Solo Leveling

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Solo Leveling is an absolute masterpiece, defying mere description! Its brilliance is multifaceted, making it a standout in the realm of manhwa. While initially elusive, the essence of Solo Leveling's greatness becomes clear upon deeper reflection. While not groundbreaking, it's the meticulous execution and unwavering dedication to its source material that sets Solo Leveling apart. Sung Jin-Woo, while not entirely original, resonates with readers, drawing parallels to iconic characters like Kirito. Their transformative journeys, from weakness to becoming the saviors of their respective worlds, are captivating. Even the similarities between their sisters, both in appearance and unwavering loyalty, add depth to the narrative. This brief ... overview merely scratches the surface of Solo Leveling's ingenuity.

Beyond its surface, Solo Leveling's allure is undeniable. Its brilliance lies not only in its captivating artwork but also in its faithful adaptation of the source material. Unlike many adaptations, Solo Leveling remains true to its origins, enriching the experience for fans. As the story unfolds, readers are ensnared, unable to resist the allure of each chapter. It's no surprise that it ranks among the top manhwa, captivating both seasoned fans and newcomers alike. After much contemplation, the answer to its allure becomes evident.

Solo Leveling earns a well-deserved 9/10. While not without flaws, its gripping narrative and stunning visuals make it a standout in the genre. The only aspect preventing it from achieving a perfect score is its slight lack of uniqueness. While exceptional, Solo Leveling occasionally treads familiar ground, preventing it from reaching the pinnacle of originality. Nevertheless, its near-perfection certainly warrants its place among the top-tier titles. Whether you're new to manhwa or a seasoned fan, Solo Leveling is a must-read. So dive in, and prepare to be captivated by its brilliance

A while ago, an anime YouTuber I highly respected said that “Solo Leveling is the best story to ever come out”. More recently, a good friend of mine who knows his anime & manga told me that “solo leveling was the best self-insert fantasy I’ve read”. Lastly a not-so-bright person on some online forums wrote that he thought that “solo leveling was better Dostoevsky”.

Well I’m sorry to spoil the party, but after having recently completed reading Solo Leveling I think those above sentiments are misguided and wrong. Very wrong. Sure, Solo Leveling is by far the most successful Korean webtoon to come out, but ... (in my humble opinion) it is storywise incredibly generic and unoriginal, and I see little reason (aside from the artwork) that it deserves the praise and attention it’s been receiving. Let me explain:

Starting with the plot, Solo Leveling takes place in the not-too-distant future where gates have appeared across the world that have magical beasts, monsters, and items inside of them. Humans with innate magical abilities, called “hunters” get together in guilds and adventure into the gates where they slay beasts and collect magical items to sell. As mentioned above, Hunters have inherent abilities, and are ranked from the lowest (E) to the highest (S). The main character Sung Jin-Woo starts off as an E-ranked as is nicknamed the “World’s weakest hunter”, but because of plot developments he gains the ability to level up, gradually becoming stronger and stronger, to the point in the latter chapters where he is completely invincible.

While that sounds cool, anyone who is even remotely acquainted with anime and/or manga will also realize how generic and overdone this storyline is. Solo Leveling’s storyline is nearly a straight copy of other well-known power fantasies such as “Sword Art Online” and “Danmachi”. Jin-Woo himself is nearly indistinguishable from Tatsuya from “The Irregular at Magic High School” franchise in that they are illogically overpowered, have the same boring expressionless deadpan face, and that they mostly care only about being powerful and protecting their family (especially their sister). And just like in the aforementioned franchises, Solo Leveling is also like them in that there is a steady stream of incompetent guys and large-breasted girls that the protagonist has to rescue.

Most hilariously however is the Jeju Island arc, coming about half way in Solo Leveling, which I shit you not, is utterly, completely, plagiarized from the Chimera ants arc in “Hunter x Hunter”. I mean literally, you have an isolated island full of rapidly evolving giant ants that like to eat humans, with one of them being specifically bred to be the strongest ant of all time, with a team of the world’s strongest hunters being sent out to stop them.

The writing and world-building in Solo Leveling is largely a mixed bag. While there are some nice moments of foreshadowing and a few interesting twists, by and large Solo Leveling is rather predictable, especially in the latter chapters as the protagonist Jin-Woo becomes so overpowered that there is hardly any suspense or tension as you the reader know that he will win anyways. While it was nice to see how the whole concept and economics of hunters and their guilds is expanded not just to Korea but other counties as well, the world building in Solo Leveling is rather weak. There are some notable plot holes, for example why does the world in Solo Leveling resemble the 21st-century world in so many ways, such as for example having hospitals and high schools, when there are humans that through no effort of their own have magical healing powers and can fix fatal wounds with a mere spell. Wouldn’t you think that the healer Hunters would be hired to work at said hospitals instead of aimlessly wandering around gates in search of magical items?

The characters in Solo Leveling are a mixed bag, but as mentioned above are mostly generic. Sung Jin-Woo is very much your typical self-insert protagonist in your power fantasy. The males in Solo Leveling are all arrogant and generally incompetent, the women all have unrealistically large busts. Overall the Chairman was my favorite character. The character designs were also inconsistent, the Japanese Hunters that appear right before the Jeju Island are had some cool designs but some of the others were illogical and generic. There was this one time in the story that Jin-Woo joins this group to raid a gate and I almost burst out laughing, as the Hunters from this guild all looked like they came out of the most generic possible fantasy anime cosplay party. Something annoying the writer keep doing in the story is that they keep introducing new female characters that I guess are supposed to be romantically attracted to Jin-Woo, only for them to disappear after a couple chapters and never to be brought up again. To put it blulntly, aside from Cha Hae-In all the female characters in Solo Leveling are irrelevant. At the very least Solo Leveling does not de-evolve into a harem as most other power fantasies do.

Obviously the most positive aspect of Solo Leveling is the art. It starts off okay, but it gets steadily better after the first 30 chapters. The fight scenes were the best drawn, especially latter in the series, and the panel lay out was competently done. My favorite scenes artistically wise had to be Jin-Woo’s battles with the orcs, with the more varied complex character designs and color pallets.

While Solo Leveling does have a few positive aspects, overall it is far, far too generic to recommend, and the popularity. Not that Manhwas are particularly known for their originality, but with so many aspects of Solo Leveling being identical to other stories, I see little reason why it has achieved such outstanding popularity and critical acclaim. At the very least the popularity of Solo Leveling may have brought the world of Korean webtoons to a wider audience, but even then there are manhwas out there that I feel are better written and have better art than Solo Leveling, but that’s my opinion.

If this manhwa had to be described in one word, it would be 'overhyped'. With how much the manhwa had been lauded as the best series of its kind, and even a must-read, the reality falls disappointingly short of its expectations. Solo Levelling is mainly enjoyable for its art, with the plot and characters suffering from a lack of development and a general disinterest.

Sung Jinwoo is known to be the weakest hunter alive, but still desperately attends dungeon clears in order to pay his mother's hospital bills. Unfortunately, abilities in this world are stagnant, meaning that it is impossible for him or any other hunter ... to grow stronger. But after a near-death experience, he is granted the opportunity to 'level up', gain new abilities and increased strength, but he also has to complete quests to avoid punishment.

This premise, while not outstandingly novel, is still a fairly interesting one. Most notably would be his original weakness, as well as the possibility of incurring punishments. However, these plot points are immediately flipped upon its head, and never mentioned again. Despite the title of this manhwa being 'Solo Levelling', which would suggest the main character's quest to grow stronger as the major development in the story, Jinwoo becomes way too strong much too quickly. There is barely any struggle in his quest for strength as well, making the whole story lack any tension at all. The punishment quests only show up twice throughout the entire story, and he faces little to no consequences for anything. The story quickly becomes a power fantasy with the same formula repeating itself over and over: a new enemy which is more powerful than before shows up, which defeats every other character, but Jinwoo arrives to save the day.

The concept of overpowered characters can be found all across media, each to varying levels of success. In Solo Levelling, the overpowered status of Jinwoo simply makes every other character redundant. His necromancy abilities give him enough summons that obey his every command which replaces other hunters in the story, who are simply too weak to do anything relevant. The other characters which begin to appear in Jinwoo's peripheral, pointed out to be the stronger of the bunch, end up useless as a whole. His shadow summons do not have an interesting personality either, with them being basically shadow puppets that are occasionally playful or slightly more angry than the next. Because the entire premise is that only Jinwoo is capable of growing stronger, the other characters show no development, neither in strength nor personality. They lack depth and exist only to make Jinwoo look better. And yet, Jinwoo himself does not have much more depth than the others. Throughout the manhwa, it seems that his personality is replaced with 'strong' and nothing else. He fights because he has to. His protection of humanity never appears to be a desire of his.

Character relationships are another disappointment, mainly because they are utterly unemotional. Other than at the beginning of the story, there was no point which was convincing that Jinwoo would develop close relations with any other character. One of his biggest motivators before he grew stronger was to provide financial support for his family, but soon after he seems to forget them, or rather interactions between Jinwoo and his family are barely shown. The romantic beats end up unexpected, and not in a good way.

The art is perhaps one of the only good points of the manhwa, but it does not really reach exceptional standards. And yet, it is still one of the better qualities.

The popularity of Solo Levelling is what drew me to read it, but my experience with it was mediocre at best.