Humanity was caught at a precipice a decade ago when the first gates—portals linked with other dimensions that harbor monsters immune to conventional weaponry—emerged around the world. Alongside the appearance of the gates, various humans were transformed into hunters and bestowed superhuman abilities. Responsible for entering the gates and clearing the dungeons within, many hunters chose to form guilds to secure their livelihoods.
Sung Jin-Woo is an E-rank hunter dubbed as the weakest hunter of all mankind. While exploring a supposedly safe dungeon, he and his party encounter an unusual tunnel leading to a deeper area. Enticed by the prospect of treasure, the group presses forward, only to be confronted with horrors beyond their imagination. Miraculously, Jin-Woo survives the incident and soon finds that he now has access to an interface visible only to him. This mysterious system promises him the power he has long dreamed of—but everything comes at a price.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Bafflees
Do you enjoy decently animated fighting scenes and don't care about anything else? Then I highly recommend you stop reading this and start watching already! Still there? Great. Apart from the fluid animation during fights, this anime has no redeeming qualities at all. The characters are all unbelievably bleak. Of course, it's called SOLO Leveling - still, after watching all 12 episodes during the last three months, not a single character of this anime lingered in my mind for even a second. Jin-Woo goes from a timid, weak dude to a cold-hearted Gigachad with a flat, deep voice in the matter of about 4 episodes. That's allthe character development there is - he carries his husky tone and ice-cold mannerisms all the way through the finish line. His sister, like all the other characters, seems to merely exist as reason-givers or stepping stones. Why does he fight? For his sick mother and for his sister, of course... right? It's hard to believe this, given his complete refusal to engage in friendly, light-hearted interactions with others. Even his oh-so-beloved sister only gets the cold shoulder from him whenever she tries to talk to him. Why should the viewer care for Jin-Woo's quest if he himself doesn't seem to care in the slightest for anyone or anything?
Then there's the world-building. I don't even need to go into much detail here. It's just the world we live in, but there are portals to mostly gloomy, fantasy-like dungeons. Some people awaken to powers that can neither get stronger nor weaker; a bit like in a caste system, you're forever locked into your rank. They have to go into the dungeon portals to slay the monsters, keeping the world safe from them and earning some bucks. It's not all that creative, and there hasn't been a single surprising moment. The world goes on as usual, but there are portals now. It doesn't seem to change society in the slightest. To top it off, the whole story unfolds in one place - a grey, anonymous city with nothing interesting to see.
This point is so important to me that it deserves its own paragraph. Everything looks SO boring. There's the city and there are the dungeons, which are mostly just caves with no interesting features. Visually, this whole anime has no imagination at all. It completely lacks character and beauty. Why do even the fantasy world caves have to look so dull? Even Sword Art Online, a show often cited as an example for how not to do... anything, gets this right!
And the show can't even make up for it with an interesting plot. The main storyline is basically "Jin-Woo has to become strong and faces some obstacles". Even the fact that he's the only one able to level up and get stronger isn't particularly interesting, as it doesn't seem to have any implications or downsides. It's just... there, instead of being presented as a mystery of some kind. Hell, if something like that happened to you, you'd be dying to know the "why" and "how"! Jin-Woo however just accepts it as it is, confiding in no one, never trying to find out if anyone else experiences this...
What makes it worse is that it takes itself extremely serious. I don't mean to say every anime has to include comedy of some kind - but Solo Leveling just doesn't contain any light-hearted moments at all. The only thing that made me chuckle was the sudden transformation from weakling to muscular chad - but even that seems to have been intended as a serious matter. His surroundings at least accept it as the most normal thing ever, even though one can barely recognize him after this.
The opening is just utterly silly - "Now I'm racking up the kills - I got to pay the bills" probably sounds like a cool line when you're about 10 years old. Yet, one could say the lyrics are kinda revealing - they're about as deep as the show itself.
I can only advise anyone with any standards at all not to give this series a chance. It's not even bad in a funny way, but rather a slugfest lasting 12 episodes, interspersed with decent but basically meaningless fights.
Marinate1016
The recent trend of Korean manhwa being adapted into Japanese anime has finally brought us to this point. Arguably the biggest manhwa of all time, Solo Leveling has finally got an anime and is a meathead action fan’s biggest dream come true. Delivering some of the best action scenes you’ll see this year, an amazing Sawano OST and a solid power fantasy, this one was a fun watch. For the last several years, I’ve heard a ton of hype about Solo Leveling and I honestly didn’t think too much of it. Shonen esque battle series are just pretty meh to me at this stage in life,so I never picked up the novels or manhwa. But I have to say I was blown away by the anime. A-1 gave us an absolute visual spectacle with some amazing fights, but I also found the concept of hunters, dungeons and portals into other dimensions to be really cool. This type of urban fantasy adventurer setting isn’t really something I’ve seen before so it was quite the experience. Particularly seeing how the Korean government regulates the hunters and how it’s such a big part of the economy.
I think I’ll be in the minority here on this one, but I actually like the story of Solo Leveling? At least as an anime only to this point in the story. That’ll probably come as a surprise to many of you given one of the biggest criticisms against the series is it being a generic power fantasy with no plot and great art. That could be the case later on in the story, but to me, the story so far while simple, is still interesting. Jinwoo getting stronger to provide for and protect his family as well as unravelling the mystery of being a “player” while simple, was still interesting. I also think your mileage may vary entertainment wise depending on the amount of power fantasy dungeon crawling stories you’ve seen. To my understanding, SL’s success made these tropes quite popular in manhwa, but since I haven’t seen or read any others, it’s fresh to me.
Jinwoo as an MC is pretty one dimensional. He wants to get stronger and protect his family, but that’s about it to him so far. It’s hard to really criticise that aspect of the story, though because it’s clear the author just wanted a zero to hero type story with some cool fights and a little escapism. As he levels up and fights stronger opponents, we do see gradual changes in his personality. The cruel and ruthless reality of the world in which hunters operate forces him to morph into a more jaded and brutal person. Going from unable to kill humans to doing it with ease. He’s definitely a bit edgy at times, but again, didn’t mind it too much. In most of the fights in this season, he’s an underdog going up against opponents stronger than him. I like that every big fight gave him a struggle, but I wish they would have been more creative with some of the kills in the fights. It’s like the build up to and climax of the fights were top tier, but the kills were a little meh due to the same technique being used to take down 3 bosses in a row. I will say, even though it’s a meathead series, Jinwoo at least to the point we’ve seen so far, has to outwit some of his opponents since he isn’t straight up stronger yet. Seeing those techniques made the fights even more interesting.
As a massive Sawano stan the joy I felt when I first heard the OST in this one was immeasurable. Absolute masterclass. Made every fight and hype moment so much more intense and Sawano just has a way of transporting you to another world in a way no other artist can. His collab with one of my fave Kpop groups, TxT for the OP was also incredible. A-1 brought the A team out for this one. The fights and direction were top notch and you can only image the painstaking hours that went into this. It paid off and I got to tip my hat to the staff.
Solo Leveling might not be the strongest story or have the most compelling MC out there, but it has an interesting world, awesome fights and is just a nice visual spectacle. Not everything needs to be complex, it just needs to be competent, which this is. The story knows what it is and makes no effort to be anything else. It’s confident in its power fantasy status and excels in it. If you’re looking for something with substantive narrative, this isn’t for you. If you want to turn your brain off and have fun, this is one for you.
Solo Leveling gets 9 out of 10.
Stark700
Solo Leveling, the series that took the world by storm back in 2018. No less than a few years later, we are graced a with a 12-episode adaptation that appears to be one of the most hyped series in 2024. It's on a lot of wishlists and for good reasons: stunning visuals, a wish fuflling premise, a diverse cast, and through word of mouth. Korean webnovel anime adaptations have been gaining mainstream popularity in recent years, with Tower of God being another recent example. Solo Leveling tries to set its own example as well. I want to preface and mention, this review is based from ananime viewer's perspective. I have not read the original source so everything here is based on what's shown in the anime without comparsion to the manhwa. With its promotional material, there was still no doubt that Solo Leveilng would be a popular title this year. The stellar animation offers a visual feast with its sharp character designs and impressive chereography. It's hard not to talk about the show just from what a technical point.
The producers and episode directors had a vision: deliver on its promise to treat fans to what they want to see. Solo Leveling starts off introducing protagonist Sung Jin-woo, who is known as the 'weakest Hunter'. Throughout the show, he gets stronger after teaming up with allies while also engaging in feuds with other guild members. The anime revolves around dungeon quests with standard RPG elements including a leveling system with loot/gear. Think of it as a protagonist in a video game starring Jin-woo. Despite supposingly being the 'weakest hunter', he adapts with situation quickly and uses logic, strategies, and plans to survive. Watching Jin-woo's role in this show feels like being in the shoes of a gamer. He plays and thinks like one while trying to prove himself. While Jin-woo didn't seem to have a main goal at the start of the show, it does become more appearent that he wants to become stronger to protect the ones he loves. It's a typical protagonist trope used to represent heroes. Jin-woo seeks opportunities to becomes stronger for the sake of his family, and it's not that surprising when we witness his actions. They speak louder than words when we realize how much risk he puts himself in. Even against overwhelming odds, he will try to overcome them.
Jin-woo is also a character with flaws, as evidenced in early episodes. His self-doubt and inferiority complex in the beginning held him back and isn't until he fights on the frontlines that he begins to grow out of that shell. Even at times when he is confident, he realizes that not everything can be resolved through his actions. However, this season doesn't truly explore his character and a particular drawback revolves around the relationship he builids with others. This is especially minimal with characters like Cha Hae-In, who early on in the show managed to impress the audience with her skills and reputation. His character relationship with anyone outside his family is mostly obligatory rather than commitment. He always puts his family first and it's his love for them that motivates him. Sadly, the character cast ends up being collateral damage for underdevelopment at the expenise of Jin-woo. There's an overemphasis on his character progression at the expense of others. Being that it's a 12-episode, the pacing didn't help much either.
Despite the underwritten cast, I must give praise to its combat system in the show. Even if the idea isn't original, its loot and gear system brings out the classic standands of dungeon crawlers. At a fundamental level, hunters fight monsters, accepts quests, collect gear, but there are also special objectives. These may be seem like 'side objectives' but each of them improves a hunter's rank and skill. The anime adaptation goes through lengths to show what certain hunters are capable of. S-rank for instance is in class of its own. Even though we do not see their true potential, Cha Hae-In's presence alone breathes meaning into that rank. Nonetheless, this season only scratches the surface although in one particular episode, we see a bit of Jin-woo unleashing what appears to be his true hidden potential. It's just a slap in the face that it was one surreal moment and we don't see it much more. Solo Leveling has a tendency to get fans hyped for certain moments, and when it delivers, it really do deliver. Other times, it drops the ball.
To be honest, it felt like A-1 Pictures was destined to be involved in this project. They've done work related to fantasy adventures before, most noticable among their projects including the Sword Art Online franchise. The animation team indeed gave his a visual paint that surpassed my expctations. The action has sharp cheroegraphy that gives the show its momentum while important scenes are animated with cinematic quality. Character expressions are focused in detail ranging from eye coordination to human emotions. Most noticable is how Jin-woo responds to different scenarios whether it's fighting monsters or social conversations with certain cast members. Similarly, the theme songs contains a well-crafted tone courtsey of SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]. It might sound predictable to see that they're involved but I can think of no better composer to make this work.
Solo Leveling can be approached with the amount of hype it sets itself up. As an anime original viewer, I was definitely curious on how they tell a story in the fantasy adventure genre and game mechnics. After all, we have been flooded with so many similar shows every season in recent years. For Solo Leveling, it's a show that is watchable for its hype and sure enough, anyone can watch it to be enjoyed. But for its overall presentation, I really did expect more.
hardrodsquirter
Solo Leveling is proof that if you throw in enough overpowered characters, flashy fight scenes, and shallow revenge plots, fans will eat it up regardless of how abysmally written it is. Sitting at a baffling 8.2 rating, it’s clear that standards for storytelling in this medium have hit an all-time low. The show is written like a middle schooler’s power fantasy gone wrong. Our protagonist, Jinwoo, starts as a laughably weak hunter who—surprise, surprise—gains overpowered abilities overnight. Character depth? Forget it. Jinwoo’s personality is as flat as the screen you're watching him on. His only defining trait is being ridiculously strong, but with no real challengenor stakes, everything he encounter felt more like a chore than a genuinely exciting moment.
Plot? What plot? It’s just a rinse-and-repeat cycle of Jinwoo slaughtering enemies in dungeons and then leveling up like it’s some poorly designed RPG, that's it. Any semblance of tension or intrigue is immediately squashed by the fact that you know he’s never in danger. It’s a one-man show where the supporting cast exists solely to either worship him or be so useless that they make him look even better by comparison.
And yet, here we are, with fans defending this mediocrity as if it’s the pinnacle of modern fantasy storytelling. Apparently, all it takes for a story to get high praise these days is mindless action, zero plot complexity, and a protagonist that’s more cheat-code than character. You could swap Solo Leveling with any other generic isekai or power-trip story and no one would bat an eye—because, let’s face it, they’re all the same.
The fact that this anime holds an 8.2 rating is either a joke or a sign of how low the bar is set for storytelling in this medium. At this point, fans are praising spectacle over substance, and Solo Leveling embodies everything wrong with anime today.
JustinJangles
Target audience matters. and I am just outside the target audience. Younger me would have loved this, it's high energy, power fantasy, gory, and the protag is edgy. However, older me has developed new tastes (which I will not claim to be superior, simply different), and subsequently I struggled to feel invested. Things I can praise: - Animation. It's high quality stuff for the action scenes. They are bombastic and top notch - Joohee. The only person who feels realistically portrayed in this show. Can't say much about why without spoiling events. I only wish she had a bit more time on screen in order togive her a bit more development and give the audience more time to build an attachment.
- Use of violence. While gore is generally not a selling point for me, this show used violence in such a visceral way that it helps sell the gravity of many scenes. They don't hold back or sugar coat.
Things that I found disappointing
- Story. It's relatively bare bones and straight forward. There is certainly some hints at underlying depth but so far not enough of that was presented to captivate me in to wanting to know more. Otherwise, as it's presented here, it's more or less "What if RPG mechanics were introduced in the real world."
- Characters. They can be overly dumb at times, not noticing very obvious things, and many are very one note and cliche. The thing I dislike the most is when characters become powerful they also become super edgy, and that's the route our protagonist went down. It's the kind of edgy teen me wanted to be, always one step ahead, people being afraid of my super reflexes, a cold demeanor, etc. But adult me feels it's too one note and became a trope.
- Stakes. The main character being in peril only matters if they have sufficiently built up your concern for other characters. It's rare the main character will die, either they are able to rally themselves to win, or somehow survive to fight another day, either way it's their plot armor kicking in. It's the supporting cast suffering the consequences of the hero's failure that drive stakes, because they are more expendable. Unfortunately, the show did not do enough to make me care what happened to the supporting cast. They got little screen time, and those that did weren't given enough time to be interesting and likable characters. The main character sure does endure a lot of punishment, and you can really feel it, but in the end I knew he had plot armor and would come out the other end unscathed.
As it's plain to see I have more issues than praise but I'll reiterate that I'm no longer the target demographic. I was able to enjoy the show for it's animation, and great action scenes, so I did continue to tune in each week. Sometimes that's all you need, even if it's not your kind of story, it'll still please the eyes.
leyaf
One of the worst anime I have seen lately. It is a very slow and boring series. The plot here you will not experience anime is literally about nothing. The main character as it happens in badly made shonen can overcome anything as long as the will to fight does not leave him. The results of the fights are therefore obvious. Apart from the fights in this anime you will find nothing but unnecessary and poorly conducted dialogues. The worst is the change of the protagonist into a completely different person at the start which I hate. I do not recommend.
Alkimia
I really tried to keep an open mind while watching this show, but I don't get it. It's just another wish fulfillment power fantasy where this useless scrawny dude gets ridiculously overpowered, and now that I've watched the series through, I still find myself wondering what exactly people were so hyped about. If you're here because of all the hype surrounding this show, drop that hype and draw your own conclusion instead, or you may end up disappointed. Starting with the story it's nothing special. It can be so predictable and just so bland. It somehow takes ideas from similar shows and somehow makes them worsehere. Obviously not going to say much about it here, but if you've seen other shows similar to this like "Sword Art Online" and "I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in The Real World, Too", then you probably know where this is going already. Throughout this whole show we also get this like side story sprinkled in with these side characters who we learn absolutely nothing about apart from the fact that they're supposed to be huge deals in this world... And that's it. This is our introduction to whoever these characters are. Why should we care about these characters when we know nothing about them? And the main story sometimes has to pause in the middle of fights in order to show off this side story. This isn't good writing. This is a terrible way to introduce these characters. It just feels like it's there for padding and eye candy, as for some reason the show focuses a lot on this one female side character, and we end up getting a lot of shots of her from behind if you know what I mean. And by the end you still know basically nothing about her.
Next, the characters... They're nothing special either. I found myself frustrated with pretty much all of them, and now that I think about it, I don't like any characters in this entire show. Like some of them just make such terrible choices that conflict with their motivations. And then the MC, good god the MC. I found them at least likeable to begin with, but they really take a turn for the worse over the course of the show. They had a unique design that set them apart from other power fantasy shows similar to this, but then drops it by changing their design completely, making them look like a generic fantasy protagonist. The difference is so jarring too, especially when you look at them side by side. At first I thought they were a completely different character. Now sure if it was just their design that got changed, then maybe I could've let it slide, but man did they really have to give this dude an ego too? He starts off as just a nice guy trying to do his best and make ends meet... Until he gets OP and gets that ego of his, clearly letting his new power go to his head (reminding me even further of Sword Art Online), and if that wasn't enough, they gave him plot armor too, because of course.
About the only good thing in this show are the fight scenes, because yes they're pretty cool... But that doesn't really last long. The coolness of the fight scenes starts to really wear off once you realize how OP this MC is, and that no matter what, plot armor will save them in some way or another.
Overall, I can't recommend this show. Back when this first started to air, I remember being pretty excited for it! I was going in completely blind but people seemed pretty hyped about it, claiming it had such a good story, cool fights, and great characters... But it left me disappointed, but that's mostly on me for listening to all that hype and taking their word for it. Because this show did not live up to all that hype. Not even close. It eventually got to the point where I would have to force myself to keep going with some people even saying "it doesn't get good yet, keep going". But it never got good.
This is a 4 for me. I really can't give it anything higher than that. If you didn't like Sword Art Online, you're probably not going to enjoy this as they're incredibly similar in some parts.
rtil
Ah yes, the timeless tale of a down on his luck regular guy who stumbles upon an encounter with eldritch gods, only to be imbued with the power of - you guessed it - video games! Solo Leveling takes every element of storytelling and replaces it with literal RPG-esque pop-ups telling you that something happened or that a number went up, rather than ever giving you anything meaningful to earn character development or progression in what could hardly be called a plot. You realize this quickly as our downtrodden hero encounters his first enemies on his own - a couple of unassuming goblins. But it's notenough that there are goblins on screen - there's text above their head that says GOBLIN, just in case you were utterly lost without it. But do not fret, for they are level 1 punk goblins, the weakest of all goblins. Fortunately, our brave hero has been training for 1 day, and he has put 23 points in to STR so he can easily defeat them. This is the kind of high quality writing you can expect from Solo Leveling - any moment of tension or growth being replaced with brainless video game slop so you can "turn your brain off" and watch something so derivative it might as well be playing underneath some Subway Surfers gameplay on TikTok and you wouldn't miss a thing.
Solo Leveling wastes absolutely no time becoming a power fantasy as by the 5th episode our self-insert is a certified muscle-bound gigachad who makes every woman who sees him instantly drool over his physique. It's kind of like if Goku became a super saiyan at the beginning of Dragonball Z, rather than having anything of consequence build up to it. And it's not like DBZ is a difficult bar to cross in the world of shounen, but here we are.
Solo Leveling has a plot device called "the system", which is essentially deus ex machina in that there is no consequence to any threat Jinwoo encounters during his battles because it will immediately offer him a solution no matter how close to losing or dying he might be. Level 18 vs a C-rank boss? What the hell does that mean in the context of this world? Who cares! His fatigue is at 57, it will go higher if he slows down, because that's what fatigue is. 57 sounds high I guess... oh, "the system" gave him a full restore item, he's fine now! Riveting stuff.
In any case, there are occasionally good ideas buried deep within the contrivances and insanely lazy writing of this universe, but it really doesn't matter. I would not recommend this to even the most unseasoned of anime viewers. After many years of Crunchyroll trying to convince me manwha adaptations are the new hotness, this is just another one i'm throwing on the pile of pale imitations of far better anime and manga they're clearly inspired from. Watch Shangri-la Frontier instead if you're in to video game adjacent fantasy. Hell, watch Sword Art Online instead. I can't believe I'm even saying that.
MrZentase
A pile a hot steaming garbage would be more enjoyable to feast upon than this show. The lack of creativity and pure laziness that surrounds this show is obvious to any who watch. You can tell the creator wanted to make an isekai, but didn't want the isekai tag. From simply making the armour "Invisible" (the creator didn't want to have to draw something so didn't) to turning it all into a real life game.. From seemingly nowhere, you already had a regurgitated formula, with random dungeons spawning. Something I'm sure we've all seen about a thousand times by now. Yet you still wanted tobe even less creative? If anything I'm impressed with how lazy you can be.
You somehow even managed to make high octane, adrenaline fueled fights simply nauseating. Let me break down every. Single. Fight. In this show. Mc stupidly decides to fight something way out of his league - Mc gets his ass handed to him - Mc thinks about leaving - Mc loses his teleport crystal - Mc stabs the enemy 3 or 4 times and wins. Re-read that four or five times and you've basically experienced this show in its entirety.
I will now tell you every single person's reason for wanting to be a hunter in this show, money. That's it. There is no real motive, there is no real driving force as to why people are hunters. They just want money. You know what else can get you money and simultaneously not cause death. A normal job. If you are expecting anyone to have a deep/meaningful reason to go out into these dungeons, they never will. Why would I root for any character, when their decisions are stupid and all they want is power and wealth? No backstory presented in the show is a valid enough reason to put your life at risk in these dungeons. As I've already pointed out, you need money get a normal job. It simply just shows the creators lack of creativity and good story writing when their best and only damn reason anyone has is money.
I was completely on board with the show. To me, episode two was a damn wonderful watching experience. It was unique and had me wanting more. But from that point onwards there is nothing more. You will never see an original idea after that episode again. This show is completely soulless, the pacing is awful. Some episodes are all over the damn place you get whiplash from just watching. Half of the time I swear an AI wrote the script, it's that genuinely horrible. I have no idea how it's scored so high to the point I feel like it must have been botted with high scores.
I have never put time and energy into writing reviews. If I love a show I simple think "That was lovely" If I hate a show I simply move on. But this soulless sludge of a show pushed me to write/rant about how just truly horrible it is. if you find enjoyment in something, that's fantastic. I am not trying to take that away. But the sheer number of people that find this enjoyable is scary to me.
jahver
(NOTE: THIS IS AN EDITED VERSION OF MY PREVIOUS SUBMISSION WHICH WAS THE HIGHEST-RATED REVIEW FOR THE SERIES UNTIL IT WAS REMOVED) Solo Leveling might be one of the most embarrassing, confused amalgam of power fantasy tropes and self-insert garbage to ever come out of South Korea. It’s a completely worthless experience that even the most uncultured viewer will get absolutely nothing out of. The question of the day is why A-1 Pictures expended so much of their time and resources into essentially polishing a turd; every second of top-notch storyboarding and animation would’ve been better spent enhancing a more competently written and directed series. Perhapsthe blame lies on its slavish cult following - despite its severe failings as a story, as some people (and presumably AI-generated social media posts) will tell you this completely outclasses every piece of modern fiction despite it being the inverse of observable reality. The more likely explanation is that South Korea’s media conglomerates want to take another swing at breaking into the ever-lucrative world of anime, despite just about every prior attempt to adapt the worst manhwa slop Webtoon has to offer being one unmitigated disaster after the other.
Solo Leveling is the story of Sung Jin-Woo, a mopey, incompetent loser who finds himself gifted with the power of RPG mechanics after a near-death experience; he is the only one of a group of supernaturally gifted humans called hunters who can “level up” or get stronger than the rank that was arbitrarily bestowed onto him. Jinwoo goes from being the “weakest hunter of all mankind” to one of the strongest within the span of a few episodes, and the glaring issue with the story almost immediately becomes obvious; there’s going to be zero tension after a certain point. After the first 2 episodes of the show, almost nothing is shown as a challenge for Jinwoo. His toughest battle’s over in five minutes. Around halfway through the season Jibunwo stops being a self-pitying cretin and transitions into a borderline sociopath. His original motivation of raising enough money to save his comatose mother is almost non-existent, rendering him a cold and unrelatable Gary Stu with no motivation aside from gaining power. You’d think with this rapid metamorphosis into an entirely different person being thrust upon our hero, he’d have some sort of introspection about how he’s changed. But the most self-awareness we ever get from the series is a halfassed Nietzsche quote.
Perhaps Jinwoo’s most unlikeable quality is how he seems to hold a grudge over the most asinine things; most notably against a 60/70-year old man for not carrying Jinwoo to safety during the first encounter in the dungeon that granted him his powers; when said man is fatally wounded later in the season Jinwoo’s only response is, rather than “I need to help you get medical attention!” like a normal person, but rather “You need to survive no matter what, how else can I keep blaming you?” What the fuck is this mindset? As if that wasn’t enough, the story even presents the idea that Jinwoo’s been bullied his entire life for being the weakest hunter in history, but only one instance is ever shown onscreen through a flashback - his teammate tells him to stop being a liability and get behind the others after he gets injured during a fight - less bullying and more showing concern for someone who is clearly not qualified to be there at all. All this seems to do is, rather than reinforce Jinwoo’s bizarre complexes, is raise the question of why he can’t just find another fucking job.
On that note, Solo Leveling tries to enforce a message of self-improvement and “believing in yourself” which falls flat because Jibunwo has everything handed to him by sheer coincidence and he’s the only one in the world who can get stronger. He wouldn’t have started working out and trying to become a more competent hunter had he not lucked out and pleased the statue deity. His physical transformation is the funniest thing to me because the writer has clearly never worked out in their life; if they did, they’d know that doing some pushups and light jogging does NOT make you taller or change the structure of your face unless you’re taking fucking tren.
I genuinely have next to nothing to say about any of the other characters, because nearly every single one that appears only exists to service Jibunwo. His love interest is an insufferably timid copy-paste of Orihime without any of the charm, relatability or humor Kubo would’ve endowed her with; every time she’s on screen, she’s either trembling in the corner and crying like a scorned child because fighting low-level WoW enemies is apparently PTSD-inducing, insufferably shrieking like a fisher cat, or smiling vacuously. She’s inept when it comes to healing people, her sole purpose in the story. She’s not even good at being a demure tradwife for the self-inserting audience, because she’s a whiny bitch who passive-aggressively insults Jibunwo after his transformation (“you used to get hurt so much it was annoying!”) yells at her parents for caring about her well-being, and has to rely on everyone around her just to accomplish the most basic tasks that anyone else would have no problem with. Her tremendously grating voice acting does her portrayal no favors, either. The writer seems to at least realize how awful a character she is because by episode ten she gets written out of the story.
Jinwoo’s simp Yoo Jinhoo or whatever only exists to follow Jibunwo around and larp as a hunter, as he is a literal trust-fund kid who gets to sit back and watch professionals handle everything for him. then act like he contributed after the fact. I do not see why anyone finds him likeable, as much like everyone else who isn’t Jinwoo he does absolutely nothing of value. Jinwoo’s sister and the other hunters are so one-note and static that the anime has to cut back to them having mundane conversations just to remind the audience they exist and will, hopefully, do something later down the line. Every other background character exists either to suck off Jibunwo and remark on either how much of a weakling he is before his transformation, or how cool and awesome and attractive he is afterwards. The antagonists are either your standard fantasy monsters, or villainous hunters who turn comically evil at the drop of a hat. All you’re left with is a cast of increasingly difficult to distinguish names and faces that serve no purpose other than to explain the rules of the world to the audience. There’s also a guy named Hwang Dongsuk, which is really funny.
The world of Solo Leveling is, safe to say, so piss-poor at justifying its own existence that even after twelve episodes I couldn’t find myself buying it for a minute. So there’s portals to a fantasy world that spit out monsters, and there’s people with latent magical abilities that form teams to fight them as a professional career. Sound simple enough, even a series as narratively dysfunctional as RWBY could pull off a premise this simple. However, it overcomplicates itself. Every hunter only has one set rank and can never grow more powerful through training. This deterministic angle infects the series with this ugly brand of cynicism and kills any pretense of the “work hard and you’ll get stronger!” attitude the show wants you to believe in. There’s also hunters who kill other hunters, which begs the question of why they’d waste their time and risk their lives killing the only other people capable of keeping the world safe for a little more cash. Even worse is the fact that the hunter organization recruits convicted felons with latent powers to fight the monsters in their home turf. Not exactly a great plan but throwing hardened criminals into the meatgrinder is a better alternative than making the Average Joe do it. You’d think, right? But the hunter association makes criminals fight alongside the civilian hunters who only do it to pay the bills, most notably the lower ranked hunters and ONE singular B-rank supervisor; this would instantly stand out as a logistical nightmare to anyone with a functioning brain.
Additionally, the party system is extremely poorly thought out even on a conceptual level – having poorly trained civilians doing your work for you is already questionable, but afterwards they report everything to a supervisor afterwards who believes the recounting of events of the mission at face value and doesn’t engage in any further questioning or research. No sane organization would approve of something like this, especially with how unqualified the average hunter is shown to be at the start of the series; Jinwoo’s team goes into an obvious trap in the first episode, and predictably they all start dropping like flies. Rather than stay composed and try to find a way to overcome their predicament like you’d expect professional monster hunters to do, they all start screaming like little girls and dying in increasingly comical ways due to their lack of cooperation, leading to the encounter where Jinwoo gain his looksmaxxing powers. The dramatic hook of the first two episodes is portrayed as a tragic massacre, but it’s impossible not to laugh at how they all get steamrolled so easily. To add insult to injury, there are also S-ranks, who are the strongest but they’re seemingly never around when the weaker hunters are in danger. An inspector for the organization also states that S-ranks could pose a threat because they are essentially so strong they are above the law, but he makes it sound like there wouldn’t be any enforcing the law at all. None of this makes any sense, it’s all peripherally defined and therefore it fails at even being a self-insert story because you intrinsically could not self-insert into a world so poorly thought out.
The show’s only saving grace is the technical competence of the fight scenes; everything else is abysmal. The direction is all over the place. Most conversation scenes are just shot reverse shot, and there’s no cinematic diversity. Anytime something interesting is going on the scene will suddenly cut back to some inane conversation about something the audience has already heard between side characters the audience has no reason to care about – episode 5 cuts from the middle of a fight to Jibunwo’s sister and some random hunters talking about stuff that was ALREADY EXPLAINED IN THE SAME EPISODE – this scene has zero reason to exist, it doesn’t even introduce new characters, I genuinely do not understand what the thought process is with these moments. Furthermore, characters will state things they should already know to each other, such as their teammate’s backstory, just to make sure the audience knows. The writers behind Solo Leveling seem to be under the assumption that “show, don’t tell” is merely a suggestion.
The opening animation seems to be a perfect indication of everything wrong with the series – it’s a visually cluttered, incomprehensible mishmash of characters, location shots, and disorienting fight scenes that tell you nothing about the show itself while some guy raps in Engrish over the blandest Hiroyuki Sawano music you can imagine. Speaking of Sawano, he couldn’t be phoning it in any harder with the soundtrack, and it brings me no pleasure knowing how he could do so much better. His distinctive arrangements don’t fit the show at all, and nearly every track sounds indistinguishable. Outside of the manufactured sakuga scenes made to go viral on Tiktok, Solo Leveling is incompetent even in an aesthetic sense. Saying that the anime captures even an iota of the original webcomic’s artistic prowess would be an incredibly generous assessment. Every episode is plagued by characters constantly looking off-model in background or group shots and sometimes even in closeups.
Solo Leveling is Crunchyroll’s desperate new attempt at launching a flagship title, and perhaps there’s something to be said about how a company that’s spent its lifespan trying to commercialize and depreciate an entire medium is funding and promoting such a sterile and blatantly mass-produced series. What webtoon companies call “entertainment”, I call the violation of an art form. At the very least, the show’s aesthetic failures reflect its own failures as a story; it’s ugly, intrinsically cynical, and dishonestly presenting itself as something profound and grandiose when there’s nothing about it that justifies the portrayal. Solo Leveling is exactly what people who have never watched Dragon Ball Z think Dragon Ball Z is about, without even the cultural and historical significance that kind of prestige would entail. And God willing, it will never reach that level.
ChadtheTech
This anime does almost everything right. The animation is again to show how far we are coming in animation and funding for these shows. My only complaint for this show is how slow the show will feel like it’s progressing. I watched the episodes as they were coming out and it just feels like the first season was very uneventful. I’m hoping to see more of this soon because the story is very well written and the animators are killing it. If you like issekai’s (technically this isn’t one) or anime’s with overpowered mc’s then you will love this. He’s definitely overpowered but not tothe point where it isn’t entertaining. Very very good character development aswell.
Dixitpaudel
“Solo Leveling” anime has been a hot topic since its release, and it’s easy to see why. The series, adapted from one of the most successful manhwas, brings to life the story of Sung Jinwoo, an E-rank hunter who stumbles upon a mysterious system that allows him to level up in strength, defying the rigid hierarchy of his world. The animation quality is top-notch, with A-1 Pictures delivering some truly stunning visuals that do justice to the source material’s acclaimed artwork. The soundtrack complements the visuals well, adding to the overall immersive experience. However, the anime isn’t without its drawbacks. The main storyline is engaging but thesupporting cast lacks depth, especially in the early episodes. This can leave viewers wanting more from the characters that populate Jinwoo’s world. Additionally, some feel that the narrative can be a bit one-dimensional at times, focusing heavily on the protagonist’s power progression.
Despite these criticisms, “Solo Leveling” manages to capture the essence of the manhwa and presents a compelling fantasy world filled with danger and excitement. It’s a straightforward adaptation that knows its strengths and plays to them well. While it have simple theme setting, it provides a satisfying journey for those looking for an action-packed anime with a clear direction.
In conclusion, “Solo Leveling” is a solid watch for fans of the genre. It delivers on the action and spectacle, even if it doesn’t push the envelope in terms of character development or plot complexity. If you’re in the mood for a visually impressive and entertaining series that sticks to the basics, this anime is definitely worth checking out
Vxerix
Hello Everyone! I knew this title was coming out way back in the last year of 2023; this is when I was reading the manhwa because everyone in the East Asian Media fandom was giving their highest approval to this Manhwa called solo leveling! Everyone was saying this manhwa was out of this world because it was cool and had a compelling story. I was duped into reading it, and it became one of the worst and biggest time-wasters I've dived into. You can check out my Manhwa review if you are inclined. I had very little hope of the anime, which I thought would be somewhatof an improvement, but nope, it wasn't. It had the SAME FUCKING PROBLEMS as the manhwa. Such as making Jin Woo the center of the whole story with no regard for expanding the already useless characters found in the Manhwa. They weren't even inclined to explain how the portals came in the first place, giving many plotholes. These whole 12 episodes were just an adaptation of the first arc where it is animated and seeing the beloved main character point and click and PWNING the FUCK out of the enemies like the manhwa.
I understand why people like this show because of how well-animated it is, but if you want something of substance, literally watch Overlord or an Isekai because those things have more entertainment than seeing Jin Woo getting overpowered and being a 1 trick pony or just well-animated fights and nothing else of story substance.
don't watch if you want something of substance and don't even bother reading the manhwa
InvertedRealm
Initially, you might think it's a basic dungeon anime where a weak person gets powered up if you saw the trailer. But the story was actually interesting. First, let's talk about the fight scenes. The protagonist actually worked hard for his power, and there was enough gore to make it creepy. The fight scenes were good but not great, as they lacked the feeling that there was a chance you might lose something, similar to Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen. However, the last two episodes were intense. Why? Well, first, he faced an opponent near his level. Second, he abused his ability and got punished fornot fulfilling his quota to avoid dying. He had many near-death experiences.
Personally, I think the story's base of "weak guy becomes strong" is somewhat overdone, but he had to die to be reborn in his world and work for his power. Unlike most anime of this type, where the protagonist instantly gains powers and the only struggle is learning to control them, this story adds depth. He uses his past knowledge in fights, which keeps it fresh and allows us to see most of the classes. Thank you for reviewing my review!
lllemon
Solo Leveling is an average anime with an overly simplistic plot and designed for a very specific audience. The show takes stereotypical aspects of shonens and fantasy stories in order to create the most commercial and profitable story. Solo Leveling completely lacks depth, but offers entertainment instead. The plot follows a weakling that somehow gets involved in a ritual that grants him an RPG-type ability. The main character fills the "underdog" role to reflect on overcoming one's weaknesses and flaws. However, like many other series, the underdog is only the underdog for 2 episodes, because the moment he gets said ability his entire personalityand role in life changes. From this point on, the show's main focus is aimed at divinizing the mc's figure by giving him the best possible traits and abilities to make him someone who can be easily identified and idolized. He will showcase these abilities in numerous fights in which they'll pretend he's having some sort of trouble, only for it to end with either him shouting "I won't give up" and winning or using one of the 70 different services that the system provides that will coincidentally allow him to get out alive. The construction of the show is basic and predictable. It doesn't take much time to guess how any fight or conflict will end, as the mc will always be protected by an obvious plot armor.
The show doesn't have any greater purpose besides what was just commented. No character or situation diverts the spotlight from Jinwoo for more than 3 seconds. The consequence of this is the rest of the characters becoming completely useless and fulfilling two possible roles. Either be used as fighting puppets to showcase Jinwoo's new acquired skill and end up losing to him or establishing a non-hostile / friendly relationship with him, which will condemn them to perpetually orbit around him with an inferiority status for the rest of the series. Also, aside from entertaining, it is clear that anything that takes place is to make him look "cool" and strong. Which, besides his mysterious-dark aesthetic, can be seen in the kind of skills he keeps getting. Not even Jinwoo, who comprises 95% of the show, is a good character on its own. The worst part is the hypocrisy in his ideals. Using his former weakness as an excuse, the show forces the viewer to believe in a "work hard for your dreams" ideal. This facade lasts 4 episodes, because the moment he becomes relatively strong he basically forgets he was gifted his ability and pretends his improvement all comes from hard work. However, the real underdogs (ranks E and D which will never be able to get stronger) don't get mentioned ever again.
Animes like this tend to succeed due to their superficiality. It's not any different from watching one of the 50 isekai that get released every season. I would generally recommend this anime if you want to watch something entertaining, but to anyone expecting good storytelling and complex characters, refrain from starting it.
Baka_speedgetsu
What kinda annoys about discussions surrounding Solo Leveling is how the show is mostly talked about as a power fantasy (rather that be a great or generic one) pr that it is a show with amazing fights. All of that assessments are fair but it does nothing but to drive homogenous conversations that we have about so many anime. What I find so unique about the story of Solo Leveling is the way it takes the expectations of a power fantasy narrative to tell a cautionary tell about how far are we willing to sacrifice part of our humanity to increase are social class. The Huberrank system in the school is clearly used as a metaphor for societal social status. Depending on your hunter rank, your ability to achieve economic wealth will vary. If you are of a higher rank, you will have more of an ability to achieve wealth and access to what you need to maintain that stability. If you are of a lower rank, your options are limited. But what is fucked up about this system is that the hunter ranking being a metaphor for someone’s social class is also linked to their ability to survive in this world. If you can’t afford the proper equipment or get the tools you need, you will not be able to survive missions and get the money you need for personal reasons.
The homie Jin-Woo is a prime example of someone in the world who sees an opportunity to achieve a level of wealth to help his mom, sister, and himself, but because of his ascribed status, he is limited. And because of his status, other people, because of their own limitations ascribed to them by the system, are forced to view him as expendable. Even once Jin-Woo gets the ability to get stronger, it is stratifying to see since he now has a chance to help himself and his family. But what makes his moments of victory different from a typical power fantasy story is how some of his fights early on and at the end of the season are framed with such desperation. He is desperate because he knows that achieving power in this world is the only way for him to get access to the wealth needed to help himself and his family. But as we have seen from the system that gives him directions that he “must follow” , the system rewards him with strength will slowly sapping away his humanity. It is a unique depiction of how no matter how good your intentions are, there will always be a degree of loosing a bit of your humanity in those moments in the pursuit of wealth due to how power structure are set up. But it isn’t doom and gloom for da homie. We still see him try to make connections, remind himself who he is doing all of this for despite the rush of getting stronger, and how he is not easily manipulated by those who want exploit the strength of others for financial gain.
Solo Leveling’s first season has done an excellent job of expanding about the stories themes from the Manwa by making minor changes, adding extra content, and removing a bit of the fat. It is a well done adaptation so far that has both great animation and story with more to it beyond the surface. Can’t wait for season 2.
real1010101010
Honestly mid, no real plot when you think about it, no character development at all besides Sung getting stronger. Characters (development) : really bad honestly, nothing besides sung jin woo badass!!!! 1/10 Plot: The plot legit only exists for the sake of making jinwoo stronger also 1/10. Unfortunately not unique at all. Art: The art is pretty good honestly, id say definitely 9/10 It's basically just about hype honestly, if thats what youre into then go ahead. tl;dr: If you like series that are plot based then do not watch it, if you like animes with hype and aura then watch it.
IAmGrace
"Solo Leveling" anime stands tall as a captivating adaptation of the beloved webtoon, offering viewers a visual feast of stunning animation and heart-pounding action sequences. While it may diverge slightly from the original source material, the series remains faithful to the core elements that made the story so compelling. With its meticulous attention to character development and immersive world-building, "Solo Leveling" anime grips audiences from start to finish, promising an exhilarating journey into a realm where humanity battles against formidable monsters. Whether you're a long-time fan or a newcomer to the series, this anime adaptation is guaranteed to leave you on the edge of yourseat, craving for more.
Nivity
One of the best of this Genre of all time. I personally love this genre of Anime, along with Isekai. This Anime had me hooked every single minute of these short 12 episodes. The Visuals are one of the best of any Anime. Animations as good as they can be, smooth and fluid animations. Music very good and fit into the scenes. Sound effects very good.Voice over very good.
The start and development of Main Character was good, and the horrible things he faced during the episodes was something that got me hooked. And sent me chills when the music and Voice over hit during critical moments.
Obviously looking forward to the continuation of the series since 12 Episodes was just way to short.
One of my all time favorite Anime's honestly of this genre.
