In 2025, the anime world was abuzz with excitement, and leading the charge was the phenomenal return of Solo Leveling for its second season. Amidst a year dominated by high-profile anime films like Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man, the saga of Sung Jinwoo firmly claimed the crown of seasonal anime dominance. A significant contributor to this acclaim was the breathtaking Jeju Island Raid arc—an epic chapter in the Solo Leveling narrative that resonated deeply with fans and critics alike.

Fast forward to the sequel series, Solo Leveling: Ragnarok, where history seems to be rewriting itself in a compelling fashion. This new installment shifts the focus to Sung Jinwoo’s son, Sung Suho, and the plot is converging on a pivotal moment that echoes the grandeur of the Jeju Island Raid. This isn’t just a vague resemblance; the sequel intentionally mirrors its predecessor, embedding direct references and cleverly placed Easter eggs to honor the iconic arc. As Solo Leveling: Ragnarok unfolds, it becomes clear that this current storyline serves as a worthy successor to the monumental event that captivated audiences in the original series.

In more ways than one, history is repeating itself in Solo Leveling’s sequel manhwa series, Solo Leveling: Ragnarok. The series, which follows the story of Jinwoo’s son, Sung Suho, is at a crucial point that feels very much like the Jeju Island Raid in the original story. It’s not just a nebulous feeling, either. Solo Leveling: Ragnarok has made it apparent through direct references and Easter eggs that its current arc is the sequel manhwa’s personal answer to the original Jeju Island Raid.

Solo Leveling: Ragnarok’s Current Arc Has Been Compared to Jeju Island In-Universe

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In Solo Leveling: Ragnarok Chapter 64, a combined strike team consisting of America’s Scavenger Guild and the top S-Rank Hunters of South Korea begin their raid on an S-Rank Gate that appeared over Seoul. From the start of this raid, the comparisons to Jeju Island were already apparent. As the Korean Guild Masters prepared for this raid, Beru actually explained to them that he was once the boss of an S-Rank Gate himself, which was obviously the Jeju Island Gate.

There’s even some overt imagery in the manhwa to help double down on the S-Rank Raid’s homage to the Jeju Island Raid Arc. In Solo Leveling: Ragnarok Chapter 64, Suho and Thomas Andre face off, exerting their auras in a show of power. The imagery used in this scene is a clear callback to one of the OG Manhwa’s most iconic scenes, of Jinwoo standing in front of the Ant King, looking up at his foe without fear.

By establishing this connection early, Solo Leveling: Ragnarok has set extremely high expectations for its latest arc. While it could easily be a letdown, that doesn’t look to be the case so far. Solo Leveling: Ragnarok’s S-Rank Raid has just as many moving parts than the Jeju Island Raid did — maybe even more so.

One of the best things about Jeju Island was that it wasn’t just a matter of it being a dangerous high-level raid, there was also a political conflict by way of the Japanese Hunter Association’s secret plan. Solo Leveling: Ragnarok emulates that political intrigue by introducing Suho’s rivalry with Thomas Andre of America. It’s far from just a one-to-one copy, though.

What makes Solo Leveling: Ragnarok’s S-Rank Raid arc most like Jeju Island isn’t just its overt similarities and references, but rather the grandiosity of the upcoming arc itself. With so many moving parts converging at this moment, it feels like a callback to what made the Jeju Island Raid feel so special in Solo Leveling’s original run. Jeju was a moment that the story had been slowly building to, and that was even more apparent in the anime.

Solo Leveling: Ragnarok’s S-Rank Raid May Be Even Better Than Jeju Island

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The Solo Leveling anime added more meat to the Jeju Island Raid by hinting at it far earlier in the story, as early as the very first episode of Season 1. With how many plot threads in Solo Leveling: Ragnarok that have led to this point, its own anime adaptation would require much less embellishment than Jeju did.

Solo Leveling: Ragnarok’s upcoming S-Rank Raid is full of amazing interweaving storylines that tie into the main conflict of the series, making this feel like the ultimate point of convergence for everything Suho’s journey has been building to. Even as Suho has gone head-to-head with Thomas Andre, other villains have emerged in the background by way of the Monarchs’ Successors and their alliance with Tiel, the Apostle of Itarim.

The Monarchs’ Successors, led by Arsha, the successor to the Monarch of Plagues, were actually the ones who created the S Rank Gate to begin with. Arsha and her allies opened the Gate to try to reach the land of the Snowfolk, where they are hoping to make contact with the Frost Monarch’s successor. Suho will definitely come into contact with the successors at some point in this raid, and that includes the successor of the Frost Monarch.

That will likely be the final major conflict that makes up this arc, but that final battle won’t be the same as Jeju Island’s was. Whereas Jinwoo had to save the S-Rank Hunters from the mighty power of the Ant King, the S-Ranks in Ragnarok aren’t so helpless. Suho’s Shadow Creation skill has provided Baek Yoonho, Choi Jongin, and the rest of the top-ranking Korean Hunters with equipment that levels up, allowing them to become stronger the more they fight.

Solo Leveling: Ragnarok’s Biggest Raid Subverts Expectations From the Start

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One of the most interesting developments at the start of Solo Leveling: Ragnarok‘s new arc is that it immediately subverts expectations. Solo Leveling: Ragnarok Chapter 64 ends by announcing the start of the raid as a plane carrying the S-Rank Hunters flies through the Gate. One of the chapter’s final panels is accompanied by text that reads “S-Rank Raid Start,” indicating that the mission begins in the upcoming chapter.

However, instead of the chapter ending at that point, it continues to a scene depicting Suho lying in the snow, with his plane blown to pieces around him. It seems that Suho and the other Hunters may have become stranded in the Gate. This very much feels like a surprising callback to the OG series’ Red Gate Arc, in which Jinwoo is trapped in a frozen tundra where he must defeat Barca of the Ice Elves.

It’s also important to consider the context of this arc in relation to what fans know about it in the original light novel. Without spoilers, the light novel had Suho meet someone absolutely fundamental to his story while in the land of the Snowfolk, making this an even more epic moment than most manhwa readers are likely aware of.

The S-Rank Raid Arc is truly shaping up to be Solo Leveling: Ragnarok’s best yet. Fans of the original series who have still been hesitant to dive into Solo Leveling’s sequel should take this as a sign to do so, or risk missing out on the most inspired new piece of SL storytelling since the original manhwa ended back in 2021.

New chapters of Solo Leveling: Ragnarok come out every Wednesday on KakaoPage. The official English translation of the Solo Leveling: Ragnarok manhwa is available to read via the Tapas app.

Release Date

2024 – 2025-00-00

Network

Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, BS11, Tochigi TV

Directors

Tatsuya Sasaki, Toru Hamasaki

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  Genta Nakamura

  Yoo Jin-ho