Solo leveling was a pretty entertaining and fun read for the first 100 chapters before the main character became an isekai protagonist. The first 50 chapters were a good 8, then the next an average 7, and now it lays at a low 6, the show falling to purely generic instances. Now don't get me wrong, I still read the weekly chapters, but not with the intensity as the previous ones. I'll admit I was considering putting the first season as one of my favorites, as trashy as that is, but the second season was like milking a dead cow and squeezing out content, without the vibrancy or the quality of the first season.

*Season One (Chapters 1-110)

With probably one of the most intense beginnings in all of Manga, my thoughts can only immediately go to the story of Solo Leveling. Known worldwide as the “World's weakest hunter”, we follow the tale of the Korean 22 year old and how his life changes. Choosing to become a hunter as a job, he gets the rank of E, and has no powers. However he still goes into gates, portals that open up across the world where monsters reside and dominate, where when the boss is defeated the gate closes. After being left in a particularly dangerous dungeon for dead, with 18 dying before him, an alert box appears in his vision 0.02 seconds before he dies, welcoming him to something mysteriously titled “The system”, saying that he fulfilled the requirements to become a “player”. Call it a generic twist I can agree, but the execution is what makes the manga. We follow the newly re-awakened hunter Sung Jin Woo evolve and grow. Where it is literally impossible for hunters to get stronger, Solo Leveling tells the tale of the one hunter who could get stronger, and all the repercussions that happen because of that allowing for some insane fights and amazing art.

One of the things I really liked about the first 100 chapters was the world created. So many Manhwa and power fantasy stories have these generic fantasy worlds, focusing on making the main character stronger, and forgetting all other aspects of the world. However, the Solo Leveling took time to slowly integrate the world, dungeons, and gates throughout the story. Unlike many of these other stories that throw all the information at the beginning and never mention it again, the story gives you just enough in the beginning to make you understand and let you go in blind. The 10 chapter greatness that was the first arc was the perfect setup. It introduced so many things along the way while still having minimal conversation using the first arc's fights and circumstances to make it a riveting introduction to the world. It built a world similar to ours that depends on these gates and these hunters, slowly integrating piece and piece of information that creates these instances and the place around the MC. It sets up lots of chapters in advance, the world functions as a world, and things build up and set in play that only gets explored after two or three arcs. We learn about the various types of hunters, gates, and organizations, hunter or not. The Gates were also fantastic, each a different environment and new horizons to be explored. Despite being portals to magical worlds, they were all different missions that somehow explored more of their world and power systems, providing all of those and some sick fights. They were pseudo "missions" to other worlds and one thing you look forward to in the beginning chapters. The world was fascinating, new things popping up each arc, and was only part of the greatness that was Solo Leveling’s first season.

The story also paid careful attention to its power system and characters. While at first, it was the generic "Leveling" power system that you could attribute to many games or isekai, it paid careful attention to the system and added certain attributes, certain kinks, and certain powers that made it the story's focus. The mysteries of the system were slowly unraveled, and the abilities grounded. It became a fully fleshed out power system that had both good and bad, the MC using it actually in a smart way, the way we would. There were some references to other works and sparks of genius, the main character taking advantage of the system, and not the other way around. And while it was the generic "level up" power system, it wasn't used because it was easy to write in but to explore the world and the hunters' powers. The idea of having the Hunters start with a set amount of power and never have it change was great. Just about every show with “powers” allows their participants to get stronger, but it was a great shift on the system where you had the main character with this leveling power, compared to the world where people could not level up. With all the information they added for the power system, we received a complete power system that seemed pretty straightforward but complex enough to match the greats.

Same with the characters. While it was more apparent in the first 50 chapters, the characters were actual characters, not the peanut gallery that hyped up villains in the most generic way possible. Characters had unique and fun designs that fit their personalities, and there were no oversexualized characters. The show had various characters ranging from ones with small arcs, purely strong ones, unique personalities, and even waifus. They were all little pieces of the world that told specific stories and helped build up the world and the story in general. They would each represent certain aspects of the world, from the poor hunters to the wealthy hunters, to the crazy hunters to all the thousands of different hunter classes. And while the story soon shifted to have more characters with less screen time focusing on the A and S rank hunters, they still were enjoyable as they acted like a family and rivals. The shadows(will be explained later in the webtoon) were also enjoyable despite having no diagoulge. Amazingly, their emotions and personalities were conveyed purely through still images, and I wouldn't say no to having a chapter that is just the shadows interacting. Before I finish the first season, two more things: the main character and the art, the main reasons people read Solo Leveling.

The art in Solo Leveling is some of the best ever made. Usually, I prefer black and white Manga, as art looks better there. Many movement blurs, movement lines in the background, and starburst that symbolize hitting, are left out in the colored versions, looking out of place there. These colored comics usually look like still pictures, with the majority of the colored ones making me wish it was in black and white with uneven coloring, shading, and bad fight art. However, none of these complaints apply to Solo leveling. If Vinland Saga's Manga is the king of black and white art, Solo levelings Color is the king of all colored art. Period. While it does start a bit "meh" in the first 30 chapters, it gets so good after that. The fights here are also phenomenal on par with the taijutsu you see in Naruto. Technical to a fault, it's not about who can make the bigger explosion, but how to outsmart and beat your opponents, each character showcasing different and colorful abilities. In the first half, the main character is still the weakest hunter, and he is forced to utilize almost every skill he has, making some fantastic fights and pay-offs that make you sigh in relief or terror. Each fight will leave you on the edge of your seat, the hype constantly increasing the moments that blow your mind. This is one of the few works(Like Vinland Saga) where I only will read the Manga, the art never able to be fully replicated in an animation, Madhouse, Ufotable, or not.

The main character also had a good development as he acclimated to his surroundings and became a top tier chad. While he didn't have a character arc on the level as the best characters in anime/manga, it did exceptionally well for the series it was in and made you root for him. His humble beginnings make you feel nostalgic as he almost grew up. You easily rooted for him, and he changed from the not so confident isekai protag to a more edgy refined man. Now "character development" is probably an overstatement, as all he did is become an edgy badass, but in the series favor, it did fit the change. However, it was this change into a cool older character where the story begins to crumble apart.

*Season two(Chapter 111 and beyond)
Spoilers for Season One and Season two are here, even as vague I describe them. I suggest you read some of the chapters of the story before reading this segment. But here is a spoiler-free 10-word version: Too overpowered, no tension, mysteries bad, characters bad/gone, isekai tier.

Disregarding the epic and hype-filled finale of the last season, the story begins to break apart from here, the small cracks in the first season now more prominent and more evident in the second. The story seems to forget what made the first season so great, and it wasn't an overpowered character one shot every monster. It was when he surpassed his limits, the moments where he made a new discovery, where there was a twist in the gate where the characters had their moments, and where his powers had personalities and were fun to watch. The second season disregarded those factors and decided to power up the main character so that he could beat Goku.

To be fair, the series tries to shed light on how the mysteries and unsolved cases that the first one does and the first 15 chapters were pretty okay. It gave some good buildup, good fights, and decent answers, however after "The Architect," it then began to fall. Cool reveal, but a lousy way of resolving the issue. Despite being only a "Player" of "The System," he somehow overrules the creator and comes out unscathed. The world stops revolving around the sun and revolves around him, as every event has to do with him. While there are still those pieces of information strewn across some chapters and the scenarios different, it doesn't capture the charm as it focuses purely on the fights, ignoring everything else. While the author continued with less information there, the artist didn't allow it, focusing only on the battles that lose their creativity.

Devolving into who can make the bigger explosion or one-shotting the villain, it quickly became hard to enjoy the fights now gone. While I try not to criticize a series due to its art, I have to when it's the main thing it's enjoyed for. The fights lose most of the choreography as Sung Jin Woo is just on a different level to his opponents, and he always soloes the bosses in two seconds. Because of this, tension now rarely appears, as I know that whatever Sung Jin-Woo encounters will be defeated with no problems. Now the series has become smart with handling that, as it targets other people, but the antagonists are usually always beaten as he arrives, which is always before important people die.

The characters aside from Sung JIn woo, Beru, and Igris are forgotten, holding no character in their scenes. The series seems to forget about characters and their roles, focusing purely on Sung Jin-Woo, which doesn't work anymore. His screen time seems boring, edgy in the Manga, being equivalent to having no personality. He had no room left to grow that feels genuine anymore, as it jumps and does power boosts happening too quickly. His vibrant personality disappears, and choosing to be a one-man army allows for no characters to fill in the void. In season two, many chapters of the Manga entail him talking to himself, which with his now bland personality make them hard to read. There has yet to be a single character from the last season who had adequate screen time that was on the same level as last time.

In conclusion, Solo Leveling was a fun and interesting manga that was a self-fulfillment power fantasy that first coated itself with a great world, writing, and characters. However, as time went by, the paint wore off, and we received a hype but shallow webtoon that stand on the face of webtoons, but nowhere near the top 12 manga. While the second season wasn't as enjoyable as the first, it still did the job well, and if you have time to binge a manga, this should be the first one on your list.

Story: 7.5/10
Art 10/10
Character: 6.7 /10
Enjoyment 9/10
Overall 8/10