It’s time to dive into one of the titles that really made a lot of waves in the anime world. The original story was a pretty big one thanks to its legendary art and nonstop battles so you figure it would have a very smooth transition to anime so long as the budget was good. Fortunately the anime does have great animation so I would say that it is absolutely keeping up with the greats right now. I figure the series will only continue to get better and better as we jump into the future arcs.

The series starts with introducing us to Jin-Woo who is known as the world’s weakest hunter of all time. What are hunters? Well, in this world there are portals that open up all of the time and hunters are the ones who go in to destroy the boss which causes the portal to close. The boss has to be eliminated quickly or the monsters from inside of the portal will crawl out and destroy everyone. A large portion of the people on the planet are Hunters, you get to be tested once you are of age and then your ranking is determined. You are not able to increase or decrease your rank no matter how much you train. So if you are one of the super rare S ranks then you are in luck. You have fame on the level of a top end celebrity and of course your physical abilities are crazy high. If you’re an E rank…well you might be able to tackle the weakest portals and make enough money to be like a part time job.

Well, Jin-Woo is an E rank hunter and a super weak one at that. He’s weaker than the average person and always gets super injured in every dungeon. He has to rely on his friend to heal him every time. Well, one day the dungeon he goes into ends up being a legendary double dungeon so naturally he is murdered. He ends up being revived somehow though and now he has the ability to level up. It’s as if the world has become a video game so he starts out as a modest level 1 but beating enemies allows him to move up quickly. Does he now have the chance to become an S rank fighter??

Right off the bat I can tell you that I always enjoy a classic level up system. It’s amazing in any video game because if I’m stuck somewhere then it just means that I need to apply myself and get some more level ups. At the same time in a TV show it’s really fun to see because I like to watch the character’s skills improve. I can see immediately why this became such a big hit. It’s the kind of premise that is just a whole lot of fun to watch. The action always remains a pretty big part of the focus as well which is definitely key although I enjoy the talking moments as well. This is what I would call a very well rounded series that excels in just about everything.

So you’ve already got good world building and an intriguing premise. Then beyond that, the main character is really good. In his weaker form Jin-Woo was only okay. You felt bad for him when he was getting beat up but at least he was trying. In his more confident mode, he’s suddenly ready to take everyone down. I like his enthusiasm and determination. He has a scene near the end where he even gets confronted with his older self. At times you do feel like he gets super lucky and should be absolutely crushed by the villains but he always gets up which is the important thing. I would also say that the confidence doesn’t corrupt him with one exception.

There is one scene where he bullies one of the executives with a lot of veiled threats and tough talk. It’s the one time that I thought he was really out of line the whole time. It’s not like this was a villain who was threatening his family or anything. I get that threatening him will really make sure that the guy stays in line but it seemed extremely excessive. So that was Jin-Woo’s only bad scene and while it was a doozy, he has so many great moments that he is absolutely still on top.

Also, while this is more of a positive to the show as a whole, I enjoy Jin-Woo’s fighting style. An Assassin build can be a lot of fun with how quick it moves and the amount of lethal attacks up his arsenal. I thought it was a pretty fun mix-up from the usual swordsman class. In a lot of ways it might feel very similar but Jin-Woo does use his stealth skills to great effect. So that part is a big bonus to him.

Like I mentioned before, the animation is definitely great all around. There are a ton of great fights here, I would say they all looked great. In particular I want to say the two best fights were the ones against Taeshik and Igris. The movement was just so clean and this looks like a brand new anime the whole time. No corners were cut here and I can definitely appreciate that. There will be a lot of pressure on season 2 to look this solid as well. We definitely don’t want to see a drop in quality.

Then the show also has a great soundtrack. I would say my favorite track is Dark Aria that shows up when Jin is taking care of the dark hunters who are messing around with the heroes. It works perfectly in the scene and shows just how messed up things are. The opening is naturally really catchy as well and there are a number of other good tunes to be found as well. So this is another area where the show excels.

Aside from all the general action which is awesome, I do have to take a minute to talk about how great the fight was between Jin-Woo and the evil hunters led by Dongsuk. Technically it’s not rare to see the MC taking out other humans in a show like this. In fact you would expect it but there’s something about this fight that feels extra special. I think it’s because before now all of the fights were against monsters. The whole world’s setup is built around that as well. You’re never supposed to fight any other humans and so the attacks and spells are all trained to work on monsters.

Seeing Jin-Woo essentially turn into a boss battle for the villains was really intense. Definitely a reminder why you should absolutely not mess with this guy. Dongsuk and the other evil hunters may not be super memorable as characters but the scene definitely ends up being one of the most memorable parts of the series. Perhaps it’s the ease with which Jin-Woo destroys them all or the fact that he did not hesitate in the fight. At the end it was a battle to the death though so the villains got what was coming to them.

In the fight with Taeshik it’s also intense because this time both fighters are going for the kill. Taeshik is strong in his own right and has been doing this for a really long time so he’s not going to go down as easily. The fight has a lot of back and forth with high stakes the whole time. I’d have been cool with seeing Taeshik showing up more often since he was a fun villain. Also, as evil as he was, you were glad he was around to take down the other villains since the justice system failed everybody. Solo Leveling definitely strikes you as the kind of world that really incentivizes vigilante work.

In terms of violence, the series can definitely be on the high side at times. There’s absolutely a ton of blood flying around as the enemies are being shredded. Limbs are being lost left and right. It never gets mean spirited on the level of Attack on Titan or too civilian focused which would hurt more though. For now I would say it’s a bit excessive but not quite at the point where I would really be cautioning folks or lowering the score. It could stand to hold back a little though. The monsters always get me a little worried to be sure but at least we’re focusing on those and not having any animals running around. The wolf type creatures get me nervous when they’re destroyed but for now the series is good about keeping them fairly differentiated. I’m not even sure exactly what makes that difference for me. It’s probably a mix of realism and emotions. Like the more it acts like an animal or seems to be in prolonged pain then that could do the trick.

So the series is okay on that front right now. I’m also proud to report that the series really does a good job of avoiding fanservice so far. I’m not surprised, this is a series that was always really good about not having just about any of that. Tower of God didn’t have much at all either so I wonder if it’s just a lot rarer for Korean series to focus on that. Definitely another big win for this series so we can focus on the action the whole time. The show also has some time for some horror elements like in the first episode. The Double Dungeon is absolutely terrifying and they did a great job with the statues there. The big one that smiles is an iconic villain to be sure and I look forward to seeing more of him.

The series also has a lot of mystery aspects at the ready right now. We still have no ideas why Jin-Woo has this level up system. We don’t know who is talking to him through the messages or anything about it really. We’re as in the dark as the main character and the rest of the heroes which works really well. I definitely enjoy a good mystery like that. Really gives your mind something to sink its teeth into while you wait for the next fight scene. As for the side characters, some like Hae-In and Gun-Hee haven’t gotten a chance to do much yet. Hae is a promising S rank fighter who seems like she will be a lot of fun to watch. Gun-Hee may be one of those corporate figures but so far he’s actually rather reasonable and someone you can count on.

Jin-Ah is the main character’s sister so she’s around but hasn’t done a whole lot yet. She’s mainly around to humanize Jin-Woo a bit and remind us that he does have a life outside of all the fighting. Jin-Ho is a rich kid who really wants to prove himself to the company and his father. He works well as comic relief to an extent while also being deceptively smart. The guy has a good head on his shoulders and isn’t just along for the ride. He’s a fun character and you feel a little bad that he’s still rather scared of Jin-Woo so far. Hopefully soon their friendship will be more genuine where there aren’t power dynamics at play. He gets major points from me for still striking up a partnership even while he was probably shaking on the inside.

Chi-Yui is a wise mentor type figure from the opening episode. He actually returns after that later on and has a good fight. I give the guy more props than most of the other supporting fighters since he actually listened to Jin-Woo from the start and didn’t want to ditch him. The guy may have taken the situation rather hard but he performed better than around 90% of the characters. He should be proud of himself and he’s a character who has good development by the end.

Then you have Joo-Hee who doesn’t look great. She’s a solid healer who even reached B rank but gets scared easily and can be off of her game. This is not good since in a dungeon you need to be able to trust everyone with your life. Any hesitation can cost you big time. Ultimately she knows her limits though and makes the right move. It may not make her super likable but it’s better than freezing up when it counts.

Finally you have the final boss Igris. This guy was definitely great. Not much in the way of character at the moment but he makes up for that with an absolutely elite design and superb fighting skills. Right now he seems to easily be one of the strongest fighters in the series. There’s just no question about his incredible skills. He was a great choice to close out the season as the last big named fighter.

The show ends with quite a few new plot points to explore and a lot of world building that was already around. Throw in the obvious cliffhanger and you can tell that we’re really just starting this big saga. Even in terms of power level, Jin-Woo is clearly still not close to S rank yet despite how powerful he is. That’s definitely something that should get you really hyped because it shows that there is a lot more ground to cover.

I guess if you needed another weakness for the series, right now the supporting cast isn’t super memorable. As you could tell from my write up above, it’s not like I was really a big fan of any of the other heroes. Some of them have a lot of potential but haven’t done much yet. Gradually you would expect the other characters to do much but just keep in mind that the show is called “Solo Leveling”. It’s not your standard party type show with all of the fighters teaming up. I will say that we will definitely see more cool characters eventually but the cast isn’t generally one of Solo Leveling’s strong suits. That’s why it is important that you like Jin-Woo as the main character to carry the series.

Overall, Solo Leveling is definitely a great series. A lot of the best parts from the original story are still coming up so I’m definitely hyped for when that gets animated. This season did a good job of covering a lot of content though and I don’t really have the main events in the series memorized so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in season 2. Of course the cliffhanger involving the insect island is going to be big and that was an awesome saga in the manwha so I’m really excited for that. If you haven’t seen Solo Leveling yet and are in the mood for a lot of action then you definitely need to check this one out!

Overall 8/10