Solo Leveling Manhwa Is Not Generic for Its Time, and Here’s Why

Summary:

• Solo Leveling web novels began serialization in 2016.
• Back then there weren’t so many series with a similar premise.
• Nowadays Solo Leveling looks a bit tropey.

If it’s not your first day in the Solo Leveling (Ore dake Level Up na Ken) fandom, you already have an idea of what the series is like.

Most of the manhwa readers’ comments might be summed up this way: Solo Leveling is good, but not great; it’s kind of generic, but still enjoyable. But it used to be something different.

It’s been 8 years

The web novel began serialization in 2016, almost 8 years ago, and back then the anime industry was completely different. All the tropes you can’t stand now weren’t as overused back then, so Solo Leveling felt like a breath of fresh air instead of a generic, typical shounen story.

There weren’t this many gaming themed manhwa and manga about 10 years ago, that’s why there was still a lot to be said in such a setting. Fans mention manhwa like “The Gamer” or “Seoul Station’s Necromancer,” which, by the way, Solo Leveling was definitely very inspired by.

But apart from these, fans can’t even think of any other series. And they agree that Solo Leveling is the best one among these manhwa.

But now, in 2024, we’re especially spoiled with dozens of new incredible series each season, and it’s very difficult to find something that will truly stand out and won’t use the old-school tropes that make you roll your eyes every time you encounter them.

Solo Leveling, unfortunately, hasn’t aged well. There’s barely anything new and unexplored in this series. However, it does a lot of things right, and the anime adaptation is doing these things even better.

Why wasn’t there an anime earlier?

All of the things we’ve said make us want to ask one question: Why wasn’t there an anime when the series was still fresh? If Solo Leveling was so great back in the days, imagine how well-received the anime would have been.

Not that it’s not receiving enough attention now, but it could’ve been practically groundbreaking back in the day.

Fans suggest that it’s because Korean manhwa adaptations weren’t a thing 8-10 years ago. Companies knew that the Japanese manga adaptations would bring them more profit and become more popular, so why risk?

This is exactly what upsets Solo Leveling fans. They think that back in 2016-2017 the anime would have been a much bigger hit that everyone would be talking about. We’re talking Jujutsu Kaisen or Demon Slayer type of big. And fans are a little bit disappointed that this will never happen now.