Solo leveling is currently the anime hype of the year. The first part has now ended and after the 12 episodes, MeinMMO author Nikolas Hernes wonders why the series is so hyped, because he was disappointed after watching it.
Solo Leveling is based on a popular manwha from Korea and also has an anime series from A1-Pictures since 2024. The series is about Sung Jin-Woo. He lives in a world in which portals with monsters appear that have to be defeated by so-called hunters, i.e. people with special abilities.
The Portals and Hunters are ranked based on their strength. Sung Jin-Woo is in the worst cluster as E-rank and is considered humanity’s weakest weapon. After a dungeon experience, he gets a new ability that allows him to level up his strength and other attributes. His new ability is similar to that of a role-playing game. Through quests he receives new items and levels up in the process.
You can see a trailer for the series here:
The story couldn’t grab me
First of all, I have to say about myself personally that I am not a fan of the Isekai genre. I haven’t read the Solo Leveling manwha either, so my opinion only refers to the anime.
The story surrounding Sung Jin-Woo didn’t work for me at all. His only motivation is to get stronger and save his mother. In principle this can work, just look at Fullmetal Alchemist, but the main character also has to be likeable.
Unfortunately, Sung Jin-Woo is hardly memorable for me. I find its design quite boring and character traits are sadly lacking. He’s just clumsy at the beginning and super cool later. Although Luffy, Goku and Co. are not deep characters, their design and behavior always have charm.
The supporting characters are also nothing more than just cool or evil. I’m missing characters here that serve as a contrast to Sung Jin-Woo. The only one who comes to mind is Jinho Yoo, who wants to build his own guild and comes to the dungeons with his expensive armor. I found him the most likeable of all the characters.
The lore is also missing. How exactly does the government and the Hunter Association work with its guilds? In the first 12 episodes this is not tangible for me, which means there is a lack of understanding of the world. The only thing I took away is that companies need resources from the dungeons.
The fights are good, but nothing more
My entire frustration with the series actually stems from the first episode. I found it really strong. It was brutal, dark and shrouded the seemingly nice world in a dark light. I missed that later in the fights. Of the ruthless premise, only Sung Jin-Woo remains.
The fights are quite good and entertaining, but they are always structured the same way. He tries to fight, suddenly becomes badass and edgy and shows how brutal he is. Although it is entertaining, you won’t find a fight between two ideals like in other Shonen series. When people clash in Naruto, it’s usually a battle of principles.
The choreographies didn’t really convince me either. Like I said, they’re entertaining, but when I think about Chozo vs. Yuji from Jujutsu Kaisen last year or Kenpachi vs. Gremmy from Bleach, there are shots and scenes that are burned into my brain. Unfortunately, I completely miss that with solo leveling.
At least the last episode did something interesting with Sung Jin-Woo, which makes me excited to see what happens next. The series isn’t bad, the fights are actually quite good, but I just can’t understand all the hype. There are simply series with more interesting premises, fights or characters.
If you’re looking for another hit anime from this year, you’ll find it at Frieren: A current anime takes first place among the best anime of all time, ahead of Fullmetal Alchemist and Attack on Titan