As expected watching the first season, Solo Leveling continues with a generic wish fullfillment teenager story. The main character doesnt have any personality and the whole idea around him is the same as your usual +18 doujin: self inserting. It may sound like an unfair comparison, but that's intentional — the protagonist is like a custom character from a videogame. There is no story, just a bunch of fights and an immature setup, both literally and conceptually. The animation is really nice but we are in 2025, even some comedy anime have really good animation and in a few years it will the standard.
Credit where it’s due: the studio delivers high-quality action scenes with great polish but sadly there is nothing more good to say about Solo Leveling. A random stereotypical guy becomes a demigod with insane plot armor and smacks the ass of every bad guy eliminating any sense of tension or growth. This is a story aimed for a young audience at the end of the day, but that isnt an excuse to not create a nice product; Ghibli movies often aim for the same audience and the final product is usually pretty good. Maybe I was expecting a lot for a self-insert isekai videogame type of story I was expecting a compelling product not a glorified "youtube anime fight recopilation".
There are a few secondary characters like the girl that likes to smell Jinwoo, your mc. Jokes aside this girl is one of the most relevant side characters but she is plain, functional and empty; she and the rest of characters only exist to show how strong is the next monster that Jinwoo is gonna beat with ease, only to emphasize the protagonist’s superiority. They are even more lifeless than the mc, and thats crazy to say beacuse the whole concept around Jinwoo is that he is soulless so you can self insert easily.
So basically the story revolves around him, but he isnt a well-written character, is almost impossible to connect to him and want to follow his journey. His victories are guaranteed, his struggles superficial, and his story largely devoid of any emtions. His life is pretty basic and all around him is almost meaningless. There are a lot of ways to write a "Gary Stu" but this isnt a good one, he just wins everything like whats the point of watching the show at this point? If you dont insert with his persona your only option is to watch a demigod fighting and knowing he is gonna win.
I cant say a lot about this show because there is nothing to say. If you want to turn off your brain and watch some eye candy I recommend it, A-1 Pictures is full of talented people. But there are no emotions, no romance, no slice of life, no character development, no strategies, no nothing is just an average novelty shonen storyboard. Not recommended if you're looking for a quality show.
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