This one is a long time coming. I was aware the series existed, but I didn’t know any details. Then one of my good friends said it’s his all time favorite series and I need to get into it. I decided that before we next see each other I would watch the current two seasons of the show which are available on CrunchyRoll. To my surprise as soon as I was done I wanted more. I’ve read the first volume of the comic, I listened to the soundtrack while driving, and I’ll be reading not only the rest of the comic series but also the light novels that started it all. Plus the spin off series. Plus I’ll be there day one for a season three or movie, or whatever comes next. From I don’t know what this is, to I guess I’ve heard of it before, to I’ll get around to it eventually, to how did I go without this my life is so much better with it. This has been an unexpected but learning experience. 

I started with the animated series and not much knowledge. I had no idea what was happening in episode one, thought I figured it out in episode 2, but really it wasn’t until 4 or 5 that I really felt like I was understanding this story and there was no turning back for me. I’m going to try to not give too much away because I do feel that discovering the story is part of the joy. 

In a world that was like our own until 10 years ago when the gates started appearing. The gates are portals to other worlds where all sorts of nasty magical mythical beings live. Picture the creepiest of monsters from the deepest of dungeons. Some of these gates register as more powerful than others. Monsters start coming out and attacking our world. Guns, tanks, all the usual weapons of war are no use. Thankfully and coincidentally, humans start awakening their own magical abilities and powers. Not every human though. Abilities start to manifest in some people and they might be hunters, healers, mages – the usual role playing game categories. Some are also more powerful than others starting with the most powerful S rank, of which there are very few. Then A, B, C, D, and finally E rank. E ranks are a little stronger and a little more resilient than a normal human but not by much. That’s where our protagonist comes in. Jinwoo Sung is an E rank hunter and dubbed the worst hunter. He gets hurt all the time, he bleeds, he gets put in the hospital, but he keeps coming back. Seven days after a portal forms the monsters within can attack our world. Thus humans have seven days to go into one, defeat all the creatures, and whatever is the big boss of that portal, and get out. Along the way they can recover weapons, armor, and crystals which have all changed the world economy. This becomes a fuel and energy source and mining these items pays well. Which is why our weakest hunter still reports into jobs. He’s beat up but at least he gets paid to support his household, put his sister through school, and pay his mom’s medical bills. He’s already sacrificing himself for others. 

So when he goes into a portal and everything goes wrong, he’s the only one with a wealth of experience in everything going wrong. What should have been a D level portal leading to a dungeon becomes so much worse. Everyone in his party is hurt. Most of them die. And Jinwoo chooses to make the ultimate sacrifice for others. (I’m just now realizing this hits every beat of Joseph Campbell’s heroic journey and if you are also familiar with that, consider this a spoiler alert.)

When Jinwoo rejoins our world (careful word choice there) he is aware something has changed. He is now given the opportunity to level up. For the most part once a person’s abilities are awakened they stay in their rank for life. There is no opportunity to become stronger. Which is also why there are very very few S ranks and they are highly coveted. However this now recovered version of Jinwoo receives daily opportunities to improve himself. He keeps getting stronger, faster, smarter, more powerful. All on his own. All to the mystification of all around him who have never heard or seen of anyone getting better. 

First off the anime is incredible. I’ve never had so many “holy shit” moments in a series. Maybe the fastest battles I’ve ever seen. Real danger, real threats, and real damage. It reminds me of the first time I saw Dragon Ball Z and I couldn’t believe they were destroying planets. The world building is abusrdly good and I can’t wait to learn more about other hunters, other countries, and newer more powerful threats. I would love one of those DK books Marvel and DC used to put out with thorough character descriptions of everyone in a series. I need to know details and history of the dozens of amazing and very cool looking characters who only appear for a moment or two. 

Most important though is how inspirational Jinwoo becomes. I didn’t get stronger on my own – I’ve had family, friends, mentors, and the like share lessons and wisdom with me. But they could not defeat my monsters for me. That took time. It took failure. It took leveling myself up with little day to day battles in order to become strong enough to defeat the bigger ones. 

Through 26 episodes and now I am looking forward to 15 volumes of the comic, I saw the weakest hunter become the smartest thinker. That intelligence is why he was able to get into a position to get better. Once he recognized a little bit of strength that he gained he could not continue to carry doubt. As confidence grew, the weaker traits fell aside. He not only grew his own strength, he inspired others to be stronger as well. While they do not level up their ranks, they can level up their lives. 

Jinwoo doesn’t want to lose ever again. He refuses to give up and will find any way to conquer the threats in front of him. Even if that means walking away so he can come back stronger. Demons and monsters can’t always be defeated instantly. Sometimes we need to plan. Sometimes we need to chip away a little bit every day and never stop showing up. With enough work, sometimes we can conquer an enemy so decidedly that the former enemy now bows before us. We can become more formidable than that which once intimidated us. The scariest threats now no longer stand blocking our path but instead walk behind us as fallen foes. Whatever villain shows up in the future can see the shadows of what once challenged us and feel fear that they will fall to the same fate. 

Arise.