Solo Leveling is without a doubt one of the most popular webtoons of all time. And with the anime adaptation coming back for a new season, I’m sure people are going to start talking about it again. This also means that the hate train or bandwagon is going to be back. Not to say that people aren’t allowed to dislike a series, to each their own as long as they’re not hurting anybody. But for those who are genuinely confused as to why you don’t get the hype of the series or feel underwhelmed by it, perhaps this can help.
“Solo Leveling is goated.” Most of you have probably heard at least one person say this before you jumped into the anime. But what you should keep in mind is the last part. “Solo leveling is goated as a webtoon.” Solo Leveling is originally a South Korean webnovel by Chugong. Is it goated as a webnovel? Well, not really. Otherwise, it would have been part of the “Holy Trinity of webnovels in South Korea.” If anything, the novel became more popular because the webtoon adaptation was so popular.
So why is the webtoon so popular? It’s even become a staple in the webtoon community. It’s practically a starter webtoon for anyone who wants to get into the manhwa hype. Ask any manhwa reader for a recommendation and they’ll most likely include solo leveling on that list. Why? Because it’s one of the earlier webtoons considered to have god-tier-level art.
Nowadays, you often hear or rather read the term “god-tier-level art” in the webtoon community because there have been many manhwas of this level popping up over the years, especially with the growing number of webtoon studios. Back then, there were more solo artists who would have a few assistants or people who did it completely alone, but now, more and more studios as well as available 3D assets are paving the way to better-quality webtoons.
But back in the day, when the webtoon adaptation of Solo Leveling was relatively new, there wasn’t a lot of god-tier-level art just yet. Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of good art, yes, but they weren’t able to fully utilize webtoon creation the way they’re able to nowadays. Much like anime; year after year, decade after decade, anime movies and shows noticeably improve that you could easily tell the difference between an early 2000s anime to that of a 2020s anime.
Much like that, webtoon creation has had a significant boom in a relatively short period of time, most likely as a result of its ever-growing demand and popularity. And Solo Leveling was one of the earlier manhwas to help this massive boom. Redice Studio is arguably one of the most popular webtoon studios to date. They’re one the biggest studios for action-adventure fantasy, as well as romance fantasy. They’ve got a long lineup of webtoon adaptations that have gone on to become extremely popular. These titles include:
I’m the Max-level Newbie, The Return of the Disaster-class Hero, Ranker’s Return, The Twins’ New Life, Daisy: How to Become the Duke’s Fiancée, What It Takes to be A Villainess, Lady Evony, and the most popular of all… Omniscient Reader. The true overall goat that’s part of the holy trinity of webnovels in South Korea.
Redice Studio adapted solo leveling before Omniscient Reader. So, Solo Leveling started in March of 2018 on Kakaopage, and then in May of 2020, Omniscient Reader was launched on Naver Webtoon. And around the time that Redice Studio really polished their art style was when they began working on Omniscient Reader, so you’ll notice that the start of the ORV webtoon looks as hyped as the middle of Solo Leveling. This is why the Omniscient Reader manhwa was immediately hyped, besides the fact that it was already a popular webnovel.
This is again to emphasize the power Redice Studio holds. The fight scenes in solo leveling were drawn so well and just kept getting better and better. Static pictures were able to emphasize so much action and movement. And the best part, which basically sold all the readers, would be the long scroll panels. The scope and perspective this comic shows is next level. The impact of these long scroll panels left strong impressions on readers as they made episode after episode feel full and eventful.
The long panels that show off Jinwoo’s shadow army gearing up for a big fight could easily hype up any reader. I personally played “my songs know what you did in the dark” whenever those scenes popped up. They give off very strong “light em up” energy. The sceneries are also absolute knockouts. Something about being able to scale wide areas is just so impressive in a webtoon.
It gave way to many webtoons making the most out of vertical scrolls and maximizing perspective to show wider areas that are so pleasing to the eyes, especially for otherworldly webtoons like Omniscient Reader. And considering how often you see them throughout solo leveling, it made weekly updates worthwhile. Again, at a time when it wasn’t as common, this became revolutionary. Jang Sung Rak aka DUBU, the man in charge of the webtoon adaptation was an absolute legend. May you rest in peace.
Aside from that, the characters weren’t drawn so stiffly unlike many manhwas you’ll see out there. Their intensity is also well delivered. The monsters are also well-accounted for. They add to the hypeness of fight scenes. Although they’re more common in many action webtoons nowadays, especially with the ones Redice Studio is adapting. But back in the day, not so much.
And above all, the shadow army. The shadow army! It’s not easy to make pitch-black shadows look cool and well-built like that. They even look cooler as shadows than they were as monsters. Except for Igris, he’s cool no matter what version. Moreover, they’re not all just mindless shadows, they have personalities too. And when they’re not cutting and smashing enemies down, they’re probably being stupid but adorable. They’re a kind of silly that you can’t help but adore.
It’s a fun read but it also has its flaws; like how the female lead is supposed to be one of the stronger S-class hunters only for her to embody the very definition of a damsel in distress, which is the only real beef I have with it, aside from the romance seemingly out of left field, but that’s a topic for another time. I mean, there are also plotholes, sure, but the art and the fight scenes more than make up for it.
There are many assumptions people carry when going into this series and the biggest reason for people not liking it or ending up feeling underwhelmed when watching the anime is that people go into it thinking it’s going to be a goated anime. But just because it’s god-tier in one aspect doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same in other aspects. Like I said, it’s originally a novel. And as a novel, it’s okay. Does it make you want to re-read it over and over like you do with the webtoon version? Not so much.
So, will the anime have the same impact as the webtoon? Hard to say. It’ll probably boil down to personal preference. It’s hard to make any solid statements about whether or not an anime will be really good or not because there are so many good anime shows already. In other words, it’s already a saturated market. A saturated market for both good art and good stories, unlike the webtoon scene when solo leveling debuted.
It’s also important to note that anime adaptations tend to change a lot of parts, so that’s one thing that could quite possibly change the impact of the solo leveling anime. But we’ll have to wait and see. And let’s just hope that they don’t change too many things and stick close to the webtoon adaptation, especially for the fight scenes since those panels are popular for a reason. Also note that the anime so far hasn’t really gotten very far yet. The more hyped scenes and major arcs are still a long way to go. So, hopefully, the more the anime goes on, the better it will be, and the more you’ll enjoy it.
Whether or not the people in charge of animating this series will be able to bring it to its highest glory, only time will tell. Also, like I said, it’s going to take a while before we get to see Jinwoo’s full army in action so if you’re impatient to see all of that hypeness, I highly recommend jumping into the webtoon if you haven’t already.
My overall advice is to not go into the anime thinking it’s going to go above and beyond the already GOATed anime shows that are out there. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy it. You can easily enjoy something even if you don’t think it’s goated. And if you genuinely end up enjoying it, then that’s great. It was made for the enjoyment of readers and viewers alike.
So with all that said, I could only hope that you jump into the anime without any prejudice or assumptions and just enjoy the ride. And if you haven’t seen the webtoon yet, I highly recommend giving it a go as that is its biggest claim to fame and is definitely a worthwhile read. Make sure to support the creators by reading it legally on official sites. Solo Leveling the manhwa is available on Tappytoon, Manta, and Tapas. So, go check it out now!
