Solo Leveling is currently the anime hype of the year. The first part has now concluded, and after the 12 episodes, MeinMMO author Nikolas Hernes wonders why the series is so hyped, as he was disappointed after watching.
Solo Leveling is based on a popular manhwa from Korea and has had an anime series by A1-Pictures since 2024. The series follows Sung Jin-Woo. He lives in a world where portals with monsters appear, which need to be defeated by so-called hunters, i.e., people with special abilities.
The portals and the hunters are categorized into ranks based on their strength. Sung Jin-Woo is categorized as an E-rank in the worst cluster and is considered the weakest weapon of humanity
. After a dungeon experience, he acquires a new ability that allows him to level
up his strength and other attributes. His new ability resembles that of a role-playing game. Through quests, he gains new items and levels up.
You can see a trailer for the series here:
The story didn’t grab me
First of all, I must say that I am not a fan of anime where an apparent weakling becomes much stronger and ultimately overpowered. I haven’t read the manhwa of Solo Leveling, so my opinion is based solely on the anime.
The story surrounding Sung Jin-Woo did not work for me at all. His only motivation is to become stronger and to save his mother. This can work, as seen in Fullmetal Alchemist, but the main character must also be likable.
Unfortunately, Sung Jin-Woo is hardly memorable for me. I find his design rather dull, and unfortunately, character traits are nonexistent. At first, he is clumsy, and later he is super cool. While Luffy, Goku, and others are not deep characters either, they always have charm due to their design and behavior.
The supporting characters are also nothing more than simply cool
or evil
. I miss characters that could serve as a contrast to Sung Jin-Woo. The only one that comes to mind is Jinho Yoo, who wants to build his own guild and uses his expensive armor to enter the dungeons. I found him the most likable of all the characters.
The lore is also missing. How exactly does the government and the hunters’ association with their guilds work? In the first 12 episodes, this is not tangible to me, leading to a lack of understanding of the world. The only thing I gathered is that companies need resources from the dungeons.
The fights are good, but nothing more
My entire frustration with the series actually stems from the first episode. I found it really strong. It was brutal, dark, and shrouded the seemingly nice world in a dark light. I missed that in the later fights. From the ruthless premise, only Sung Jin-Woo remains.
While the fights are quite good and entertaining, they are always structured the same way. He tries to fight, suddenly becomes badass and edgy, and shows how brutal he is. While this is entertaining, one searches in vain for a fight between two ideals, as seen in other shonen series. When people meet in Naruto, it is usually a battle of principles.
Also, the choreography did not really convince me. As mentioned, they are entertaining, but when I think back to last year’s Chozo vs. Yuji from Jujutsu Kaisen or Kenpachi vs. Gremmy from Bleach, there are shots and scenes that have burned into my brain. Unfortunately, I totally miss that in Solo Leveling.
At least the last episode did something interesting with Sung Jin-Woo, making me curious about how it continues. The series is not bad, and the fights are quite good, but I simply cannot understand the immense hype. There are just series with more interesting premises, fights, or characters.
Anyone looking for another hit anime of this year will find it in Frieren: A current anime takes the top spot as the best anime of all time ahead of Fullmetal Alchemist and Attack on Titan
