Solo Leveling
a review by NotNoob1
a review by NotNoob1
It’s great and almost comparable to the likes of JJK in action-oriented scenes. Adapted by A-1 Pictures which also made Kaguya-sama: Love is war, 86, Lycoris Recoil, Your Lie in April, the original Sword Art Online and many more, the studio managed to animate Solo Leveling beautifully and smoothly. While the amazing manhwa art style couldn’t carry over to the anime, the anime compensates with excellent animation. This phenomenon isn’t uncommon, as a more detailed art style would typically implicate less fluidity in the animation as a trade-off. As such, I believe it’s well-balanced since it has amazing animation while it doesn’t sacrifice the manwha art too much. Though, I would still recommend reading the manhwa since the art is that good.
There’s nothing egregious with the soundtrack or sound design that I could notice. In fact, in some parts, the soundtrack complements the action quite well, creating an exciting atmosphere and tone that fit well with Solo Leveling's type of story. This [soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGXOWPZ64DA ) shined particularly well in its respective scene.
In all fairness, the premise of Solo Leveling is not too unique as it is often seen in power fantasy isekais and manhwas. However, it distinguishes itself from those other stories because it is technically one of the progenitors of this subgenre, popularizing manhwas with similar premises. While it may seem extremely off-putting to new viewers or boring/stupid to more experienced viewers, Solo Leveling handles the idea competently coming from a manhwa consumer. There are appropriate lore reasons for why everything is the way it is (like the game elements or the dungeons). In fact, the whole story is set up and dedicated to this mysterious game system; that’s why it works well in the grand scope of things. This plot point is the overarching concept explored and, perhaps, resolved by the end. It's not a throwaway element that you'd see in a seasonal isekai or a copy-pasted manhwa for which the only purpose is powering up the main character. In a way, Solo Leveling is comparable to the likes of Re:Zero or Mushoku Tensei in that everything is fully fleshed out as opposed to seasonal isekais that will assume you already know most of the isekai tropes.
Many isekais and power fantasy manhwas use similar settings/systems and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. It all depends on how it's being used, and it can surprise you to see how some stories work around it and make it work. Omniscient Reader, SSS-class Revival Hunter and The Greatest Estate Developer use it for intricate world-building and storytelling, while something like Reborn as a Vending Machine uses it for plot convenience to focus more on comedy and slice of life.
Solo Leveling lays more in the first camp. Right from the start, the author sets up the world with key mysteries; they don't have clear explanations not because they're shoehorned in but because they actually need to be solved or revealed slowly at the right moment. Solo Leveling is definitely not the 'no plot, only action' type of story many people tend to use to convince everyone it's bad.
As far as stories with leveling mechanics go (there are many that are way worse), Solo Leveling is probably one of the stories that uses levels as a power indicator the least (contrary to its name). Often times, it's not even about leveling up; it's about training/grinding hard, persevering, utilizing the right skills and items at the right time and fighting as efficiently as possible with "others" (kind of like Sunraku from Shangri La Frontier using the many different mechanics in games). I don't even know his actual level right now due to how rarely it's shown and how unimportant it is fundamentally when he’s the one harnessing and utilizing well his strength through his own effort.
If I were to use a comparison for the leveling aspect of the MC, it's like SAO if Kirito actually trained hard and earned his power rightfully. You could even dismiss his levels completely and estimate how powerful he is quite accurately just by watching his training and perseverance.
In this season, the story sets up the future arcs. As of episode 12, 45 chapters have been adapted, which is a good pacing. A-1 Pictures also puts in the effort to add original anime scenes to set things up and contextualize the world, all amounting to the plot climaxes (some scenes foreshadow arcs that happen 100 chapters later). At this point, the story has essentially finished its prologue phase, so do not expect to get answers and reasons for the supposed “plot holes.”
It is important to note that action and hype scenes paired with beautiful art/animation are Solo Leveling's main components. Everything else is secondary in terms of importance. However, there's still much to take away from the other components since they are what elicit higher emotions from hype scenes, and they can actually be interesting if one takes the time to wait and observe (the pacing and added contextualization are intentionally done for this purpose in the anime). Personally, as a manhwa re-reader, I've come to enjoy the world and the themes conveyed through the MC, plus the action.
One thing to note is that Solo Leveling is unequivocally a power fantasy. Thus, most of the development and focus would be on the main character through introspection and how side characters affect him (Sung Jin Woo’s growth is about perseverance, effort, self-improvement and courage). This is even more true in the manhwa, but the anime takes further steps to develop side characters. Just as A-1 Pictures created extra scenes for world-building, so do they for further characterization, which I appreciate.
[episode 12 spoilers]
[manhwa epilogue small spoilers]
Our protagonist, Jin-Woo, is presented as the “World’s Weakest Hunter”, attempting to provide for his family by placing his life on the line in these dungeon crawls, or “raids”, so he can foot his mom’s hospital bill. It’s an admirable goal…Until it’s completely dropped by the wayside. You see, the big “twist” of Solo Leveling is that the protagonist dies, and is resurrected via something only known as ‘The System’, which levels him up depending on tasks, enemies killed, and whathaveyou. This ‘System’ is toyed around with for but a few episodes until Jin-Woo suddenly becomes a juggernaut, crushing anything and anyone in his path with ease. It’s like a switch flips. Once Jin-Woo receives the system, he forgets all motivation, he forgets all love, he forgets anything that once made him even a sliver human all in pursuit of getting to the next level, in pursuit of ‘leveling’, hence the name.
In pure television fashion, things happen just to happen, it’s sequence over story, something is occurring in Solo Leveling even if there’s no reason to care about it. There are complications without cause, situations without complexity, sequences without story. The fight scenes look rad, yeah! But what’s the reason for them, again?
These plot points are not dropped; they are the main reasons for why Sung Jin Woo does what he does. Of course, the anime will not explicitly and constantly remind you his objectives after you initially saw them. A small amount of induction given from context clues can lead you to the right answer. His mother is dying due to her body not being able to handle the magical particles that came with the new formation of dungeons 10 years ago. His sister is soon going to college and his father is gone (that will be explored later in the story). What he desperately need is money for his mother and sister, as mentioned previously. That's why he still remained a hunter while he was the weakest hunter in the world; he desperately requires money, even if he has come close to dying many times. The anime makes this point by flashing back to his sister’s daily life many times throughout Sung Jin Woo’s raids.
With the new reawakening, becoming stronger is not even a question anymore due to his circumstances (he never says he wants to become the strongest, mind you). Becoming stronger provides much more money for his family due to being able to take on higher reward dungeons and joining rich guilds, as well as protecting himself and his family (the threat of the mysterious double dungeon from episode 1 is still present in fact). He's very much aware that an unknown force could come in his life at any point and kill him and everyone he loves (the circumstances behind the double dungeon are too mysterious for him to dismiss them). The double dungeon incident IS the catalyst for everything he is doing now. More specifically, what caused the double dungeon incident, how is he still alive, what are his mysterious video game powers, how can he cure his dying mother, how can he provide financially for his family, and how can he protect his family from the growing dangers of dungeons (hint: Jeju island)?
The pacing at which the MC becomes stronger is not unnatural. The anime explicitly shows his multiple raids and training he has to overcome. In most fights he is in, he nearly dies. Granted, these fights are often counterbalanced with fights where he dominates opponents. However, that’s pretty much a given in the power fantasy genre. He wins some by a very small margin, wins others utterly, and loses some rarely.
In terms of what is done, in terms of what is accomplished, surely it doesn’t mess up there. All you gotta do is go up levels, make some friends, beat some baddies, and it’s all good, right? Wrong, wrong, wrong! SO WRONG! We’re gonna spend our time wallowing about in high-rise office buildings and dingy alleyways, we’re gonna spend our time in our billionth conversation about ‘Hunters’ and ‘ranks’, we’re gonna spend our time not saving our dying mother, but instead, messing around with businessmen. (Not like that.)
The mother is still completely relevant; the story isn't even finished yet. All those scenes with the other hunters and officials do have meaning, foreshadowing and world building in which Sung Jin Woo will be involved. Again, this season serves mostly as a prologue to set up the world and future plot lines.
Solo Leveling is unmistakably a power fantasy story in a setting that you might have seen elsewhere. However, it does what it does well (i.e. exciting action scenes) and it did popularize this particular setting of the hunter/dungeon and the “gamer.” The writing may not be as intricate as Tower of God, Omniscient Reader or Bastard, but it is done well enough to enjoy the plot lines that culminate in climactic action scenes.
I would recommend watching this video. It expresses most of my thoughts perfectly.
and also
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