Solo Leveling

by Matthew | Jan 7, 2025

Every city fears becoming Jeju Island—a paradise now overrun with monsters when heroes failed to close their gate in time. In this alternate Earth, portals to deadly dungeons began spawning without reason across the world.

Simultaneously, some people manifested special powers. It is incredibly rare for their power level to change, leading to a classification system of hunters used to triage dungeons most effectively. This brings us to Jin-woo, known to be the weakest of them all. Still, as long as he survives, dungeon work is lucrative so he can pay his comatose mother’s medical expenses and support his sister. When he somehow survives an unexpectedly deadly dungeon, he gains the ability to level up and soon surpasses everyone else.

In these kinds of stories, it’s easy for the protagonist to feel overpowered and boring, but ten volumes in and Solo Leveling is going strong. The tension stays high because his increasing abilities are leading him to greater threats that no other hunter is even aware of. While he does sometimes come into conflict with other hunters, this usually ties more to the secondary tension – is Jin-woo’s humanity the cost for power? The kindness that was his defining feature seems colder as the volumes continue.

The reveals come just this side of excruciatingly slowly, creating the perfect sort of agonizing anticipation that must be shared with friends through theories about what is actually going on. These come with a charming cast of characters we hope Jin-woo will continue treating well as his journey changes him. Battles are, of course, frequent and can be both brutal and, occasionally, funny.

As with most manhwa releases, the volumes are entirely full color art peppered with breathtakingly gorgeous panels. The illustrator, Dubu, has such skill at detailed work, when the story beats call for it. These are most frequently used for creating realistic, awe inspiring monsters, but his skills for setting and faces are just as great. Of course, most of the art doesn’t require quite that level of detail, but is still gorgeous nonetheless. The fight scenes are drawn with care so are rarely confusing and employ techniques to elevate them beyond standard fare.

The series is obviously great for gamers, who will be unbothered by level-up screens, but they’re tucked into the story well enough that lack of video game knowledge is no barrier. It’s all perfectly acceptable for a teen audience, despite Jin-Woo’s adult age. There is violence but no sex or nudity, only occasional swearing, and isn’t covering controversial topics. That said, Jin-woo’s concerns are adult enough to keep general adult audiences engaged. This (and the occasional severed limb) is probably why Ize Press rates the series as older teen.
Right now is an excellent time to drop into the series because the latest volume, ten, had major revelations about the purpose of the gates and Jin-woo’s special ability. Additionally, the anime was popular enough to have the first two episodes of season two run in theaters in anticipation of the January release. This is definitely a must-have series for people looking to get into manhwa – personally, it was one of the two that started my addiction!

Solo Leveling
By Chugong , h-goon
Art by DUBU
Yen Press, 2024
ISBN: 9798400902536

Company Age Rating: OT 

NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18)
Creator Representation:  South Korean,
Character Representation: South Korean,