This story approaches an MMORPG style universe set in modern day South Korea; We follow 'the weakest hunter' Sung, Jin-Woo who is notoriously known to be reluctant with his life as he enters dungeons to earn money for his mother's hospital treatment. One day, after entering an E ranked (weakest rank) dungeon with a party, Sung Jin-Woo finds himself in trouble after it turns out to be a double dungeon with overwhelmingly powerful monster statues and boss. Sung Jin-Woo experiences betrayal to the worst degree after more than 70% of his party are wiped out and expected to solve the riddles in order to overcome the boss and leave the dungeon. It is from this point where he sacrifices himself as the one responsible for losing most of his party and would be the last moment of his weakness as a surprising game-breaking UI element transforms him forever. As the story progresses, Jin-Woo discovers the world has more to offer than just these gates and monsters as godly entities have been descending on Earth toying with humanity. Will be he able to end the overbearing conquest of the Monarchs or do they have something in store for Jin-Woo?
Story: 7/10
Solo Levelling doesn't have a story that is focused on powerful notions or symbolic representations since it is an opmc manhwa aimed at younger audiences but it does have a really engaging plot. One aspect that I enjoyed about Solo-Levelling's plot was how well paced and scaled it was from the beginning. Solo-Levelling stayed mysterious and unpredictable in terms of story direction until the end and at times we'd be shared secret lore of the Universe which would dictate the direction of the story. And as Jin-Woo begins his journey of power levelling, his enemies change from human hunters to dungeon beasts to godly entities which adds a lot of scaling consistency in terms of the story's perspective. However, there are many events in the story that act as pure character development for Jin-Woo such as him killing powerful hunters or going on solo clears; They tend to not be impactful on the story because they get repetitive. Around Chapter 170-179, the pacing and direction of Solo Levelling tank, it feels rushed and there doesn't appear to be response from Jin-Woo's power level system. The monarchs battles last a few chapters when it could have gone more in depth with the detail of Jin-Woo's cup ability and journey in an alternate life.
Art: 9/10
Manhwa have adapted to the online comic medium with its vertical layout, complex colors & details, and spaced out panels. Solo-Levelling is no exception; The art is very detailed and manipulates a lot of art and film techniques such as panorama, gradients, shot types etc. to portray dynamic movement in a still medium or emphasize the strength of an opponent and vast landscapes. Outlining, colors and shading in each panel are amazingly detailed and stays consistent throughout the serialization of Solo Levelling. The purple glow radiated by Jin-Woo and his army especially emphasize his strength and shares a visually appealing experience. Overall, Solo-Levelling is a near perfect manhwa.
Character: 8/10
Despite being such an amazing manwha and appearing to have no weaknesses, I feel overall character development is more or less the achille's heal of this manwha, since MC becomes overpowered within the first 10 chapters, there's very little space for him to improve as a character. They've tried to make him participate in different quick time pop up dungeons, daily excercise quests and the occasional involvement with other guilds and character quests but it did become fairly repetitive. The fact that MC loses most of his emotion, and that he's aware of it around chapter 30-50 means that we can't really rely on him or other of his hunter-buddies to develop his character - instead, the challenges that he receives not only improves his strength but his 'personality' as a result and as such, he's much more observant and optimistic about others around him. I'd say overall in terms of character development this manwha lies on an 8/10; definitely an amazing experience seeing MC transform from an E ranked hunter to quite possible an SSSS rank hunter (because of his max level summons and ability to learn as he gains experience) but his development could have been diversified or even been more elaborated on (like his guild which is ignored for a while after its establishment).
Enjoyment & Overall: 7/10
The first 150 chapters were great and kept me engaged but slowly after that, it began to slowly infer the unsatisfying ending. I was expecting a happier ending with a lot of sacrifice on the line but the boss battle approach in episode 178 left me empty still. I'm also not sure why they have to keep mentioning the psychic hunter lady since she gets more panels than the actual boss fight - I understand that she is an example of Jin-Woo's power radiation but it's such a minor aspect that could have lasted 2 panels. Overall, still a good read but the ending really let me down.
