Solo Leveling

Different Readers, Different Demands, if you seek a story that's well crafted, deep, brilliant character development, this is possibly not the manhwa for you, but think of it this way, there are generally 2 types of films, there are popcorn flicks, movies that boast an incredible budget and produce extraordinary spectacles, think of the MCU, Mission Impossible, John Wick, and then we have movies that don't necessarily have extraordinary special effects, maybe not a high budget, but is highly praised for its story, for its character development, perhaps The Godfather, perhaps Psycho, you get the idea, now, Solo Leveling is a manhwa equivalent of a popcorn flick, the manhwa does not have a deep intricate story or brilliantly paced character development, but if there's one thing it gets right, is that it's the ultimate fanservice, the art is glorious, and the author knows how to hype, as a reader of many isekai manga and also lots of crappy cultivation manhua, the capabilities of Sung Jin Woo is revealed to the reader in a way that makes us go "damn, what a badass" and not come off as cringe, and I can't forget the art, the art is absolutely glorious, the wide panels especially, ah god, amazing, so basically, if you just want a good time, turn your brain off and read some power fantasy comics from the holy trinity (Japan's Isekai, China's Cultivation, Korea's Monster Hunter) Solo Leveling is an absolute must-read, but if you're expecting an amazing story that rivals that of tower of god or something 20th Century Boys or something, it just ain't for you

Story

If you start from chapter 0. You will get an idea of this manga it contains some spoilers but its kinda like a trailer. The story revolves around the MC Sung Jin-Woo a hunter of the lowest rank who would easily get hurt from the weakest monsters or even a scratch given a second chance by the system to gain the power to get stronger but at a slow pace.

It started out as a simple concept but it gets darker and deeper as the MC discovers something about the system in his adventure.

Art

The art is sick. By the time you reach the necromancer chapter the art goes from good to mind blowing. The art showing the fight scenes is so clean and since its in colour you'll never get confused of the fight scenes.

The characters design are simple yet there's something about them that stand out making them unique in a way.

Characters

Sung jin-woo our MC stands out the most and his character design could not have been better.
Jin Ho which is kinda like MC's younger brother makes the atmosphere light. He's a funny character and you'll love him.

There are some mysterious characters which makes it interesting, characters like MC's father the national level hunters. And some characters from the other side which are mysterious.

Enjoyment

It's really exciting to see the development of the character or how the raid will go, will it turn into a red gate.

Overall this Manhwa is Amazing and you should probably start reading it!

After being in the anime/manga community I too came across the overly popular manhwa called solo leveling. With its 8.9 score and strong reviews, I expected a so-called masterpiece, but oh boy was I wrong.

This review will contain spoilers you've been warned!

First, let's talk about the story, but there is nothing really to talk about. It's your generic week guy "dies" gets op powers and beats the shit out of everyone he doesn't like. BuT hE hAs To Do DaIlY qUeStS tO gEt StRoNg yeah no shit, but I don't think doing 100 push-ups a day is a big enough quest on its own to get this powerful this fast. It's nothing special compared to an MMORPG power fantasy, but it has so many weaknesses and plotholes. First of all the world around us and how it works is extremely poorly written with little to no explanation whatsoever (like the gates or the government or even the classes like mage or assassin are just thrown at us out of nowhere). The other major problem is the repetitiveness of the story. Every so-called "arc" can be summarised in a short sentence, which is: Good guy goes into the dungeon, something bad happens, but it doesn't really matter because the good guy will always win at the end. (Even though it's my personal opinion I hated how the always referred to the first quest of the story multiple times even though it happened like 15-20 chapters ago) The "bad guys" are plain with no original motives or powers whatsoever. And sometimes the story just straight up makes no sense at all (a criminal who's most likely "C" tier gets defeated by an "E" lvl dungeon boss, or the main character can clear an "S" type dungeons defender but then struggles against a "C" type dungeon boss and a "B" type assassin right after, even though the hunters can fell the strength of monsters or others, but they clearly can't use this ability when it can be used effectively in certain situations) And oh boy the dungeons. Every dungeon feels the same, maybe except for the first one. I didn't understand why the writers refused to use more complicated, puzzle-like dungeons (like the first one in the story). I think it would have made a huge difference, because as I mentioned earlier every dungeon follows the same roots, which gets old early on.


The "Characters"
You may be wondering, why I used the marks, but let me tell you, how weak these characters are. Weak isn't even fitting. They are disposable and hollow. Even though we get some character introduction very early on, it is truly disappointing how little their development is. For example, we get a younger sister, an ill mother, a cute healer, and 2 old geezers, but they just feel like clouds floating in the air, with no effect on the world nor the story. Same with the villains. No originality, no foreshadowing, we just get to the next arc, Great! time to meet a new template bad guy. BUT WORST PART IS NON OTHER THAN THE MAIN CHARACTER HIMSELF. in the first chapters, he feels much more relatable being weak and wanting to overcome the weakness, but he just becomes a plain "edgy badass" main character with no characteristics. He just does whatever he wants with no consequences, and he just doesn't feel like a real character anymore.


The only positive element is the art. It is truly breathtaking. Every page feels like a masterpiece when you look at it. The colors and the poses are all well-fitting, it's just sad that it is the only thing keeping this manhwa alive in my personal opinion.


If you just want to read something, where you don't have to use your brain. and just turn the world off for a couple of hours, you can go ahead and enjoy this killing/edgelord orgy. I don't think it is totally unreadable or unenjoyable, but I just can't see the point of this being the most popular/highest rated manhwa on the website.

I started Solo Leveling with high expectations, and I really wanted to like it as much as others did, but the more I read the more problems and holes I found. The whole story just feels empty. It has no soul to it. If I have to compare it to something, I would say it's Sao's edgy older brother but sadly nothing else.

(CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS)

So I've binged this in 2 days. I thought this was reeeeeally good and then I took a moment to think about it... I heard many good things and have seen it everywhere, so I decided to read it. The name popped in my head, and I'm like, "Yeah let's read that. I'm bored." I'd say the only reason I've made it as far in as I did was bc I binged it.

This is my first review so my apologies for bad formatting, etc.

Story 3/10: We follow Sung Jin-Woo, basic main character, in a fantasy world of dungeon conquering, loot-gaining MMORP goodness. Pretty basic. Kinda like SAO but better in... no it's actually very similar to SAO.

Prologue 7/10: In a similar way to SAO, the first arc is actually pretty good in many ways. Not ground-breaking or fantastic, but actually not bad. They get trapped in a super dangerous room, there's rules they have to follow, lest certain death fall upon them. Stakes are reasonably high. Things are chaotic, and the read is intriguing. There's this mystery and dread behind it that drew me in. The creepy smile from the king statue brought back memories of the fish king dude from One Punch Man. That's a good thing. Again, the rules in this double room thing were awesome. Then, the useless MC was actually reliable and used his experience with near-death situations to be useful. I enjoyed it. The set up to the MC and to what I thought was the main female character were good. I'll go more into that later.

However, the prologue and the impact it has are scarcely developed. Early on after that, the fear he felt during the prologue cause him to not have fear during the other dungeons. Compared to what he felt during that, nothing is bad in comparison. But. that's it.

The rest of the stories are so repetitive. you know the formula. He goes into a gate, something unexpected happens, for instance the gate was more dangerous than it seemed. He handles it with ease despite the difficulty change. And then rinse and repeat. That's it.

Art 9/10: The art is really good. Not much to say on it. Anyone who's read it knows.

Character 2/10: Oh boy here we go. MC is a Mary Sue. Basic self insert character for the insecure weebs who are unhappy with their life and want an escapist fantasy to delve into. I say this from personal experience. MC is edgy, bland, emotionless. There is nothing to say bc there is no character. There was a sub plot with his mom that was never developed.

He was fighting so help pay for his mom's medical bills (she's comatose) and pay for his sister's way thru highschool and college. So that's about as much detail into those two things as we're given. There's no development or relation shown between him and his mom, no flashbacks. I could sufficiently describe his mother as this: his mom. There's no character there. She has a scar on her neck that he caused due to trying to... wash her hair with really hot water I think..? It wasn't exactly clear, but that's the closest to development we've seen there and that was about 70-80 chapters in at least. I have no reason to care for this woman because the author hasn't given me one. The sister is bland to. Thankfully, I don't recall any incest implications with the sister falling for MC, but maybe I'd prefer that to the pure nothingness we got. We get clue that she was smart and thought to be a nerd at school, but nope she's just a regular relatable girl at home. She's doing something medical, which is cool ig. Probably related to the comatose mother, but again, no development into that.

One thing I thought would be super cool that was briefly touched on was him losing his emotions. It seemed like when he used the full status recovery when he was in a bind, that he'd lose more of his emotion. Or it was as he grew in level. I think they mentioned anger was one he couldn't feel anymore. I thought that was cool, but it was never mentioned again and he's shown kinda having emotion later in the sense that he saves all the female characters when they're in distress... which they always are, only to be rescued by our hero.

As well, his power progression is ridiculous, he gets overpowered so quickly. I thought there'd be development and progression, watching him climb thru hard work. I thought it'd be a struggle. A couple of the first arcs were a struggle, but of course he overcame it after a sudden boost (status recovery reward).

Then probably my favorite character was the B rank healer girl. She had an interesting character set up at the beginning. She was a B rank, but only went on E and D rank missions due to the fear she got from seeing those monsters, the deaths, etc. THAT WAS INTRIGUING. I was interested in how she'd struggle thru it, overcome it, and how the MC would help her. Things were looking good. Oh wait where'd she go? After the prologue she was just gone for awhile. It was mentioned she had worse trauma after the prologue and the events that transpired there, but no development. The MC never came to her to talk, help, anything. Never do we see her struggle. SHE GETS NO DEVELOPMENT. That made me sad. Instead, everything gets pushed aside to put the focus on MC getting stronger That's a common theme.

Then we see her again, alongside one-armed dude. He was also kinda cool, but I could tell he'd get no development, so I didn't bother getting invested. If only I did that for every character. Then she doesn't face her trauma. She retires... Then there's a little exchange with her and MC, and he says he'll ask her on a date next time he visits her, which he never does.

Then there's the little sister's friend. I thought there'd be development there. She was a highschooler who stopped going, bc she wanted to be a hunter. She was an E rank. The principal called MC in, bc he was a hunter and everyone loves him, to ask for advice and stuff. He then didn't talk to her much, but brought her to a dungeon with the White Tiger guild. She was gonna get some experience, but then nope. We don't see any interaction with her after they enter the dungeon. There's no conclusion to that sub plot they started. We don't see what she decided. Is she a hunter now? Is she gonna finish highschool at least like the teacher advised her to? No idea. Everything gets pushed aside to focus on MC getting stronger.

Then there's the rich kid. He was kinda cool ig. Wish there was more development with him. Again, a common theme. Near the end of when I last saw him (idk if he's mentioned again after chapter 107) his father kicked him out, bc the kid wanted to be independent and join MC's guild (thought MC would make a guild. So far he hasn't). So he goes to MC asking to stay, MC says no, and we find out the kid slept in a hotel. He drops MC at the demon tower dungeon, and we never see him again. Did he find a home? Did he progress with the guild thing? What happened to him? No idea. All got pushed aside to focus on the MC getting stronger.

Then there's that one s rank who could smell a difference in him. She fell for him bc: he's strong, he's the Mary Sue MC, and he was different. He has never had a legitimate conversation with her. I think there was brief interaction between the two in a group setting. That's about it. She was a damsel in distress that seemed cool but did nothing.

Then there's the demon girl. Again, she had no character. I had my last hope for development in a female MC in her, even tho it was already like 90 chapters in. Course there wasn't any. It got pushed aside to focus on the MC getting stronger. She was just there to be another character for weebs to lust after.

All females are cute, clumsy, damsels in distress. They all seem strong at first, but are brought to their knees in helpless powerlessness before our MC once the two of them interact.

Men in the story are usually so unappealing for various reasons. I mean duh. We don't want there to be any potential that MC isn't the BC (best character).

Enjoyment 5/10: This will probably get lowered the further I go on in my life. I enjoyed it kinda. It is NOTHING groundbreaking. It's a bad self insert shounen. Like a really bad one. But it looked cool. Fights were cool. Seeing just how strong he got to be was kinda cool. Just seeing the army was pretty cool. Usually the focus is ONLY on the one guy, but it slightly dispersed to the shadows when they were brought into action. Course only slightly tho. Don't want to distract from the MC. That'd be preposterous...

Overall 3/10: This manga is bad. If you want something pretty to look at, and only just that, then this is ok. I heard ppl being like "Yeah ToG had a bad anime adaptation, yeah GoH had a bad anime adaptation, but wait until Solo Leveling gets an adaptation. It'll be WAY better." I don't see it happening at all. It's gonna be rushed. It's gonna be bad, too. In this case, third time will not be the charm bc this isn't a good manga to work with.

Admittedly, the prologue is like a 7/10 imo, so if they don't at least rush that then it'll maybe be decent. But seeing the other two adaptations, I have no reason to have high hopes for it.

Everything about this manhwa is mediocre. From the story to the characters, nothing stands out from this overdone premise used constantly in Korean light novels like Raid, I am the sorcerer King, Seoul Stations Necromancer, or whatever else. I don't understand why everyone likes this manhwa based on those reasons. However, there is one thing Solo Levelling excels at, hype.

The sheer amount of hype in this manhwa has made my nuts burst with joy. No matter how predictable it gets, when my boy Jin says, "Arise", my heart stops every. single. time. The art and hype carry this manhwa 100% of the way to the top.

Solo Levelling, in my opinion, is fun trash that I enjoy and can be described as an "eyegasm" or even a "hypegasm(?)" manhwa. (Yes, I excessively wrote manhwa to show that I know the term and the difference between manhwa, manga, and manhua.)

Solo leveling was a pretty entertaining and fun read for the first 100 chapters before the main character became an isekai protagonist. The first 50 chapters were a good 8, then the next an average 7, and now it lays at a low 6, the show falling to purely generic instances. Now don't get me wrong, I still read the weekly chapters, but not with the intensity as the previous ones. I'll admit I was considering putting the first season as one of my favorites, as trashy as that is, but the second season was like milking a dead cow and squeezing out content, without the vibrancy or the quality of the first season.

*Season One (Chapters 1-110)

With probably one of the most intense beginnings in all of Manga, my thoughts can only immediately go to the story of Solo Leveling. Known worldwide as the “World's weakest hunter”, we follow the tale of the Korean 22 year old and how his life changes. Choosing to become a hunter as a job, he gets the rank of E, and has no powers. However he still goes into gates, portals that open up across the world where monsters reside and dominate, where when the boss is defeated the gate closes. After being left in a particularly dangerous dungeon for dead, with 18 dying before him, an alert box appears in his vision 0.02 seconds before he dies, welcoming him to something mysteriously titled “The system”, saying that he fulfilled the requirements to become a “player”. Call it a generic twist I can agree, but the execution is what makes the manga. We follow the newly re-awakened hunter Sung Jin Woo evolve and grow. Where it is literally impossible for hunters to get stronger, Solo Leveling tells the tale of the one hunter who could get stronger, and all the repercussions that happen because of that allowing for some insane fights and amazing art.

One of the things I really liked about the first 100 chapters was the world created. So many Manhwa and power fantasy stories have these generic fantasy worlds, focusing on making the main character stronger, and forgetting all other aspects of the world. However, the Solo Leveling took time to slowly integrate the world, dungeons, and gates throughout the story. Unlike many of these other stories that throw all the information at the beginning and never mention it again, the story gives you just enough in the beginning to make you understand and let you go in blind. The 10 chapter greatness that was the first arc was the perfect setup. It introduced so many things along the way while still having minimal conversation using the first arc's fights and circumstances to make it a riveting introduction to the world. It built a world similar to ours that depends on these gates and these hunters, slowly integrating piece and piece of information that creates these instances and the place around the MC. It sets up lots of chapters in advance, the world functions as a world, and things build up and set in play that only gets explored after two or three arcs. We learn about the various types of hunters, gates, and organizations, hunter or not. The Gates were also fantastic, each a different environment and new horizons to be explored. Despite being portals to magical worlds, they were all different missions that somehow explored more of their world and power systems, providing all of those and some sick fights. They were pseudo "missions" to other worlds and one thing you look forward to in the beginning chapters. The world was fascinating, new things popping up each arc, and was only part of the greatness that was Solo Leveling’s first season.

The story also paid careful attention to its power system and characters. While at first, it was the generic "Leveling" power system that you could attribute to many games or isekai, it paid careful attention to the system and added certain attributes, certain kinks, and certain powers that made it the story's focus. The mysteries of the system were slowly unraveled, and the abilities grounded. It became a fully fleshed out power system that had both good and bad, the MC using it actually in a smart way, the way we would. There were some references to other works and sparks of genius, the main character taking advantage of the system, and not the other way around. And while it was the generic "level up" power system, it wasn't used because it was easy to write in but to explore the world and the hunters' powers. The idea of having the Hunters start with a set amount of power and never have it change was great. Just about every show with “powers” allows their participants to get stronger, but it was a great shift on the system where you had the main character with this leveling power, compared to the world where people could not level up. With all the information they added for the power system, we received a complete power system that seemed pretty straightforward but complex enough to match the greats.

Same with the characters. While it was more apparent in the first 50 chapters, the characters were actual characters, not the peanut gallery that hyped up villains in the most generic way possible. Characters had unique and fun designs that fit their personalities, and there were no oversexualized characters. The show had various characters ranging from ones with small arcs, purely strong ones, unique personalities, and even waifus. They were all little pieces of the world that told specific stories and helped build up the world and the story in general. They would each represent certain aspects of the world, from the poor hunters to the wealthy hunters, to the crazy hunters to all the thousands of different hunter classes. And while the story soon shifted to have more characters with less screen time focusing on the A and S rank hunters, they still were enjoyable as they acted like a family and rivals. The shadows(will be explained later in the webtoon) were also enjoyable despite having no diagoulge. Amazingly, their emotions and personalities were conveyed purely through still images, and I wouldn't say no to having a chapter that is just the shadows interacting. Before I finish the first season, two more things: the main character and the art, the main reasons people read Solo Leveling.

The art in Solo Leveling is some of the best ever made. Usually, I prefer black and white Manga, as art looks better there. Many movement blurs, movement lines in the background, and starburst that symbolize hitting, are left out in the colored versions, looking out of place there. These colored comics usually look like still pictures, with the majority of the colored ones making me wish it was in black and white with uneven coloring, shading, and bad fight art. However, none of these complaints apply to Solo leveling. If Vinland Saga's Manga is the king of black and white art, Solo levelings Color is the king of all colored art. Period. While it does start a bit "meh" in the first 30 chapters, it gets so good after that. The fights here are also phenomenal on par with the taijutsu you see in Naruto. Technical to a fault, it's not about who can make the bigger explosion, but how to outsmart and beat your opponents, each character showcasing different and colorful abilities. In the first half, the main character is still the weakest hunter, and he is forced to utilize almost every skill he has, making some fantastic fights and pay-offs that make you sigh in relief or terror. Each fight will leave you on the edge of your seat, the hype constantly increasing the moments that blow your mind. This is one of the few works(Like Vinland Saga) where I only will read the Manga, the art never able to be fully replicated in an animation, Madhouse, Ufotable, or not.

The main character also had a good development as he acclimated to his surroundings and became a top tier chad. While he didn't have a character arc on the level as the best characters in anime/manga, it did exceptionally well for the series it was in and made you root for him. His humble beginnings make you feel nostalgic as he almost grew up. You easily rooted for him, and he changed from the not so confident isekai protag to a more edgy refined man. Now "character development" is probably an overstatement, as all he did is become an edgy badass, but in the series favor, it did fit the change. However, it was this change into a cool older character where the story begins to crumble apart.

*Season two(Chapter 111 and beyond)
Spoilers for Season One and Season two are here, even as vague I describe them. I suggest you read some of the chapters of the story before reading this segment. But here is a spoiler-free 10-word version: Too overpowered, no tension, mysteries bad, characters bad/gone, isekai tier.

Disregarding the epic and hype-filled finale of the last season, the story begins to break apart from here, the small cracks in the first season now more prominent and more evident in the second. The story seems to forget what made the first season so great, and it wasn't an overpowered character one shot every monster. It was when he surpassed his limits, the moments where he made a new discovery, where there was a twist in the gate where the characters had their moments, and where his powers had personalities and were fun to watch. The second season disregarded those factors and decided to power up the main character so that he could beat Goku.

To be fair, the series tries to shed light on how the mysteries and unsolved cases that the first one does and the first 15 chapters were pretty okay. It gave some good buildup, good fights, and decent answers, however after "The Architect," it then began to fall. Cool reveal, but a lousy way of resolving the issue. Despite being only a "Player" of "The System," he somehow overrules the creator and comes out unscathed. The world stops revolving around the sun and revolves around him, as every event has to do with him. While there are still those pieces of information strewn across some chapters and the scenarios different, it doesn't capture the charm as it focuses purely on the fights, ignoring everything else. While the author continued with less information there, the artist didn't allow it, focusing only on the battles that lose their creativity.

Devolving into who can make the bigger explosion or one-shotting the villain, it quickly became hard to enjoy the fights now gone. While I try not to criticize a series due to its art, I have to when it's the main thing it's enjoyed for. The fights lose most of the choreography as Sung Jin Woo is just on a different level to his opponents, and he always soloes the bosses in two seconds. Because of this, tension now rarely appears, as I know that whatever Sung Jin-Woo encounters will be defeated with no problems. Now the series has become smart with handling that, as it targets other people, but the antagonists are usually always beaten as he arrives, which is always before important people die.

The characters aside from Sung JIn woo, Beru, and Igris are forgotten, holding no character in their scenes. The series seems to forget about characters and their roles, focusing purely on Sung Jin-Woo, which doesn't work anymore. His screen time seems boring, edgy in the Manga, being equivalent to having no personality. He had no room left to grow that feels genuine anymore, as it jumps and does power boosts happening too quickly. His vibrant personality disappears, and choosing to be a one-man army allows for no characters to fill in the void. In season two, many chapters of the Manga entail him talking to himself, which with his now bland personality make them hard to read. There has yet to be a single character from the last season who had adequate screen time that was on the same level as last time.

In conclusion, Solo Leveling was a fun and interesting manga that was a self-fulfillment power fantasy that first coated itself with a great world, writing, and characters. However, as time went by, the paint wore off, and we received a hype but shallow webtoon that stand on the face of webtoons, but nowhere near the top 12 manga. While the second season wasn't as enjoyable as the first, it still did the job well, and if you have time to binge a manga, this should be the first one on your list.

Story: 7.5/10
Art 10/10
Character: 6.7 /10
Enjoyment 9/10
Overall 8/10

Review contain light novel spoilers!

I can't believe this manhwa's has a really good rating than TOG or ORV, but in reality for me SL's a decent and boring manhwa with good art adaptation that too overrated and overhyped.
*edited bc it seems too offensive


Story 4/10:
The plot is decent although really easy to expected and lack of plot twist or battle's pattern. The story's just focused to our Gary-stue MC, with his every battle pattern's just Sung Jinwoo (SJW) wants to get stronger- goes to dungeon- the enemies underestimated him- an epic battle with SJW's victory. The story is enjoyable though (especially the Japan's S Dungeon arc, it's really reccomended!!), This manhwa more focused to action and battle that SJW went through without any unnecesary harem/fanservice in the middle of story unlike some isekai animes.

Spoiler ending LN!!!!

But for me the story's really going downhill after Japan's S Dungeon Arc, damn the author's should just stop in that arc smh. After that arc, you would get some filler arc with SJW and Cha Hae In going on a "date" and some romantic moments in a really urgent dungeon break time that threaten Seoul territory.

Therefore i'm a bit upset with this LN's ending (i get spoilers about the ending), why it should be SJW married with Cha Hae In and having a children. It's really unlogical considering lack of romantic moments between them before (SJW that just focused to battle and strenghen his shadow power and Cha Hae In's one sided love and obsession to his 'smell'). I hope that the manhwa's plot will turn the ending just SJW that enjoys his life with his mom, young sister, and shadows without that unlogical marriage ending.

Art 9/10:
This manhwa's art is really good, the battle, color, and shade is really good. Honestly, it's maybe the reason why this manhwa is so popular. And, it's inevitable that SJW's handsome face and braveness bring more plus point to read this manhwa.

Character 1/10:
It's a really pathetic character development that i've ever read. It's not about Jinwoo, he has decent personality (an emo and lack of emotions that every generic isekai mc have) . But, another character except him is just extras that just allowed to see our MC's amazingness. They're not have any distinct personality, if they have any in the later they will get nerf-character that will be a coward and dependent individual that always hope SJW will help them anytime. Damn, even the Country Hunter (or whatever it's name) like Thomas Andre that was a prideful and strong will character will get depended and get nerfed when Jinwoo makes entrance before him.

Enjoyment 6/10:
This story is enjoyable if you just want an easy story with action focused plot that has OP killing machine MC. And this is really a resfreshment for me that searched a good action-fantasy comic that just focused to battle without helping some harem girls and developed romance subplot with either of those girls.
But it's really, REALLY NOT recommended if you want a heavy plot with good character developments.

Overall 5/10:
Anyway, this story is a decent and boring plot with edgy killing machine of a MC that luckily has a good art and nice battle-drawing.
It's really not reccomended to read this if you want a good development plot story.
*sorry for any grammar mistakes.

Review contains minor spoilers


Oh, my, god. What the hell 8,91?!!? That’s higher than ToG’s(Tower Of God)

Holyy, well here we go

Ohh Solo Leveling. I know i’m late to the SL train but, we’ve all heard of this series, whether it be social medias, anime/manga websites, or maybe you just heard of it from a friend. Now, you might ask, “Is Solo Leveling Good?” Or “Does Solo Leveling live up to the hype? Well, no but actually, no. Solo Leveling does not live up to the hype. People will say it’s the “best manwha ever”, or “It has the best plot”, we also have a lot of biased reviews. To tell you the truth, it’s overrated. It’s the definition of overrated. Well here’s my point of view in this review.


Story:

The first 40 chapters were good(i guess), but after chapter 45 or so, it started to declinel In terms of plot, there’s little plot. Now, we all have to remember this is a battle shounen. Battle Shounen’s with actual plot that is good are rare these days. So i’ll just one up my score. But to SL’s story. Well, the story is really nothing unique. It’s your same old “weak-guy-becomes-strong-after-getting-a-powerup” trope. It adds nothing new, we just have the formula of: “Disaster happens, filler fights, Jin-Woo arrives, where the good shit happens, looks badass, end.” That’s basically the whole story. And after chapter 128 Solo Leveling tries to be interesting by pulling a Kurama and Naruto. This fails, as the Carton Temple felt very very very very fast-paced, and ultimately fails as an arc. Sure the sovereign reveal was interesting, but it takes so long for them to actually expand in that.

One thing i’ll give to Solo Leveling tho is World-Building and how realistic the system is and how it would affect this world if it ever happened, so, props to them.

In summary, Solo Leveling is a generic power-trip with a badass mc, it also trys to be interesting but fails, due to lack of expansion. And yes, i did read the Novel. It was boring.(5/10)



Characters:

Oh here we are. The characters. I’ll keep this short since there’s really nothing to say about them.

The characters are really just filler, and just are there to tell us how badass the MC is. They have no personalities whatsoever, and the rare ones that actually have personalities either.

A. Don’t have enough screen-time

B. Have the most generic bullshit personalities in the entirety of comics/manga.

The only interesting ones are Jin-Woo and His Father.
Overall(3/10)

Art:

Possibly Solo Leveling’s strongest point. The Art is gorgeous, and each panel gives off the atmosphere of the situation. This is probably why Solo Leveling gets most of it’s love.(100/10)


Enjoyment:

Although i bashed SL alot in this review, i still really enjoyed this. Power fantasy trash is a guilty pleasure of mine, and sometimes i just wanna turn off my brain and watch an MC slay some mofos. The only real reason i made this review is to get off my chest on how overrated it its, even tho it’s one of my favorite’s.(8/10)

Overall score: 5

my first review yall

Ok this manwha definetly does not deserve a 9/10 score just to get that out there. I think it gets that score because its easy to read and ignore all the faults that are really dragging this manwha's quality down. These faults are

The Charachters (3/10): The main character, sung jin-woo is kinda bland but he has some really cool "edgy" moments most of those are in the earlier sections of this story but he has some bad ass moments throughout. He also had some moments where he made me chuckle. Other than that he's not too interesting beyond his OP'ness. The other charachters in this manwha aren't worth the tasks of remembering their names which is already kinda hard for someone who has this as their first manwha (like me) because the names are korean. They basically only serve the purpose of praising the MC's power from around half way through the story . Chae hae-in, the only other character whos name i remember is only memeorable because shes supposed the love interest.

The Story: (3/10) The narrative is rather nebulous the MC has a goal which i wont say for spoilers but its not very captivating or even prevelant all he really does is grind. There are some questions about some one charachter that got me interested but they werent really touched on in this first season of this manwha. The last arc is pretty ok tho.

The Art:(10/10) This is definetly the selling point of the manwha aside from the MC OP'ness. Most battle scenes are so well drawn and portrayed they make me feel like im watcing an anime

Enjoyment(10/10) Despite the way I was shitting on this manwha before I still really enjoyed it and found it easy to not think about most of these problems before I finished this first season, so thats why im giving it a 7/10 overall its kinda like a "turn your brain off" thing.

Spoilers ahead

I didn't think a new manhwa would come around and give me this much enjoyment as Solo Leveling did. I like how Sung-Jin Woo seems like Yoo Jin-Ho's older brother and they give a lot of emotional attachment. Like the scene where Jin-Woo heals Yoo Jin-Ho's dad from Eternal Sleep.

The only thing I dislike about this series is that Sung Jin-Woo still hasn't lost any battles and he always arrives last minute to the fight. It's a common trope in a lot of battle anime/manga/manhwa/manhua/novel/light novel and it would just be better if Solo Leveling didn't do that.

Solo Levelling is perhaps one of the most frustrating series I have read. It is addicting, hype, and badass as hell. But it has massive flaws that prevent it from being any more than average.

First, let's start with the good aspects of this series. Solo Leveling is entertaining as all hell. The artwork in this series is incredible. It is very stylistic and pleasant to look at. The artwork looks especially godly during the action scenes. Damn those action scenes. They utilize the scrolling format of digital manwha to an incredible extent. This artist NEEDS to do more work because his art was the strongest aspect of this series. The series also has very cool character and monster designs as well. In short, the visual aspects of this manwha are incredible. The artwork, character design, world design are all great and the fights are some of the most fluid and dynamic I have seen in a comic.

However, Solo Leveling starts to fall apart once you take a closer look at the story and characters. The beginning of the story(first 10 or so chapters) is really strong. It introduces a brutal and terrifying world with a protagonist who seems to be an underdog. However, after the inciting incident, the series goes down a repetitive and boring path. The story of Solo Leveling is somewhat non-existent. There seems to be no specific end goal to the story. It is just the protagonist Sung-Jin Woo leveling up, kicking ass, and being awesome. Jin Woo starts with a solid motivation and character but soon just becomes a badass and handsome hero who never loses. He suffers from extreme Kirito Syndrome albeit he is one of the better OP power fantasy MCs I have seen. His motivations become insignificant halfway through the story, and it is hard to tell what makes him tick as a character other than wanting to level up and become the strongest. Other characters in Solo Leveling exist... And that's about it. The characters are lacking in any depth or complexity outside of basic archetypes and none other than the protagonist contributes to the plot in any way. I can count on one finger the character names I remember other than our hero. Also, none of the side characters win any fights. I mean NO FIGHTS at all. If your name is not Sung-Jin Woo, you might as well be fodder.

That all sums up my feelings on Solo Leveling. It is the definition of comfort food in comic book form. It rides entirely on its art, fights, and badassery of the main character to carry it. However, if you are interested in a fun action fantasy series, then I would say Solo Leveling fits the bill.

I'm not going to explain much why I believe this manhwa is extremely overrated, since they are probably people who could do it better, but in general I think people think it’s a masterpiece because of the idea behind it.

So, this manhwa over simplified is about a dude who becomes strong by his own efforts not by chance and that’s why I think people think it’s that good, I think the majority of people that think that the idea behind its original or never done before while they are manga out there that execute the same idea or gimmick a lot better. For example: Boku no Hero Academia, Parasyte (maybe?), Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Hajime No Ippo, Naruto, Haikyuu!!, Bleach, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (also maybe?), Hunter x Hunter, One Piece, Dragon Ball, almost every shonen and a lot more (correct me if I’m wrong).

I think in general the manhwa is not as bad as some say, I don’t think it deserves a 3/10 but also not the spot number 11 in the Top Manga list. It’s okay to enjoy it I just wanted to let people know they’re manga a lot better out there which I believe you will enjoy a lot more if you enjoyed Solo Leveling.

(Sorry for using too much the word think)

Story: 6/10
Art: 9/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Overall: 6/10

My biggest disappointment in 2019. Visuals won't be the problem but the story. The characters are thrown in the story without depth/development. Many of them (especially the antagonists) were killed instantly without leaving an impact on the readers. Likewise, the supporting characters were not given any color but fawners of the main character.

You can see the disregard for important characters in the family of the MC. The father arrived in action, then died without giving us any backstory. The sister just became a tool for the MC to show off his enraged side. While the mother was just a lame excuse for the MC to level up that did not even allow the readers to sympathize with because we are more interested in his fighting. Overall, the family that should be the drive of the MC is superficial. No love, care, or attachment in these characters.

Solo leveling is the antithesis of One Punch Man or Mob Psycho (Or even the classic Dragon Ball) on how it treats overpowered MCs in developing stories. He is just a plain "Gary Stu" (I cringe when I used this pretentious term).

I read the manga because it was promising with the visuals and good pacing of the story, but the impression didn't last long. I tried to redeem it by going to the source novel; however, it was faithful to the material so my disappointment lived up. Hahaha, it was wishful thinking.

TL;DR: Its good but i wouldn't recommend it

I started reading this just after chapter 75 was released and i instantly fell in love with it. The art is spectacular and although the concept of the story isn't original it has been done so well that you don't feel the similarities.

However as i read each i began to realize that the story is just the same arc being recycled and while this can be said about many shonen or shonenesque manga i find this to be particularly monotonous. Every "Arc" involves a the MC meeting a new character that takes an interest in him, he hides his abilities from them only for the a situation to occur that forces him to reveal his true strength.

this cycle could be interesting, unfortunately the author makes no effort to make the MC interesting at all. he has few personal goals and those he does have are resolved with laughable ease. His power scales much faster than that of the enemies he faces so no fight feels tense because not only do you know hes going to win but he wont break a sweat doing it.

Despite that once i realized that was the case i was able to keep reading with no problem because who really thinks Gon, Naruto, or Goku is going to lose? you read it to see the amazing visuals, the great fight scenes, and the character conflicts if you can get invested in them.

I really appreciate the contribution the African Americans in this piece of literature.
I mean I like the colors on this manhwa... and the art is spectacular, rivaling the quality of other acclaimed manga while having it's appealing art style not become too generic. The linework is clean and backgrounds are almost always present.

The story is about what you expect from a typical shonen, but the execution, the how, meaning the world building, the suspense and tension, the catharsis the mc invokes, is done very well.

This manhwa primarily for: people who wanted more from SAO and were disappointed by the direction it goes for after episode 3, poeple who like SAO, people who like isekai trash, people who dislike generic iseaki trash, but want something refreshing with action, and people who like action. Just start reading it.

Also since it's Korean it's left to right (like english) and since it is meant for online consumption it means you scroll down to continue. I mean for me, a person who is english and consumes manga online, this is really nice.

If you are familiar with the isekai genre and how they implement mechanics from modern rpgs, this story does basically the same, but frames it to feel different enough. Instead of your mc dying and reincarnating gaining some cheat ability in a pseudo medieval fantasy world, the setting takes place in the modern world. "Gates" exist which function the same as dungeons and monsters from these "gates" will wreck havoc unless controlled. The story begins with everyone already used to the existence of gates and "hunters", a potential career path for people completing the dungeons. The setting the author presents is an ecosystem revolving around these two elements and it is "logically" expanded upon in the beginning. And this isn't even why I like it so much! It's just a factor.

Solo leveling is one of the most overrated manga i've ever come across in this platform. Having a staggering 8.97 score, I was hoping its fans were right when everyone claimed it ''wasn't just a generic power fantasy'', and that it would get better over time. Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

This was the first manwha I had ever read, and the art was the aspect I liked most about it. Altough the long stripes were a bit hard to get used to, I enjoyed the expressiveness of the characters. It's a shame the character designs were also a bit generic, but that's forgivable if the art is good enough.

The story starts out in the simplest way possible: Sung Jin-Woo is an E-rank hunter, the lowest on the power scaling of this world, and he's also considered the weakest hunter of that class. By chance, while he is participating in a raid with a crew, they end up trapped in a double lair dungeon, wich is way more than they can handle, and after getting their asses handed to them and having a bunch of people killed, the protagonist re-awakens, gaining a kind of power no one has really seen before. If there was a power fantasy automatic generator, this would probably be the default product. Being formulaic and generic isn't a problem when it's done right (if that were the case, 99% of battle shonens would be trash), but Solo Leveling brings nothing new to the table, and is completely predictable as a result. Every arc consists of the main character getting into a new location with powerful monsters, defeating them, leveling up, rinse and repeat. When there's no real goal the story is aiming towards, and the power scaling is done in the most lazy way possible, by just introducing more powerful enemies whenever an arc ends, it's hard to be satisfying or have any kind of stakes, especially when the worldbuilding is seemingly thrown in at random.

In spite of all that, there are times when the manga isn't completly predictable, more specifically, when the main character is forced to kill humans for the first time by the system. Here we get a glimpse of theming, wich wasn't seen before that, but unfortunetly it never gets mentioned or built upon again, just like the protagonist's ''change of personality'', wich stagnates after a few arcs. Even his desire to heal his mother is basically tossed asside for a long time before ending it in a really non-interesting way. The same can be said of most side characters, who barely get any characterization beyond their surface level personalities or any kind of development.

In the end, what's left is a shallow and predictable story that struggles to bring anything new to the table, wich is true for every aspect of this manwha.

This is average, no more, no less.

Story (5/10)
It's a simple story and executed in a very average manner. A classic zero to hero and not much more to say about it. There are some plotholes especially in the world building but none of them are really that damaging on thier own though.

Art (7/10)
The art is good, having it colored makes it way more lively and for the action scenes, which after al are one of the strong points of the manhwa, it does work well. But it's no more than that, good, do not expect beautiful art pieces you can simply sit there and admire. The art is streamlined for action, made to be scrolled through quickly.

Characters (4/10)
The characters are shallow, to feel empathy towards them is hard, borderline impossible in my opinion. They don't feel like people, rather they are spotlights pointed at our MC to amplify his awesomeness.

Enjoyment (4/10)
It didn't really make me wish to continue reading except on some particular panels in the begining. For me geting to chapter 42 was a grind.

Well then, would I recomend this to anybody? If they are unable to accept black and white action scenes yes, otherwise no. The art really does, in my opinion, shoot this manhwa into the stratosphere when it really just wanted to go on the trampoline. I understand some people might've longed for colored action scenes for years but I don't believe this manhwa is the one truly magnificent manhwa that deserves to be praised as the long awaited messiah. Wait a little longer and we might find something truly worth remembering.

Despite the cries claiming this is an unprecedented masterpiece, I've found that while it is a pretty good basic zero-to-hero power fantasy, it's not much beyond that.

Story: 6
If you break the series down to its core, it's really all about Jin-Woo (the main character) being an overpowered badass, beating up people/monsters who consistently underestimate him, both literally and figuratively. There really is not much more to it.

What makes this series stand out, however, is that this one is well executed. Even as the series is busy showing off just how much of a badass Jin-Woo is, its story arcs are still mildly interesting, not to mention the main character's goals are respectable – features not many power fantasies can claim to have.

Apart from that, it's pretty bland. The video game-like growth-style power system is a fairly popular trope in the Korean web novel scene (which this started out as part of), and the "monsters assaulting our world through dungeons/gates" is too.

Art: 9
I have to give credit where it's due. The art in this series is simply gorgeous. While the backgrounds are a bit bland when they're not strictly necessary, this is made up for by the highly detailed colour(!!) art. I really don't have much more to say on this point. The art is great.

Characters: 5
I think the characters in this series is one of its greatest weak points. They are bland, without much purpose apart from highlighting Jin-Woo's good points, which are abundant, seeing as he rather quickly turns into a classic example of a Marty/Gary Stu-type character. The villains are pretty cheap villain-of-the-week types, and I'd be tempted to say the most interesting character in the series is Jin-Woo's friend Yoo Jin-Ho, as he at least has some degree of development.

Enjoyment: 8
Despite its flaws, I'm a sucker for this kind of story. While most of the ones I've read are quite horrible, this one manages to execute it about as well as I think is possible. The way the series manages to make you giggle over a power up, or over a character's reaction to the main character's badassery over and over again is quite admirable.

Overall: 7
While not the masterpice many claim it is, this series is certainly enjoyable. The art makes it pleasing to the eye, and the minor plot points are interesting enough to keep you reading. If you like power fantasies, I'm sure you'll like this. Even if you don't, give it a read – it's executed well enough to be enjoyable regardless.

OH boy. Its finally here. The most hyped webtoon currently airing. In the sea of straight 10s this is about to receive, I just wanna say if this really deserves it.
Story: 7
First of all, if you aren't in the mood to read a complete zero to the absolute hero story then don't bother. In terms of story, Solo leveling doesn't do things that are too different or too unique but has enough fresh elements to keep the reader engaged. Our MC is very close to being the generic cool and overpowered light novel protagonist that we have come to accept. What makes him stand out is that we get to experience his growth in an RPG like system.This is what makes it automatically better than something like SAO which also has an OP protagonist but Kirito is so devoid of any personality and we have no believable information on how kirito attained the godlevel skills he has. It is very different in this as we see almost step by step the growth and evolution of our MC.Its nothing unique, but goddamn is it amazing.

Art: 10
OMG the art is absolutely freaking amazing. This is without a doubt top 10 in the art department and can hold its own again mangas like sunkenrock. Its all in colour which adds to the badassery. This is the main source of enjoyment for me. The colouring is so amazing as the colour are so vibrant and breathe life into what is still images.

This is without a doubt the most hype i have had reading a manhwa. The hype here is equivalent to one punch man and kingdom.

Characters: 8
Honestly, the characters aren't anything special but they are extremely entertaining. Most characters are sidetracked to make our MC more cooler. We are too early in the story for me to actually talk about certain characters that i find interesting.

The fights is where the manhwa truly shines. As the art feels top notch and the flow from one panel to other is absolutely crisp. Honestly, it feels like reading something animated. The only mangas that have given me something like this is probably Blade of the immortal or One punch man.

The opening arc might just be one of the best intro arcs i have ever read. It was genuinely creepy and so interesting and sets the stage of whats to come perfectly.

One of the issues I have with this is the repetition that plagues the story. Almost every dungeon raid is miscalculated.

Enjoyment: 10
I cant help but binge this. This manhwa has almost perfect pacing and doesn't feel like its slogging in certain areas or going too fast.And when i started reading this, every other manga was on hold for me. I had so much fun binging this its probably my favorite thing i did this summer.

Overall: 9
Is this over-hyped in the community? Yeah. It is. But it is definitely worth a read.
There isn't really anything deeper to this conceptually. And this is intended for a younger audience as story is pretty basic. The thing most people praise it for is it being bad-ass. And that is pretty much the only reason why most people should read this. It doesn't deserve a 10 as it still is pretty basic and quite generic in certain areas.

It is very sad to see that this is such highly rated because of how shit this webtoon is. Webtoons, in general, are very low quality compared to manga. From the art, the story, and the characters, webtoons are just the worse younger brother of manga. This webtoon is no different. Solo leveling is a webtoon for all the losers who desire to become a badass.

The progression in this webtoon is probably the worst I have ever seen. He goes from one of the weakest hunters to the strongest in the span of 10 chapters. He is like Goku on steroids. While Goku continuously gets stronger, so does his villains. In Solo Leveling, He continues to become the strongest character while his villains are nowhere near his level. He is easily able to progress and just become God without any real struggle or effort. The main character gains this reawakening and instantly becomes super strong with very little effort. He eventually gains this bullshit class called necromancer and makes him even more overpowered. Some of his ghosts are even compared to being S-rank level hunters. The story gets so boring and uninteresting simply because of how overpowered the main character becomes. There are no struggles or obstacles he has to overcome. He literally just "solo levels" his way to the top. People who have trained and work their lives off to become strong hunters are beaten by a guy who killed like 100 wolves. He has no personality and nothing unique. Why would I care what happens to him when he is so uninteresting and lacks personality? You see glimpses of struggles like him getting flashbacks of his previous weak self, yet those issues are resolved so fast that they can't even be considered real struggles.

The story itself is also bad. It is inherently boring and uninteresting as the main character just defeats all his enemies with ease. There is nothing that gets you hooked into the story. The whole story is just a circlejerk of the main character being a badass and killing every enemy in sight. Not to mention the ant arc is just a copy of the Chimera ant arc. The story lack anything meaningful. There is nothing that makes you think or has any real significance that leaves the reader with something they will remember. There are no good characters as all supporting or antagonists lack any sort of personality or real purpose to the story besides being pawns that the main character helps/destroys. The scenery and world are alright though.

The art itself is very average and mediocre but is the best part of the show simply because everything else is so shit. It is nowhere near the level of manga drawings, but it is good enough.

Overall, the show summed up is a battle shonen with an op main character, no meaningful purpose or significance, and lackluster fight scenes. It is the definition of a pointless webtoon with nothing for the reader to care about or resonant with.