Pretty Interesting Manhwa

~As a person who has just discovered the existence of manhwas, they're a ground for potential, as some manhwas are even getting their own anime adaptation (i.e. Tower of God, God of High School, etc.). I stumbled upon Solo Leveling from Discord and I decided to give it a shot.~

~Story~

The story is not exactly unique as so far, it has a very generic plot to it. Protagonist is weak at the beginning, gets into an incident, comes back stronger, and keeps getting stronger with some conflict. It's been seen before in other anime but this anime gets it right it some ways. For one, the protagonist isn't portrayed as "invincible" as even though Sung Jin-Woo is seen as an overwhelmingly powerful hunter amongst others, he still faces more and more powerful beings as he "levels up". There is a logic to his power as well, as his growth of power as a hunter is based off of his own judgement. He decides how he wants to level up, what kind of stats he wants to focus on, what equipment he should use, etc. A person who wasn't as educated would've not been able to utilize this new power as well as Sung Jin-Woo has.

~Characters~

There isn't much character development in Solo Leveling besides Sung Jin-Woo, as this is on a world-wide scale and there are way too many characters in the story. This doesn't mean that they're bad though. All the characters are unique and have their charms and moments such as Jin-Ho Yoo, Hae-In Cha, and others. As for Sung Jin-Woo himself, he is portrayed as a calm minded, badass protagonist. Despite his sinister looking abilities, he is a pretty generic and respectable person. Although he isn't too social, he gets along with people fairly well if they aren't on bad terms and has some comedic moments too. A big part of Sung Jin-Woo's character that I find very important is that as of the date this review has been posted, he hasn't shown any sort of romantic interest towards any of the characters in the story despite Hae-In Cha showing signs of romantic interest in him. This is important to his character since in many anime/manga with overpowered protagonists, one of the biggest weaknesses is the protagonist's love interest. This is because, if said person is in danger because of the antagonist, it causes the main character to lose composure and if they're altered or killed, it can psychologically change the main character all together. In Solo Leveling, this isn't the case as Sung Jin-Woo is fixated on his relations with world-wide superpowers, as well as his desire to keep "leveling up". His lack of romance supports his image as a calm minded, powerful protagonist.

Note: So far, there hasn't been any lewd scenes in this manhwa. Having Sung Jin-Woo indulge in those scenarios would just contrast way too much with his character and would not fit in with this kind of story. This could also be a personal preference as some prefer a little fan service from here and there but in my opinion, I'd rather have a good story than fan service.

~Art~

Solo Leveling is one of the most aesthetically pleasing manhwas I've read. Its fight scenes and color usage are very pleasing to look at and give the manhwa a lot of motion. The detail given in some scenes portray Sung Jin-Woo's power very well. All the characters look fairly normal too, not standing out too much like some Yu-Gi-Oh character's hair. Overall, for a manhwa the art style is very good and never disappoints.

~Overall~

Overall, Solo Leveling is something I'd totally recommend for those who want to get into manhwa, and even those who haven't even touched anime, manga, or any of the sort as it doesn't have much of the deterring factors that the general public associates anime with (e.x. lewd scenes, lolis, etc.) I personally have enjoyed every single moment of it and believe that it's on its way to getting its own anime adaptation in the near future, similar to Tower of God or The God of High School.

Score: 8.5/10