The Spring 2025 anime season came packed with high expectations, and The Beginning After the End was at the top of the list for many fans seeking the next big hit after Solo Leveling. Based on the popular web novel by TurtleMe, the anime adaptation promised a gripping reincarnation tale with a powerful protagonist, political intrigue, magic, and deep emotional arcs. But only two episodes in, it’s already facing backlash—not because of its story, but because of its animation.
While Solo Leveling captivated viewers with cinematic action sequences and slick visuals, The Beginning After the End seems to be struggling under the weight of its own potential. With Studio A-Cat at the helm, fans are beginning to question whether the studio can do justice to a series with such an expansive and beloved source material.
In this blog, we’ll break down exactly where the anime falters, compare it with Solo Leveling, and analyze whether The Beginning After the End can still recover its momentum. We'll also discuss why fans are more invested in King Grey's past life than his current reincarnation as Arthur Leywin, and what this means for the series going forward.
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Section 1: Introduction
Is "The Beginning After the End" Already Falling Behind?
Crunchyroll’s anime lineup for Spring 2025 brought with it a wave of anticipation, especially from fans still riding the high from Solo Leveling’s incredible Season 2 finale. Among the most hyped series was "The Beginning After the End" (TBATE) — an adaptation based on the massively popular web novel by TurtleMe. With a compelling reincarnation storyline and a powerful protagonist in King Grey/Arthur Leywin, the series promised to be the next big sensation.
At least, that was the hope.
But just two episodes in, many anime fans are expressing disappointment — not because of the plot, characters, or pacing, but due to lackluster animation quality. Despite its potential, TBATE is already struggling to meet the high expectations set by Solo Leveling, thanks to Studio A-Cat’s inconsistent visuals and uninspired action scenes.
So what’s going wrong?
In this blog, we’ll dive deep into why bad animation could be TBATE’s downfall, how it stacks up against Solo Leveling’s crisp visuals, and whether the story can survive long enough for viewers to stick around. From animation breakdowns to fan reactions, this is your ultimate analysis of why “The Beginning After the End” may never become the next Solo Leveling — and what it would take to turn things around.
Section 2: Plot Potential vs Visual Execution
A Strong Storyline Weighed Down by Weak Animation
One of the most frustrating things about “The Beginning After the End” anime so far is this: the story is genuinely promising. The reincarnation of King Grey into the body of Arthur Leywin opens the door to intense world-building, deep moral conflicts, and a protagonist who carries the emotional baggage of a past life filled with regret and power.
Episode 1 impressed many viewers with its intriguing setup. It introduced a cold, calculating King Grey and gave us a glimpse of his tragic backstory. Then came his rebirth — a fresh start in a world filled with magic, mana beasts, and mystery. For fans of high-fantasy isekai like Solo Leveling or Mushoku Tensei, this was more than enough to get hyped.
But here’s the catch: a good plot can only carry a series so far — especially in a medium like anime, where visuals are key to immersion. In Episode 2, the cracks in the armor began to show. The pacing remained decent. The world still held promise. But the visuals? That’s where things began to crumble.
From stiff character movements to awkward transitions between scenes, Studio A-Cat’s animation left a lot to be desired. Scenes that were meant to carry emotional weight or high-tension battles were marred by static frames, motion blur, and flashy effects masking a lack of real fluidity. Instead of gripping the viewer, the anime began to feel flat — almost like a motion comic at times.
Compare this to Solo Leveling — which, despite its own storytelling flaws, kept audiences glued to the screen thanks to its stunning fight choreography, cinematic pacing, and intense visual polish. Fans could forgive a shallow plot when the visuals delivered pure adrenaline.
TBATE doesn’t have that luxury. With a slower, more introspective storyline, it needed animation that complements emotional beats. But instead, it's giving us wide-eyed characters frozen mid-motion, battles that feel weightless, and directionless camera work. All of this threatens to undo the very charm that made the web novel and manhwa such a success in the first place.
The story is there. The lore is solid. The characters have depth. But without animation to match the emotional intensity, TBATE risks being dismissed before it truly begins.
Section 3: Studio A-Cat’s Struggles & Reputation
Why Studio A-Cat Might Not Be the Right Fit for TBATE
When it was announced that Studio A-Cat would be adapting The Beginning After the End (TBATE), the reactions were mixed at best. Known primarily for titles like Frame Arms Girl and LBX Girls, Studio A-Cat hasn’t exactly built a reputation for high-tier animation quality — especially when it comes to fast-paced, action-heavy fantasy anime. Their style leans more toward budget-friendly production, often recycling frames and using shortcuts like motion lines or stills to simulate action.
For a slice-of-life or comedy anime, that approach might slide under the radar. But for a battle fantasy series expected to be the "next Solo Leveling"? Not so much.
In Episode 2, we start to see why fans are concerned. During Arthur Leywin’s training session with his father Reynold, the camera frequently cuts to motionless characters with minimal facial expressions. Combat sequences rely heavily on cheap glowing effects and static impact frames rather than choreographed movements or dynamic angles. Even emotional scenes — like Arthur choosing to protect his mother — are diluted by clunky pacing and flat delivery.
It’s not just about animation quality either. Direction and storyboarding also play a huge role in making scenes feel alive. Where Solo Leveling often used clever transitions, slow-motion, and atmospheric lighting to enhance tension, TBATE feels like it’s checking boxes. Important plot beats are there, but they lack the cinematic presentation that could elevate them.
The big question is: Was Studio A-Cat set up for failure from the start?
It’s worth noting that adapting a hit manhwa or light novel with a massive international fanbase comes with enormous pressure. Expectations are sky-high. And if the studio doesn’t have the resources or team to deliver the level of quality fans expect, backlash is inevitable.
That doesn’t mean there’s no hope. Smaller studios have surprised us before. Ufotable wasn’t always a household name until Demon Slayer turned into a worldwide phenomenon. But the key difference is commitment to visual excellence and resource allocation — two things that TBATE’s anime seems to lack as of now.
If Crunchyroll and Studio A-Cat want this anime to survive long enough to hit its emotional and narrative stride, they’ll need to respond quickly to fan feedback and improve the production value. Otherwise, TBATE may end up remembered not for its story, but for the opportunity it missed.
Section 4: Comparing TBATE and Solo Leveling — Why Execution Matters
Both Stories Have Massive Potential… But One Is Winning the Execution Game
The Beginning After the End and Solo Leveling share a lot of similarities on paper — both center around lone protagonists who evolve from weak to overwhelmingly powerful, both are adapted from massively popular webnovels/manhwa, and both had massive hype leading into their anime debuts. But where Solo Leveling soared, TBATE is starting to stumble. And the reason isn’t story — it’s execution.
Let’s break it down:
🌌 Atmosphere and Cinematic Presence
From the very first episode, Solo Leveling made it clear that it was going for maximum impact. The use of lighting, shadows, camera pans, and build-up during Sung Jinwoo’s dungeon awakening were all crafted to make the viewer feel something. Every frame had purpose — even in slower scenes, the anime found ways to visually express the stakes and emotion.
By contrast, TBATE lacks that immersive presence. The story of King Grey’s past life and Arthur Leywin’s childhood are fascinating on paper, but the directorial choices feel safe, almost lifeless. Important emotional moments — like Arthur realizing he’ll be a big brother — fall flat due to awkward framing and unpolished animation.
It’s not that TBATE’s story is weaker — in fact, King Grey’s morally complex past offers something that Solo Leveling doesn’t explore deeply until much later. But the lack of visual storytelling holds it back.
🌀 Fight Choreography and Impact
Let’s talk action.
Solo Leveling is packed with fast-paced, fluid combat scenes — each one choreographed with precision. Even the overused slow-motion shots are executed with style, enhancing rather than dragging scenes. When Jinwoo fights, you feel the power.
In TBATE Episode 2, Arthur’s brief training sequence and the roadside bandit ambush should have been the anime’s first real chance to flex its combat muscle. Instead, it felt stiff, rushed, and full of still frames. There was minimal build-up, no creative angle choices, and impactless animation. If the audience isn’t feeling the tension or the stakes during battle scenes, the emotional payoff is lost.
🧍♂️Character Portrayal and Depth
Here’s where TBATE could shine — and partly does.
King Grey is more nuanced than Sung Jinwoo. While Jinwoo starts off relatable and becomes godlike, King Grey begins as a figure shrouded in moral ambiguity. In Episode 2, we see him make a horrifying but calculated choice: kill a criminal’s innocent wife and child to spare them from a fate worse than death. It’s chilling, but it makes you think — what kind of world shaped him to believe this was mercy?
The issue again lies in presentation. Without proper build-up, lighting, and tone, this powerful moment barely registers. Viewers aren’t given time to sit with the horror or reflect on Grey’s mindset. The story is there — the impact isn’t.
Bottom Line?
Solo Leveling is succeeding because it feels cinematic, even when the story is straightforward. TBATE has a deep, emotional, and morally gray narrative that could outshine Solo Leveling — but without strong visuals and pacing, it’s like reading a good book through a foggy lens.
In the race to be the next breakout fantasy anime, TBATE isn’t out of the running, but it’s losing ground fast.
Section 5: The Harsh Reality of Animation Shortcuts in Modern Anime
Let’s Talk About Static Frames, Budget Cuts, and Disappointment
As anime fans, we’ve learned to live with a sad reality: not every adaptation gets the budget or time it deserves. That’s especially true for fantasy and action-heavy anime like The Beginning After the End. Unfortunately, Studio A-Cat seems to be falling into a trap that many studios have — using animation shortcuts that seriously hurt the final product.
🚫 The Problem with Static Motion Lines
Remember the bandit ambush scene in Episode 2? Instead of seeing Arthur’s raw magical strength in fluid action, we got still images with motion lines and minimal frame changes — a classic shortcut used to suggest movement without actually animating it.
This technique might have worked in the early 2000s or as a dramatic pause in shows like Naruto or Bleach, but in 2025, it feels outdated. Audiences expect cinematic fluidity, especially for fight scenes. When the visual storytelling doesn’t deliver, the emotional payoff collapses.
Worse still, these shortcuts break immersion. Anime fans invest emotionally in battles — the buildup, the animation choreography, the impact. When all we get is a pan across a still image with a blurry background, it doesn’t feel like anime. It feels like a slideshow.
🏃♂️ Animation Isn’t Just About Moving — It’s About Feeling
Great animation isn’t about constant movement. It’s about timing, framing, and emotional tension.
Take Solo Leveling for comparison. When Jinwoo fights, it’s not just flashy. It’s framed to build tension. His breathing changes. The color palette darkens. There’s a rhythmic pulse to his steps. Even if he stands still, we feel the moment before the explosion of power.
TBATE hasn’t mastered this. Despite having a powerful character like King Grey — whose past life is full of trauma, weight, and battle experience — the anime isn’t leveraging these moments visually. There are missed chances to build emotional rhythm.
💸 Is It Budget? Or Is It Direction?
A lot of fans blame the studio’s lack of budget, and that’s fair. Fantasy anime is expensive to animate properly — especially magic systems, creature designs, and large-scale battles. But sometimes, it’s also about direction and prioritization.
Instead of cutting corners on key fights, studios could sacrifice filler content or reuse assets smartly. The real issue is when studios cut corners in the worst possible places — like big battles or emotional climaxes.
The Beginning After the End seems to be struggling with this balance. While we still see effort in background design or character models, the pacing and animation choices just aren’t supporting the depth of the story.
💔 Fans Deserve Better — And So Does the Source Material
Let’s be real — TBATE fans have waited years for this adaptation. The webcomic is beloved. The webnovel is legendary. Expectations were high, not just for story accuracy, but for a visually stunning delivery.
The fans aren’t mad just because it’s different from the source — they’re mad because it’s not living up to its potential.
Verdict?
The use of animation shortcuts in The Beginning After the End is already impacting its reputation. And we’re only two episodes in. If this pattern continues, no amount of good storytelling will save it from becoming "the anime that could have been."
But there’s still time. If Studio A-Cat listens to feedback and shifts resources, TBATE could still recover — and maybe even surprise us.
Section 6: Why Fans Are Still Holding Out Hope for The Beginning After the End
Despite all the criticisms, there's still a loyal and hopeful fanbase sticking with The Beginning After the End. And honestly? They have good reason to.
🧠 A Deep, Philosophical Story at Its Core
Unlike many isekai or fantasy anime that focus heavily on surface-level power scaling, TBATE digs deeper. The reincarnation of King Grey into Arthur Leywin gives us a unique duality: a child with the mind and trauma of a war-hardened king. His thoughts are often filled with reflection, regret, and the kind of emotional depth most anime protagonists don’t develop until their third season.
This internal monologue is something fans really connect with. Even in Episode 2, when Arthur reflects on the concept of karma — how he once took so much, and is now afraid to lose something important — you can see the layers of humanity in him. It’s not just about being strong. It’s about becoming someone worthy of that strength.
🧱 The Worldbuilding Is Just Getting Started
Let’s not forget that TBATE is building up an entire magical world, filled with various kingdoms, races, politics, and magical disciplines. Arthur isn’t going to stay a four-year-old prodigy forever. He’s heading toward a life of training, battle academies, rival clans, ancient artifacts, and more.
Many fans are hoping the animation is just going through some early growing pains — and that once we hit the core arcs (like the academy arc or the dungeons), we’ll see a massive jump in quality. After all, many anime start off slow, both in pacing and animation budget. Attack on Titan and Black Clover had rough early episodes too — but they grew.
🎯 Arthur Is a Unique Protagonist — With Growth Ahead
Unlike Sung Jinwoo in Solo Leveling, whose transformation is mostly physical and power-based, Arthur is set up to go through emotional, psychological, and moral growth. He’s already strong — but he’s got to learn how to connect, how to forgive, how to lead without killing.
That kind of arc has the potential to be more fulfilling and memorable than any overpowered magic blast.
Bottom line? Fans are still hoping because the soul of the story is strong — even if the animation is shaky. If The Beginning After the End can clean up its visuals and pacing, it could easily rise to the level of Solo Leveling… or even surpass it.
Section 7: Can The Beginning After the End Still Compete With Solo Leveling? A Head-to-Head Breakdown
It’s the comparison everyone’s been making since Episode 1 dropped:
Can The Beginning After the End become the next Solo Leveling?
Or is the animation holding it back from greatness?
Let’s break it down:
👑 Protagonist Battle: King Grey vs. Sung Jinwoo
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King Grey (Arthur): A former king reborn with all his memories, Arthur is already a genius-level magician at the age of four. His growth is mental, emotional, and spiritual. He starts strong and has to become wise.
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Sung Jinwoo: Starts as a weak hunter, but quickly evolves into an unstoppable shadow monarch. His growth is power-focused and visual — watching him become godlike is half the thrill.
Verdict: Arthur is the more complex character, but Jinwoo is more visually appealing in anime format — at least so far.
🎨 Animation Showdown: Studio A-Cat vs. A-1 Pictures
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Studio A-Cat (TBATE): Known for modest productions, not big-budget spectacles. Animation quality has been heavily criticized for using too many static scenes and lacking fluid combat choreography.
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A-1 Pictures (Solo Leveling): Delivered jaw-dropping action scenes, intense character animation, and cinematic level detail. Jinwoo’s fights looked like movie-level productions.
Verdict: Solo Leveling wins hands-down here, unless Studio A-Cat pulls off a miracle in future episodes.
🌍 Worldbuilding & Story Arcs
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TBATE: The world is magical, rich with lore, and filled with ancient mysteries. Arthur will go through family sagas, political battles, wars, and training arcs that add depth to his journey.
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Solo Leveling: Focuses more on dungeon raids and a linear path of increasing power. Worldbuilding is there, but it’s not as layered or philosophical as TBATE.
Verdict: TBATE has more long-term story potential — if it gets the time and resources to explore it properly.
🎭 Emotional Stakes
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TBATE hits hard emotionally. Episode 2 already gave us themes of sacrifice, guilt, and legacy. Arthur wanting to become a big brother, only to be flung off a cliff — that hits you.
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Solo Leveling has its moments (like Jinwoo’s bond with his sister and mother), but the emotional arcs often take a backseat to the action.
Verdict: TBATE has the edge in emotional storytelling.
Final Scoreboard:
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Protagonist Depth | TBATE |
| Visual Impact | Solo Leveling |
| Story Potential | TBATE |
| Action Scenes | Solo Leveling |
| Emotional Weight | TBATE |
🧠 Conclusion: Right now, Solo Leveling has the momentum and animation advantage. But The Beginning After the End has the heart, world, and character arcs to catch up — if it can survive its early missteps.
Section 8: Conclusion — Will Bad Animation Be TBATE’s Undoing, or Can It Rise?
When The Beginning After the End was first announced as part of Crunchyroll’s Spring 2025 lineup, hopes were high. Based on a beloved web novel and manhwa, featuring a unique twist on reincarnation, magic, and royal intrigue — it had all the potential to be the next Solo Leveling.
And yet, two episodes in, it’s clear that one thing might stand in its way:
Animation.
Studio A-Cat’s early work on the series has left many fans disappointed. The use of static motion lines, limited frame fluidity, and lack of impact in key scenes makes the anime feel like it’s constantly struggling to keep up with the story’s grandeur. Viewers looking for crisp swordplay and explosive magic are left wanting more.
But here’s the twist — much like its main character Arthur Leywin, this anime may be a late bloomer.
The story? It’s solid.
The characters? Deep and full of promise.
The emotional arcs? Already hitting hard by Episode 2.
If Studio A-Cat can improve the animation quality in the coming episodes — even slightly — it could reignite interest and bring back skeptical fans. With the right pacing, epic fight choreography, and better visual storytelling, TBATE could still become the breakout hit of the year.
What it needs now is time, investment, and fan support.
After all, we’ve seen anime with rocky starts rise from the ashes before — Attack on Titan, Black Clover, even One Piece had its rough early episodes.
So here’s the final verdict:
👉 The Beginning After the End isn’t ruined — not yet. But if the animation doesn’t level up soon, it’ll remain an underrated gem… instead of the mainstream anime titan it was born to be.
And that would be the real tragedy.
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