It's been a while since the start to Season 2, and I feel like I should put my two cents out for this manhwa.
Solo Leveling is a fun series to read. It's a guilty pleasure, a wish fulfillment manhwa. It has a very simple story, with flat characters. That isn't a bad thing. Solo Leveling is a power fantasy, you can't really rate it with something like Vinland Saga. Many people criticize it for it's often repetitive plotline, and very bland characters. Even though I do agree for the most part, you can't argue that the series really did do the concept of "power fantasy" correctly.
Power fantasy is the new battle shonen. A recurring genre in the manga/manhwa industry nowadays. All power fantasies have a very overpowered main character who can practically destroy all the other characters. It's a relatively simple genre to write in, and quite profitable, which is why it's been extremely popular the past few years. Great examples of this are "That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime" or in a sense "Sword Art Online", who probably started this whole trend in the first place. Solo Leveling did this right. It made the story just interesting enough so that it would feel unique, and it's art only further boosts it's worth.
Many people are criticizing Solo Leveling because of it's characters. And yes, I do agree that most of the characters are very bland. The character designs are really cool, but they do feel repetitive. The faces look really similar to be honest, but this isn't really a criticism, since a lot of manga have the same problem. The problem behind the characters is how they are used. All of them are just conveniently used just to add to the plot, only to disappear, never to be seen again. Of course, a lot of manhwa do this, but it's especially annoying when you find an actual interesting character, but they just get thrown aside.
The protagonist is also a big problem. Sung Jin-Woo is just a really inconsistent character. Most of time, he's a very edgy character who doesn't care about anyone except himself and his family. However he can also seem like a light-hearted and often clueless character. It just doesn't match up. His character just feels very bland, and there isn't a unique trait anywhere. The only time I liked him as a character was in the first few chapters. In the first few chapters, Sung Jun-Woo was genuinely likable. He was polite and determined, despite being the weakest hunter. The story would be a lot more interesting if it was an underdog to hero story, like My Hero Academia or Naruto. Instead, the author trashes his character almost instantly, and he becomes an edge lord for no particular reason. At least Sasuke had an actual reason for being edgy. Sung Jin-Woo just became an edge lord with no reason at all. If he had kept his original personality, I would've liked him a lot more.
I feel really sorry for the other characters, as in the manhwa, they explicitly state that the other characters have no room for growth, except for our protagonist. Think of Krillin from Dragon Ball. Does he have nearly as much screen time as Goku in the later parts of the story? Does he really do anything that important? The same exact thing happens in Solo Leveling. Other characters just become irrelevant, chained down by the story's own rules.
The plot is mediocre. It's trying to be mysterious and complicated when it really isn't. The author continues to try and throw mysteries in your face, but those don't really grab my attention. Basically, it's trying to hard to have an interesting plot. Power fantasies restrict themselves from being too complicated. The stories are designed for people to turn their minds off for a while, and just enjoy the simple story. Solo Leveling tries to be unique in that aspect by introducing a mystery into the plot. Instead of being an attention grabber, it just becomes a minor annoyance to readers. Power fantasies shouldn't have overarching mysteries like other manga. That's just not the appeal of it.
I'll stop criticizing it for now.
The art is fantastic. It's clean and unique, with really awesome moments. I'd say the art itself carries 50% of the entire series. It makes it quite interesting to read, and it sets the series apart from others of the same genre (power fantasy), which usually only have mediocre art. Most of my enjoyment of the series is just admiring the beautiful artwork. The fight scenes are also quite unique, usually composed of glowing eyes and lines that flash around the panels. Other than that, I can't really say much.
Overall, Solo Leveling is a good series. It does what it wants well. Yet I think the rating of the series is a lot higher than it should be. Solo Leveling is not a masterpiece. It's no where near one. The main character is overly edgy, and the other characters are thrown to the side after the author has used them. You can see that this series is specifically targeting those who enjoy these power fantasies, not people who enjoy thought-provoking series. It tries too hard to appeal to both sides, which leaves the plot into a jumbled mess. It isn't a bad series. It's actually good, for a power fantasy that is. The series is still a while from over, so I guess I'll keep reading on for now...
