Solo Leveling is leveling up the anime experience. The anime adaptation of this hit South Korean manhwa has struck a chord with fans, and it’s already being touted as one of the best anime releases of 2024. I mean, the Solo Leveling premiere received high praise and quickly became the most-liked episode on Crunchyroll, beating Luffy’s Gear 5 adaptation, which is a big deal. Now, it seems like Solo Leveling fans want all the accolades – even the unusual ones – as one of the recent episodes has broken the record for the most-disliked episode.
Yeah, we are not kidding. Solo Leveling Episode 7.5, the recap episode that was released on February 24, has become the most disliked episode in Crunchyroll history. At the time of writing, the episode, titled “How to Get Stronger,” has 65.7K dislikes compared to 31.1K likes. It’s about a 2:1 ratio if we talk about dislikes-to-likes, and that is mind-boggling. The Solo Leveling fandom seems to be very vocal and upset with this release.
Several Reddit users echoed their displeasure towards the recap episode being lined up so early in the anime’s lifecycle. Yeah, Solo Leveling anime only had seven episodes out prior to the recap, which surmised Jinwoo’s leveling up so far.
Airing their views, one user said, “I don’t think it’s necessarily that people don’t like recaps but in this case it feels weird that they decided people have forgotten what happened in 7 episodes not even a full season.”
A few other Reddit users commented, “A recap episode after 7 episodes is insulting. Take a break week if you need it,” “I mean it’s kinda annoying to wait a week and to know it’s a recap, not even a filler. There are some who like to binge watch so even more frustrating,” and “The series is way too short for a recap episode.”
No one likes being left on a cliffhanger, especially when your hero is leveling up with each episode release. So, the studio could’ve prepared for any unforeseen breaks with a “filler” episode, as some suggested, but we got a recap instead.
While some were calling out the studio, other Reddit users were quick to point out that the studios “have to air something” as they’ve bought Japanese TV timeslots. So, A-1 Pictures and Aniplex likely had to release the recap to not have the TV slot go to waste while they tidy up upcoming episodes or have their animators take a short break, whatever the case.
Right now, fans eagerly await to see Jinwoo level up further and utter that bone-chilling “Arise!” command in the upcoming episodes. We are already at Episode 8, and with Solo Leveling having only a single cour with 12 episodes, that moment is not far from reach.
