Table of Contents
Introduction
In recent years the popularity of Manwha has skyrocketed. While it is still the early phase of Manwha’s launch into the mainstream – compared to its big brother Manga – there have been a number of series that have transcended the niche Manwha-reading audience and made waves, resulting in millions of readers, billions of views, animated series and the medium of Manwha itself becoming more popular than ever.
Titles like “Tower of God”, “The God of Highschool” or “Noblesse” have been extremely successful, each having billions of views and even getting their own anime.
The quality of said anime shows left much to be desired, however, the fact that those series got picked up in the first place is something that should be celebrated.
However, even these series pale in comparison to the undisputed King of Manwha, the most popular manhwa series to date Solo Leveling.
Amassing a staggering 14.2 billion views Solo Leveling has earned universal praise and has been recommended by almost every single anime/manga-related creator.
It goes without saying that if you love Manwha and for some unknown reason you have not read Solo Leveling, you should just close this tab and go read it.
With that out of the way, it’s time to dive deep in order to find out: What made Solo Leveling the most popular Manwha of all time? Is it the perfect Manwha?
THE GOOD
Art Direction & Quality
What is immediately apparent is that Solo Leveling’s art is out of this world. With some of the best character designs I have ever seen in any medium and seemingly wielding the godly ability to convey the feeling of “coolness” whenever and wherever they saw fit, the team behind Solo Leveling is insane.
Art is not a prerequisite to enjoying a good story, every fan of the Kaiji anime can attest to that; Still, it is amazing how much high-quality art can elevate a story.
Solo Leveling’s whole identity is tied to the high quality of its art. It is hard to sell a cool character if they do not look cool, it’s as simple as that and Solo Leveling never fails to deliver.
The Formula – Perfect in its Execution
The formula behind the success of Solo Leveling is simple. Really simple.
It goes something like this:
Usually, a supporting character or a group of characters will get in trouble fighting someone/something stronger than them, and in the last moment before they get seriously hurt Sung Jinwoo will swoop in from the shadows, to epically destroy the threat.
It is a power fantasy through and through. Then sometimes, oooh those are the best of times in Solo Leveling .. Sung Jinwoo will go “Arise” and the villain he just beat will become his shadow servant.
I am not being facetious here, those are the hypest moments of the story.
Because even in its extreme simplicity the formula of Solo Leveling is one thing above all others, effective.
Still, it is not the formula that made Solo Leveling the most popular Manwha to date, but the execution of this formula.
Chugong, the author of Solo Leveling masterfully builds up hype throughout each chapter, giving the reader multiple explosions of dopamine and then by the end of the chapter manages to recapture the reader’s attention with a cliffhanger. A perfect loop. And he did it, effectively, EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER.
The epic moments never stopped. There are almost no chapters in the whole story that the author took to cool down and expand on other aspects of the story. He kept pressing the gas pedal to deliver adrenaline week after week after week for years.
Reading it felt like Chugong was a puppetmaster who was completely in control of the reader’s excitement level, creating excitement at will multiple times per chapter out of seemingly thin air.
That’s why he is a true manhwa writing genius.
The Bad
No “Real” Antagonist
One of my biggest gripes with the series is that you never feel like Junho is going to lose. From the moment he gets his new powers he appears to be overpowered compared to everyone and everything around him and nothing can touch him.
He might get hurt sometimes sure, but as the reader, you never really buy it. You never get afraid for him.
There were many points in the story where more powerful creatures/hunters existed in the world but they never meaningfully challenged Sung Jinwoo. Only waiting to challenge him when he was stronger than them.
Not even the rules of the universe touched him. No joke, his existence overwrites the rules of the universe in the end.
Every single adversary to Sung Jinwoo is just fodder with the sole purpose of giving us the readers a shot of pure hype.
And to its credit, the series usually succeeds at that. However, if we zoom out a bit, no antagonist is built up either as a character or as an actual threat to our protagonist.
They are forgettable and bland, solely carried by the incredible art.
The sole exception to the “fodder” comment is the final boss but even then, having never seen Jin-Woo lose from the moment he got his Shadow Monarch powers, it is so unconvincing that there is even a chance he will lose his final battle.
The reader never actually buys into the “twists and turns” presented by the author.
One Dimensional Characters
Sung Jin-Woo
The talentless protagonist who throughout the story transforms into the strongest being in the world.
If you asked me to describe Sung Jin-Woo in 2 adjectives they would be – badass and strong.
Unfortunately, these 2 adjectives are enough to encapsulate his entire essence as a character.
He shows other characteristics as well, such as being protective however it is on such a surface level that I don’t know if it is worth mentioning.
The biggest character development of Sung Jin-Woo occurs in the first chapters of the story when he transforms from zero to hero and his confidence skyrockets.
Other than that he stays the same throughout the whole story. We do not learn anything that changes our perception of him, and he does not grow in any meaningful way at any point in the story.
Supporting Characters
The whole supporting cast of Solo Leveling is extremely underdeveloped and underutilized, to be honest.
There is the generic love interest, Cha Hae-In.
An S-tier hunter that constantly needs Sung Jin-Woo *to save her from some threat. While the existence of their “love story” adds to the story, it is not explored in any meaningful way.
The generic sidekick character, Yoo Jinho.
He exists in the story for two reasons
- To showcase how awesome Sung Jin-Woo is
- To forcefully move the plot forward
Again, he does not develop in any way throughout the story.
S-tier Hunters are introduced as powerful characters considered living weapons that shape earth’s politics with their influence.
They are cool looking but not other than that they are there only as a benchmark of Sung Jin-Woo’s power and play an unimportant role in the story. which is very apparent in the ant arc.
The Bleach Syndrome
Solo Leveling is extremely similar to Bleach in a core way. Both Ichigo and Sung Jin-Woo have no direction as protagonists.
They do not have a dream that they are chasing or something that they want to become. This makes developing a plot around them very challenging. They are reactive characters by nature so something external has to happen in order for them to react.
In Ichigo’s case in the majority of chapters one of his friends gets kidnapped and Ichigo’s job is to save them i.e Orihime, Rukia, etc.
In Solo Leveling, the plot only moves forward when one of three scenarios happen.
- Sung Jinwoo wants to level up because of a game-like quest or to become stronger.
- Someone he cares for gets endangered.
- The world around him is actively being destroyed.
I previously praised how the basic formula that is the essence of Solo Leveling was executed to perfection by the author but let’s talk about the said formula.
It is very repetitive. Like Bleach, where the Hueco Mundo Arc was a carbon copy of the Soul Society arc but instead of Captains insert Arancars, most of Solo Leveling’s arcs are virtually the same but instead of an org mage final boss, there is an ant final boss or a demon final boss or a dragon final boss.
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
― Heraclitus.
The issue in Solo Leveling is that it feels like every river is the same river, which in isolation would be fine if the author also didn’t neglect to meaningfully develop his characters throughout the story but unfortunately that is not the case.
So in the case of Solo Leveling, it feels like the same man steps in the same river repeatedly.
Final Verdict
I should start by repeating the following: “If you have not read Solo Leveling, you should just close this tab and go read it… What are you still doing here? GO!”
Solo Leveling is a VERY enjoyable read. It’s pure power fantasy fun.
The masterful execution of building up hype and ending with a cliffhanger is enough to make it an enjoyable read for almost anyone.
Should you expect Solo Leveling to be the next Berserk?
No, and it is not trying to be. The author made the conscious choice to write this story a certain way.
This choice results in some major aspects of the story being left underdeveloped, however the good outweighs the bad in such a drastic manner that Solo Leveling still is the most popular Manwha of all time at the time that I am writing this.
Personally, Solo Leveling isn’t the deepest experience that I have had with Manwha but it certainly is the most enjoyable one!
Detailed Rating:
ART: 10/10
STORY: 6/10
CHARACTERS: 5/10
HYPE FACTOR: Over 9000
OVERALL: 9
The hype factor is a metric that I put here because judging Solo leveling based only on the story, characters, and art seems unfair. It isn’t a story that can be properly assessed by these metrics.
It’s like rating chocolate based on caloric intake, taste, and nutrients. We could make such an assessment but we would miss the point.
Like chocolate, a lot of people love Solo Leveling and I am one of those people. When I think long and hard the overall package of Solo Leveling is a 9/10 reading experience that leaves you always wanting for me after every chapter.
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