind of isolated in his own journey to better himself, and he had a few interactions here and there, and those were really cool."

Previewing Season Two

Solo Leveling -Reawakening- features the first two episodes of the second season of the anime series, kicking off with Jinwoo battling the king of the Ice Elves, a cunning and sadistic enemy, and his army. Jinwoo gets to think about how different he is from the Ice Elve King and whether he might be losing more of his humanity and becoming a psychopath. Jinwoo's powers are increasingly hard to hide from the world as he unavoidably goes public even as his enemies get deadlier and more cunning.

"I think this season's really going to kick it up with him," said Le. "Finding out more about the source of his own powers, as well as everybody else finding out about him and his powers, because all the main players that they were setting up in season one were kind of hinted at kind of having him on the radar, but now that they see him in action, I really want to see all of their reactions to him. And I also want to see Jinwoo interact with all the cunning monsters that are in his path, because, again. Like you said, it is a mirror of himself, and I want to see how interacting with him or interacting with them will shape him and his personality going forward."

Solo Leveling is streaming on Crunchyroll, and season two will premiere in January. Solo Leveling -ReAwakening—has opened in theatres.

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