Solo Leveling Review- Is It Worth The Hype?

Solo Leveling was a Korean Web Comic that was recently adapted into an anime by A-1 Pictures. It aired in the first quarter of this year and was praised for its action and animation.

With the new spin-off being announced and fans eagerly awaiting the second season, I saw several advertisements and got curious about it.

So I got my Crunchyroll subscription to check it out, and I was not disappointed.

Story

Solo Leveling is set in a world where after a major event 10 years back the world has changed.

10 years before the event of this show portals started appearing across the world. These portals were called gates and entrances to Dungeons with monsters, much like a dungeon in any RPG game.

These dungeons were also a source of material which gradually became a thing of great value and used in the development of weapons, as well as a form of clean energy.

Appearance of these portals also started giving certain individuals supernatural powers, these individuals were called Hunters, each graded by their power level as rank E, D, C, B, A and the most powerful S rank.

The protagonist of the show Sung Jin-woo is the weakest hunter in this world, who barely manages to survive the dungeons he fights in. He survives thanks to Lee Joo-Hee a B-Rank healer who is not very confident in her role as a Healer and hence participates in dungeons much lower than her ranking.

The story revolves around the usual premise of an underdog fighting his way to become the most powerful one who ever is.

Broadly the core structure is the same as series like Dragon Balls, Tokyo Ghoul, Bleach… etc, an underdog who becomes a chosen one.

What sets it apart from the rest is the premise and action.

The premise of Solo Leveling is interesting for gamers, especially RPG enthusiasts like me since the situation and characters are relatable.

The whole concept of levelling up, raid parties, Tanks, Healers, Builds, Classes/Jobs, the show has everything.

Characters

Sung Jin-woo who starts as any noob would in a video game, is clueless but growing one step at a time. The story has many instances where Jin-Woo shares his feelings about a situation, his feelings for others and his thoughts about the system he is part of.

Lee Joo-Hee is a B-Rank healer who is one of the few hunter friends Jin-Woo has, she is fond of him and has accompanied him in many dungeons that Jin-Woo has run in the past.

Yoo Jin-ho is Jin-Woos best friend and comes from a wealthy family that is trying to get a piece of the pie in this dungeon-laden world.

Hwang Dong-soo is an S-ranked fighter in America with a personal grudge against Sung Jin-Woo.

So far I have only watched the anime so there may be many other characters from the webtoon who are yet to show up.

Each character is still in development but has a good role to play in Jin-Woo‘s growth.

Action

The action in Solo Leveling is fast-paced and very well-choreographed.

The thing about such shows with single protagonists is you know they will keep getting powerful, so no threat is a real threat. But the action does keep you on edge, and you quickly get invested in how Jin-Woo gets out of this situation.

The way he gets out of a situation would be very familiar for an RPG gamer. The show has the usual levelling, loot boxes, quests, penalties and other stuff.

The relatibility is what keeps you hooked to the edge of your seat.

Every fight leads to levelling up and new loot. It is just like in an RPG game.

On a different note, there is a Solo Leveling game on Android that follows the story of anime, so you can play that for a first-hand experience in the shoes of Jin-Woo.

Verdict

The show is similar to many other anime in terms of core structure, but I think they are on point with the underdog formula which has given us some of the best animes in the past.

The season ends on a high and an amazing fight and upgrade sequence. I loved it and I am looking forward to where this story goes. So far it has been a decent experience with Jin-Woo overcoming hurdle after hurdle and levelling up.

In a world where he is the only one who can keep leveling up, not sure at what point Jin-Woo would find a real threat.

The first 3 episodes of the show are free on Crunchyroll with ads. You can also go for a free Crunchyroll trial to watch the complete first season without ads.

If you have not already, do go and watch it.

12 episodes of 23 minutes each is not too long, and the show can be wrapped up in a weekend, so do go and watch and let me know in the comments section, if you liked it or not.

From my perspective, this show is an 8 out of 10.

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Until next time.