Solo Leveling Season 2 Episode 8 Preview

The highly anticipated second season of Solo Leveling, titled Arise From the Shadow, has released its preview for Episode 8, which is also the 20th episode overall. In this season, we witness the journey of Jinwoo, who has now ascended to the rank of S-Rank hunter and is determined to conquer the Demon Realm. The anime is animated by Studio A-1 Pictures, with a total of 13 episodes confirmed for this season, and it is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll.

Episode Details

The upcoming episode, titled “Looking Up was Tiring Me Out,” is set to premiere on Saturday, February 22. Below, you can find the preview images, episode synopsis, and details about the episode's staff.

 

 

In his quest to obtain the materials needed for the Elixir of Life, Jinwoo continues his relentless assault on the "Demon Castle," accompanied by the female demon Esil. As they progress through the castle floor by floor, Jinwoo’s allies, Igris and Tank, also level up, further enhancing their combat capabilities.

Upon reaching the top floor, Jinwoo faces a formidable challenge as he confronts the Demon King Baran, who commands a massive white dragon and radiates an overwhelming aura of power.

Episode Staff

• Script: Noboru Kimura
• Storyboard: Yuka Kuroda, Yoshihiro Kanno
• Director: Tatsuya Sasaki
• Chief Animation Directors: Hiromi Ogata, Tomoko Katasho, Yukiko Busa
• Assistant Chief Animation Director: Tomoko Sudo
• Animation Directors: Takaaki Tanabe, Hanayo Takasaka, Kyoka Nakaoka, NAM HAI ART, Hikari no Sono Animation
• Assistant Animation Directors: Noriaki Nihei, Quan Liu, Yuzuki Sekine, Tomomi Igarashi, 彩華今野, Huang Heting
• Action Animation Director: Yoshihiro Kanno

Background

Solo Leveling is based on the popular webtoon created by Chugong and illustrated by DUBU from REDICE Studio, adapted by h-goon. The story follows Sung Jinwoo, the world’s ‘weakest hunter,’ who discovers a unique way to level up in a world where such progress is typically impossible. Having achieved S-Rank status, Jinwoo is now poised to complete the Elixir of Life for his mother, a goal that drives much of his journey.

This anime adaptation has garnered significant attention, having been voted the most anticipated anime of Winter 2024 and winning the award for Best New Anime at the Winter 2024 Anime Awards. With the second season now recognized as the most anticipated show of Winter 2025, fans are eagerly awaiting the next chapter in Jinwoo's epic story.

Sung Jinah

Sung jinah is jinwoo's younger sister. Jinah is a cheery, playful, and diligent girl with a strong sense of family and a close relationship to her brother, as he supported her financially and virtually raised her after their father went missing and their mother fell into a coma. A running gag to her character is her bad habit of hitting jinwoo with her foot out of irritation only to end up hurting herself due to how durable he is.Jinah was born about 15-17 years before the events of the main storyline to sung il-hwan and park kyung-hye. Ten years prior to the first double dungeon incident, her father was presumed dead when he mysteriously disappeared inside a dungeon during a raid. Six years later, her mother suddenly developed symptoms of eternal slumber and fell into a coma soon after.

With both of their parents out of the picture, jinwoo was forced to raise jinah in their place and take over as the breadwinner of the family. Although jinah did her part and got top marks in school, her brother proved to be incompetent as a hunter and nearly died on just about every raid he went on for the next four years. This caused her to worry about him whenever he went to work and she eventually prepared to drop out of school and get a job if there was ever a day that jinwoo got injured so badly that he wouldn't be able to support the two of them anymore.

Yoo Jinho

Yoo jinho is a korean d-rank hunter and the vice-guild master of the ahjin guild. Jinho is a young man with gray eyes, a boyish face, and custard-colored hair that is shaved on both sides of his head. Much like jinwoo, he is usually displayed wearing casual clothing, even on raids. Jinho comes off as a dork and serves as the comic relief of the series, mainly due to his tendency to take things the wrong way.

 

At the same time, however, he is fiercely loyal to jinwoo, who he regards as an older brother figure, and has a strong desire to make his own living. Jinho has two running gags to his character. The first is his odd habit of dressing up in fancy and expensive armor. The second is his inability to hold his liquor, as displayed when he got wasted while going out for drinks with jinwoo and then with his cousin soohyun.As a d-rank tanker, jinho is somewhat weak for a hunter and has little battle experience, due to the fact that jinwoo is typically the one who does all the fighting during their raids together. However, he was strong enough to shield an elderly couple from falling debris during the tokyo crisis and had enough endurance to stay conscious even after hwang dongsoo brutally tortured him. 

Sung Suho

Sung suho is the son of the sung jinwoo and cha hae-in. He is also the main protagonist of solo leveling: ragnarok. As a teenager, suho displays little interest in things that bore him and don't get his blood pumping, especially his education. He also enjoys fighting and tends to get physical with any bullies who are stupid enough to pick on him, having garnered a reputation for it by the time he was in high school.As a toddler, suho had a fascination with ants due to his friendship with beru.

 

 

As jinwoo's son, suho first manifested his abilities when he was a toddler, which shocked his mother and prompted his father to start to train him on how to use them. However, when suho's powers grew to the point that his classmates started shunning him and his teachers began to realize that something wasn't right about him, jinwoo was forced to seal his powers and surpress his memories of them until he learned how to get along with people in the real world.As the son of the shadow monarch, suho is one of the strongest humans alive. By the time he was in high school, he had already far surpassed the average s-rank hunter in power and was already so strong at that point that only jinwoo could defeat him in a one-on-one battle.

Ashborn

Ashborn was the king of the dead and the monarch of shadows. He was also the strongest ruler and the greatest fragment of brilliant light. Ashborn was a huge, muscular shadow warrior with glowing flame-like purple hair, glowing purple eyes, two curved black horns, and sharp claws. He also wore jet-black armor and a long smoky black cloak, and wielded a pure black sword.As a ruler, ashborn was a burly white knight with large white wings, long silver hair, and glowing white eyes. He also wore silver robes with light tan armor and a grayish-blue cloak, and wielded a white sword with a light tan guard and a gray hilt.

Ashborn cared greatly about life and had a benevolent attitude towards humanity. He also had a profound desire for peace and was tired of the endless war between the monarchs and the rulers, leading him to eventually entrust both his ambitions and his powers to a human in hopes of putting an end to the bloodshed once and for all. However, at the same time, he was blindly loyal to the absolute being and continued to fight on the latter's behalf even after learning the truth behind his existence. 

Ashborn cared greatly about life and had a benevolent attitude towards humanity. He also had a profound desire for peace and was tired of the endless war between the monarchs and the rulers, leading him to eventually entrust both his ambitions and his powers to a human in hopes of putting an end to the bloodshed once and for all. However, at the same time, he was blindly loyal to the absolute being and continued to fight on the latter's behalf even after learning the truth behind his existence.

Cha Hae-In

Cha hae-in is a korean s-rank hunter and the vice-guild master of the hunters guild. She is also the wife of sung jinwoo and the mother of their son sung suho.Cha is an attractive young woman with gray eyes and blonde hair in a bob cut. She typically wears red-themed armor on raids and carries a black sword with a silver hilt. When using her abilities, her eyes glow yellow. Cha is a meticulous woman who cares about the lives of those around her, as demonstrated by how she developed a habit of patrolling the boss' lair during her guild's raids in order to ensure the safety of the mining and hauling teams. She is also very diligent when training, as she continued to hone her sword technique even after becoming a s-rank hunter, and was perceptive enough to realize after her first meeting with sung jinwoo that something wasn't quite right with him.

 

Outside of her job, however, cha does not seem to have any friends and comes off as socially awkward. She is also easily embarrassed and almost instantly lost her composure after jinwoo teased her over her pickaxe incident. Cha is the third strongest hunter in korea after go gunhee and jinwoo, with the latter initially believing that she and gunhee could be on the same level of power. Goto also considered her competent enough to give his guild's best hunters a run for their money and even the ant king considered her to be the most dangerous out of all the korean hunters in the jeju island raid party, prompting it to take her out immediately.

Sung Jinwoo

Sung jinwoo is the main protagonist of solo leveling. Originally an infamously weak e-rank hunter, he got the chance of a lifetime when he was selected as the player of the system, giving him the unique ability to grow in strength without restraint. As a result, by taking advantage of the opportunities offered to him by the system, jinwoo eventually rose to power as humanity's greatest hunter and the second shadow monarch. Jinwoo is a handsome and muscular young man with gray eyes, black hair, and sharp facial features.

When using his powers or agitated, his eyes glow bright purple. He is almost always seen wearing dark colors, particularly black, and after slaughtering the monarchs for a second time, takes to wearing a black glove on his left hand, which was severely scarred in his battle with antares. Before he was chosen as the player of the system, jinwoo was a short and scrawny young man with hair long enough to completely cover his ears. His face was also very boyish, which made him look even younger than his younger sister jinah, and he tended to dress in a simple blue hoodie and jeans. Jinwoo is a humble and benevolent individual who cares deeply for his family and has a strong thirst for power. 

 

As a result, he is very close to both his sister and his mother, and rarely wastes an opportunity to grow stronger.It should be noted that despite being the strongest hunter in the world, jinwoo is not particularly arrogant and is both polite and easygoing in-person. He is also mostly indifferent to materialistic desires and can be very selfless, as displayed when he teleported to jeju island without a second thought to save the other korean s-rank hunters from certain death. In battle, however, he is ruthless, as he tends to slaughter his enemies indiscriminately, and even somewhat disdainful, as displayed when he taunted the ant king by calling him a "Mere insect" to his face and mocked the architect for the flaws he made in his design of the system. His deep bond with his family also makes him absolutely merciless towards anyone who dares to hurt them, as displayed when he massacred groctar's entire tribe for attempting to kill jinah and brutally murdered hwang dongsoo for torturing jinho.

In contrast, back when he was weak, jinwoo was very timid and insecure due to his incompetence as a hunter and his troubled family situation. Although he cared deeply for his family and spent years risking his life going on raids for their sake, he was secretly ashamed of his circumstances, as displayed when he lied to joohee about why he had chosen hunting as his career path.