Solo Leveling

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Na Honjaman Level Up, I Level Up Alone

Japanese: 나 혼자만 레벨업

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Information

Type: Manhwa

Volumes: Unknown

Chapters: 201

Status: Finished

Published: Mar 4, 2018 to May 31, 2023

Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Serialization: KakaoPage

Authors: Chugong (Story), Jang, Sung-rak (Art), Disciples (Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.67¹ (scored by 261,494 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #60²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #7

Members: 449,012

Favorites: 41,001

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Synopsis

Ten years ago, "the Gate" appeared and connected the real world with the realm of magic and monsters. To combat these vile beasts, ordinary people received superhuman powers and became known as "Hunters." Twenty-year-old Sung Jin-Woo is one such Hunter, but he is known as the "World's Weakest," owing to his pathetic power compared to even a measly E-Rank. Still, he hunts monsters tirelessly in low-rank Gates to pay for his mother's medical bills.

However, this miserable lifestyle changes when Jin-Woo—believing himself to be the only one left to die in a mission gone terribly wrong—awakens in a hospital three days later to find a mysterious screen floating in front of him. This "Quest Log" demands that Jin-Woo completes an unrealistic and intense training program, or face an appropriate penalty. Initially reluctant to comply because of the quest's rigor, Jin-Woo soon finds that it may just transform him into one of the world's most fearsome Hunters.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Solo Leveling is a webtoon series which has been officially published in book format by D&C Media (디앤씨미디어) since September 26, 2019. It originally ended with 179 chapters on December 29, 2021, and side stories began serialization on January 20, 2023. The side stories are drawn by Disciples after the death of original artist Sung-rak Jang.

The series has been published digitally in English by Tappytoon since June 4, 2020, and in print by Yen Press since March 2, 2021. It has also been published in French by Delcourt since April 7, 2021.

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Related Manga

Adaptation:	Echo, Ore dake Level Up na Ken
Alternative version:	Solo Leveling, Solo Leveling Side Story

More characters
Characters

Sung, Jin-Woo

Main

Cha, Hae-In

Supporting

Radiru, Esil

Supporting

Sung, Jin-Ah

Supporting

Go, Gun-Hee

Supporting

Sung, Il-Hwan

Supporting

Beru

Supporting

Yoo, Jin-Ho

Supporting

Lee, Ju-Hee

Supporting

Igris

Supporting

Reviews

Jan 18, 2022

NextUniverse

Recommended

(I strongly advise reading the entire review to understand everything about Solo Leveling. Or at the very least the TLDR review, thanks for reading in advance.)

This is the story of a man who levelled up all alone.

It's hard to write about Solo Leveling whilst accommodating to everyone, which is something I'd like to try to do since the series is both an obscured masterpiece whilst actually still being very good so much so that it doesn't deserve to be overshadowed by some of the hate it gets.

To understand why Solo Leveling is a good piece of work we first need to understand the community. It's ...

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Nov 1, 2022

Hypokrites

Mixed Feelings

The manhwa community entitles Solo Leveling along the lines of "Not like the other manhwas" or "Not your typical power fantasy." And although I respect their awareness of the prevalent mediocrity in the medium, the aforementioned descriptions are still false. Solo Leveling is your typical power fantasy. And let's be honest, "not like the other manhwa" is not that much of a compliment.

It's mediocre, worse even, to be brutally frank. The narrative is brimming with formulas, has one of the worst character writing I've ever witnessed, and is overall a boring read. The protagonist's tale suffers no risk and receives all the rewards. No suspense ... is there to keep the reader on the edge of their seats or in any way to make it engaging. However, Solo Leveling's popularity proves otherwise, and it's understandable.

The author knows how to attract a specific audience; gamers. The manhwa is the closest thing I've seen to a game developer playing the video game he made, where he knows every exploit there is.

Solo Leveling is a superficial narrative. And that simplicity, that lack of depth to its characters, setting, and premise, helps the story in a way that would easily be understandable and doesn't create any frequent inconsistencies. However, it still has significant flaws erected from the beginning that was never fixed and became prominent over time.

Solo Leveling is very repetitive, and that coincides with its predictability. The beginning does a decent job of depicting the development of Jin-woo's power. His power grew steadily, and there was still tension in his fights due to Jin-woo's struggle. However, after Jin-woo fully comprehends his abilities and exploits the system, every battle he enters is an automatic win. The initial struggle for power made for great pacing; however, anything after the Igris fight was too easy for him. Every battle was always one-sided in favor of Jin-woo. No single match is present where you'd think he would lose. It would be more engaging if there's a difference between how he wins every time using his wit but he uses nothing but pure power. There is no risk and no suspense. The lack of tension and suspense undermines the narrative's engagement, ruining the average reader's experience.

Another flaw that you'll notice the further you read the manhwa is the characters, more specifically, the irrelevance of every character apart from Jin-woo. Not that Jin-woo is a well-written character in the first place. Every supporting character is just there to be in awe of Jin-woo's power, and every villain is there so Jin-woo can flex his power. Spoilers: This is prominent at the final battle, where everyone is useless, and only Jin-woo and his shadows are the only ones with the chance to fight. Everyone else is a liability, and even the most powerful hunter next to Jin-woo becomes a damsel in distress.

Even from an interpersonal relationship basis, none of the characters served a purpose, whether it was codependency or for his character development. Interaction with his family and friends that intended to create suspense never works. The slight tension and suspense it tries to portray is immediately undermined, knowing the plot is always in favor of Jin-woo.

The sad irony of these poor character development attempts only worsened Jin-woo's character. Before re-awakening, Jin-woo exhibited the most depth out of the other story parts. As his power increases, he becomes more blank, often confused with developing apathy - it isn't apathy. Jin-woo loses depth further into the story, making him more of a self-insert character than he already was.

I acknowledge the author's ability to attract the audience more than other trite cash grabs. They promised a power fantasy, and a power fantasy they gave. It doesn't pretend to be anything it is not and continues to satisfy the audience they meant to attract. And the artist's talent strongly contributed to the manhwa's success. Solo Leveling's most vital asset is its art. Each panel's vivid drawings and coloring coincide well with its portrayal of power. Things that don't make sense are present, like many anatomy issues and shadows emitting light, but that's not an issue since, like the story's typical writing, it's only there to look cool. The artist knows how to draw fight scenes and anything in general - making full use of techniques such as perspectives to their maximum effect.

Solo Leveling is just like any other manhwa out there, only that it grew more popular than others due to how it carried its mediocrity. There's nothing special or unique about Solo Leveling, but it knows precisely what it's doing. If you like power fantasy, you'll most likely enjoy this manhwa. If you hate these overused formulas, you'd be wasting your time if you tried to read this.

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Jan 29, 2022

Spectre999

Not Recommended

This my first time writing review so go easy on me.

Solo leveling has great start we have MC that is weakest hunter but still explores dungeons in order to pay medical bills for his sick mother and to help his sister become doctor however after a incident he gains mysterious power that helps him level up his rank and become strongest.
So let's start with good points of solo leveling
(1).Good start
Start of Solo leveling is good like I said earlier story has relatable MC in the beginning but after that it's down hill
(2).Art
Solo leveling has great art it's fully colored and it's easy to read ...

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Solo Leveling hate is so forced ( 1 2 ) rxseee - Jul 4, 2022	92 replies	by 09424828725 »» Nov 27, 8:04 PM
Poll: Are you satisfied with this ending ? luckysjjsjsjs - Nov 19	5 replies	by julesvr5 »» Nov 20, 3:05 PM
Poll: Solo Leveling Chapter 201 Discussion Eoussama - Jul 9	28 replies	by Penguinul »» Nov 20, 1:34 PM
Poll: Solo Leveling Chapter 140 Discussion MegamiRem - Feb 17, 2021	12 replies	by The_Lnxy »» Nov 3, 10:54 AM
Poll: What do you think about sung jinwoo character development ? luckysjjsjsjs - Nov 2	3 replies	by kelky »» Nov 2, 4:46 PM

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