Solo Levelling, a new type of anime adaptation from one of the most famous Korean manhwa, may have leveled the playing field for it by being the pioneer of its own category, but one may ask how the first impression is for the viewers.
Being probably the second Korean manhwa adaptation after Lookism many may have been anxiously awaiting its release.
Since now it’s been here and long completed airing its first season of 12 episodes, those who still haven’t had the chance to watch it may ponder over if it’s worth the watch since many fantabulous shows are coming around this year.
To answer that question all I can do now is share my first impression of this particular anime, Solo Levelling.
Table of Contents
Animation In Solo Levelling
First and foremost, the thing that grabbed my attention about Solo Levelling is its animation quality and style.
The character design for each character is a little bit different than regular anime characters, but not so much far apart like Lookism.
Being produced by A-1 Pictures, its animation quality is as good as the rumored studio provides in other animes, with fluid animation, realistic movement, dynamic battle sequences, and vivid background animations with high-end monster animation.
Seriously, it’s been a long time since I saw such a detailed approach in animating each and every monster character which are not major characters.
Except for all of that, the entire evolution process of the MC Sung Jinwoo is shown without any discrepancies and with enough impact, that this event of evolution in nearly every next episode could have gotten another arc for those for all I care.
Oh, there is one of my favorite episodes, episode 9 in the Solo Levelling series, which also had a battle sequence but among humans, captivating enough to make me rewatch the episode on the same day.
Besides that, animation and lighting in each of the dungeons are what mostly made this series visually successful.
All in all, the animation in Solo Levelling isn’t something that fell short compared to its story.
Story In The Solo Levelling
The story of Solo Levelling is quite a simple themed one, where one unfortunate and weak son and responsible brother to his sister, Sung Jinwoo, the MC in Solo Levelling, tries to survive a world infested with monsters, dungeons, and humans with the profession of hunter that kills monsters.
Despite his weak body, the MC Sung Jinwoo is a hunter who strives to earn for his sick mother and young sister.
After some unfortunate or fortunate turn of events, he gets the unique power of leveling up his ability as a hunter which is impossible for other normal hunters.
Hence the saga of Sung Jinwoo begins as he strives to become a better hunter.
The simple story of the anime Solo Levelling is presented in quite an orthodox way of following the manhwa quite closely.
However, that also makes this series much more entertaining, it may also be because the manhwa written was also quite interesting.
Interesting Characters And Refreshing Approach To The Story
Well, it may be a cliche to say, but one of the most important factors for a story to succeed is to have characters, interesting enough to grab the viewer’s attention.
In Solo Levelling, there is no deficit of such characters, in fact in a single 12-episode season, so many characters are crammed in that if any more characters were to be added, the balance of the story would become a wreck.
Even characters with little appearance also had such an impact due to the way they are presented that till the 12th episode, it’s kind of difficult to forget about them.
Besides the characters, this series contains attention-grabbing cliffhangers that make one anticipate the greatest result from every next episode.
That doesn’t mean that this series does something out of the ordinary in each episode for such an outcome, instead, the presentation couldn’t be closer to the textbook method of following the manhwa.
Each of the episodes remains faithful to the manhwa and does absolutely best to be the right kind of Solo Levelling manhwa readers expected it to be.
Why The MC Is Relatable?
The MC in Solo Levelling Sung Jinwoo is quite different than other action and shonen animes, where the MC grows at a fearsome rate and possesses an unwavering will and sacrificial heart all the time as if it is nothing.
This character named Sung Jinwoo is cowardly at times but tries to grow with trial and error by cultivating both his mind and body.
There is an instance in episode 9 of this series, which is one of my favorite ones, where Sung Jinwoo contemplates that in his journey of attaining power, he somewhat started to veer away from human emotion, and this felt kind of the same condition as the MC of Parasyte The Maxim, though that MC didn’t pursue power willingly.
Maybe because Sung Jinwoo’s weakness and his effort to overcome those which is kind of absent in most of the other actions and shonen animes, is something that can make one relate to their daily livelihood as a normal human, though as I said before in 9th episode, that Sung Jinwoo started to lose his human self, but in turn his numbness to emotions along with the increase in power is probably what made modern men be able to relate to him.
Final Thought
Solo Levelling as an anime series is something that isn’t so unprecedented but also doesn’t let the story rot with mediocrity.
This series follows the manhwa it is adapted from efficiently and stays loyal up to its last episode, which also doesn’t betray the reader’s expectation, so this wholesome approach is what makes Solo Levelling quite an entertaining series to watch.
