The Solo Leveling Showdown: A Game of Copycat?

I've gotta say, writing a negative review of 'Solo Leveling' is like winning at Mortal Kombat against my little brother - assuming my little brother has developmental delays and his controller isn't even plugged in.

It's just not even a fair fight. Fans are unlikely to come up with anything substantial to counter your arguments, except maybe something like, 'it set the bar,' 'it's the first in its genre' (which is debatable), or 'they just copied it from it' (yeah, right XD). And then there's the ultimate fan argument: 'at least the main character isn't whiny' - well, that's just something haters can tell the main character's actor to remember not to forget his red nose and orange wig. I mean, the main character Sola is definitely not whiny. He's just made all the other characters whiny XD.

No, seriously, it feels like 'Solo Leveling' was created just to be hated. Even when the anime was still ongoing, I heard some bloggers were live-streaming their reactions just to trash-talk their viewers over each new episode.

And I'm not saying Sola is bad enough to be good. No, it's not that case. It's just that 'Solo Leveling' is so bad that even the most casual viewer can spot all the plot holes. The entire story is held together with such thin threads that they'd be visible even on a snowy mountain.

Everything about this story is flimsy, illogical, and just plain stupid. Nothing works the way it's supposed to. The main character's grand moments don't evoke any sense of catharsis. He doesn't make you feel emotionally invested. The only thing that's really 'uplifted' here is the author's ego when he's describing his protagonist XD

— Whoa, check out that guy!

— Was he always that good?

Two young nurses whispered to each other, watching nothing but a blank-faced Jinwoo as he walked out of his room.

...

Jinwoo approached the mirror in the corner and looked at himself.

— Hm~.

Catching himself admiring his reflection, he thought, I'm not getting caught being a total narcissist like a teenage girl. He took a moment to appreciate his new physique: His body had changed.

-“I've gained muscle mass.”

The most noticeable changes were the muscles bulging out from under the fat. He looked bigger and broader in the shoulders.

-“Not bad, not bad.”

Everything about him looked more balanced. The muscle definition was just right. People often call guys with this build 'lean,' right?

Even as a guy, he knew he looked good, so it wasn't surprising that the young nurses started checking him out.

I'm still chuckling to myself about how this guy's gone from a scrawny mess to a decent-looking dude in just a week. He's even started checking himself out in the mirror. Come on, author, prove to me you didn't just grab every over-the-top trope from a boy's coming-of-age action movie!

Solo Leveling/Поднятие уровня в одиночку. Скрин аниме. ДжинвуSolo Leveling/Поднятие уровня в одиночку. Скрин манхвы. Джинву
It's like the author's a Dungeon Master, just waiting to 'clear' any dungeon level for us.

Solo Leveling/Поднятие уровня в одиночку. Скрин манхвы. ДжинвуPardon me while I laugh at this. I mean, come on, it's like the author's trying to make the protagonist some kind of action hero. Newsflash: he's not. Even if we ignore the fact that he's gone from this

Solo Leveling/Поднятие уровня в одиночку. Скрин аниме. Джинвуin just a week, doing 100 push-ups and squats a day (strange he didn't lose all his hair in the process), and considering he's never been into sports before (strange he didn't die from it), it's not like this is a bad story. The problem is, there are plenty of other reasons in the story that make this moment look silly and out of place.Let's dive a bit deeper into the protagonist's motivation (yes, he has one):

So, our protagonist is a slacker, a failure, and basically the weakest link in humanity. But he's forced to go on these perilous raids to feed his little sister and sick mom. His dad, who's a gaymer, went into the dungeon and never came back, so the whole family relies on our protagonist. His name's Jinwoo, by the way.

Solo Leveling/Поднятие уровня в одиночку. Скрин аниме. Джинву I mean, even when it's clear that he's not making a fortune from these raids, he's not about to quit his job. And to make matters worse, he's getting creamed even by the lowest-level monsters in almost every raid. Solo Leveling/Поднятие уровня в одиночку. Скрин аниме. Джинву The author tries to explain his dedication by saying he's doing it to help his mom in the hospital, but the whole system just looks so half-baked and convoluted that it raises a question: why doesn't he just go work at the factory? I mean, the payoff from his raids is about as exciting as re-reading the manga for the Solstice arc. So, why not try to find another job? But no, the hero can't think logically. I mean, he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. Solo Leveling/Поднятие уровня в одиночку. Скрин аниме. And it seems like we've got a standard prologue: the main character is a loser who wants to save his mom and support his little sister. But the thing is, it's not like that. The author and the hero are just using the mom and sister as an excuse. I mean, the real focus is on the hero's leveling up. There are way more flashbacks to when the hero was a kid, but his mom was healthy and his sister was happy, just so we can understand what the hero is fighting for. But instead, we get to see how he got bullied for being weak. The problem with the storytelling is that the author says the hero's motivation is to save his mom, but what he shows is completely different! The hero is always thinking about how he can prove he's not the weakest link. In the heat of the moment, he'll say something like, 'who's the weakest now?' Meanwhile, the scenes with his mom and sister are basically an afterthought. It's clear what the hero's real motivation is: self-justification.

Saving his mom and sister is just a noble excuse. But the real goal is to show off his alpha-male credentials. He wants to prove to everyone that they were wrong about him, and that he's the strongest guy around.

I've got to say, the 'main character' label is fitting here. Not because there are any other characters worth mentioning, but because, well, there aren't any. Your mom, sister, friend, or crush – they're all just NPCs, doling out quests and nothing more. Their personalities, backstories, and opinions are completely irrelevant. The author doesn't bother with any of them, except for Jinwoo. He's the only one who matters. The rest of the characters exist solely when Jinwoo interacts with them, and that's it. I'm 100% sure you won't be able to recall or even remember any of them after watching.

When I'm introduced to a new story, I usually notice a few secondary characters or antagonists who catch my attention. Not here. The entire Sololeveling universe is created solely to praise Jinwoo.

This description of the main character doesn't ring a bell, does it? You know, those heroines who transfer to a new school and instantly capture the hearts of all the cute guys? The clumsy, ninja-vampire heiresses from powerful mafia families? Yeah, Jinwoo's cousin, Marty Stu, is basically that. He's a straight-up, 100% Marty Stu. I'm not even kidding when I say he's so perfect, he should be put in a museum of measurements and weights. And, honestly, that's the only thing I can praise the author for. Even if they tried, it's hard to create a main character as perfectly, yet utterly empty, as Jinwoo.

Needless to say, the poster for the anime doesn't even have room for any secondary characters. The three characters on the poster are all Jinwoo.

Solo Leveling/Поднятие уровня в одиночку постер к анимеBy the way, another problem with the main character is that he's chosen simply because.In the first season of the anime, this won't be explained at all. But, judging by the manga, the main reason Jinwoo is the main character is his desire to survive. The way he fights for his life is what makes him special. Of course, how he did it won't be shown. We won't get to see Jinwoo's personality until he becomes an immortal. All we'll know is that he was a weak, whiny kid.

Desire to survive? He went on death-defying raids, risking his life every time, instead of getting a job as a delivery guy. He fought? We'll see him cowering in bushes while others fought monsters. Yeah, that's a great candidate for an overpowered system.

Solo Leveling/Поднятие уровня в одиночку. Скрин аниме. Джинву Honestly, Jinwoo isn't anything special. After he got the system, he's always shown as some kind of one-dimensional cool guy. He's just a dude who's always leveling up. Of course, the author tries to bring up some moral dilemmas, like, "Oh no, I killed someone." But let's be real, that's not going to be developed at all. The hero just says something like, "Yeah, I killed someone...Meh, who cares?" - and that's it. The main character is just a flat character. There's nothing to latch onto, and it's not interesting to watch him. I stopped feeling sorry for him after the first two or three battles. And the funniest thing is, you start to realize that Jinwoo in the first two episodes is actually better than Jinwoo after he's leveled up.

Solo Leveling/Поднятие уровня в одиночку. Скрин аниме. Джинву It's just because Jinwoo in the first episodes didn't have the chance to kill villains with his bare hands, so he had to think things through. In contrast, Jinwoo in the later episodes just threw his "intelligence" out the window 🤷 Going back to the argument that the main character isn't weak, I want to say that having weaknesses doesn't make a character weak. On the other hand, lacking weaknesses makes a protagonist a cardboard cutout, which is exactly what Jinwoo is.

The world and universe of the story don't work.

I've come across the opinion that Solo Leveling just spells out obvious things, but doesn't explain the really important details needed to understand the world. I agree with that, and I can even explain why I think this is the case: the author has no idea how their world works. But of course, they're happy to spend three chapters explaining how the main character distributes stats in his simulator.

It's the same with the benefits for moms: the main character's mom got a disease related to the appearance of underground dungeons. So, the main character goes on raids to take care of her in the hospital. But what if there wasn't a hunter in the family? Would the government just leave the dying person to die? I can understand the increased benefits and insurance for hunters themselves, but what about their families? And in other professions, did the government just cancel the bonuses for taking care of a disabled relative after the underground dungeons appeared? That's a pretty interesting setup.

Look, there's a local ministry that's supposed to regulate things related to hunters and dungeons. And, of course, there are guilds – you can't have one without the other. But what I don't get is how the government lets these private, militarized groups, full of espers who can basically take down the government from the inside, operate on their own turf. And yet, the ministry is just a joke, something that any guild can easily push around if they want to.

But, I guess that's all just background noise when you've got Jinwoo to deal with. The guild leaders, the ministry, even the strongest SSSSSSS hunters – they all look like a bunch of clueless kids who can't even take down a monster.

Solo Leveling/Поднятие уровня в одиночку. Скрин аниме. СтатуяI'll say this upfront: they won't do anything meaningful for the entire story. They'll just be there, doing their thing, collecting quests and striking poses. But then the main character shows up, and suddenly they're the ones who are all about the drama.Seriously, who's actually done anything for the story besides the main character? In the first season, I'd say it's Jinwoo's friend, Jin-ho, who suggests they start a guild with a black market and a harem. But, let's be real, Jin-ho is just a sidekick – the guild is Jinwoo's show. Could Jinwoo have started a guild without Jin-ho? Yeah, probably. Could Jin-ho have done anything without Jinwoo? Nope, not a chance. So, why is Jin-ho even in the story? I guess it's just to add some extra background noise.

Or take the guild leaders, for example, who are trying to assemble a raid to clear out a problem island. I'm not surprised to say that they'd struggle without Jinwoo's help.

And again: the guild leaders are only there to come up with ideas. Just like Jin-ho before them. They propose something, and Jinwoo takes the lead. After that, the secondary characters just become irrelevant.

How it's supposed to work in a normal story: a secondary character comes up with an idea, the main character supports it, and they work together to achieve something. But in Solo Leveling, it's like the author can't even let one of the secondary characters step up to Jinwoo's level, even temporarily.

That's why the romantic, friendly, and all the other relationships around Jinwoo are just going to be meaningless. Every NPC around Jinwoo is just a quest-giver.

What are the positives?

I'm not going to lie – I did like the graphics. The final battle in the season was cool, and the fights in general were well-choreographed.

Solo Leveling/Поднятие уровня в одиночку. Скрин аниме. Игнис I mean, it's not the best thing I've seen in anime, but it's definitely above average. The same goes for the art in Mahwa - it's pleasant to look at, even if it's not the most impressive. You can't deny that the art and animation are often praised in reviews of this series. I guess there's not much else to praise, except for the fact that the main character isn't a high school student... yet. The OST, opening, and ending are all on point. There's nothing to complain about there.

But, of course, it's just another case of a pretty package with no substance, like that recent "Zombie Apocalypse". I'm still wondering, though - what's so great about the novel if it doesn't have any art or impressive animation? How did it become so popular, with so many adaptations, and an anime that's topping the charts, beating out Monologue of the Pharmacist and Freeride?

I think viewers are just so tired of the typical 'overpowered' main characters that they're willing to go to the other extreme - cardboard cutout Dungeon Masters who won't let anyone call them weak.

My verdict: watch it just to see how not to create a story and what kind of protagonist not to have. Or to laugh with friends. Or, I guess, if you have a 'mute' button (or if it's always off for you). In any other case, I wouldn't recommend watching 'Solo Leveling'.