This is a review of the first season of Hardcore Leveling Warrior (which are 183 chapters)
I read Solo Leveling and i was amazed at how much enjoyment i actually got from there, i had heard that manhwas and webcomics were super cheap, simplistic and overly stretched stories. And yet Solo Leveling is to this day one of the most enjoyable things ive experienced, it was fun, thrilling, exciting, colorful, and masterfully crafted around a simple narrative core. Its a story about the weakest man, the one everyone spits on, becoming the strongest and leaving everyone in shock at how amazing he is. Kinda sounds like SAO, white, black haired standard guy as a protagonist, a plot thats about a game and how this game starts to merge with reality and affect peoples lives, etc. Its got a decent and interesting cast, stunningly beautiful drawings and it goes straight to the point with a story that starts cunningly twisting itself to become something thats fun incarnated. Solo Leveling is in my eyes exactly what i wanted from SAO back in the day, they arent entirely similar, its just that they share a couple of similitudes that allow me to make such comparison. And its also to make an emphasis on this point: I think you can most likely find the kind of story that you have been secretely craving for in webcomics or manhwas.
I have been a fan of videogames and rpgs for as long as i can remember, and so i have always wanted to find a story that merges videogamey elements correctly and makes it actually fun and logical. And im happy to know that theres a lot of manhwas and webcomics that make proper videogamey narratives, Hardcore Leveling Warrior is one of those.
Can you imagine actually being able to play a game in your sleep, in which you got total control over your body and senses? It feels and looks like real life, and time goes slower than in real life. Which means that one single hour of sleep can result in hours of fun with friends and other people. Since we arent talking about a simple rpg, we are talking about an actual mmorpg in which everyone can participate. No tricks, just plug some headphones, download the app, and once you are asleep you in the game. This is where Hardcore Leveling Warrior begins, a world like ours in which people can play during their sleep.
The protagonist is the hardcore leveling warrior himself, a young millionare who has made a fortune by playing this game and being the absolute best. Hes not only the number one, hes even better than what the title can even begin to suggest. And of course that a dude like this would be an absolute asshole, hes a total dick, he doesnt care about other people, looks only after himself, makes fun of everyone and trolls people. Until he gets misteriously killed by a weird player like figure who appears to be using some kind of cheat.
So now what? He has to start all over again straight from level one, and so the people who he once made fun of start to make fun of him and just straight up bullying the guy. To make matters even worse, before dying he accumulated a large debt which he cant no longer pay since he isnt the number one anymore and doing low level jobs in game only pay for basic foods and nothing more (This is something that gets explored further into the webcomic, how the game world and the real world are tied when it comes to economics in many ways, and how money is translated from one world to the other). The money he was once making by taking in high level quests that no one else could do is no more. And this is important, because this is not only a story about the game itself, its also a narrative about the struggles that these people go through in their real lives while not playing the game. The hardcore leveling warrior is actually a man who got involved with the mafia to get everything he has, and once he can no longer pay to maintain that lifestyle he starts to get some really gut wrenching treatment and threats. He is locked up and forced to play the game all day until he can pay for his debts. He gets beat up constantly, only receives water and very little food once in a while, and overall has to live with the constant fear of being killed. And this is one of the most extreme cases, because there are also characters with a more "normal" life, characters who after logging out go to work, study, etc. These are real people, this is a story that explores both the game and the real world and the kind of people that these guys are in each scenario.
This is where the journey begins, a journey that spans over 183 chapters and is frankly one of the most entertaining stuff ive seen in a while now. During the first chapters theres a lot of parodying going around, you can see how the author draws characters from different games and series and theres plenty of jokes going around. For the first 20 chapters or so this is pretty much a mindless fun story that keeps escalating, its pretty much a simple story with cool looking fights and plenty of references.
At a certain point, the author starts to put more effort into the drawings, and by chapter 30 you can actually see how he starts trying harder and harder. And the same happens in the narrative sense, the story starts to take itself a bit seriously, not too much tho, its nothing pretentious. And its... wow... its actually fucking fun and emotional. Its really good! At this point theres less and less character references from other series, but you can see how in each arc (and believe me, theres pleeenty of arcs in here) theres inspiration from different stories.
The Hardcore Leveling Warrior himself is such an asshole and a piece of shit, and yet by the end of the season you will most likely be in absolute love with his charismatic and jester like personality. Hes a true jester, that kind of lovable jester that you cant help but absolutely adore and cherish. The same happens with the rest of the protagonists, they start kinda lame and simple at its core but they just keep adding layers and improving and by the end of it, those guys are completely different people and you have seen them evolve in that way. This author clearly knows how to handle character development in fun, interesting and clever ways.
I started reading this out of curiosity and boredom, and hey, i love rpgs and i loved solo leveling. Why wouldnt i want to read a webcomic like this? And it not only delivered, it not only scratched that itch for videogame like stories, it made me happy and its one of my favorite things of all time right now. It completely switched the way i see stories, i used to look for overly complex narratives and themes. And now i understand that the main thing i want from a work like this is to be fun, compelling, emotional, exciting and heart warming. This isnt a perfect story, its pretty much a mix of different elements from different series and stories in many ways, the drawings themselves most of the time arent exactly the best and i can totally see a lot of people being put off by this webcomic. But after experiencing it, after having extracted so much enjoyment for it i can only hope that at least 1 person from the ones that will read this review will decide to give it a shot, and hopefully, have as much fun as i had and will keep having with it.
If i had read this a couple of years ago, i would have given it a different score. But now i feel like an 8 is more logical. As someone who aspires to one day make a webcomic, and deep in my heart, this is a 10/10.
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