Solo Leveling: Segundo Despertar

Saw the subbed version of this today with no prior knowledge of Solo Leveling.

First up, this isn't Akira or Ghost in the Shell, it won't change your life. It's standard teen drama with the violence turned up to 11 and a whole lot of angst. If you can get past that, it's fiiiiiine, perfectly serviceable, very whatchable and does an adequate job of telling a story - this might be acceptable to younger watchers but at 38, in a cinema full of over 30s it landed like soggy toast.

That being said, it's pretty light on the exposition, with lots of stuff covered via flashbacks, which is almost a shame as some of the flashback moments are generally more interesting than whatever was going on at rhe time.

Animation is nice enough and does a fine job, thankfully it's light on the 3D unlike most modern anime and the fight scenes have a real old school feel to them, almost dragonball-y.

Overall, it's fine, there's better anime series telling similar stories, it walks the line of serious drama and silly isekai, but never commits to either - would have liked the backstory explained more, and in the UK it's marketed as a standalone movie that requires no prior knowledge of Solo Leveling, but it does seem like a good chunk of that woulda been helpful. Hopefully there'll be a 2nd film that covers more of this.