Reviews for Solo Leveling

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.

The premise of video game mechanics as a magic system is the single most creatively bankrupt decision an author can make. I will curse Sword Art Online for making it popular until I die The thing is that all of the different video game stats in an actual video game represent things. If my dude levels out in Fallout and he gains +1 point in strength that doesn't mean he gets a little form and chooses the "Make me stronger" option. No, he has been travelling the wasteland and has become physically stronger because of it. Same goes for every other concept. You have HP ina game because it wouldn't be feasible to recreate the entire human physiology in a game. So, the HP number goes down instead of the engine needing to calculate whether or not a vital organ was hit and how it affects the rest of the body.

Now, you may being saying, "congratulations, you've explained why video games aren't realistic, but why does that matter for a power system replicating those mechanics?" The answer is simple, the only reason we have those mechanics in the first place is to simplify things that wouldn't work in a video game. Having that be your power system is just admitting you can't come up with anything creative. Why give your characters HP and stats if they are to represent things in real life? Its just useless. Imagine if Gandalf had to pull up a little screen and check to see if he unlocked the "break floor" spell in his fight with the balrog.

Anyway, if you like this kind of content you'll enjoy this show, whenever I see this trope I get irrationally angry. If not, watch Frieren, it has an actual magic system and characters that aren't generic schlock.

Preface Solo Leveling is the most eagerly anticipated anime of Winter 2024, mostly because it faced minimal competition from new releases. Hype aside, it still got eclipsed by the ongoing success of Frieren from the previous season and it is a fairly standard power fantasy that got fervently praised by fans of the web comic. As is usually the case with fans they want you to believe it’s some subversive masterpiece, although it does nothing that its predecessors haven’t already explored, often with superior execution. Furthermore, its glaringly apparent flaws provide plenty of reasons for the average watcher to disengage. 1) It’s needlessly padded out Something everyone whoseeks a good power fantasy will notice early on, is that it doesn’t begin as one. It takes its time in establishing the setting and the rules and the major characters before becoming a power fantasy after 4 episodes. This deliberate pacing may prove off-putting to audiences desiring immediate gratification through seeing the protagonist doing cool stuff right from the start (think of One Punch Man for example). Also, despite the slow buildup the show falters in establishing the basics of its premise.

- The setting is an augmented version of our mundane reality, infused with isekai portals and superhuman abilities. It doesn’t differ in the slightest despite a decade of constant monster invasions and people walking around with the ability to demolish concrete walls. Beyond the superficial addition of a hunter association, it doesn’t reflect any substantive shifts in geopolitics, the global economy, or societal norms. It’s lazily made and doesn’t deserve any time in elaborating how it functions.

- The mechanics governing videogame powers and superhuman abilities, along with the hierarchical ranking system, are conveyed with no nuance. They are the most basic representation of an MMO which might have been cool to follow in the early 2000s along with other titles doing the same such as .hack and Gantz, but now it’s ever-present in our pop culture. It became understandable through mere osmosis and there is little reason to be explained.

- The characters are as one-dimensional as they get. They are all defined by a singular character trait, so once again they don’t deserve any elaboration. The director doesn’t seem to get that and persists in interrupting action sequences to afford glimpses into the inconsequential activities of minor characters somewhere far away, which leads to needlessly diluting the narrative focus.

2) Its explanations work against it

The series’ sluggish pacing works against it, and the more it tries to explain its world and powers the more it exacerbates the shortcomings of its world-building and power system. It would be a more satisfying viewing experience if no explanations were given and more screen time was allocated to the action scenes. You know, the main appeal of the show? The revelation that hunters must personally finance their equipment and they undertake perilous dungeon delves merely to pay the bills (it’s literally mentioned on the intro song), can make you wonder why would low-ranking hunters such as the protagonist in the beginning of the show persist in risking their lives when more lucrative and less hazardous employment opportunities exist. Flipping burgers or gathering trash would earn them more money and there would be no risk.

3) The action is constantly interrupted

The best parts of the show are, as you can imagine, the dungeon battles. They have all the pulse-pounding action and captivating moments anyone would be watching such a show for. Regrettably, these highlights are marred by constant interruptions just to explain new mechanics or to show us inconsequential characters in faraway locations, thus ruining whatever hype you might be experiencing at that moment. They are also filled with a lot of questionable moments, such as the complete lack of safety protocols that result in an unacceptably high casualty rate. They just deploy a bunch of people, completely unprotected and unmonitored, thus it’s very easy for anyone to die because he does something risky or, even worse, to kill his fellow hunters and run away with their gear and loot without anyone questioning what actually happened.

4) The videogame terminology works against it

The infusion of videogame terminology can cater to gamers, yet unwittingly creates a jarring dissonance for everyone else. Having statistic screens with levels and numbers and abilities may lend a certain allure within the confines of a virtual world, but when applied on the real-world such elements become a detriment. The reason we need statistic screens in videogames is because we can see and hear, but we don’t experience pain, emotions, or hunger as we do in reality. That is why numerical indicators for health, emotional state, and fatigue serve a vital purpose. However, when we are in the real world these metrics become redundant since we do feel pain, emotions, and hunger. Such videogame mechanics make sense in, let’s say, Sword Art Online, but not in Solo Leveling. It’s why the protagonist’s incessant monitoring of his health bar or fatigue gauge was making me eye-roll. It underscored his detachment from his own bodily sensations, as if he had no idea if he was tired or not. Also, being heavily injured is simply more natural than saying ‘My hit points are down to 18%’.

5) The protagonist lacks agency

Beyond its superficial appeal, the videogame aesthetics employed in Solo Leveling also strip the protagonist of free will and agency. His actions are dictated by the videogame system, rendering him a mere pawn in its machinations. Choices presented by the system are illusory at best, since they simply ask him if he accepts to do something or be severely punished. Do your daily quests or get chased around by monsters! Complete this special quest, or die! Your health is down, so buy potions! There’s nothing to actually choose in any of that. By extension, the protagonist’s accomplishments feel staged and unearned, since he would have never done anything without the enforcement of the system.

6) Character development is sudden and artificial

Any changes to the protagonist’s personality are artificial for a similar reason, since they too are imposed by the system rather than arising organically from within. They are also fairly sudden, which comes off as extra jarring when the pacing is overall glacial. The protagonist literary becomes a different person in an instant, then the animators go as far as changing his facial structure completely, and then the viewer is expected to be fine with it. How about no, since it was both artificial and sudden?

7) Moral dilemmas are hollow

Any attempts at moral dilemma also ring hollow, such as a scene where the protagonist has to choose between killing people or dying himself. There is no real choice, especially when the people he had to kill were already about to kill him. Furthermore, said people were one-dimensional evil bad guys, made to be hated. Their leader’s name was Sucks Dong, in case you weren’t given enough reasons to hate this guy. The writer wasn’t even trying, yet he expected the viewer to consider this a life-changing moment.

8 ) The protagonist is not an underdog but a cheater

Down to it, the protagonist was designed to be a blank slate for gamers to project themselves onto, but this inherent lack of agency detracts from his appeal, rendering him a bland archetype devoid of genuine depth or charisma. Undoubtedly, there is an audience for bland-looking self-inserts who get constantly betrayed by society and then get constantly more powerful so they can extract their revenge. The main issue with this bland-looking self-insert in specific is that he is not an underdog or a victim as many fans like to portray him as.

- He is the only one who can level up in this show, so you can’t call him something that can’t apply to anyone else.

- He is not a victim when the hunter association allowed him to be a hunter and all his teammates (including the ones who wanted to kill him) were very welcoming. Nobody denied him the chance to participate or to prove his worth through his accomplishments.

- In reality he is a cheater, since he doesn’t tell anyone how he gets stronger and he has several unfair advantages over everyone else. No other hunter is given a life-saving full recovery in the middle of the battle, or the option to buy potions as he is dying. It’s not the system giving him the change to get stronger. It’s the system being rigged so he will be the only one who gets favored by it, thus becoming stronger while everyone else is kept in the dark (and dies because of it).

9) Grinding and training are filler

The portrayal of training within the series serves as further evidence of its narrative inconsistencies. There is a portion of anime fans who get motivated by seeing characters training and getting stronger, as if they are gym rats. This show in particular should have the opposite effect, since training sequences in Solo Leveling lack significance. The protagonist’s exclusive access to leveling renders the efforts of secondary characters futile. Gym rat scenes, intended to evoke motivation and empowerment, come off as useless filler. Even if it wasn’t so, training scenes in general are looked down upon by most fans of power fantasies. They tend to find them boring and they skip them, aiming to get to the outcome right away for that sweet dopamine fix. That is why most power fantasies begin with the protagonist being the most powerful since the very beginning. Nobody cares to see him grind. They want to see him being awesome. In this regard Solo Leveling fails spectacularly by not delivering on the genre’s expectations.

Conclusion

Solo Leveling is nothing special when it comes to power fantasies. Its badly implemented videogame tropes, coupled with intrusive interruptions to its action sequences, diminish its overall impact. It’s just seasonal hype during a season with no real competition. And even then it still pales in comparison to Frieren, a cozy slice of life about an elf gmilf. It’s a forgettable time-waster at best.

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.

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.

umm I've changed my mind Why is the anime focusing on other characters beside mc? I don't like this now . Why is mc more Japanese al of a sudden? they cut off his cool character and made him another generic Japanese simp mc with no brain, Won't be surprised if mc falls on joohe's boobs by accident and start blushing. WHY do they keep talking? this is ridiculous!!!!!!Can't they just fight ?? I expected JJK s2 level but it's jsut talks and characters yapping, so frustrating 😤 damn it.

Why is that joohe even getting screen time being depressed and shit lol, IDC AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA just fight fight fight.

FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT, and what's with cha and choi and baiyk ? why should see them Yapping? HA? IDC what are they talking about,

IDC about them training, just show me MC asap AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

The manhwa was a bad story with cardboard characters wish-fulfillment self-insert wankfest done (semi-)interestingly. You weren't bored, you had fun, you waited for more, and were glad to get to read more. Anime is plain bad, the only redeeming thing is that the budget is bigger than that of a typical run-of-a-mill isekai. The way anime handled character growth made me cringe about as much as something like Iseleve, with the typical "I was meh, but now plot device made me tall, shredded, with a cool anime hairstyle, girls wet themselves just by seeing me, and also I shit on semi-strong peers by how strongand cool I am now" without even trying to cover or sugarcoat it.

If I were to summarize my disappointment after all the word-of-mouth advertising going on, it's "Korean SAO, but worse".

This Anime is basically the basic bitch of anime with way to much make-up on and, even though this anime is nothing but a masterpiece when it comes to being generic, it got an 8.5 rating on this site. Now, Im very happy to see that this anime got a 8.5. I wished it would even get a waaaaay higer score, like 9 or 10, because it shows that all this nonsense about deep characters, engaging plat, overall deep and complex story and well written character development and interactions, are completely pointless and no one actually cares about this and only writes this in reviewsor reddit or pornhub or hentai forums, just to justify in some smartass way, why he liked a show (or didnt) even though he/she has no actually clue, why he likes anything in this world. And Im one of them: I have no clue why I dont like Solo Leveling. And I also dont know why I liked another show.

This is something that this anime has tought me and I am very thankful for that: Every human being that has ever lived or will live, knows absolutely nothing about life or him/herself. We are all fucking stupid, and we know nothing about anything.

If you like mindless self-insert power fantasy with decent animation you'll definitely enjoy Solo Leveling. This anime is just your standard run-of-the-mill power fantasy that doesn't do anything to stand out. Its only somewhat redeeming quality is its okay animation. I went in with no expectation and was still disappointed, I can't describe this show without the word cringe. I'm not sure if the show was written by a 15 years old loser who never had human interaction in his life or by a self-aware author who just wanted to cater to a wide audience. This series just doesn't have anything worth mentioning: the characters aresoulless, the MC is the most plain piece of crap imaginable designed so that every pathetic loser can relate to him, the story is non-existent and the animation is decent, while it definitely has high highs it's also very inconsistent.

The MC, Jin-Woo, is just your average self-insert power fantasy protagonist: physically average in every regard, dark-brown semi-long hair, kind and weak. Of course he has a female sidekick that's just madly in love with him. Since the show follows an arbitrary videogame logic, she is obviously a healer because she's a weak-minded girl and all she does is shout the MC's name and cry. The MC starts off as the weakest character in the show so that he can be constanly victimized but while exploring a low level dungeon he finds a high level secret area and somehow just becomes insanely overpowered (surely this hasn't been done a hundred times before already). His new ability allows him to cheat and completely ignore all the rules that everyone else has to follow, because he's so fucking special and he's the only character that matters. After this incident he gets a glow up: he gets a hot body by working out for a few days, his face changes, he gets a haircut, his voice changes, he becomes taller, he now wears a hoodie with a zipper because it's cooler I guess and everyone is in love with him because surely women only care about looks. Now that he's overpowered he can do whatever he wants and even his personality changes, he becomes absolutely unlikable.

As stated, there is no story, there are only setups for the MC to look cool, because that's the whole point of the anime, and I guess in a way it succeeds in that regard; I can atleast praise it for what it is and for knowing what it wants to be. But it's just personally cringe and painful to watch. The victimization of the MC literally never stops, his characterization is only done through traumatic flashbacks because having trauma makes you so fucking cool (no it doesn't, it's a serious issue please seek therapy). Everybody in this show is just a piece of shit that wants to bully or kill the MC until he goes full dark Sasuke mode and talks with a lower tone with dramatic music in the background and kills everyone but it's okay because it's self-defense.

In short, this anime is bankrupt in the originality department. You can figure out everything that's going to happen in the series after watching 30 seconds of the first episode. Maybe the author never wanted to write an original story, but atleast they could have made it watchable by having interesting characters or a power system that's not just arbitrary video game logic.

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.

I think this was one of the most popular manhwa/manga before becoming an anime, but being popular doesn't always equal good. From the title and art alone I wasn't impressed, seems like another story using the rule of cool by showing off their edgy MC (main character) being much more OP than everyone else by grinding and having all the girls fall for him later by sacrificing good writting and trying to make the bland-looking MC like a self-insert, maybe that's also fault of other animes with the same flaws leaving that bad experience (looking at you Sword Art Online), so let's see how this holdsup.

Starting off it takes the over-saturated concept of the "isekai world" but putting them on the real world, which adds nothing to the story since they're acessed by portals and despite being in the modern current real world and having the materials to create weapons that damage the monsters, they decide to only make swords and easely-breakable knives (how brilliant), and the monsters? your run of the mill goblins, giant bugs, wolves, ect (how original). Even though in the worldbuilding they say only hunters with superpowers can defeat the monsters, anyone with a weapon can do it too as long as they can afford it which already contradicts what's previously said, the the "superpowers" is stuff like shooting fire from your hands or running fast (how original x2).

Now about the MC, which is always a problem with this type of shows, they making the zero-to-hero approach but in a very bad way, they make the MC start as the weakest so he can WOW everyone else by taking a shortcut and being this rule of cool arrogant edgy protagonist later, as the weak version the creator tries to make him look smart where on reality everyone else is just dumb fodder, he survives by sheer plot-armor and like SAO where you have a much bigger ratio of guys compared to girls, he (the MC) has to have a girl (with the personality of "hey I'm a healer) lovestruck by him for no given reason other than him being the MC. He's given this leveling system unique to him because he's the chosen one or wtv to become stronger (how to fail to make a good protagonist 101).

The main plot is non-existent, the story is boring and predictable (except how terrible it was written in the transition from episode 2 to episode 3, I wouldn't guess it would go that bad), characters are one-dimensional and dumb, the world makes no sense and the criativity is as bland as it gets, honestly there wasn't anything of value here and I fail to see how it got this popular while being so dull, 3 episodes is more of enough to ride off this train before it derails.

✵Solo leveling is a masterpiece, it is truly amazing and I really love it✵ ✵Here's a detailed review of Solo Leveling✵ ✵Synopsis and Background Story✵ Ten years ago, "the Gate" appeared and connected the real world with the realm of magic and monsters. To combat these deadly monsters, ordinary people received magical abilities and superhuman powers and became known as Hunters. Our Main Protagonist 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. Because of his weak power Sung Jinwoo finds himself in a seemingly endless struggle for survival but hestill hunts monsters tirelessly in low-rank Gates to pay for his Mother's medical bills and his Sister's College. One day, after narrowly surviving an overwhelmingly powerful double dungeon that nearly wipes out his entire party, he wakes up in a hospital three days later to find a mysterious screen floating in front of him. This mysterious programme called the system chooses him as its sole player and gives him the extremely rare ability to level up in strength, possibly beyond any known limits. Jinwoo soon understands it may just transform him into one of the world's most fearsome Hunters. He than sets out on a journey as he fights against all kinds of enemies, both man and monster, to discover the secrets of the dungeons and the true source of his powers.

✵Starting✵

Solo leveling is a masterpiece. After watching first three episodes you may think it will end up trash like many generic RPG/MMO style anime. As a Solo Leveling Manhwa and Ln reader, I can assure you that this opinion is completely wrong. The story is filled with plots that make sense, flowing with extremely well written character development, assisted by very good character interactions. Of course, like many stories, it starts out slow but it will get better each episode. This anime will quickly become exciting to watch and you'll continuously be asking for more after finishing each episode. Give it a chance and watch new episode every week, I'm sure all action and fantasy lovers will enjoy this anime.

✵Main Protagonist✵

Solo Leveling Main Protagonist Sung Jin-woo is very well written character. He goes through a fast and really well character development. After getting his new and extremely rare abilities he is able to level up his rank quickly. Through that experience he drastically changes his personality and is able to experience much more action than previously before.

✵Important Characters✵

I cannot get enough of how amazing each important characters are in their own way. The characters are easy to understand, or relate to. Every choices from each important characters makes complete sense based on our understanding of their personality, or their history. We aren't stuck with any characters that have overly unrealistic personalities, which makes reading this all the better. Each important characters goes through a really well character development.

✵Animation✵

The animation is absolutely solid, it flows extremely well and is probably one of the best adaptions of a LN and Manhwa into an Anims I've ever seen. The animation quality is really good and they did a great job of translating the story into animation. The Animation Studio A-1 Pictures takes on the responsibility of taking this story to the realm of animation, and just like they do in all their projects. They really did a solid job. Since Solo Leveling is a battle and fantasy series, the main highlights of this series are action and supernatural elements. The said action has been taken to a higher level by the vibrant art of the Webtoon. Since A-1 Pictures is a veteran anime studio, having colored artwork as the base material helped them in translating the series onto the screen more fluently. Solo leveling anime features stunning visuals and good animation. The character designs stay true to the Light Novel and Manhwa version, with an improved animation quality that viewers can enjoy. In every scene, we can feel the attention to detail given by the animation studio to visualize this intriguing fantasy world. From the backgrounds to the characters' expressions, everything looks so vivid and supports the supernatural feel of the story.

✵Voice Acting✵

Taito Ban’s performance as Shng Jin-woo feels fitting as he begins being weak and unsure, and little by little, we hear his voice changing and becoming more secure in his abilities. Genta Nakamura also does a great job as Yoo Jin-ho, who will become Sung Jin-woo’s best friend and become increasingly important as the story progresses.

✵Opening and Ending✵

The studio delivers a compelling musical score for Solo Leveling.

✵Opening✵-The visuals of the Solo Leveling opening theme 'Level' is mind blowing. The new opening theme 'Level' for Solo Leveling is performed by the famous K-pop group TOMORROW X TOGETHER, and composed by the well known music composer Hiroyuki Sawano. The opening song is really good and it sets the perfect tone for the series.

✵Ending✵-The visuals of the Solo Leveling ending theme 'Request' is also mind blowing. The new ending theme 'Request' for Solo Leveling is performed by the modern Japanese-pop or J-pop singer and song writer krage, and composed by the well known music singer and song writer TK from Ling Tosite Sigure. The ending song is really great and it tells us what is happening with Sung Jin-Woo in anime.

✵Reccomendation and Conclusion✵

I have reread all the chapters many times and it really doesn't get old and same thing will happen for Solo Leveling anime too. The animation, action and the adventure of Sung Jin Woo will make Solo Leveling lovers keep coming back and watch Solo Leveling anime again. You may not see this as a Masterpiece like I do, but it is overall definitely a minimum 8 out of 10. If you love fantasy, action, adventure then this is for you. Give it a chance and watch new episode every week and even when you are finished watching all episodes, watch the anime again, you can also read Solo Leveling Manhwa all chapters. I am sure you will see the beauty in it.

Overall It's a 10 out of 10.

In contemplating the cinematic endeavor under scrutiny, one is compelled to engage in an exploration of its less-than-stellar attributes. The anime in question, regrettably, fails to ascend to the heights of narrative sophistication or visual artistry that are often held as benchmarks within the medium. A disconcerting mélange of disjointed plotlines and an absence of nuanced character development renders the overall viewing experience an exercise in patience. This lack of narrative clarity, compounded by stilted dialogue exchanges and an undue reliance on trite tropes, substantiates the regrettable descent into mediocrity. Furthermore, the aesthetic dimension, a realm where anime traditionally excels, languishes in an abyss of substandard animationquality and uninspired artistic choices. The visual tapestry, rather than evoking awe or wonder, elicits a sense of disenchantment, with character designs and background elements displaying an unfortunate lack of meticulous craftsmanship.

In summation, the aforementioned anime, despite its earnest attempt at contributing to the diverse landscape of the medium, flounders in its execution. The discerning viewer, seeking a confluence of narrative ingenuity and visual splendor, may find themselves disappointed by this particular foray into the anime milieu.

or to say it in the common tongue," overrated as fuk in my opinion ''

Solo Leveling is about as generic of a shounen story in a game-esque setting as it's going to get Your character basically fills the list of main character characteristics - is a coward - is dumb - lots of yelling - lots of flashbacks about being weak The biggest issue isn't the guy being a coward, it's just repeated too much, and doesn't feel explored properly. But second to being weak is that he's also dumb. The guy has no thoughts about how to play around his weakness, doesn't try to analyze the situation or the enemies to get an advantage. He basically goes head first into everything, and guess what,it always works out.

Are you struggling to fight off 2 wolves? Don't worry, you'll suddenly be able to fight off a dozen wolves easier (for no real reason).

Did you put all your points into strength? No worries, you'll move like you put them all into agility, while tanking hits like you put them all into vitality.

Did you leave your intelligence at default? No worries, you don't need it anyway, because everything will work out because you're the protagonist.

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As for the rest of the show, the yelling and flashbacks are per usual to these kind of stories, and they're always bad because they last longer than needed and detract from the current scene.

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Overall, this is basically main character syndrome made into an anime. There are basically no other characters, besides a love interest who's currently sidelined.

As others have said; Cope. This hardly sets itself apart from the COUNTLESS titles of the same mediocre game HUD based isekai-esque drivel flooding anime since SAO. MC: The same underdog story of dreg chaff being blessed with rule breaking special skills and plot armor. Plot: The same mindless punching bags from all other isekais of the type. The same attractive and graceful Mary Sue’s, the same male supporting characters who are bland as sin. Art and sound: The same baseline as literally any other comparable series. Seriously, how does reach an 8? I could only imagine that it’s fan-boy inflation. SIGH.

If you haven't noticed already, Solo Leveling has an anime adaptation that is ongoing as of right now. Fans should have already told you, the anime-only, about what the show should be about (this is important) and how it will break records and shit. And within the first episode, people are already calling it mid, mostly from Twitter. I am a long-term fan, and my profile picture is proof, but this particular adaptation is making me nervous. Because Aniplex and Crunchyroll are involved--the two worst producers out there and fans won't shut their mouths about the spoilers. Some red flags should be noted as well,such as this was originally a Korean manhwa, not Japanese, there are apparently some changes towards the adaptation, and the fact that this is a power fantasy. So many people are doom posting about the show/source.

So how is it for the first 3 episodes? I say it's alright. The show has decent animation and quality (even though the art style sucks ass). The world-building is well-established and not rushed. Sawano did it again with his music, setting the tone for the show. Sucks that the first episode wasn't an hour-long special, it would've been better.

But the pacing is slow as fuck. Anime fans who are used to fast-paced action like Jujutsu Kaisen or any other battle shounen will not last long here. I find that laughable that SL and JJK have opposite pacing problems: one is too slow, but the other is fast as fuck.

Overall, this is a decent adaptation. I hope that it won't screw up in the later parts of the season because that's where it will shine.

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.

The anime is genuinely not interesting, the pacing is horrible, the action scenes feel robotic, the characters are also one dimensional. We all knew that Solo Leveling was never great, it was simply an above average novel that brought the popularity of the 'system genre' in Korean Novel Literature. I was there, I read this shit when it was still an ongoing 'text' novel in 2016, Korean RAW, I used google translate and fan made translations to read this novel and I am more original than any of these 'manga' meat riders who lube themselves before they ride and want to complain about 'I KNEWABOUT THIS MANGA LONG TIME AGO'.

The novel was above average, and the system genre was very good in helping visualize the conditions of the character in the novel.

But the ANIME, where you can SEE, and HEAR, these things, it is simply more than a hindrance to the action, the development, and makes things rather mundane instead.

Story.

It is absolutely mid, and average. But the greatest quirk about solo leveling was the first popularization and introduction of the system which made it stand out from the others. It felt fresh, despite the lack of storytelling from the author. Now that this turned into an anime, the lack of power in storytelling is very VISIBLE, and it is DRAGGING down the quality of the anime.

Pacing.

The director's direction of pacing in the anime is genuinely one of the most horrible quirks with the most extreme fodder looking characters being given so much screen time to yap and explain. They treat the audience like they have a TIKTOK attention span. They cut out most of the rising action that inspires the audience to become excited, inserting unnecessary parts, and most of all interrupting the flow of the story. Holy crap, even the novel wasn't fucking this horribly paced.

Characters.

Lord God, let's be honest here. In the whole series, there is nothing in the MC that makes him STAND OUT, or UNIQUE. Everything about him can be described by the word 'system'. His character development is rushed and not fleshed. His main motivation was to save his mother from said disease, but he lacks the DRIVE, and the URGENCY despite gaining power after a traumatic event. Everyone else is a disposable character, god, even his sister is simply garbage added to make him feel more humane and relatable, but it doesn't work because he SHOWS NO FEELINGS whatsoever throughout the anime that makes me sympathize and relate. Like what others say, he is an Edgy MC where a POWERLESS LOSER becomes super ultra strong and takes revenge and becomes a hero. Self insert fanboys who are losers in real life love consuming this. When I was young in 2016, I was so addicted to this also, but you know what? When you stop being a LOSER and start doing something about it, you actually realize that oh, this guy isn't really all of that.

Nobody matters in the anime except the MC. Even his relationships are FODDER.

Action.

This anime could be considered a shounen, and the actions are relatively straightforward. Let me break down the whole series in one pattern.

1. Weakling

2. Suffers traumatic event, and becomes strong to beat his old challenges.

3. Discovers new enemy, forced interaction btw, and then he gets the urgency to train.

4. Does training and oh my god, almost dies, and gets powerup out of nowhere, a very OP powerup btw to beat an EXTREMELY difficult boss.

5. Never loses. Mary Sue. He will beat everything that he encounters, no matter what.

6. Becomes stronger.

7. Repeat from step 2.

No intrigue, no twists, no nothing.

Disappointed that people hyped this to the heavens and acting like this was the peak of korean work.

Garbage compared to the real heavy hitters. You ever wonder why this novel isn't even in the top 100 in popularity for novels like booktoki?

Yeah, the answer is because it is not that good.

Real heavy hitters ( Novels ) like Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Lazy Swordsmaster, Pick Me Up, King of Knights Return, Suicide Hunter, Returner and the Blind Saint, and Damn Reincarnation steps on this work like garbage easily.

So much brainrot.

Also why the sequel of this anime is straight garbage and very much hated upon within book readers in Korea.

Can't believe I even read through the last part of ending where it was so rushed and genuinely made me question if the author suffered brain damage.

Final Rating.

3/10

I will let it go just because it pioneered the popularity of the 'system genre' in Korean Webnovel Literature smh.

The good: 1) Music - The OP is great and the music in general is fine. If you like singing during your action scenes you can expect it. 2) Animation - The animation is very fluid and done well. Really engaging during action scenes. The okay: 1) Plot/story/setting - The dungeons themselves are pretty interesting, especially the first dungeon that sets the scene of the show. The actual magic/combat system isn't super complicated. Basically there are letter ranks for each different hunter that measures there power level. Not super engaging but its fine for what it is. The bad: 1) Protagonist - Sung, Jin-Woo pretty much falls into the typicalpower fantasy character with hardly any personality, incredible attractiveness and having a more 'chaotic neutral' morality compared to your typical heroic shonen protagonist. It is a shame because the actual character starts out fairly interesting and relatable although that doesn't last long. Most side characters are used as a spotlight for the main character. If you like dark and edgy then you'll like Sung, Jin-Woo otherwise you'll probably find him boring.

Overall: It's a nice anime to switch your brain off too and if you enjoy high action fight scenes with good music then you'll love it. Just don't go into this expecting this it to be a unique and fresh entry for action anime. It's darker but otherwise follows the same pattern of a weak guy powering up to become a giga edge lord who shows everyone else up.

A storm has come for the future of anime. One with the potential to destroy good taste for the next decade, as mass cope and denial run rampant along with the name of this season's new Top Slop Anime: Solo Levelling. Short Summary and ‘TL;DR’ waiting at the bottom. In this preliminary period, most reviews and takes are read as desperate cope from manhwa readers, unwilling to accept that their beloved series has been made into a mediocre, substanceless slop - filled with glaring and awkward issues within its very first few minutes. In some cases these reviews have convinced me in their own words whythis show should be at best, a 5, then proceed to give it a higher rating anyways. It's as if those who don’t like this show slept through some sort of psy-op; people with garbage taste both like or hate this show, and the same can be said of people with good taste. It's bizarre.

This anime wasn't made for greatness of any description, a statement I'm very comfortable making as we are seven episodes in. The character work is lazy or non-existent, the premise is childish, Grade-A ‘cringe’, and the pacing of many episodes, let alone the first three, serves to kill interest for anyone without high levels of patience.

The art is fine, the music is swell, but the rating of five is written on it as-well. Unlike most people it seems, I'm not afraid to delve fully into why this preliminary has thus far been dull, poorly paced and nonsensical, lacking anything to bite down on and actually invest in. I know most anime fans are beyond understanding this, but stories are supposed to be more than power fantasy garbage. Power Fantasy is at its most tolerable when there are things to supplement otherwise uninteresting or predictable story-telling, like the other characters or creative plot-threads, something this show hellaciously avoids.

I’m not going to wait for the preliminary to finish, it's time to accept this creation for what it is: and that’s mid.

Premise -

First, I’ll make something very clear; I don’t give a damn about the manhwa. From a first hand friend's account, I’ve heard the art is good, and by comparison, the pacing and characterization is better by comparison. Something I imagine hasn't changed from the source is the core premise. A shame, because it's of the laziest, dullest and most unimaginative premises one could pry from the depths of their mind: VIDYA GAEMS & DND, IRL!!!

Alright, this isn’t exactly true, but it also kind of is. There are paladins, fighters, healers, and the whole nine yards in this setting. That’s well and good, checks a box on slop fantasy bingo, but seeing a story with this premise commonly regarded as “THE BEST MANHWA OF ALL TIME” nearly made me spit on my monitor.

The gist is this: For no reason that is to be explained in the near future, funky anime portals inexplicably open up randomly around the world (South Korea), and generic, uninspired DND knock off monsters come out of them - presumably to kill people and run rampant. Alongside this slop fantasy epidemic, people begin to “awaken” meaning they get the privilege to LARP and kill fantasy monsters, epic style. The awakening process is of course accompanied by the arbitrary and overused trope of a “ranking system” from rank S at the highest, and E at the lowest. BUT WAIT! What separates this arbitrary ranking system from all the others you’ve probably seen is that once you have your rank, you're stuck with it, forever! (Unless the writers/author decide a character needs to become stronger in the near or late future.)

On the surface is there anything totally wrong with this premise? No, but yes. There are a few problems. Aside from the inclusion of an arbitrary ranking system automatically making you a hack writer, this premise is sloppily presented, serves to excuse any lack of real character growth, and is generally - stupid.

Slogging through the terrible introduction to the world, we understand that these DND knock-offs can’t be killed with earthly weapons. They can only be killed with weapons made from special materials dropped by them when killed, or just generally found inside these portals/dungeons.

If you stop and think for about three seconds you may have asked, “Why don’t these people turn this material into guns, or bullets, instead of LARP’ing a DND campaign?” The answer to that simple: F*** YOU, don’t ask that! This simple question could have been caught and snuffed out in a few seconds of plot pruning, but is completely ignored and to my knowledge; never brought up or justified even within the manhwa.

Issues related to world building are just wildly rampant. There are many easy, yet missed opportunities to better expand on how this thinly veiled world operates and is conducted. Instead, we’re subjected to god awful pacing and scenes which introduce people and plot threads with little or no relevance to what's current. If done optimally, episodes 1 and 2 could have been condensed into a 30/35 minute special. But, you know what, who cares! The Fellowship of the Ring never flew the eagles to Mordor, after all. That excuses everything and anything when it comes to god awful world building!

The main takeaway is that the premise is dumb, childish, and easy to poke holes into. Sloppily presented, as it is in this adaptation. But what about the rest? Surely, the story based on one of the “BEST MANHWA OF ALL TIME” has a gripping story with deep characters, crazy twists, sinister/threatening villains and a well written main character to make up for the god awful premise, right? Well…

- Story

Before we’re introduced to our “Just Like Me!” main character, this anime manages to take a dump on its own chest with the most jarring introduction to a world I’ve ever seen. We open with poorly drawn navy ships surrounding an island. We’re then taken to a scene featuring the most generic slop fantasy LARP characters ever seen in anime - fighting against the Giant Ants from Elden Ring, and utterly contrasting what was just on screen.

If I told you this anime made me laugh, you might assume there's bits of comedy throughout, but the real comedy comes from how seriously this show takes itself. I don’t think anything is meant to be construed as comical, but I found myself laughing every time someone died - or mentioned ranks, magic, and other DND or video game lingo with a straight delivery.

This is truly based on the best manhwa of all time.

After we’re through the terribly delivered exposition and world building, leaving more questions than answers, we finally get to sink our teeth into the pulsating flesh of our main character, J…! Something. I think his name is kinda like that one guy from some Korean R&B group? Jim-Man John, I think was his name? (RIP G.O.A.T)

I don’t know, I’ll just be calling our MC Jim from now on, only for the sake of this review's english localization. Some Jim-Who. The character of which the entire world revolves around.

We’re introduced to Jim through a very clever and subversive character introduction where two nameless and ugly bastards talk about him with zero substance.

There's fat-man, and skinny-man. One of them describes our MC as the most useless, worthless human being on the planet, incapable of killing so much as a fly. Jim himself is aware of how much of a loser he is, which I imagine is supposed to heavily resonate with the entire target audience for this genre of anime. Despite being a massive loser, Jim endeavors in his career as a Hunter, the name for the people bestowed with those arbitrary ranks. As expected, Jim is the absolute lowest rank and is an active burden to everyone he works with, unable to pull his weight to even a minimal degree. Regardless, he persists in this pursuit as he is the only breadwinner for his family, trying to pay for his little sister's schooling as-well as his comatose mothers sickness.

This doesn't sound that bad, right? Jim’s initial character and motivations give us maybe just a little bit to nibble on, but we have a problem here - the taste turns to sulphur the moment you begin thinking. Delving just a bit further into the first episode, Jim’s level of uselessness is presented as nearly comical. Correct me if I’m wrong, but there are many ways to make money in this world, no? The career as a ‘Hunter’ is supposedly a fast way to earn profit, but it's also explicitly alluded that payment is in line with your CONTRIBUTION. Jim literally can’t do anything, he is as useless as described. I’m saying, this idiot shouldn’t have been our main character. The author was fishing for sympathy points and went too far, making our main character seem like a massive idiot rather than sympathetic. Although, him being an idiot and making poorly thought choices at-least remains a consistent character trait.

Moving on, some things happen and Jim drags his feet alongside a group of hunters conducting a “raid” on one of the DND portals, clearing out a dungeon until they find an optional path. The group decides to vote whether or not to continue, leaving a split decision and Jim to break it. Now, with everything there is to know and has been seen of this character so far, any choice other than cutting his losses would leave Jim looking not only STUPID, but short-sighted, selfish, ignorant, and BRAIN-DEAD. You can most likely imagine which choice he decided to make, because otherwise the story would end there. The events following this are extremely spoilerly, but to gloss over it: Things happen, characters become either stupid, unreasonable, or smart because the author needs to create cheap and sudden tension - which doesn't even work as there is no real tension in the sequence I’m describing.

He made a clear cut mistake, yet in the aftermath he feels no visible or real guilt and faces no immediate consequences, a running theme for most of his actions - he even benefits in this instance.

Otherwise, Jim-Who as he is introduced is awful, almost worse than what he quickly becomes. This character sucks, a laughable attempt of creating a character cheated by ‘muh society’. Lazily and poorly written around a poorly rationalized motivation, a combination ill befitting the so-called, “Best MANHWA OF ALL TIME”.

Though, at the very least, Jim has the luxury of being ‘written’, unlike ANY of the other characters, a poisonous root problem this anime suffers from chronically.

- Characters

Usually, I have a lot to say about an anime's cast of characters, even some of the worst garbage I’ve ever watched leaves me with more than a footnote for most of them.

But here? This anime breaks new ground, as none of the side characters have any meaningful writing or development. Nobody is allowed to say or accomplish anything without minimal loose involvement or relevance to Jim-Who. Seven episodes in, and the only major character with a semblance of development and motivation is Jim-Who’s, of which becomes artificial and unimportant respectively.

Jim’s sister is an empty kawaii girl husk who only complains or talks at her brother about her brother. She looked like she had an important friend, but they’ve never been seen since episode 1.

Jim’s mother is a comatose vegetable, not even a tasty one. I said I wouldn’t talk about the manhwa, but I know the animators had to add the scene where Jim actually visits her in the hospital, because it doesn’t actually happen within the span of 50 chapters. She’s only one of his primary motivations, totally not important at all, right, author? There was also a funny flashback where she spontaneously falls on the floor and nearly cracks her head open.

The following isn’t a spoiler, as I find anyone could see it as painfully predictable.

Fat-man from before signed his death warrant in the first episode - making the mistake of announcing he has a wife and child with no prior prompt. He was just husk only tasked with talking about Jim-Who. Skinny man is the same, except he didn’t mention his wife and child so he didn’t die - but he may as well have cause he’s no longer relevant. So, why’d he exist to begin with?

One of the hunters, a girl, at one point warranted mention as she was unconditionally clingy and concerned with every breath drawn by our MC, Jim. However, she hasn’t been seen since episode 4, so I guess the show is trying to tell me she doesn't matter.

There's a pattern here. Most minor characters like Jim’s Sister are just brainless bug-men and women who have no goal or task of their own that doesn't involve the main character, Characters talk at him about things in brief stints of ‘tell don’t show’ garbage, which infests light novels and slop anime everywhere.

So, this brings us back to Jim, he’s an idiot, but the show fails to present him as one, instead jarringly transitioning his character into a knowledgeable Wizz-ler with no build or prior alluding. Had the Fat and Skinny man instead said, “This guy is a useless loser, but he’s pretty smart too.” That would correct his sudden character contradiction, but also create another, because if he were smart he would’ve opted for a career he can actually perform in. Would a skinny twig-let go to college football tryouts? No. So why is this useless idiot trying to be anything but a McDonald's cashier?

Though, we still aren’t through with Jim and never will be, because now we approach the crux of the show's namesake. Here, Jim-Who no longer needs to have ‘character’ development at all! Not outside of what’s artificial, contrived, or uninspired.

- The Best Manhwa of All Time (How to Level Down Your Story Telling)

The third episode triples down on the bad pacing by being slow and dull, wasting precious seconds on nonsense which could have been used to develop anything or Jim-Who himself. But, at this point any development for Jim-Who will only be artificial.

Here, Jim finds out he became the Hokage or something, because it's finally time for him to walk the path of becoming our overpowered and unbeatable protagonist, gaining the ability to ‘level up’ as the title suggests. Because some things happened in the last episode, Jim has had some form of what's called a ‘second awakening’, where a hunter might arbitrarily change to a higher rank because the author wants them too.

The introduction to this concept is made redundant and confusing shortly after - because what actually happened is through arbitrary and chance means, Jim now gets to do real life video game quests; so that he can level up his new video game stats and skillzzz.

Anyone who still thinks this story is worth a 10 or anything near it needs to book a clinic visit.

The video game garbage levels down the storytelling in the sense that Jim-Who will only have development and changes through arbitrary means, rather than as a person. We may as well be watching an actual video game character.

The worst has to be, despite being a real human being, Jim-Who has ‘fatigue’ as well as a literal health bar - though the ladder isn’t shown until a later episode, used to create cheap tension while Jim-Who is fighting ‘on the ropes’. This doesn't matter, anyways, because both mechanics are regularly forgotten about or unmentioned at different points, to where I forgot that fatigue was even established.

But now we’ve finally reached the crux of the issue. Every single character likes Jim-Who, or they will suffer consequences. Character interactions not including Jim-Who are either about him or something poorly implanted where the story currently is. Jim-Who is the world - so as a result the world, characters and setting all suffer tremendously and are left meaning nothing because Jim is lacking as a character. If the world and characters mean nothing, what's the point of watching Jim do anything or beat anyone when the outcome is as predictable as knowing when you’re next going to breathe?

Obviously this is going to be the focal point in 'Solo Levelling', don’t fool yourself into believing nobody understands this. The point is to watch Jim-Who beat monsters and level-up, and even that aspect is dull and bland.

Jim levels up, says something stupid, has a flashback or screams, then wins.

He isn’t allowed to fail or develop as a person, the author practically hand holds him through any difficult character moments through the floating screens. I don’t find him relatable at all, despite relatability supposedly being one of his redeeming qualities. Sit back in your gaming chair and think, what else is there to know about Jim-Who? He has a sister, a mother, is an idiot, and wants to get stronger. If you can compile a greater list I’d be more than happy to read it.

- The Rest of the Crap, Cont. (Residue From My Notes)

The only thing I can think to commend this anime for is this: With how seriously this anime takes itself, I’m still surprised that thus far, this anime has NOT overly sexualized women or school children. No big, distracting, ill placed bouncy breasts like other trash. No ‘fanservice’, none of it. This is very shocking in this hellish dark age of anime, and oddly refreshing. I can’t wait for it to be contradicted in the near to late future!

Besides that very welcome exception to the cliche’ rules of anime, this show takes itself way too damn seriously for what it is. If you were to look at my profile or merely this review, you would be under the assumption that I just hate fun, or anime as a whole. While the second statement can make a hardy debate topic, this show is anything but fun, but by all accounts you’d expect it to be. The premise is so silly you would expect some clever jokes, subtle humour, etc. Instead, this show treats itself with such gravity that it loops around and becomes hysterical. The opening scene features people getting straight up disembowelled, to where they begin bleeding a slaughter house’s worth of blood by themselves.

The unintentional hilarity from the buckets of blood only increases with time. I won’t go into detail, but there is no shortage of moments where a certain someone is getting thoroughly killed to death, and you’ll wonder how they haven't died from how insane and goofy it looks - which destroys any tension there could’ve been.

- The End of Good Taste - Conclusion/Short Summary

Is this truly based on the “best manhwa of all time”? Doesn't feel like it to me. If you’ve bothered to read this far or watched bits of it yourself, does it feel like that to you?

I first wrote this in the context of only episodes 1-3, before it was removed for being too epic and cool (Editing in further context is not allowed). Though now on episode 7 I found I had to rewrite very little, as most core points still stand strong.

The premise is rotten, becoming worse as Jim-Who ‘levels up’. The Storytelling is lazy, poorly paced and predictable. The characters are unintelligent or given nothing to work with. The world is held together with paper and tape - vulnerable to having half a dozen holes poked through it within the first episode, which are never to be addressed. These points should be apparent for anyone who has viewed media for more than fifteen years, yet they seem to have gone over many people's heads.

Try not to take any offence to this reader, but this story comes off as hackily written, dull, cookie cutter, power fantasy slop - hardly different from light novel garbage infesting each new season of anime. Video games and DND in real life. Damn, why didn’t I think of that after the age of twelve? I might’ve been rich, or something.

We are halfway through the season, so at this point it's safe to assume nothing will change in the grand scheme. The idea that this show could even scratch the surface of a 10/10 in someone's mind is utterly baffling, helping to create the diluted rating of 8.46 at the time of writing. Still, I may hate this show, but I still love how it tries, how seriously it takes itself. I’ll probably keep watching for the spectacle of such bland storytelling being unproportionally popular.

Besides episode 7 being a vast improvement compared to the others, I can’t think of a single thing I genuinely like about this whole show. Rather than a rating of 3 or 4, I still know in my bones that a 5 is still where it belongs.

My interpretation is that most who like this show to an unrealistic degree are subconsciously forcing themselves, since the source material has, for some reason, resonated with a lot of people.

“It can’t be bad, it can’t fail, because what I LIKE is what it's based on. SO, it isn’t bad.” That's roughly the thought process I can imagine.

And so, this is Solo Jelking, in all of its glory upon our screens. Even if you read all of these silly words and agree or disagree with most of them, I have a challenge for you. If you already watched any episode of this travesty, compare my words against your own interpretations. Ask yourself If the things I’ve said are true and if that's what you thought as-well. If the answer is that my words aren’t true? There's nothing more I can say - except this.

“THE BEST MANHWA, OF ALL TIME” sure does make for a pretty crappy anime.

TL;DR: This anime is not good, all of its hype is based around the source material, where people describe how cool things are when they haven't even been shown on screen yet - or are worse, completely made up in their head and don’t match what we’re actually watching. The best words to describe every aspect of this show are arbitrary, contrived, and mid. It feels like you’re watching a different show than everyone else. If you have no bias going in, just know most people are all talk. Something this generic, uninspired and poorly organized in every way has no business being considered THE BEST, or anything close to it.