For people who have already read the Manwha and are curious about the animation, Episode 5,6 and 11,12 are my recommendations. You get the best of the anime there. For everyone else, give it a 3 episode rule and see if you vibe with it.
What you can expect is a journey of a weak person into becoming strong not through abusing a mechanic or cheat but through sheer grit and willpower, along with ofcourse a great many strong foes to overcome.
Now to the actual review:
The most popular Manwha out there, the Power Fantasy of Power Fantasies. I read and finished the Manwha and it was ... a fun ride. Though by no means I'll call it a masterpiece for art is more to it than just flashy power trips and Solo Levelling suffers greatly from cardboard characters and paper thin personalities. However, the anime is not the same as the manwha and I think in a good way, since the anime has done more to delve into the side characters and Jin Woo's Psyche compared to the source material which imo was just balls to the walls power fantasy, while here Solo levelling shows the journey and growth of a once weak and powerless Jin Woo now going through hardship to become stronger and face progressively stronger foes. I think a 3 episode rule will give it a fair shake for everyone to decide whether they like this or not. I see many people who hate it because its a Power Fantasy or a Video Game inspired Magic System which they don't like, I mean yeah anime taste is subjective. If you don't like it, that's fine. That said, I personally enjoyed watching Solo Levelling, especially with Food. The Igris Fight at Episode 11 and 'ARISE' in Episode 12 is great.
I usually watch anime at 2x speed since most of the times they either bore me or the pacing drags on. However anime that impresses through engaging plot developments and emotionally climatic moments often have me slow down and watch it more closely. Usually reserved for masterpieces like FMAB, Steins Gate or AoT. I oddly found myself really enjoying Solo Levelling.
Anyway, onto my objective assessment. You can refer to my profile for more details:
Rubric 1: Arts and Fun = Entertaining & Artistic Merit = 2/2 points
Originally I would have given it a 1/2 since the Artistic merit is nothing new. However, you have to understand this Manwha is really old and predates SAO in the video game fantasy genre. That said, despite the aged context of the plot the anime does a really great job of portraying Jin Woo's evolution from being weak & powerless to being a strong, ruthless and often times cold blooded hunter. In future context of the plot it also sets the elements for the future plot in motion pretty well too. Plus the production value is pretty good, as such I'm happy to award it artistic merit since It managed to iterate over the existing material and improve it.
Rubric 2: Recommendation = It's a really fun time if the premise doesn't turn you off = 2/2 point
I understand people who don't like Power Fantasies or Video Game Mechanics in anime, calling it creatively bankrupt or whatever. However, I disagree on the creative bankruptcy part. Good stories can be told through any means and media, utilizing game like mechanics is only bad if the anime does little to explain any of it assuming 'you know it already' which is what I'd call mooching off others work. But I digress, I'd recommend Solo Levelling with the idea that if you enjoy Power Fantasy, you will love it as its a slow ascent to power and then balls to the walls power trip, however I definitely think Jin Woo right now when he is still weak in contrast to the absurdities in the later manwha still has a journey of overcoming your limits that is quite a treat to see. You can't just solve all your problems by grinding, you need to pick your battles and push yourself beyond your limits. So basically, I found it fun and I think you might too so give it a chance and see if it vibes with you.
Rubric 3: Narrative Consistency = Completely Flawless = 2/2 points
Narrative consistency I define is the idea that anywhere in the story, you can stop and ask How, What, Why, When, Where and you should be able to answer that without any confusion. Atleast as far as the anime has progressed there isn't a concern with the flow of the story and thus the narrative consistency is sound. This makes it easy to follow and tracking Jin Woo's progression and growth is really fun and rewarding.
Rubric 4: Emotional Moments = Has atleast 1 emotional moment = 2/2 point
An emotional moment is something that evokes an immense intensity of emotions:
Happiness (You are happy and smile in joy)
Saddens (A scene makes you sob)
Thought Provoking (A scene that makes you think very deeply)
Memorable/Iconic (A scene unlike any other that will stick with you)
A good example of an emotional moment is United States of Smash by All Might in My Hero Academia, also Endeavour VS Nomu fight from the same.
The Serpent Fight in Episode 4, The Ending and the incredibly direct reference in Episode 12 along with Arise all served up enough Emotional Moments to justify the upgrade to 7 points
Rubric 5: Personal Bias = Does not cater to my biases = 0/2 points
I like 3 things:
1 = History (If the anime has a rich lore or is inspired by actual history and adheres to it)
2 = Idealogue (The anime jostles with deep and thought provoking topics like the Idea of a King or the Concept of Freedom and Justice, and tries its best to explore or deconstruct)
3 = Magic Systems (Be it a hard magic system defined by rules like FMAB's Law of Equivalent Exchange, or a Soft Magic System that is more mysterious like bending in Avatar the Last Airbender)
The History and World Building is incredibly surface level, we don't know much about the world beyond its pretty much the modern world and then the gates arrive and we get Hunters etc. Wasted potential there..
Idealogue is surface level in the anime, it does deal with the psychology of strength and what it means to kill someone to lose a part of yourself, but it doesn't really go into any depth about it. Just an acknowledgement and moving on. However, later in the Manwha Solo Levelling explores other themes but I won't discuss them here since it's not relevant (yet).
The Magic System is incredibly bare bones, you Level up in a way you do in RPGs and get stat points to allocate and skills and items and stuff. Aside from plot relevant and surface level information and comparisons, it really doesn't dive in deep to flesh out the entire system. I won't say anything about it, but this is a plot point thats relevant later in the story However or now the 'Magic System' is sadly surface level and not properly fleshed out. Jin Woo can get skills and items and stuff all in a matter of convenience. Sanderson said in his Laws of Magic that 'Magic is best known through it's Limitations rather than Capabilities' meaning it is more interesting to know what are the limitations of a given system and have your characters problem solve with that in mind. FMAB's Law of Equivalent Exchange is a masterclass in this, we know the cost of doing anything must come equally in payment. In Solo Levelling, constraints are dynamic and often only show up in context of scenarios or plot complications, there is no overall law that governs hard rules of what constitutes what can and cannot be done which adds too loose of a definition in terms of Power Scaling. But eh I'm rambling, point is the Magic System of SL is surface level serviceable, not the sort I particularly like hence I can't award any points here.
Final rating: 8/10
 Alternative Titles Synonyms: Na Honjaman Level Up, 나 혼자만 레벨업, I Level Up Alone Japanese: 俺だけレベルアップな件 Information Type: TV Episodes: 12 Status: Finished Airing Aired: Jan 7, 2024 to Mar 31, 2024 Premiered: Winter 2024 Broadcast: Sundays at 00:00 (JST) Licensors: None found, add some Studios: A-1 Pictures Source: Web manga Theme: Adult Cast Duration: 23 min. per ep. Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity) Statistics Score: 8.331 (scored by 284,697 users) 1 indicates a . Ranked: #2362 2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #360 Members: 601,530 Favorites: 11,491 Available AtResources |
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