Solo Leveling Season 2 Improves the Manhwa With an Extremely Controversial Design

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Solo Leveling Season 2, Episode 11!!

Solo Leveling Season 2, Episode #10 entered full swing into the Jeju Island Arc, introducing the Ant Queen but also one of the most popular antagonists in the series, The Ant King. The Ant King was born out of the Ant Queen's desire to produce a stronger offspring that could lead her subdits to conquer other lands, being the pinnacle of the evolution of the ant magic beasts from Jeju Island. Unfortunately, this episode created controversy as many viewers shared their frustration on social media over The Ant King's inicial design, with many claiming it fell short of the public's expectations of such an important character.

Many fans expressed their disappointment over The Ant King’s unflattering and simple design, as the muted blue tones didn’t match his pitch-black appearance of the manhwa, raising concerns about whether the adaptation will do justice to this arc. However, the release of Solo Leveling Season 2, Episode 11 proves the Ant King wasn’t only well-adapted, but his controversial design was a genius change meant to be an improvement over the manhwa.

Solo Leveling Season 2 Highlights the Ant King’s Evolution Better than the Manhwa

The Initial Design of the Ant King Wasn’t Shown in the Manhwa

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The design of the Ant King has been criticized for being less menacing than expected by those aware of his design in the original manhwa. However, what many viewers didn’t anticipate was that this initial design corresponded to the newly born Ant King, accurately displaying that he was different from the other ants by how he slowly changed colors after hatching and had a more humanoid figure than the rest. This proves the anime is going beyond the manhwa, as the Ant King design after hatching wasn’t featured in the manhwa since he was covered in shadows until his revelation in chapter #99.

Related Anime Adaptations Must Be Faithful, But Solo Leveling's Changes Make It So Much Better Solo Leveling's anime removes yet another scene from its manhwa and light novel source material, but this time it works in the series favor.

Moreover, revealing the Ant King early on—instead of leaving it to the readers' imagination—creates a bigger shock once he is shown again in full, as the Ant King later shows his ultimate form after eating the Japanese hunters, revealing that he absorbs the powers and skills of those he consumes, similar to the Chimera Ants in Hunter x Hunter. This way, the anime makes his evolution more obvious, which is subtle in the manhwa until seeing him fight in chapter #103.

Solo Leveling Anime Perfectly Captures the Atmosphere of the Ant King’s Introduction

The Ant King is a Walking Calamity Preying on the S-Rank Hunters

Thankfully, the Ant King’s design surpasses fans' expectations with more details and a dark color that highlights his sturdy exoskeleton, showing that the blue undertones he has in episode 10 were just shading due to the blue lights inside the Queen’s chamber. The Ant King’s ultimate form, appearing in front of the Korean S-rank hunters just after the original scenes of the public celebrating the victory over the Ant Queen, perfectly conveys the intended dreadful feeling of the manhwa.

The whole sequence of the Ant King entering with an intimidating aura gives off the dangerous sense of a true apex predator, as the S-Rank Hunters feel a visceral primal fear of becoming prey. Also, how the hunters are so easily overpowered demonstrates how humanity is losing against one single beast from a gate, a situation of pure despair where everything seems lost.

The Ant King Brings Back the More Explicit Violent Side of Solo Leveling’s Story

The Anime Changes Appeal to Both New Viewers and Fans of the Manhwa

The anime was even more graphic than the manhwa, with the injuries of the S-rank Hunters and when the Ant King killed the healer Min Byung-gu and consumed him, gaining the ability to speak. Furthermore, the adaptation also includes an original scene upon the Ant King’s arrival when he eats the corpse of the Queen Ant to showcase how he consumes everything to become stronger, just as the quote she tells him in chapter #94.

For the sake of our Kingdom, make the enemies who stand in our way tremble in fear. You must become stronger. Consume all there is to consume and become stronger. - Ant Queen, Solo Leveling manhwa chapter #94.

This episode also brings back the explicit violence, brutal fights, and graphic death scenes that were common in Solo Leveling season 1. Because of this, by using the insert song Dark Aria by Hiroyuki Sawano during the Ant King’s rampage—which was the same soundtrack as Solo Leveling episode 6 when Jinwoo massacres the Lizard Hunters—it brings back the meaning behind Solo Leveling's quote that "hunters should be ready to become hunted" and highlights the dark tone of the story that has recently been lost as fights become much easier for Sung Jinwoo as he gains strength.

The Jeju Island Raid Is Meant To Increase the Power Level in the Series

The Ant King’s Power Is Way Above a Regular S-Rank Hunter

Even though some viewers expected the Jeju Island Arc to be the perfect occasion where supporting characters would take the spotlight, Solo Leveling’s story ultimately revolves around Jinwoo and the threats hidden inside the dungeons. Because of this, the Jeju raid is a transition arc where Jinwoo finally shows his power to the public, with the Ant King serving as a vehicle to find out there are dangerous monsters that even S-rank hunters can’t defeat.

This is intimately tied with the introduction of the National Level Hunters and the participation of Japan in the raid, as Solo Leveling’s story will start to develop the series’ worldbuilding after increasing the stakes and the power scale in the story, which will lead to uncovering the truth about the systems and the appearance of the gates.

Related Solo Leveling Season 2 Erases A Key Part of the Manhwa's Identity With a Simple Change Solo Leveling Season 2 episode 10 has taken away part of what makes the story so interesting by skipping several significant scenes from the manhwa.

Nevertheless, this dedication to building the Ant Kings’s character through his initial design, delving into more than what the source material shows while also conveying its atmosphere, proves the commitment of the anime’s production team to delivering a faithful adaptation that surpasses expectations and can be enjoyed even by old fans. Furthermore, as episode #23 of Solo Leveling ended with another chilling cliffhanger, fans' expectations should only increase before the fight between Jinwoo and the Ant King, the most awaited moment of the season which could be enhanced through animation to be even better than in the source material.

Source: Solo Leveling Official X account