Crunchyroll featuring a new anime every season that can be compared to Solo Leveling has become a norm, and the latest one airing this fall proves it is a perfect replacement as it starts its main journey with the second episode. While the summer season had Tomb Raider King as the latest Korean webtoon anime adaptation that followed Solo Leveling‘s upgrading journey, the fall has Overgeared, which also had an official collaboration with Solo Leveling, leading fans to interpret the new series as carrying the baton of Solo Leveling this season. Despite having the Solo Leveling element in its premise, Overgeared is a series of its own.
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The first episode revealed a miserable protagonist deprived of money and good status, seeking them in the game Satisfy, which affects the elements of his real life. With the in-game name Grid, the protagonist pushes himself and ends up acquiring a legendary class status as the successor of a blacksmith, but this brings him back down to level 1. The first episode comically reveals that Grid continues to lose rank as he is still trying to comprehend his status change. By the end of the first episode, however, Grid understands his legendary status, and the second episode of the series has officially started the leveling-up journey that it promised, and it is perfect.
Overgeared Finally Begins Its Protagonist’s Leveling-Up Journey
After taking a while to realize that his class as a Blacksmith isn’t about going off into battle but rather making tools, Grid takes the necessary steps and starts learning the work of a blacksmith from an NPC, with his first task being to chop a thousand pieces of wood. Though it is a task that he finds tedious, due to the precision Grid gains from his class as a blacksmith, it still pushes him to work all night to complete it. Eventually, he also gains a level upgrade through the process. The episode then sees Grid taking on his next main job as a blacksmith.
To make money, Grid begins crafting arrows, hoping to sell them and earn money, and thanks to his skills, Grid ends up making some epic-level arrows as well, giving him more money while also upgrading his level to three. This episode finally sees Grid beginning a journey of redeeming himself and gaining status within the game, thanks to his crafted arrows receiving recognition. In essence, the second episode gives Grid the exposure he requires to gain the level upgrades and recognition that the series has implied, making it feel very similar to Solo Leveling‘s journey.
However, the anime carries its own essence throughout, and it is all thanks to the protagonist’s uniqueness, which is essentially his shameful nature and his willingness to beg for help. Grid feels like a real-life character who is desperate enough to make it in life and would do anything for it, and even though he has the trick to level up quicker, Grid’s uniqueness doesn’t fade. This is enough to make Solo Leveling and Overgeared worlds apart, given that Jinwoo’s coolness and combat ability are what define him the most, while Overgeared has a protagonist with the opposite personality and a crafting-based ability. Overgeared is a replacement for Solo Leveling on Crunchyroll this fall, but with its own nuances that make it very refreshing.
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