jahver

Solo Leveling might be one of the most embarrassing, confused amalgam of power fantasy tropes and self-insert garbage to ever come out of South Korea. It’s a completely worthless experience that even the most uncultured viewer will get absolutely nothing out of. The question of the day is why A-1 Pictures expended so much of their time and resources into essentially polishing a turd; every second of top-notch storyboarding and animation would’ve been better spent enhancing a more competently written and directed series. Perhaps the blame lies on its slavish cult following - despite its severe failings as a story, as some people (and presumably AI-generated social media posts) will tell you this completely outclasses every piece of modern fiction despite it being the inverse of observable reality. The more likely explanation is that South Korea’s media conglomerates want to take another swing at breaking into the ever-lucrative world of anime, despite just about every prior attempt to adapt the worst manhwa slop Webtoon has to offer being one unmitigated disaster after the other. Regrettably, no amount of fervent online shilling can make this show a bearable experience. Solo Leveling is the story of Sung Jin-Woo, a mopey, incompetent loser who finds himself gifted with the power of RPG mechanics after a near-death experience; he is the only one of a group of supernaturally gifted humans called hunters who can “level up” or get stronger than the rank that was arbitrarily bestowed onto him. Jinwoo goes from being the “weakest hunter of all mankind” to one of the strongest within the span of a few episodes, and the glaring issue with the story almost immediately becomes obvious; there’s going to be zero tension after a certain point. After the first 2 episodes of the show, almost nothing is shown as a challenge for Jinwoo. His toughest battle’s over in five minutes. Around halfway through the season Jibunwo stops being a self-pitying cretin and transitions into a borderline sociopath. His original motivation of raising enough money to save his comatose mother is almost non-existent, rendering him a cold and unrelatable Gary Stu with no motivation aside from gaining power. You’d think with this rapid metamorphosis into an entirely different person being thrust upon our hero, he’d have some sort of introspection about how he’s changed. But the most self-awareness we ever get from the series is a halfassed Nietzsche quote. Perhaps Jinwoo’s most unlikeable quality is how he seems to hold a grudge over the most asinine things; most notably against a 60/70-year old man for not carrying Jinwoo to safety during the first encounter in the dungeon that granted him his powers; when said man is fatally wounded later in the season Jinwoo’s only response is, rather than “I need to help you get medical attention!” like a normal person, but rather “You need to survive no matter what, how else can I keep blaming you?” What the fuck is this mindset? As if that wasn’t enough, the story even presents the idea that Jinwoo’s been bullied his entire life for being the weakest hunter in history, but only one instance is ever shown onscreen through a flashback - his teammate tells him to stop being a liability and get behind the others after he gets injured during a fight - less bullying and more showing concern for someone who is clearly not qualified to be there at all. All this seems to do is, rather than reinforce Jinwoo’s bizarre complexes, is raise the question of why he can’t just find another fucking job. On that note, Solo Leveling tries to enforce a message of self-improvement and “believing in yourself” which falls flat because Jibunwo has everything handed to him by sheer coincidence and he’s the only one in the world who can get stronger. He wouldn’t have started working out and trying to become a more competent hunter had he not lucked out and pleased the statue deity. His physical transformation is the funniest thing to me because the writer has clearly never worked out in their life; if they did, they’d know that doing some pushups and light jogging does NOT make you taller or change the structure of your face unless you’re taking fucking tren. I genuinely have next to nothing to say about any of the other characters, because nearly every single one that appears only exists to service Jibunwo. His love interest is an insufferably timid copy-paste of Orihime without any of the charm, relatability or humor Kubo would’ve endowed her with; every time she’s on screen, she’s either trembling in the corner and crying like a scorned child because fighting low-level WoW enemies is apparently PTSD-inducing, insufferably shrieking like a fisher cat, or smiling vacuously. She’s inept when it comes to healing people, her sole purpose in the story. She’s not even good at being a demure tradwife for the self-inserting audience, because she’s a whiny bitch who passive-aggressively insults Jibunwo after his transformation (“you used to get hurt so much it was annoying!”) yells at her parents for caring about her well-being, and has to rely on everyone around her just to accomplish the most basic tasks that anyone else would have no problem with. Her tremendously grating voice acting does her portrayal no favors, either. The writer seems to at least realize how awful a character she is because by episode ten she gets written out of the story. Jinwoo’s simp Yoo Jinhoo or whatever only exists to follow Jibunwo around and larp as a hunter, as he is a literal trust-fund kid who gets to sit back and watch professionals handle everything for him. then act like he contributed after the fact. I do not see why anyone finds him likeable, as much like everyone else who isn’t Jinwoo he does absolutely nothing of value. Jinwoo’s sister and the other hunters are so one-note and static that the anime has to cut back to them having mundane conversations just to remind the audience they exist and will, hopefully, do something later down the line. Every other background character exists either to suck off Jibunwo and remark on either how much of a weakling he is before his transformation, or how cool and awesome and attractive he is afterwards. The antagonists are either your standard fantasy monsters, or villainous hunters who turn comically evil at the drop of a hat. All you’re left with is a cast of increasingly difficult to distinguish names and faces that serve no purpose other than to explain the rules of the world to the audience. There’s also a guy named Hwang Dongsuk, which is really funny. The world of Solo Leveling is, safe to say, so piss-poor at justifying its own existence that even after twelve episodes I couldn’t find myself buying it for a minute. So there’s portals to a fantasy world that spit out monsters, and there’s people with latent magical abilities that form teams to fight them as a professional career. Sound simple enough, even a series as narratively dysfunctional as RWBY could pull off a premise this simple. However, it overcomplicates itself. Every hunter only has one set rank and can never grow more powerful through training. This deterministic angle infects the series with this ugly brand of cynicism and kills any pretense of the “work hard and you’ll get stronger!” attitude the show wants you to believe in. There’s also hunters who kill other hunters, which begs the question of why they’d waste their time and risk their lives killing the only other people capable of keeping the world safe for a little more cash. Even worse is the fact that the hunter organization recruits convicted felons with latent powers to fight the monsters in their home turf. Not exactly a great plan but throwing hardened criminals into the meatgrinder is a better alternative than making the Average Joe do it. You’d think, right? But the hunter association makes criminals fight alongside the civilian hunters who only do it to pay the bills, most notably the lower ranked hunters and ONE singular B-rank supervisor; this would instantly stand out as a logistical nightmare to anyone with a functioning brain. Additionally, the party system is extremely poorly thought out even on a conceptual level – having poorly trained civilians doing your work for you is already questionable, but afterwards they report everything to a supervisor afterwards who believes the recounting of events of the mission at face value and doesn’t engage in any further questioning or research. No sane organization would approve of something like this, especially with how unqualified the average hunter is shown to be at the start of the series; Jinwoo’s team goes into an obvious trap in the first episode, and predictably they all start dropping like flies. Rather than stay composed and try to find a way to overcome their predicament like you’d expect professional monster hunters to do, they all start screaming like little girls and dying in increasingly comical ways due to their lack of cooperation, leading to the encounter where Jinwoo gain his looksmaxxing powers. The dramatic hook of the first two episodes is portrayed as a tragic massacre, but it’s impossible not to laugh at how they all get steamrolled so easily. To add insult to injury, there are also S-ranks, who are the strongest but they’re seemingly never around when the weaker hunters are in danger. An inspector for the organization also states that S-ranks could pose a threat because they are essentially so strong they are above the law, but he makes it sound like there wouldn’t be any enforcing the law at all. None of this makes any sense, it’s all peripherally defined and therefore it fails at even being a self-insert story because you intrinsically could not self-insert into a world so poorly thought out. The show’s only saving grace is the technical competence of the fight scenes; everything else is abysmal. The direction is all over the place. Most conversation scenes are just shot reverse shot, and there’s no cinematic diversity. Anytime something interesting is going on the scene will suddenly cut back to some inane conversation about something the audience has already heard between side characters the audience has no reason to care about – episode 5 cuts from the middle of a fight to Jibunwo’s sister and some random hunters talking about stuff that was ALREADY EXPLAINED IN THE SAME EPISODE – this scene has zero reason to exist, it doesn’t even introduce new characters, I genuinely do not understand what the thought process is with these moments. Furthermore, characters will state things they should already know to each other, such as their teammate’s backstory, just to make sure the audience knows. The writers behind Solo Leveling seem to be under the assumption that “show, don’t tell” is merely a suggestion. The opening animation seems to be a perfect indication of everything wrong with the series – it’s a visually cluttered, incomprehensible mishmash of characters, location shots, and disorienting fight scenes that tell you nothing about the show itself while some guy raps in Engrish over the blandest Hiroyuki Sawano music you can imagine. Speaking of Sawano, he couldn’t be phoning it in any harder with the soundtrack, and it brings me no pleasure knowing how he could do so much better. His distinctive arrangements don’t fit the show at all, and nearly every track sounds indistinguishable. Outside of the manufactured sakuga scenes made to go viral on Tiktok, Solo Leveling is incompetent even in an aesthetic sense. Saying that the anime captures even an iota of the original webcomic’s artistic prowess would be an incredibly generous assessment. Every episode is plagued by characters constantly looking off-model in background or group shots and sometimes even in closeups. Solo Leveling is Crunchyroll’s desperate new attempt at launching a flagship title, and perhaps there’s something to be said about how a company that’s spent its lifespan trying to commercialize and depreciate an entire medium is funding and promoting such a sterile and blatantly mass-produced series. What webtoon companies call “entertainment”, I call the violation of an art form. At the very least, the show’s aesthetic failures reflect its own failures as a story; it’s ugly, intrinsically cynical, and dishonestly presenting itself as something profound and grandiose when there’s nothing about it that justifies the portrayal.

befalt

>#####___This review contains spoilers.___ ~~~

**〈 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝗯𝗶𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗱𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗼𝗻... 〉**

~~~

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**Video games have been a massive part of my life for as long as I can remember.** Whether it be building massive dirt houses in [Minecraft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft), spending countless hours grinding in [Metin2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metin2) or playing Empire Earth for half a day without taking a single break, these moments are something I will cherish till the end of time.

**And it is that sense of unfiltered marvel, never-ending curiosity, world-bending control and non-stop fun that countless anime and manga (or, in this case, [manhwa](https://anilist.co/manga/105398/Na-Honjaman-Level-Up/)) have been effortlessly and desperately trying to replicate, yet to no avail.** As a result of their clumsy and unsuccessful attempts, the video game genre in animanga has morphed into a disgraceful, repulsive laughing stock that is synonymous with paper-thin characters, one-dimensional plot, repetitive action, laughable developments and a general lack of wit.

Why am I even bringing all this up? Well, the answer is pretty obvious: **_Solo Leveling_ is the textbook example of how egregious the concept has become and how low the writing can sink when sucking off the main character is the only thing it has going for it.** It is beyond infuriating, but anyone with a working keyboard can say this much. To really grasp what it does wrong, I need to put on my imaginary diving suit and dive deep into the absolute abyss that is the anime's narrative.

~~~img480(https://i.imgur.com/D5CQqYx.jpeg)~~~

But, hold your (sea) horses just yet. Before I venture into these crushing depths, I need to go over the positives first. **Yes, despite my low score and extremely negative stance on _Solo Leveling_, I must admit that it is not completely devoid of merit.** There are three elements worthy of commendation for their quality, albeit their positive effect on the series is overshadowed by the vomit-inducing odour of the other components: the voice acting, the action sequences and, more or less, the production values.

Although I rarely mention voice acting in my reviews, in this case, it is pretty much mandatory. While every actor involved in the project brought their A-game, __[Taito Ban](https://anilist.co/staff/151336/Taito-Ban) went above and beyond and crushed all the expectations.__ His visceral screams, delicate whispers and chilling talks are so fantastic that listening to his performance was pure joy and I could barely hide how in awe of his talent I was during every episode. **Even if the script he was supplied with is awful on every level, he poured his heart into the role, and I have nothing but respect for him and the rest of [the seiyuu.](https://anilist.co/anime/151807/Ore-dake-Level-Up-na-Ken/characters)**

**When it comes to the production values, the situation gets a little bit more hectic, as they are simultaneously impressive and inconsistent.**

__While the visuals are insanely energetic and bombastic during the numerous fight scenes that take place in the show, they are completely lifeless outside of them.__ The character designs are uninspired and boring, the colours are horrendously bland, the background art looks generic beyond human comprehension, the art style does not come even remotely close to the art of the source material (which is its biggest strength) and it looks very unimpressive, the animation fluctuates between being fluid and smooth like butter and chaotically rigid and stiff, the lightning is lifeless, the editing is mostly solid and the camerawork is pretty inoffensive as well. **Overall, our eyes are either treated to a zany and zappy showcase of talent and passion, or a tiring and tasteless blend of colours, shapes and figures, which does not instil excitement in the audience one bit.**

Thankfully, I have nothing but praise for [Sawano](https://anilist.co/staff/103509/Hiroyuki-Sawano)'s soundtrack, __as his tracks make every moment in which they appear ten times better.__ It is genuinely impressive how much energy these simple tunes carry on their backs, and _Solo Leveling_ desperately needs them to be in top shape to squeeze as much excitement out of its fight scenes as possible. **What more can I say, really? The man just does not miss.**

On the topic of action segments, they are the last component I can say is well-executed, well-organised and packs a wallop. **Although their quality varies from one encounter to another, it is safe to say that they are at the very least competent in what they deliver.** Take, for example, the fourth episode's clash between the protagonist and the snake boss. Despite some of its weirder moments here and there, it is a really decent watch. On the other hand, the showdown between [Jin-Woo](https://anilist.co/character/129928/JinU-Seong) and [Igris](https://anilist.co/character/145722/Igris) that takes place in the eleventh episode is absolutely terrific on all fronts, __as the visuals and the soundtrack amped its batshit crazy energy to a whole new level.__

**And, Thank God these scenes are this cool-looking because everything that leads up to them is, to put it politely, horrendous and tedious as hell.**

~~~img480(https://i.imgur.com/TNukQIv.jpeg)~~~

Firstly, there is the story, and it is quite a doozy. __The entire premise of the series revolves around the sudden appearance of otherwordly portals throughout the world, and alongside their arrival, came the rise of hunters, who are, essentially, human beings with access to magical spells and abilities.__ Among them is the protagonist who, in the beginning, is a complete loser, but, thanks to a weird phenomenon, he expectedly ([because the synopsis spoils this development, duh](https://anilist.co/anime/151807/Ore-dake-Level-Up-na-Ken/)) gains the ability to "level up" (i.e. get more powerful with each enemy slain, duh²) __and his reality becomes something akin to a video game.__

__It is the very premise of the show that is a giant eyesore.__ Why is the basis of the story so weird and out of place? Why does the power the protagonist obtains have to be video-game-based? Why does it have to be here in the first place? The answer is simple: it is much, much easier and more advantageous to adopt a concept based on something as universally beloved as video games than create one entirely from scratch, without relying on the already existing appeal of something. **However, as beneficial as it is to the popularity of the series, it is extremely detrimental to the plot itself as it is horribly implemented, ill-conceived and hilariously half-baked.**

Think about it like this: one of the hooks of the premise is the fact that contemporary society is invaded by monsters from a completely alien dimension, and people need to defend themselves and their homelands from the invaders by using their newly acquired powers and resources they gather from these portals and monsters' remains. **That alone sounds interesting enough to offer an ample dose of brainless yet charming entertainment.** Better yet, you can grab that extremely simplistic foundation, take it in an infinite number of directions and transform a simple notion into something truly special.

**So why tarnish it with some gamer-tailored bullshit that does not fit the established setting one bit?** Why blend a reality-based plot with a [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/) [let's play](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Play) when these two mix together as well as water and oil? A more organic power progression system that does not have to rely on video game gimmicks to "make sense" would have been far more fitting and conceptually sound for the narrative. What if the protagonist got possessed by an ancient spirit or his hunter abilities mutated due to an unknown power found deep within the double dungeon? I think that it would be a lot more exciting and compelling to see than resorting to half-witted RPG-inspired elements that take you out of the experience completely.

__However, it seems the anime perceives its audience as simple-minded gremlins that eat, breathe and sleep video games, and so we are stuck with this cringeworthy, tacky hogwash that prioritises pandering to gamers over being logical and well-fitting within the confines of the setting and the story.__

But does it really matter if this whole game-like power is well-integrated into the series DNA when it exists solely for Jin-Woo's sake? Does anything matter when the world, its inhabitants, and everything else are nothing more than his belongings? **This is Jin-Woo's sandbox, and, as you have probably realised, he is the show's most prominent issue by far.**

He is the type of main character I vehemently hate with all my being. __He is not merely a person who pushes the plot forward through their actions and is the talking point of the series, but rather a parasitic, [Gary Stu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue)-esque self-insert that devours and spits out every single part of the narrative that is not about him and steals screen time and importance from everyone and everything else.__ At first, he is a massive pushover and his fellow hunters make his life hell (of course, in an extremely cartoonish and laughable manner because who cares about nuance, right?). They constantly call him weak, laugh behind his back and remind their colleagues that he is a worthless E-rank goober. After the infamous incident that happens in the first two episodes, the plot literally bends over and lets Jin-Woo dominate it for hours on end. **Regardless of what gets thrown at him, he always emerges victorious with minimal or zero damage to speak of.**

Is he tired or injured? Do not worry because the epic gamer system (which only he can access and exploit) can conveniently heal his wounds and instantly eliminate his exhaustion. Does an entity that is technically more powerful than Jin-Woo attack him? Haha, no biggie; __he wins no matter how immense the gap between their power levels is, and the wretched creature that dared to treat him as something lesser than a God is humiliated, put into their place and turned into a joke.__ Does the situation seem dire and it appears to be impossible to take care of it? Pfft, the second he arrives at the scene, __the problem disappears in the blink of an eye.__

**The real question here is: why ought I to give a flying fuck about someone that does not face any challenges, hardships, perspective-altering experiences or personality-defining moments?** I should not because, as a consequence of his ridiculous overpoweredness, the series is utterly devoid of stakes and thrill.

Whether it be the protagonist's arrival at the test dungeon in episode 4, his attempts to enter the demons' castle, his fight with Igris or his encounters with other hunters (generic bad guys) that were out to get him, __Jin-Woo is never truly in danger because the show always discovers some bullshit way to make him come out on top__... or he merely relies on his godlike capabilities and simply pretends to struggle for a cheap sense of excitement and a shallow adrenaline rush. **At no point during the season's run are the viewers ever concerned about the well-being of the main character nor do they question whether he is strong enough to take on the enemy at hand.** Time and time again, we are shown that he is a massive snowflake who will get whatever he pleases with the minuscule effort put in.

Sure, in the beginning, he undertakes tasks aimed at making him stronger (though they are absolutely ludicrous in their difficulty since hunters are, essentially, superhuman beings, so doing the whole [OPM](https://anilist.co/anime/21087/One-Punch-Man/)-esque training regime feels like a nasty joke instead of something honestly demanding), yet the whole process is contained and wrapped up in about two episodes. **By the fifth episode, we basically reach a point where the protagonist always reigns at the top of the food chain much like an apex predator, and every entity within his vicinity should bow down to his super shredded physique (which he conveniently gains for no apparent reason) and his totally "badass" powers.** He can proclaim that someone is stronger than him all he wants, but that is true for a brief, fleeting moment; the pace at which his power grows is so asinine that opponents who once surpassed him in strength and ability are now nothing more than a bunch of pawns to him. Whenever he defeats a stronger enemy, the show remains quick on its feet and __masterfully bullshits its way out of the situation by throwing around random excuses__ like "_Oh, he was merely lucky_," "_If he did not dodge this, he would be dead meat_," or "_He barely won._"

**Such a scenario can be tolerated if it happens once or twice, not when it is a constant occurrence that not even once is questioned or transformed into something more believable.**

I definitely blame the pacing for this, as it is yet another issue that stems directly from Jin-Woo's presence, but it also makes him somehow worse. **_Solo Leveling_ fails to grant any of its ideas, plot points or characters the breathing room that is necessary for them to develop organically and prosper, which just leaves them dangling like a ballsack.** The episodes are either stretched so thin that they lose their impact (episode 1 and episode 2 are a great example of this because, for some unknown reason, the double dungeon incident is bogged down by the horrendous exposition dumps and clumsy, awkward attempts at worldbuilding) or they progress so quickly and contain so much cramped content that they feel too overstuffed (we do not need to learn about the [Jeju Island](https://solo-leveling.fandom.com/wiki/Jeju_Island) expedition when the protagonist is in the middle of a fight; this merely ruins the already non-existent tension even further). __Of course, the rapid growth of the protagonist does not help the situation one bit, as each and every episode raises the bar higher and higher as if the show wanted to conclude the entirety of its content in a measly 12-episode long season.__ However, knowing the source material, I know that this is merely [the beginning of the long and drawn-out showcase of Jin-Woo's supposed amazingness](https://anilist.co/anime/176496/Ore-dake-Level-Up-na-Ken-Season-2--Arise-from-the-Shadow/), and soon his package will grow so big the other personages will be forced to suck it 24/7.

_Ah, right, I need to talk about them as well..._

**Truth be told, there are no other characters here.** Sure, it is a factually incorrect thing to say since, as you can see on [_Solo Leveling_'s page](https://anilist.co/anime/151807/Ore-dake-Level-Up-na-Ken/characters), there are plenty of other hunters and non-hunters within the story. However, even though they have different names, faces, abilities and whatnot, they hardly classify as living and breathing beings. They are just a bunch of toys the protagonist plays with, human-shaped obstacles he needs to overcome, figures that he needs to surpass in prowess ASAP, background fillers, exposition-spouting machines, yesmen that love every fibre of his being, moustache-twirling, zero-dimensional evildoers who are introduced only to be soundly defeated by him, and female orbiters that exist solely to be his love interest and have nothing else to say or show. It is painfully obvious how little all these different "people" (can hardly call them that when their personalities, motivations, goals and ideals do not exist) matter in _Solo Leveling_'s eyes, and it is frustrating how mistreated, underutilised and poorly written they are. **Why even introduce a slew of characters when you are unable to make a single one of them feel like a human and not a cardboard cutout?** So that the self-insert protagonist is constantly validated, praised and commended for his actions and strength or doubted and underestimated just so he can prove the "haters" wrong? That seems to be the case here, and __I cannot stomach this unhealthy, off-putting circlejerk__, and, trust me, it will only get worse in future seasons.

__Of course, the dialogue mirrors the quality of the caricatures that deliver it.__ It is riddled with bizarre and awkward exposition dumps, repetitive sentences that constantly remind the viewers how great the protagonist is/how weak he used to be, and hilariously inept statements that either:

A) exist solely to trick the viewer into believing there are stakes present (e.g. "He is much stronger than me!" or "I only won because I was lucky!")

~~~**or**~~~

B) attempt to breathe life into its cast but fail miserably since actions speak louder than words/a few sentences murmured under one's breath hardly constitute apt character development (e.g. "The stronger I get, the more I feel something inside of me falling apart.").

**The dialogue is truly as nuanced and subtle as a sledgehammer, and listening to these atrocious lines makes the already piss-poor experience somehow even worse.**

**All of these factors come together to form the ultimate reason why I genuinely dislike _Solo Leveling_: it is boring to an absurd degree, and watching it all happen in front of me was incredibly unpleasant.** Although I never discuss my enjoyment in my write-ups because I deem it unnecessary (my arguments already spell it out for the reader), in the case of this anime, your enjoyment is more crucial than the story or the characters. It, essentially, defines the show's worth; **Jin-Woo and his crew pray day in and day out that you will forgive them for their sinful flaws and enjoy their antics from start to finish.**

If _Solo Leveling_ is the type of series that lives and dies by the hype and entertainment value, then, naturally, as someone who was not charmed by the one-dimensional protagonist or the fundamentally atrocious foundation on which the plot stands, __I did not find any enjoyment here__. The fight scenes might look awesome and have insane tracks attached to them, but they evoke as many emotions as reading the ingredients on the back of a bottle of chemicals you picked up because you forgot to bring your phone to the bathroom. The production values might be impressive when the situation calls for it, but I do not appreciate any of the elements that constitute them, __I would much rather chew on a copper wire than watch the first episode again__. The main character is such an aggravating snowflake that observing the constant glorification of his character makes me want to pull my hair out.

**There is absolutely nothing engaging here, and I could not find a single thing to be excited about. No stakes, no consequences, no thrill and no fun—that is what _Solo Leveling_ amounted to.**

~~~img480(https://i.imgur.com/jkEpBgM.jpeg)~~~

_Sigh..._

Before you stab me with your pitchforks and burn me at the stake for this blasphemous write-up, let me clarify that this is not a ploy to dissuade anyone from watching this show. **If you genuinely sense it will be a great time, then I urge you with all my being to give it a go and see for yourself how much it is worth.**

That being said, it is quite obvious how I feel about it as a whole, so I will spare you the long-winded conclusion I envisioned in my mind and keep these closing remarks as short as possible.

To sum it all up, **_Solo Leveling_ embodies the idea of mindless entertainment to a tee, and its fate depends heavily on your ability to shut down your brain and let your eyes and ears have all the fun.** If you are able to do that, then this one will be a total blast. Otherwise, well, the series will be as pleasant as sticking your head into a washing machine, turning it on and cranking up the spin cycle to the max.

And I reckon I do not have to tell you which one of these applies to me...

_I am getting dizzy..._

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**〈 ...𝗽𝘂𝘇𝘇𝗹𝗲𝗱, 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘁, 𝘂𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗿𝘆.〉**

~~~

personnel

__PLEASE DO NOT HARASS ME ABOUT THIS REVIEW. AS A MATTER OF FACT, PLEASE DON'T HARASS ANYONE WHO PUT OUT A NEGATIVE REVIEW ON THIS SHOW. I AM JUST PUTTING OUT MY PERSONAL OPINION ABOUT THIS ANIME BECAUSE I AM REALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT WRITING THIS. SAME APPLIES TO THE PEOPLE WRITING NEGATIVE REVIEWS.__ ___ Solo Leveling has been an extremely popular piece of media before it got an anime adaptation. It was one of the most popular manhwas when it was still releasing chapters, and I was one of those people who read it while it was being released. I know the entirety of this story as I have caught up to it on every release since circa 2020-2021. And my thoughts? Fucking hated it. Yeah, I was an OG hater. Why did I watch the anime adaptation then? I wanted to see how this would get adapted, and hatewatch it, to be completely honest. And have my thoughts changed? Just slightly for the worse. This still fucking sucks. This still kept all of the problems I had with the manhwa when it was still releasing. This is so extremely overrated that it isn’t even funny. The story is extremely predictable. Sung Jin-Woo is labeled “the weakest hunter,” and then BOOM. He becomes extremely strong the next second. He now has some sort of neuralink chip planted into his head where he can now see a game menu. Who could’ve seen this coming? Not me. Not anyone, at all. Look at me in the eyes right now and tell me this isn’t just another variant of Kirito. Another Jesus-kun. Another Gary Stu. You just can’t. This mf also has no personality whatsoever. Anytime he’s in a bad situation, you can so easily predict what will happen next. Every episode literally goes by like this: 1. Jin-Woo is in a seriously dangerous situation! Whatever will he do! 2. Oh no, it seems like he is severely injured and will give up! 3. What? He has regained his strength back and started to fight the one dimensional villains! 4. Level up! Level up! Level up! Any episode that seems to “build” and “thicken” the plot, is just ultimately thrown away, because what do you really expect from this series when it only focuses on how badass Jin-Woo is during his fighting scenes? This show literally thrives off of hype to keep the viewers entertained, and I do not mean that in a good way. For all the other characters, I really don’t care about them at all. Like literally. I don’t have anything to say about them. They are just literally all cardboard cutouts. They’re just there. They don’t do anything other than either obstruct Jin-Woo on his journey, or just glaze him. Hae-in is one of the decent characters in this show, but she’s just there to serve as a romantic interest to Jin-Woo. The animation is alright if I’m being honest. A-1 Picture’s animation style isn’t particularly my favorite. All of the faces for the character designs look basically the same. What I really liked from the manhwa is Dubu’s artstyle, which was probably the only part of the manhwa that entertained me. The fight directing was not the best, especially the spider episode. There were some parts here and there in the anime where the action scenes looked somewhat decent. The music is probably the only really outstanding thing about the anime adaptation. Hiroyuki Sawano, the legendary man behind the AOT, Kill la Kill, and other popular anime was chosen to conduct the OST to this anime. The music piqued my interest in this otherwise bland show. I am going to go on a bit of a side tangent here, but I like to think of this as crinkle fries, my least favorite type of fries. They are extremely bland, but taste somewhat decent when you put condiments onto it. That’s how I feel when Sawano’s music starts playing. He actually carries this garbage show. I don’t know how they got him to conduct amazing music for this. The OP and ED were pretty good as well. I was surprised at how TxT was put on the OP (Is this the first time a K-Pop group was put onto an anime?). The OP was extremely catchy, and it probably still hasn’t gotten out of my head at all, and I don’t see it getting out of my head any time soon. I absolutely loved the shit out of the ED. It went extremely hard, and that might be just one of the things that I always looked forward to while watching the anime. I like to think about Solo Leveling as a 9 year old kid playing with action figures. They are holding Batman and Superman. They clash the fictional characters together while saying stuff like “BOOM! EXPLOSION! KAPOW! WHOOSH! ANNIHILATED! LEVEL UP! FATALITY!” It may seem cool to them when they were still 9, but looking back at it as an adult? Uhhh…

melamuna

***

Fantasy action adventures aren't usually my thing, not because of the contents of the genre, but because in the anime scene, everything just becomes a huge blur along the edges with a centerframe that's so familiar that you might suspect these writers have been trading their scripts with each other and changing up the words and phrases a bit in order not to be called out for "copying." With Solo Leveling, the synopsis didn't “wow” me away because it's things that I have already seen, but I still gave it a shot anyways because I am still interested to see why this is the most hyped anime of the season, and here are my thoughts:

But before that, I have to mention first that I have not read the Manhwa prior to watching the pilot episode, mainly because I wanted to have an authentic experience from the anime alone. But because of the unavoidable complaints the show has about comparing the anime and Manhwa being the main focus of controversy with the anime, I've decided to watch the episodes and read the chapters simultaneously to fully understand and compare the series' strengths and weaknesses. ***

First and foremost, both the anime and the manhwa managed to capture a generic and overdone story with elements that help the series elevate itself amidst the sea of generic power fantasy anime. The main character Jin-woo is your usual power fantasy character who craves to gain more power for himself for the sake of a certain unwanted consequence he wanted to fix, mainly to pay the bills of her mother's medical bills. But as the episodes progresses, you get to have this sense that our main character has something inside him that right now is not fully developed into, but there is hints that our main character might deviate from his innocent intent by trading off his humane qualities, especially in certain episodes where he has to break off a certain human rule just for a task that's given to him with ease. It makes us anxious on what he does next and how he will ever get out of this situation he was unfortunately put in. The side and minor characters in this series are more on the one-noted side but they've been given enough screen time to shine on their own but not enough to fully convince their overall place in the story, thus they're not memorable enough to actively root or grieve them. Aside from characters, this anime has been fun to watch. It has gritty action where you can feel the impacts from the vibrations of the sound design and doesn't hold back from incorporating a bit of gore into its young-teen demographic. It's episodes are structured, I would say, far better than most animes in this genre, with power-fantasy episodes and character-focused episodes evenly spaced out, making enough breathing room where you won't be overwhelmed by the animation that's on screen. ***

With that in mind, let us move on to the more focused aspects and probably a more controversial topic about the anime, and that is the animation and how it compares to Manhwa’s superb art style. Before we start comparing, you'd have to note that making art like these takes a really long time to bring it out on draft to be a fully fledged final product. In the case of the Manhwa, its vibrant use of colors intensely elevated the mood and severity of the sequence; its vibrancy with glossy features over a plainly colored background added more flair to an action sequence that makes you really focused into these characters more from what it's depth; in the anime, the vibrant colors have been replaced by muted colors, which is a little bummer, but do keep in mind that the anime went from the more static art style to a free-flowing one mixed in with a more shakey can vibes that helps the audience feel the severity of the situation, which i would say was executed a little better in the anime in some ways. Whether you'd be biased or neutral with how the outcome of the anime is up to you, but what I would say is that while the series took these sequences in a different kind of art style, both of them worked well with the story both the Anime and Manhwa have to tell, despite having an advantage over the other. ***

Even after reading and watching both the anime and the manga, I've come to realize that, at the end of the day, I still find it hard to connect with this story. Not because it's a fantasy anime or I have a nitpick with certain art styles, but rather because I've already seen these kinds of stories. It's definitely nothing new and by far not the best story being offered recently, but you have to take Solo Leveling as it wants to be. A straightforward story with a hint of deception for the viewers, as well as being supported by an incredible team behind the anime and Manhwa's incredibly attractive artstyles and sequences. The anime might not have convinced its Manhwa fans or captured certain moments with the same intensity as the Manhwa did, but this anime is a well-made showcase for casual anime viewers who'd like to get into the Manhwa but have to convince ourselves to watch 12 episodes before fully committing to reading. ***

Rinzu

Okay so, there was this new anime that got really popular on social media, the original manhwa is very popular too, so, the anime should be great, __RIGHT???__ Well...... img1240(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/pv-target-images/9fd56f2fb15b162bb32d9ea1f8266c69358c692bade73c3cbb20091705e629cc.png) Don't take me wrong, I do not regret watching this series, it's actually fun to watch and pretty easy to do, as the plot is soooo simple that you just, can kind of deactivate your brain while you watch it. But, is it really worth it to do so? # STORY _Oh and, I guess there will be some spoilers from now on? even tho, they're not really that important._ Long story short, this anime goes about a world just like ours, when some years ago, suddenly there started appearing portals that led to dungeons, kind of like a videogame, and also, some humans started to awaken powers that allowed them to go into this portals and annihilate the monsters on them (This humans receieved tha name of "hunters"). But, why would they go into the dungeons to kill monsters? Two reasons: 1. If no one goes into the portal and defeats the boss of the dungeon, there will be something called a "dungeon break", in which the monsters will enter into the real world, so, the hunters go into the portal, and once they defeat the boss of the dungeon, the portal will disappear 2. Inside the dungeons, there are some resources, that humanity started using in the real world for things like medical purposes, building armors or weapons for the dungeons aaaand, some other stuff that I don't remember because, honestly, they just mention it like one time and that's all. So, the story starts when the protagonist, the guy named as "the weakest hunter of all mankind", gets involved in some misterious rank C dungeon (Yeah, forgot to say it but, both hunters and dungeons are classified in ranks from E to S, in the case of dungeons, the rank defines the difficulty of the dungeon, the higher the rank, the stronger the monsters inside it), where they find some monsters that are much more dangerous than they expected, and they are faced with an entity that they cannot defeat. The protagonist miraculously survives and obtains the strange ability of increasing his power by training and defeating mosters (strange because, normally, hunters cannot increase their initial power by training or in any way at all) img1220(https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/the-statue-of-god-evil-smile-solo-leveling-episode-2.jpg) That's the premise of the series, very simple and to the point, okay, so, maybe there is other aspect of this anime that is more interesting? # CHARACTERS Let's go with the characters, they might be a good reason to watch it? Well, not really, first we have: __Sung Jin-woo__ ~~~~~~img320(https://scontent.fbog4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/423160295_892891112837398_1959949378775479325_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=AzravC_as3UAX_cxatI&_nc_ht=scontent.fbog4-1.fna&oh=00_AfDw_ekzzlXEP8HKvxrj4uh3bG1s1km3Ds9dJOVfr9D3iQ&oe=660E5D85)~~~~~~ Sung Jin-woo, the protagonist of this story, at first, the weakest hunter from his world, kind of a regular guy, sentimental, not really tough or anything, usually lets other people walk over him, but, after this strange dungeon that he survives and obtaining the ability of increasing his power, he turns into.... some kind of empty shell, you never really see some kind of purpose or motivation behind his actions, he just kinda goes with his new life, getting stronger and all that, but you never get a real connection with him. __Lee Joo-hee__ img320(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/pv-target-images/02483beff12429d6e354014e1528033b72a2b39f8c0b88100033520c3f9602f4.png) Lee Joo-hee is a B-rank Healer, but, she goes on dungeons of a lower rank because she's too scared to get into something more dangerous. At first, you'd think of her as some kind of romantic interest for the protagonist, as it's shown they have gone in missions in the past and, she shows that she cares a lot for the protagonist, worrying about him a lot, knowing full well how weak he is. But after the first three chapters, she kind of... disappears. She appears a few times again but, she's overall unimportant to the plot, and also, since the protagonist now is much stronger and she got some trauma for the dungeons, they just go different ways. No idea if she'll appear again in the future but for now, that's not the case. And... that's about it. Yeah, there are a few more characters that appear multiple times, like the sister of the protagonist and some D-rank hunter that he meets later on a dungeon, but, you don't really get to know the characters at all, the most you can see is how they interact with Sung Jin-woo, but besides that, it's like they don't even exist. # ANIMATION First, gotta clarify, this is my PERSONAL opinion, and I understand if there's people that actually enjoyed this aspect of the series, but, in my case, the animation feels like it's barely above average, to begin with, I'm not much of a fan of the designs, okay, that's just on me, but, what about the animation, like, the fights and all that? img1220(https://sportshub.cbsistatic.com/i/2024/03/12/a3f9a478-7a24-4047-9cba-e3511c69d97a/solo-leveling-jinwoo-vs-kang-fight-watch-anime.jpg) Regarding the moments where the animation should shine, and, without it being actually BAD, it does feels as if it's barely above average, the fights could feel weird at some moments, not very fluent, not a good coreography, same like all the other aspects of this anime, its just OKAY, nothing else, I wouldn't be thrilled to watch any of the fights again if I had to. All I gotta say to finish is, I was expecting much more of this anime. I would recommend it if you want to have a good time, but, not much more, as this anime is completely forgettable, sadly.

Wavieff

img(https://files.catbox.moe/nnliu8.webp) The biggest mistake of Solo Leveling happens so early on, you might miss it. It’s not that the premise is poor (a power fantasy based around monster hunting), or that the world lacks substance (interdimensional gates spawning on Earth without explanation). It’s that the show refuses to cut to the chase. Solo Leveling’s first episode cold opens on an irrelevant battle with characters we’ll never meet doing things that don’t matter. This is followed by talking heads jabbering endlessly about ‘Hunters’ and ‘Gates’ in manners that could’ve been shot off with a few words, but instead, they stall for time until the end of episode twist, where the story finally gets over itself and down to brass tax. This crucial mistake it makes, Solo Leveling makes time and time again, marring what could be a fun romp through monster city a dragging of the feet and a groaning of the mouth. At every opportunity, the show finds a way to shoot itself in the foot, from ramping up a sequence with a villain only for them to die in seconds, or going from a quick cutting montage to yawn-worthy inter-politics that won’t come into play until the (inevitable) second season. And reveling in their absolute worthlessness are its characters.

img400(https://files.catbox.moe/jmvroj.webp) img400(https://files.catbox.moe/ksrhjl.webp) *same person? yeah, right!* 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. img(https://files.catbox.moe/8vs929.webp) Now, maybe this is the point? There’s definitely something with Jin-Woo losing touch with his humanity that gets glossed over, and there’s something you could do to form a character arc around this loss of humanity. But, no. It’s just forgetfulness on behalf of the writer. Solo Leveling has nothing in way of any characters to attach to. The side characters are disposable merchandise cutouts, the villains, recyclable, the heroes, trivial. Who are the characters beyond their tropes? ‘Best friend’, ‘girl next door’, ‘little sister’, ‘businessman’. Everyone is but what they are, and it makes it such a snoozefest! 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.) Solo Leveling likes to posture as high-pressure high-stakes badassery, but beneath that veneer is…nothing. There’s nothing to chew on. No doubt, this will be lauded as a “turn your brain off” show, and there’s some truth to that. 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? What’s at stake? Why should we care, when we damn well know Jin-Woo won’t lose, anyway! No matter how bloodied or battered his stale character design gets, he won’t fail. img(https://files.catbox.moe/j3n0wh.webp) Much like every other webtoon adaptation this side of the sun, Solo Leveling assumes. It assumes you’re interested in the world. It assumes you care. This is a very, very bad idea, because assumptions don’t provide reasons. If you like momentum, flow, good pacing? This is not the show for you. If you like good characters with intrinsic motivations? This show is not for you. If you like an interesting world with clacking mechanics, satisfying payoffs, and story progression, the contemporary Shangri-La Frontier is right off to the side, waiting to be binged. And that just finished up, too! This is not the show for you. “Brainless action,” they’ll say. “Boo,” I jeer. img(https://files.catbox.moe/7jdwwz.webp)

NotNoob1

# __Should you watch this anime?__ - If you enjoy power fantasies, yes. - If you appreciate good animation and action, yes. - If you like the hunters and dungeons setting you’d often see in manhwas, yes. - If you like game elements in anime, yes. - If you enjoy mindless fun, yes. - If you're doubtful, read below (minimal spoilers). # __Animation and art__ It’s great. 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, they managed to animate Solo Leveling very well and beautifully. 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 a less smooth animation as a trade-off. As such, I believe it’s well-balanced since it has great animation while it doesn’t sacrifice the manwha art too much. I would still recommend reading the manhwa if you want to appreciate its art. img500(https://media1.tenor.com/m/O-pnhMTOcqoAAAAd/igris-solo-leveling.gif) img500(https://media1.tenor.com/m/yTyiGe-gMKIAAAAd/igris-solo-leveling.gif) img500(https://media1.tenor.com/m/9hVpqehatl8AAAAd/igris-solo-leveling.gif) # __Soundtrack, sound design and voice acting__ There’s nothing unbelievably wrong with the soundtrack or sound design that I could notice. In fact, in some parts, the soundtrack complements the action very well, creating a more exciting atmosphere and tone. Sung Jin Woo’s voice actor was also quite competent when needed, especially in the [scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asAkYSmsB14) accompanying this [soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGXOWPZ64DA ). # __Concept/premise__ In all fairness, the premise of Solo Leveling is unique if you haven’t overconsumed other manwhas or isekais before. And if you have, the concept of the main character gaining game abilities in real life wouldn’t startle you. While it may seem extremely off-putting to new viewers or extremely boring/stupid to older viewers, Solo Leveling handles it quite well in my opinion as a manhwa re-reader. There is a very good lore reason for why the game element is present. 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. You may not notice it in the beginning, but everything ties back to it (don’t forget this). This plot point is the overarching plot point 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. img500(https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/02/37edb-17070015237011-1920.jpg) Many isekais and power fantasy manhwas use similar settings/systems and there's nothing inherently wrong with that (you could say that the Solo Leveling manhwa/web novel is the progenitor since it popularized it). It all depends on how it's being used, and it's surprising how some stories with it are legitimately incredible. Omniscient Reader and SSS-class Revival Hunter use it for very intricate world-building and serious storytelling, while something like Reborn as a Vending Machine uses it for convenience to focus more on comedy and slice of life. Solo Leveling lays more in the first camp. Right from episode 1, 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 moments. Solo Leveling is really not the 'no/bad plot, only action' type of story many people tend to use to convince everyone it's trash. 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. # __Plot__ 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. # __Characters__ 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. img500(https://static1.dualshockersimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/wm/2024/01/solo-leveling.jpg) [episode 12 spoilers] ~!For the sake of future seasons, try to remember that Sung Jin Woo’s shadows are legitimate, independent characters and not throwaway skills. This will be very important to the whole plot and ending.!~ [manhwa epilogue slight spoilers] ~!The manhwa’s epilogue (side-story chapters) makes it very clear that the shadows have separate minds and intentions of their own. Dismissing this information could make you completely disregard any of their actions.!~ # __Some [criticisms](https://anilist.co/review/24025) I decided to refute (anime 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. # __Overall__ 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. # __TL;DR__ I would recommend watching this video. It expresses most of my thoughts perfectly. youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EMWmI4e3Ek) and also img500(https://i.imgur.com/Lw6qWfu.png)

douveAtomique

If you like mindless self-insert power fantasy with decent animation you'll definitely enjoy Solo Leveling. This anime is just your standard run-of-the-mill power fantasy that doesn't do anything to stand out. Its only somewhat redeeming quality is its okay animation. I can't describe this show without the word cringe. Most animes nowadays make me cringe, but this one is just in a league of its own. I'm not sure if the show was written by a 15 years old loser who never had human interaction in their life or by a self-aware author who just wanted to cater to a wide audience. This series just doesn't have anything worth mentioning: the characters are soulless, the MC is the most plain piece of crap imaginable designed so that even the most pathetic losers can relate to him, the story is non-existent and while the animation is decent, it's also very inconsistent. The MC, Jin-Woo, is just your average self-insert power fantasy protagonist: physically average in every regard, dark-brown semi-long hair, kind and weak. Of course he has a female sidekick that's just madly in love with him. Since the show follows an arbitrary videogame logic, she is obviously a healer because she's a weak-minded girl and all she does is shout the MC's name and cry. The MC starts off as the weakest character in the show so that he can be constanly victimized but while exploring a low level dungeon he finds a high level secret area and somehow just becomes insanely overpowered (surely this hasn't been done a hundred times before already). His new ability allows him to cheat and completely ignore all the rules that everyone else has to follow, because he's so fucking special and he's the only character that matters. After this incident he gets a glow up: he gets a hot body by working out for a few days, his face changes, he gets a haircut, his voice changes, he becomes taller, he now wears a hoodie with a zipper because it's cooler I guess and everyone is in love with him because surely women only care about looks. Now that he's overpowered he can do whatever he wants and even his personality changes, he becomes absolutely unlikable. The anime is not called Solo Leveling because he's leveling on his own, but rather because he's the only one who can level. All the other 'hunters' in the show are arbitrarily attributed a level (S to E) that corresponds to the strength they have. No matter how much they work, no matter how much they struggle and try to improve themselves, they can never escape the position they're in. This is such a disgusting theme, it baffles my mind that the author could think about adding it to their narrative. This is the opposite of what most stories are trying to convey: you should always try to be better, to work towards self-actualization; hard work pays off, and even if it doesn't, you'll atleast have the peace of mind knowing you tried your best. In Solo Leveling, hard work doesn't matter, it's meaningless, ... except for the MC, and even then you can't call what he goes through 'hard work', he's literally cheating. Running 10km and doing 100 pushups a day won't make you ripped, it won't make you cool, it won't improve your social skills. What a weird message to convey through a narrative. As stated, there is no story, there are only setups for the MC to look cool, because that's the whole point of the anime. But it's just personally cringe and painful to watch. The victimization of the MC literally never stops, his characterization is only done through traumatic flashbacks because having trauma makes you so fucking cool (no it doesn't, it's a serious issue please seek therapy). Everybody in this show is just a piece of shit that wants to bully or kill the MC until he goes full dark Sasuke mode and talks with a lower tone with dramatic music in the background and kills everyone but it's okay because it's self-defense. In short, this anime is bankrupt in the originality department. You can figure out everything that's going to happen in the series after watching 30 seconds of the first episode. Maybe the author never wanted to write an original story, but atleast they could have made it watchable by having interesting characters or a power system that's not just arbitrary video game logic.

Humble

~~~~~~~~~img220(https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/01/98933-17054092317781-1920.jpg)~~~ ~~~What’s up everyone, the next anime review is Solo Leveling. Now this one will be a doozy because of so many mixed reactions. Now to be completely honest my take may be a bit biased because I’ve read the Manwha and personally loved it, but I can see some of the cons to the anime for the 1st season. Now let me be clear there is definitely going to be another season, now on to the review! Oh, also note there are spoilers within the review. __Story __ The story takes place on earth (Korea) specifically where portals (called gates) appear where monsters can potentially roam out of. To prevent this, hunters (humans granted with power) must defeat the gate boss for the gate to close. Now how do you become a hunter you ask well you get tested, and you are then ranked according to your power. The ranking system is E-S (so are the gate rankings) and not everybody can even be ranked. Now our main character Sung Jinwoo is nicknamed the weakest hunter due to his level E ranking. Until one day they roam upon a gate where he’s killed to reawaken with newly found power. Personally, I like the story line, it’s not anything impressive but it could be worse. Yes, this is a power fantasy anime, so there will be one focus main character who strives to get stronger, typical right? __Animation __ This is where I think Solo Leveling will ultimately excel at. So, let’s be honest season 1 barely had enough fights to gain a positive response from most watchers but there are at least 2-3 battles where I think you can give Solo Leveling a passing grade for animation. No, the character’s design is nothing amazing, but again I believe the author was looking to have a realistic view on the characters. ~!Spoiler alert! The animation with the crew attempting to kill Sung Jinwoo was great! See video below. youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJgTgY5YXP8)!~ __Characters__ img220(https://static1.dualshockersimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/wm/2024/01/solo-leveling.jpg?q=50&fit=contain&w=1140&h=570&dpr=1.5) This is where I have an issue with the series, there is absolutely nobody else other than Sung Jinwoo in the story. I’ve completed the series so I’m aware how much more camera time Sung Jinwoo receives and it’s a bit disappointing on how the story could have progressed or possibly evolved with including other characters. Outside of Sung Jinwoo there’s only his right-hand man Jin Ho. Spoiler alert! You would think Jin Ho will gain some type of power to help Sung Jinwoo or something but nope, it’s simply the Sung Jinwoo show. There are a few female characters like Now as for our mc I think this is about as good as you can get successful wise on focusing on one character who typically is overpowered. This is kind of sad to see which brings the question of what is the character even fighting for? Please see next segment for this answer __My Opinion on some of the Negative Opinions __ img220(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e1/58/ed/e158ed16598a5832c97207c48393c957.jpg) Now I normally don’t do this, but I did see a bunch of negative reviews on the anime, and this is just my opinion on the negative view opinion. Firstly, the genre of the anime is a power fantasy anime some people on twitter and even on here were angry regarding the depth of the show. News flash people some of the best anime (Naruto, One Piece, Bleach) don’t have much depth. Another issue was him not overcoming any tragedies to get stronger, which is false. To begin with earlier in the show, we see his mom is diagnosed with a condition called eternal slumber. The reason why he’s even hunting at his weak stage is for his family, to keep his mom in stable condition at the hospital, for his sister to go to school constantly. We clearly do not see any indication of his father (this will be brought up later). Also how did he get stronger there’s no training arc.... hmmm I don’t know did you see the daily quest he has to do every single day! You try doing it in real life I bet you get strong too lol. Also, within the anime the head of the hunter's association explains what a reawakening is. Hunters typically receive a stronger power, yes, it’s rare but Jinwoo wasn’t the first and won’t be the last. Wait but he doesn’t lose? Why would he so the anime can be over? We saw him literally die in the first episode and you people want to see him get beat up now? He’s literally fighting for his life in every fight. Against the crew who tried to kill him for no reason, against monsters, against the assassin, against Igris. Now I admit all anime is not good anime, but I can’t take you seriously if you claim Solo Leveling was trash. __To conclude __ img220(https://fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/04093355/solo0.png) To conclude my honest opinion on solo leveling is exciting. No, it’s not anime of the year but it’s definitely within the category for OP character of the year. I personally loved the fight scenes and seeing what Jinwoo had to go through just to get the strength he needed to protect his family. For example, he had to die, after he had to kill an actual human just to make it back home. I do wish there was some progress in the characters within the story but there isn’t. For all the review readers if you are into battle anime, or dungeon and monster fighting themes, or possibly like seeing a character get so strong that nobody can touch the character then I do suggest watching it. Also, I have to say the music was my least favorite thing in the anime, I wasn’t feeling the opening or closing song. I rate this with an - __"You should watch"__ For those who don’t know scores of 80+ get a “you should watch recommendation"~~~ ~~~~~~~~~

CynicalOptimist

(Alright, instead of posting a lot of pictures and doing texts formatting like before, I would just write this review without those so if you think this review is bland compared to the previous ones I created, I would have to apologize considering I got no time to do with the usual format, which includes the fact this bland format also portrays the anime that is to be reviewed on itself. That's all and this review contains spoilers.) Now, let's get to the point. Ore Dake Ken No Level-Up/Honjaman No Level-Up, also known as Solo Leveling is simply an anime that provides the cherry on top. Why you ask? It is simple - the one who produced the anime did have no idea on what they wanted to do after developing the constant struggle from the main character, which is ironically the only best part of this series. But overall, it has so much mixed reviews among the spectators, audience, wannabe-anime critics, and the actual experts who know their stuff. Therefore, to understand the details, let's get into the narration (spoilers alert). The story begins from Sung Jin-Woo, an average-built young man with neither muscular features nor physical prowess, yet has been eponymously titled as "The Weakest Hunter That Ever Exist." Oh wait, did I hear a question of what hunter means? Well, to explain the plot, it is important to notice the familiar trope: Dungeon and dragons. Or a dragon inside of dungeon, but it's monster instead. So, long story short, the story is based on the way humans survive by using these dungeons, that were uncanny for them, to gain profit out of them by killing each of monsters that are contained inside the dragon. Alright, enough with the intro let's get into the main character himself. He is a weakling, could barely survive out of troubles, almost got killed numerous times and, most importantly, lacking the awareness of his own physical health. That until he was left out in a dungeon then died. The end. Never mind, I lied. He eventually received a power to level-up. Wait, what is the interesting part of it even? Well, this sounds really cliche but, normally, in this world, you cannot do so because the armor plot kind of sucks. That's all. The end for real this time. So, based on this short summary alone, does this show worth its hype? Yes... And no. Why? Let me explain it to you. I got to be honest, before I watched the anime, I hardly understood the hype. However, only by watching first episode I could really tell why. The external aspect of this series has been quite intriguing - catchy OP, OST, and ED, you name it. Music is one of my guilty pleasures so why not enjoy it. Second, which is the most underlooked and overrated aspect from this show, is the animation and art style quality - it's heavenly. A1 Pictures along with their collaboration partners really know how to attract the audience into watching a series that doesn't seem to be interesting on the first glance based on the synopsis, but it's good anyway, and this was supported by the glamorous character designs (which were all based on the manhwa), top-notch CG, and the orgasmic-level of animation - it's sublime. Seriously, the action scenes were really clear-cut and you could tell by just seeing the details of what kind of movements, attacks, and defenses that were done by each of characters because all of those were crystal clear - hence then orgasmic. Another aspect that intrigues me the most among all of these though, which is almost overlooked by many others, is the main character himself. I deeply appreciate the fact that this series plot has been centered around the main character because, that way, the audience will be able to reciprocate what Jin-Woo feels about the situation, from his own monologue, thought process, and his stream of consciousness, all of these were written clearly, not to mention the fact that he literally started his new life from zero whereas everything that is gained by him was hardly a fluke - it all comes down to his determination, perseverance, and effort, hence why he eventually becomes better and better while his struggles as a main character appears to be a way to self-insert his personality to others. Alright, enough with the positives, let's talk about negative. Surely, to make the story centered around the main character has its prons, but also its cons - remember Cha Hae-In? Okay, who? Well... you know, if you don't, it's okay because maybe she will really have her own plot next season (hopefully but I'm hopeless) but anyway, here is my point: By centering the writings around the main character, this means the other characters will lose their screentime or even if they make some quite beneficial contributions to the plot, it means nothing because, well, "Sung Jin-Woo is interesting." either way. Doesn't matter if you try to put him into the shadows, in the end, it's still about him, the protagonist a.k.a main character. That girl who has been healing him suddenly went away without any apparent explanation or those people who left him died in a meta-ironic state - passed away with their last message. Not to mention the numbers of ridiculous deaths that had been occurred throughout the sho- okay, stop right there. It will be endless to talk about the plot cons now let's jump to the other thing, characters. Yeah, you got some new characters with their own screentime but the problem is that their personality is kind of nonexistent, if you know what I mean. It is as if all of these characters exist as a dozen of NPC cameos that will appear when they are needed by the main character, which means their existence means nothing without some sort of plot armors, McGuffin, and certain essential tropes that were used during your casual shounen battle. And, surely enough, I would rather watch the main character's actual struggle than seeing the unnecessary drama or story development that were present on this series which appeared to ruin the protagonist-centric plot on itself, considering how sublime the 1st episode was and all of those hypes that built were only for unnecessary characters development and changes despite the credit where it's due - it is quite decisive and brave for the studio to get rid of the unnecessary chapters and went to-the-point with the story. However, despite all of these hypes, it went downhill after a few episodes as the studio seemed to be clueless on what to do with it - I noticed a lot of experimentations that were done to mash the story within chapters which appeared to not come into fruition which appear to ruin the plot heavily such as the Jeju Island flashback - probably because it's their first time, or maybe not. Who knows, I just hope they won't ruin S2 which appears to be an impossible task to do by A1 Picture. Right, after reading this review, what do you think about the show? Well, if you are interested you may want to watch it or if not, just don't force it. I will give you the dos and don'ts for this show also: Do not watch it if you prefer an isekai anime. Just no, don't. There is a lot better anime series in terms of isekai genre than this, even Mushoku Tensei (From what I've heard) is better. It will just disappoint you. Next, don't watch it if you expect a shounen-alike plot - Never doubt me about this, the power of friendship is quite nonexistent and rather centered around the egocentric desire and such, which will be there to fuel the main character's motivation. Also, don't watch it for the plot enjoyment. As for the dos, do watch it if you prefer something to kill your boredom in-time. If you want to look for something that is 'interesting' enough to wake you up (which is what I DID honestly) this anime series is for you - think about it as a caffeine to help you stay awake at night or just a booze to your homeworks, tasks, or something. And if you ask me why, it provides a lot of plot twists (I must say too many but don't expect too much) that will just work as a shock value such as a defibrillator or electric gun. Also, do watch it if you prefer a show that will 'arouse' you with external stimuli such as great music, visual, animation, art-style and character designs etc. Pretty sure you will be unhinged enough after finishing this show if you are into these external aspects of the show as you will constantly be stimulated by all of these, at once. Alright that's all and thank you for reading this shitty-review - got assignments to do for tomorrow, bye.

NanotechPikachu

## __SPOILER ALERT__ The story is overall nice and thrilling and the animation has been great by A1 Pictures. Taking into consideration that I have already read the __Solo Leveling__ manhwa when it was on the releasing state, I gotta say that some things have been changed though i can't exactly put a finger into it. If I exclude the them, one thing I feel is that the protagonist (Sung Jin-woo's) face or rather his whole animation is little different from manhwa. In manhwa, he was more sharp looking unlike here where he still has his somewhat soft looks. Also, the healer girl from the raid (I forgot her name), her looks have also been changed. Yeah, this may not affect the anime watchers, but these are the differences that I find from manhwa to anime. There maybe some other minor differences which from manhwa but, that doesn't concern a normal anime watcher. If I were to talk about animation, it's simple awe-inspiring by A1 Pictures. In my opinion, it was the right thing for A1 to animate this masterpiece as they are indeed known for their animation quality and the soul in each of their works however low rated it maybe. The fight scenes are great and the main part where the Grin of the King in the Double Dungeon and Sung Jin-woo's unwillingness to lose despite being on losing end at that dungeon when all the others left has been done greatly and is mesmerizing. They have taken into account the exact feeling of manhwa and the exact will of the author in my opinion. The emotions of the story and Sung Jin-woo as the lead has been done greatly, including all the factors of the mental state of every character present in the story. Talking about the title song(opening song), I think it indeed fits Solo Leveling anime and the music of it is great. I would like to extend my gratitude for selecting this song as the opening. But when I turn my attention to the closing song(ending song), I would say that I am disappointed. The ending song doesn't actually suit the action oriented anime like this one. In conclusion, this anime is great and is a must watch. Despite its differences from manhwa, animation team has done a great job and made it a resounding success. It is a worth watch and you won't feel bored of watching the anime. Yeah, the animation could have been made better like if it was Ufotable, it would indeed have been great but mind you, the soul of the work has been brought out nicely by A 1 Pictures. It's also appreciable of their selection of Music and Theme songs of this anime except the Ending song which I beg to defer is good for it. Note: All these are my personal opinions and I apologize if any of this hurts feelings or are inaccurate. Thanks.

matebooo

~~~~~~You know that series that's considered a guilty pleasure to most, but its actually less guilty and more just a pleasure? Feeling-wise, Solo Leveling hits this mark on the dot, with the stark difference of actually being very well written. I'm aware this gives off the impression that there's negativity here when I use the phrase "guilty pleasure", but hear me out. it's about the feeling a guilty pleasure leaves you with. At least for me, it's one of severe satisfaction, where my hyperactive brain that analyzes everything can actually be like "go fuck yourself" and just enjoy what's happening unadulterated. For someone like me, that's a rarity, especially in anime. All the right things were happening in terms of narrative progression, Jinwoo was weak but relatable at first, you learn why he does the things he does in *both* the "real" reason and the real reason. Someone who gets pushed around as much as he was in the beginning, one has to survive. Jinwoo survives by taking in all the punches, metaphorical or not, just to internalize it in a way thats akin to deflection of his emotions. Acting carefree and as a people-pleaser makes you feel empty. Hearing his damnations to his fellow hunters when he faced immense power in the double dungeon, that's hands down one of my favorite character moments for Jinwoo. It's a sign of things to come when he gradually deals with harsher and harsher conditions, the progression of his emotional state leading to his promotion at the end, what a way to conclude. One could say stating "because of your actions, you get this class" could be a bit too on-the-nose for an ending, though it's tonally consistent with the entire gamified hunting he does, so I give it a pass. Seeing Jinwoo as the only mc in the casting, it worried me. Were the side characters really that bad/insignificant? You normally see multiple mc's as primary relationships that drive them forward, but Solo Leveling uses its side characters rather efficiently. For 12 episodes, a lot happens, and it feels just the right amount of screentime for Joohee, Song, and Jinha by extension. The first two act as effective and efficient soruces of Jinwoo's connection to the real world. You hardly see him interact with his sister in a way unique of normal sibling relationships, the typical "I do what I do for my family" line, that's why it doesn't interest me. But thankfully, Jinwoo himself is very expressive when talking about/to both her and his sick mom. It gets the job done. But seeing Song grow stronger through the tragedy and hold the apologetic emotions in, along with Joohee's borderline ptsd of the double dungeon, it was perfect. And now seeing Jinwoo say goodbye to Joohee, and we probably won't see Song for a while either, this'll be the first time Jinwoo will have to put aside the double dungeon relationships, and I'm excited to see where it leads. All this is true, but Aleks Le really does bring it all together when I say Jinwoo is "expressive". Truly an impressive, feat in my opinion. His tonal shift when he goes through the season is quite evident, along with his slower speech and more true-to-himself dialogue. Hearing him damn his comrades when compared to ending with "Arise!" was just as satisfying as I was hoping despite expecting the line from a spoiler. Good animation, good music, banger opening, there's really nothing I want to dock points off of. Solid, solid 8.5/10

vizzoni

I know it's lame to say "I read the books, and they're much better", but that's 100% true in the case of Solo Leveling. Each adaptation gets worse, and the anime especially so. I really liked reading Solo Leveling, don't get me wrong. But, I hold no illusions of it being a particularly deep piece of art. The world-building is interesting, the development of Sung Jin-Woo's skills is really engaging and the overall plot is fun enough. The manhwa is a bit worse but still very fun to read since it's so beautiful. The anime is quite worse than the manhwa but it's so beautifully animated and the fight scenes are so cool. So, if you like battle shounen manga, just know that this a cool anime and that you should watch it. Also, stop reading this review right now, because I'm gonna talk some shit. If you're still reading this, let's delve deeper into the anime. Because this is a weird anime. First of all, given all the tension between Japan and South Korea from the japanese occupation and so many other things that I'm not qualified to comment on, this seems like a weird choice for a japanese animation. And it's not because Solo Leveling is korean, but because it's quite anti-japanese in its writing. Not overtly so, but the author clearly liked killing japanese characters and destroying japanese cities a bit too much. So, a japanese studio animating this kind of source material seems pretty surprising. Secondly, this anime is sooooo into big manly men. It loves muscles and loves its "this is a man's world" setting. In its defense, so are the books. But the anime loves muscles so much more than the books and the manhwa. It really wants to bang Jin-Woo and it wants to convince you to WANT to bang Jin-Woo. Which is fine, but might not be too interesting for a lot of people. Third, this anime is even more sexist than its source material. The manhwa and the books really love discarding any female character that is not related to Jin-Woo without ceremony. The anime even more so. The conversation between the nurses about how hot Jin-Woo became is so weird and I think it's anime-original. Fourth, if you like your anime to be philosophical and thought-provoking, this isn't for you. The books have some very interesting pieces, but they're all about world building. When it comes to developing characters or having any kind of meaningful debate, Solo Leveling is not at all interested. And the anime somehow became even blander. I think the AniList user that reviewed this anime by saying it has "noob-level" writing hit the nail on the head. This anime is so generic in its writing that any scene not involving fights is quite boring and doesn't advance the story all that much. Still, there are good things to take into account. For instance, the anime changed a lot of the story's pacing and exposition in ways that were fun. And have I talked about how cool the fight scenes are? Because they're really cool. In summary, this is battle shounen through and through. If you like beautiful anime and really cool fight scenes, this is for you. If you like those but will feel weird about sexism, lackluster character development and weird pacing, you might be a bit disappointed. And if battle shounen isn't your thing and you really care about societal issues as well as good writing, steer clear of this one.

CaptainSalty

Solo Leveling was a massive disappointment from the hype that has been risen from this anime adaptation. It definitely panders towards a certain demographic, and that demographic being power fantasy enjoyers and bland story enjoyers. This was incredibly uninteresting, basic, and downright confusing. I scratched my head at not only the main character's actions but also the continuity. For example, during a fight the main character uses heavy acrobatics, despite having a base stat for his agility, or the fact he says nothing is on the level of his opponents when he fought S-rank monsters before. These are nitpicks however, and nothing substantial I would really care about. What I do care about when I'm watching something is, is it engaging. Are the characters well designed, have good stories, and have fun personalities. Is the world interesting. Is the story being told powerful and executed well. Was the music a highlight. And (on occasions) does the art style improve the experience. Solo Leveling had great music thanks to Hiroyuki Sawano, but everything else I mentioned is basically non-existent. There were only 2 characters total that I had any actual connection to and they were both side characters. (Jinho and Mr. Song.) But they themselves are really nothing special at all. The world feels bland not in the fact that its the real world but the fact that the premise of gates feels underutilized. We're told they have effected the economy, politics, and all sorts of factors yet we don't see any of that really. It feels fabricated and not immersive or important. I actually enjoyed the first four episodes the most, pre sigma male cool sexy awesome morally-right Sung Jinwoo. The most bland protagonist that is both unlikeable but also turns dense for some reason, and just suddenly stops seemingly caring for people. He gives little in the way of sympathy, barely ever even smiling at his only companion for the majority of the show, Jinho. The girl he promised to go with when he survived and had PTSD from their dungeon is completely ignored and seemingly forgotten about. He literally sees her fighting after clearing a dungeon on his own and yet he fucking walks away?! Pre this rancid version of Sung, I found him rivaling being weak and relying on others to have potential, yet I already knew that I was going to be disappointed. In episode 1, he destroys all character potential after never admitting that what happened was his fault. He decided to press on yet it was apparently Mr. Song's fault. They even have Mr. Song apologize to Sung despite the fact he now only has one arm and was only making it fair to everyone to have a say in what they did back in the dungeon. Another issue I had was the very predictable writing. If you've seen enough stories like this one you can see everything coming from a mile away, they even employ the same "tension building" trick twice. (Having the instant teleport stone taken away.) img220(https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/jinwoo-drops-teleportation-stone-solo-leveling-episode-7.jpg) img220(https://i.imgur.com/Wo8iznM.png) The direction felt all over the place as well, with scenes about characters we don't know or care about yet getting screen time in really awkward moments. Some are employed for the duality between the two people's lives at that moment but that's not many. The interesting concepts they try to employ, actually scratch that. They don't really try justifying Sung as a murderer other than "it was self defense." There is no moral dilemma, even if the person is a murderer most people can't just simply kill with no hesitation. Take, and I can't believe I'm giving positive notes to Sword Art Online Season 1, but even Kirito gave a murderer the benefit of the doubt since he had the trouble of taking a human life unless necessary. Yet only when backed into a corner of kill or be killed, and even protecting someone he cared about, did he murder. That's interesting, that's drama. Sung immediately kills someone with zero flinching or hesitation. He isn't even doing it to protect someone he cares about. He had given almost zero attention to Jinho who also could have died. He hardly seemed to care about whether Jinho would side with the murderers. This was not cool, this was not interesting, this was literally just murder with zero restraint. Another thing I'd like to add regarding Sword Art Online, the two can be put side by side on multiple scenes where the main character is backed into a corner. Now, bear in mind that somehow SWORD ART ONLINE makes these scenes look dumb. Sung goes into an S-class dungeon despite the fact he's probably a B rank. This was by his own volition, nothing had ever indicated he needed to challenge this dungeon now or never. His mother is in a coma, not on a path of death. His key he unlocked had no given expiration date. Yet he still goes in there and almost dies, the stupidity is palpable. I put this scene next to the fight in Sword Art Online where Kirito, Asuna, and Klein are trapped with the Blue-Eyed Demon in episode 9. Why were they stuck? Because they couldn't sit by and watch people get slaughtered due to someone's arrogance and lack of care for others' lives. That creates tension for not only characters we know and care about (maybe.) but also created a reason for them to be backed against the wall. Sung does this same thing but because he wanted to. img220(https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/solo-leveling-episode-7-recap_-jinwoo-vs-cerberus-who-wins-7.jpg) And as a final little thought, I'd like to say that Kirito and Sung literally have the same fucking saying when backed into a corner and try to surpass their limits, "Faster. I've got to go faster." Needless to say a small little note, nothing more. img220(https://www.swordart-online.net/SAOA/img/01/thumb_01.jpg) img220(https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/solo-levelling-release-date-64ca36a1e3986.jpg) All in all, Solo Leveling genuinely was bad, really bad. Why do people love this so much? I've narrowed it down to "turn my brain off and live vicariously through a bland character that does cool things. I don't question at all the how, why, or anything outside of the bare surface of storytelling."