Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
queenthatcries
if you like hype moments and aura watch this. if you like characters and a plot dont. it's got great animation but jinwoo is genuinely such an aura farmer, he would let someone die if it mean he would look cooler when he steps in. i couldn't tell you the names or personality of any other character in the show looking back on it, they're all just props to make him look better anyway 🤷🏻♀️ his character development is just him getting a sharp jawline and a haircut 😭the entire story is very predictable, there are a few fights in the first season where you wonder if he's going to lose and have to run, but here he just wins all the time and it's never even that tough 😔
Read at the sourcenajueon
*May contain very slight spoilers. Even though there is not much story, so dont mind.*
This was literally worst anime I have watched. First of all characters are really superficial and empty, especially Sung jin-woo. He have no emotions no human feelings no any human functions. He only gets stronger and stronger doesnt even struggle beating every enemies and after beating an enemy he makes them his soldier and keep getting stronger exponentially. Really the most stupid and ridiculous power system ever.
There is not even much story to watch. At first season there was at least a little bit of story with a goal, difficulties, and not that absurd power system. But at this season its compeletly out of hand, main character with all nonchalant, reckless, god-like strong and mocking every enemy…
Read at the sourceUserWithaName
i will (mostly) defend solo leveling for probably the rest of my life. it is a great action anime about a cool guy doing cool things in cool fights with cool animations. nothing more needs to happen. even besides that, episode two of season 1 is an absolute masterpiece that got me back into anime the first time i watched it. the monologue jinwoo had at the end was awesome and was probably the first time i ever felt something while watching one of those (i realize ts isnt relevant but still). many people will hate on its lack of plot depth and reliance on aura and hype moments, which is fair ig. But i'd like to say that it needs none of those to make a good show. saiki k is one of my favorite shows and it doesnt have a real plot til the final 6-ish episodes. if it does what it does best at…
Read at the sourceShishiKami
It's honestly just as bad as the previous season, except more unforgivable for pulling the same shit twice.
MC has the personality of a wet mop. Everything about him is unlikable. The way he walks in everywhere with his hands in his pockets. The forced low voice. The "I'm not impressed by anything" persona. The smirks and glares. He's the most 'written by a 15 year old' ass character ever. Every side character exists just to suck him off. Every woman he meets falls in love with him and somehow decides to make their entire lives revolve around him. Story not compelling whatsoever. There are no stakes, you know how every battle will end. This is self insert final boss. A bunch of clichés stitched together with decent animation. The whole locked ranking system also makes for extremely unint…
Read at the sourceRubyyasmine
All I’m saying is—the only fun characters in the show are the Shadows. They have more personality than most of the actual characters, especially the damn side characters, Imagine me I read the entire webtoon and the novel back when I was dumb enough to consume everything, even trash. And yet, I can’t remember a single character’s name after a few months. That’s rare, because even Fairy Tail, which I watched years ago, I can still remember at least the main freaking cast!
The whole thing exists just for Jinwoo. He is the world. The people around him? They're just background. The men admire him, the women—God forbid there’s ever a woman who doesn’t fall for him the second she sees him, even though he just looks like a regular handsome Korean guy.
The enemies? All the same. They exist just to…
Read at the sourceDOBR3V
This is my first ever MAL review, so don’t expect a thoughtful essay. I'm reviewing ALL of Solo Leveling and not just Season 2.
So I just finished Solo Leveling and I gotta say - Jin Woo is the only character that exists. The rest ? NPCs. Not a single character in this anime has lingered in my mind even for a second. You could swap half the cast with IKEA chairs and I'd notice exactly zero difference. I'm convinced all the side characters exist purely to enhance Jinwoo's ever-expanding god aura.
Now Jinwoo himself? My guy jogs for like 3 episodes and ascends to Saitama levels of power. Dude starts flexing so hard I’m surprised the animators didn’t give him a sponsorship with GymShark. He can also hide his armor, probably so he doesn’t lose drip points walking around looking like a mediev…
Read at the sourceChecoTACo
It is like One Punch Man and HxH had a baby... but is an ugly baby, it takes a lot of things from them but is basically a copy, it copies a lot of things from OPM like the system of the "hunters" and from HxH, just as an example, the use of "auras" and the perception of them. Even the arc of the "mutant ants" was plagiarized on this thing... I don´t understand how it became so popular if it is not original in any sense., is not unique, quite predictable and the character has zero-character development, he achieves everything on the first attempt, nothing concerns him. After the first 6 episodes on the first season the character became... grey.
Read at the sourcenejihiashi88
A Shiny Power Fantasy with Hollow Core targeted for socially awkward people
Solo Leveling, often praised for its flashy animation and explosive fight scenes, is the textbook example of style over substance. While it offers a visual feast for action lovers and gamers, it ultimately falls flat in nearly every area where narrative depth and storytelling matter.
At its core, Solo Leveling feels like an anime adaptation of a level-grinding simulator. The story loops through dungeon raids, monster slaying, and stat upgrades with little to no tension. The protagonist, Sung Jin-Woo, is less of a character and more of a vehicle for power escalation. From the outset, he’s gifted with an overpowered "Player" system that immediately removes any real stakes. There's no real struggle, no loss, and no…
Read at the sourceKimuraTheHatoru
I was aware what i was getting myself in ever since before the last season ended, but GOD DAMN were my expectations subverted in the worst way possible. Somehow it devolved even more story-wise . What do i mean by that you ask ?
It threw away any sort of world building it established , MC was supposed to have some limitations on his summoning ability as it was shown, but later on that just doesn't exist . He can summon from a hundred and stuff to thousands at this point,without his mana depleting at all. Not to mention outside of the main character almost every other hunter either has some basic abilities that aren't even worth mentioning or no abilities at all,even the S class ones.And just like their abilities most characters don't get any sort of agency, any sort of development and eve…
Read at the sourceCaeruleus_CCXVI
5.75/10 ~ its fine
Every season we get shows with massive praise and hate, and honestly most of them are fine and deserve neither the hype nor the hate. And solo leveling is just that. Honestly the biggest crime Solo leveling does (more season 1 then 2) is how unsuited the studio that animated was for the job, Season 1 was a laughable job to depict one of the most stunning webtoons ever made and the product, much like tower of god was just not great. Season 2 of solo leveling does step it up a bit, but when compared to its peers of Demon slayer, MHA, Kaiju #8 it just doesnt stack up. Sure the one thing that Solo does better then the rest is the whole "aura" thing... but I dont care one way or another about how kool someone looks while they do the thing, so its lost on me.
- Characters a…
Read at the sourcebram024
This anime is severely overrated
All the core issues from season 1 remain fully intact—if anything, they're even more noticeable now. The animation remains the show’s strongest (and only real) asset. It’s fluid, dynamic, and visually impressive, with some undeniably great-looking moments. But great visuals alone can’t save a show this hollow.
The characters continue to be painfully one-dimensional. Jinwoo, in particular, feels like he was written by a teenager's self-insert fanfic fantasy: hot, cool, strong, mysterious—but with zero actual depth. There’s no emotional weight or growth behind any of his actions. He’s just an aura plank that walks into every scene with the same stoic look and broken powers, and everyone around him falls over in awe like it’s the first time they’ve seen him…
Read at the source38strontium
I'm relatively new to the anime fandom, only having watched 20 or so animes. Till now, there hasn't been one anime where I thought it was actually horrendous. This is the first show I've rated less than a five. This show does so many things wrong I actually cannot comprehend how it's sitting at a 8.88.
Story? bland. Characters? non-existent. Themes? unexplored. Entertaining? uh, sometimes I guess.
This season was uninteresting and bland all the way through. In my opinion, this show did nothing right, fights had no substance, the characters are even real characters, only exisiting to glaze Jin-woo. His loss of humanity is a halfassed plotline and not really that engaging or interesting since they don't really explore it.
The writing was not only bad, but also insanely repetitive. Jin-woo…
Read at the sourcephantom346
Watching this show felt like sitting through a series of Let’s Play videos on Youtube: a meaningless waste of time but somewhat entertaining.
If you replaced Jinwoo in this show with Rudeus from Mushoku Tensei, all the people screeching about how good this show is would go run and hide back in their basement. You'd ruin both shows at the same time. Replacing the core of Mushoku character development and storytelling with a bland nobody with zero personality at the same time replacing the core of Solo Leveling's power fantasy since nobody wants to go around fantasizing about being a pedophile.
This is the new brand of isekai where instead of fantasizing about killing yourself/getting run over by a truck and reincarnating in a brand new world, OP with no problems to trouble you, now you fa…
Read at the sourceShineix
I needed to write a review after seeing that Solo Leveling is somehow rated above an 8. This might be one of the most bland, worst written and basic animes of all time. Before I continue basic ≠ bad but in this situation it really does and I'll break it down.
First the main character, Sung Jin Woo was actually decent in season 1 but in season 2 he just becomes unbearable, constatnly acting emotionless, edgy and aura farming and it's not even a joke. He has no development, themes or anything, I thought he might've been like a pillar of hope type character but clearly the author just wants a bland self insert protagonist to get fame.
Second the side cast, obviously Solo Leveling is a solo show revolving around SJW but that doesn't mean the side cast needs to be non-existent, there are many…
Read at the sourceBardwyne
Just as the last season, Solo Leveling s2 has flashy action and animation, but ultimately it's pretty substanceless - relying on hype and "aura" rather than characters or narrative. Considering that, It also takes itself way too seriously.
Even for those who specifically want action they may find themselves uninterested in the fights due to a lack of compelling motivations or interest in the combatants.
And even if that isn't an issue - plenty of shows could scratch the same itch for surface level action and hype, some of which are more technically impressive or otherwise better.
But if all you need is some cool fights and hype - this is your jam.
If not, you're better off looking elsewhere.
Read at the sourcekeirashii
This review contains spoilers.
If we were to find the death of creativity at the end of the world, it would be at the bankrupt core of Solo Leveling's decrepit body, it would have a twisted dagger in one hand and a bag of money on the other.
This is not only a review for S2, but also S1. Had to publish this review many times since MAL didnt show it in full because of how long it was.
When we digest art, we naturally strive for some kind of value in what we are absorbing, be it thematic, a vision, a philosophy, technical value, legacy, extensive storytelling, worldbuilding, etc; examples abound, works such as Monogatari are endorsed for their thematic depth, potent dialogue and strong emotion with a great cast of characters; even with artpieces in the same shounen branch as Solo Leveling…
Read at the sourceMarinate1016
No amount of memes or social media posts could ever make me hate Solo Leveling. No, Solo Leveling doesn’t have the strongest story, yes Jinwoo aura farms every episode and beats the bad guy, yes A-1 and Sawano help take this series to new heights, but is it a crime to just enjoy shows for the spectacle? At the end of the day, anime is about entertainment and pushing the envelope of the animation medium, which solo leveling does. Not everything needs to reinvent the wheel, it’s sort of like expecting every meal you eat to be a Michelin star restaurant. It’s ok to enjoy a fast food meal every now and again if you just view and accept it as such. That’s basically how I feel about Solo Leveling. It’s not the best anime ever, but it is very enjoyable and unlike many people, I actually enjoy the…
Read at the sourceTkit
This is genuinely the most pathetic new mainstream anime I've seen. Solo Leveling shows no ambition, no effort and no emotion. Even if considered among the big range of slop power fantasy it is one of the blandest of guilty pleasures one can have. There is no skill in terms of writing here, therefore it is critical to have a thorough look at Solo Leveling's animation and how it handles its role as said power fantasy. Those are its only values and even here it is overhyped and lacking.
Everything here is made to revolve around our great Sung lil-bitch. Structure of the story and the 'characters' are here to highlight how cool the mc is and to react to how cool he is, that is their whole goal. Every female is made to start lusting over Sung except for his family, which is also here to show…
Read at the sourceIonliosite2
If I haven’t been clear before, because I didn’t do a review of such a soulless and manufactured, by-the-numbers product like the first season of this show, then I will just say it clearly, I loathe Solo Leveling, I’m disgusted by it, it’s one of those abominations called “Webtoon adaptations” that are a completely different medium creeping into anime by the power of American companies such as Crunchyroll, who shamelessly shill these Korean series and call it “anime”. Can you really see this series and tell me that it was made because the author has anything worth to tell? Of course not, because Solo Leveling is even more shameless than any generic low quality isekai that get forgotten a day after they finish airing that people have been complaining about for like a decade now. In fact, So…
Read at the sourceZeroMajor12
Weird, isn't it? To achieve an adaptation of this caliber could still receive backlash despite being able to break the internet and servers for having episodes that continue to get better with every release. Do you want to know how I see it? People hate Solo Leveling for the same reason they hate Demon Slayer. Both are carried by the animation and soundtrack when that's the entire point of the ADAPTATION anyway. Why else would people hype up these anime anyway? They will certainly gawk at it because an adaptation like this is not easy to get when you have multiple known blunders that have been memed till it's dry like the Seven Deadly Frames and PowerPoint Lock. Solo Leveling is certainly a standard for a good adaptation since it respects the core elements of the manhwa and keeps it as it…
Read at the source