Warning: Contains spoilers for Solo Leveling manhwa.
Summary
Manhwa lost momentum after the Jeju Island Arc with uninteresting and confusing plot developments. The rushed pace leads to unimpressive story arcs, especially in the second half of the series. The anime adaptation of Solo Leveling is fixing the main problems of the manhwa and has the potential to be even better.
Single level definitely one of the hottest anime of the year thanks to manhwa's popularity from the beginning. However, despite its global popularity, Solo Leveling's manhwa is actually far from perfectto the point where I dropped it the first time, but maybe the anime can fix some of its most glaring flaws.
Despite its initial appeal, Solo Leveling's manhwa failed to keep me hooked beyond the Jeju Island Arc. The next chapters Jeju Raid marks the beginning of part 2 of the manhwa and depicts the so-called calm before the storm, Solo Leveling's final battle against the Monarchy. However, the lengthening of these chapters makes one of the most dull and confusing moments in the entire series.
Solo Leveling has finally reached its final installment and ideally I can't put the series down. However, Introducing too many new characters and confusing subplots at once, coupled with poor pacing and an eventful but uninteresting main plot, meant that I instead found myself increasingly bored and frustrated. Ultimately, I dropped the series, forgot to ever re-read it, and read the ending (which was equally disappointing).
Solo Leveling declines after Jeju arc
Manhwa's slow pacing ruined arcs that could have been great
The first time I heard about Solo Leveling was around the time this manhwa was preparing for the big final battle. At that time, I didn't even know what a manhwa was, but I had definitely heard all about Solo Leveling, which just goes to show how popular the series is even in this small corner of India.
Solo Leveling has a unique appeal that even I, a shoujo enthusiast, can't resist.
Despite being constantly urged to read it by people around me, it took me over a year to really get into the series. That being said, Solo Leveling has me hooked With bright, beautiful art, an engaging premise, and an enjoyable pacing, I even enjoyed the side characters like Yoonho, Beru, and Woo Jinchul, and while I've never been drawn to shōnen action series in the past, Solo Leveling has a unique appeal that even I, a devout shoujo consumer, couldn't resist.
However, this excitement suddenly died down right after the Jeju Island Arc, which was unanimously considered one of the best arcs in Solo Leveling. The climactic battle with Beru set the bar as high as possible, but The second season of the manhwa never reached such heights.. Up until this point, Solo Leveling has never had a dull moment. The pacing is always perfect and keeps me scrolling to the next page without a second thought. However, the arcs leading up to the final battle between Jinwoo and Antares have been largely underwhelming, with the exception of the Double Dungeon Arc.
As a result, these new storylines are extremely confusing and nearly impossible to understand or follow.
The Japan Crisis arc is by far the worst, although it's a pretty interesting part of the novel that shows that the main culprit behind Solo Leveling's problems in the second half of the manhwa is actually fast pace. The manhwa rushes through introducing multiple Monarchs as well as confusing new plot elements like Fragments of Light, trying to fit in multiple parts of the story in a very short amount of time. As a result, these new plots are extremely confusing and nearly impossible to understand or follow.
The ending of Solo Leveling is equally devastating
The rushed final battle makes for a frustrating end to a great series.
However, when I heard that Solo Leveling was going to get an anime, I finally decided to re-read and finish the manhwa this time. Just like the first time, the first half was breathtaking and when I got through the second half of the story this time, I was disappointed again with the ending. There's no doubt it's great to see the various foreshadowing pieces from the series finally come together to reveal Solo Leveling's beautifully crafted lore.
That being said, it's not the lore that's the problem, it's the final battle, which is extremely short and bland. Antares, who should have been Jinwoo's toughest opponent and the ultimate villain of Solo Leveling, in the end there is still much to be desiredAdd to that the fact that the second half of the fight takes place in a completely unshown space, and there's little to commend Solo Leveling's ending.
The anime fixed Solo Leveling's biggest problems
Solo Leveling Anime May Be More Faithful to the Light Novel
Custom image by Merlyn De Souza
Despite my complaints with the manhwa, The anime adaptation of Solo Leveling reignited my love for the series and has a chance to be even better than manhwa in many aspects. Season 1 of the Solo Leveling anime also began fixing many of the manhwa's major problems and had the perfect opportunity to clarify the final battle against the Monarch of Destruction as well as the parts leading up to the ending.
The early introduction of S-rank hunters in season 1 suggests that the anime could do the same with Monarchs, which could make the second half of the story less confusing. The anime could also focus on the Japan Crisis Arc and the International Guild Conference Arc, making for a more faithful adaptation of the light novels.
Overall, Solo Leveling is definitely a good story, and it's easy to see why this manhwa has become so popular. The series certainly holds a special place as one of the first few manhwa I ever read, but after exploring the medium more since then, I can confidently say that Solo Leveling is not perfect at allbut simply one of the few manhwa that isn't completely bad.
The fact that I left the series halfway through doesn't necessarily mean that the series as a whole is bad, as everyone enjoys this type of product differently depending on their preferences, but there's definitely room for the anime to improve significantly on the source material, which is why I simply can't wait to see what happens next. Single levelanime of available for the future.
Level up alone available to read from Pocket Comics and TappyToon.