This article contains spoilers for the Solo Leveling series.
Solo Leveling won the title of Anime of the Year during Crunchyroll’s 2025 awards. Some anime fans were happy with this, while others were outraged by the decision. Solo Leveling has definitely been a very divisive series, but even its fans recognize it has many flaws.
The Real Anime Of The Year Is Not Solo Leveling, This 1 Series Is Leagues Above In Quality
Solo Leveling won Anime of the Year, but it is far from the best anime.
Solo Leveling is fun, but it has its fair share of issues, whether related to characters, story, or the world itself. Many of these issues make it undeserving of the title of Anime of the Year, especially when it had some incredible competition.
Little to No World Building
The Solo Leveling World is Underdeveloped
A major issue Solo Leveling faces is a lack of world-building. Not every series needs extensive world-building, but the Solo Leveling series doesn’t even try to do anything with its universe, not even slightly. None of the locations are really explored, not even the main city where many events take place.
Even dungeons are often skimmed through by the creator, which is a shame because it could open the door to so many interesting and fresh locations with few limitations.
Falls Into Many Isekai Tropes
Solo Leveling Isn’t an Isekai, Yet Falls for Many of Its Tropes
Solo Leveling is not technically an Isekai anime, as that is a genre where a main character is transported into another world, one way or the other. However, despite that, Solo Leveling falls into many tropes of the Isekai genre.
Some tropes are fine, but too many can turn off many fans long-term, especially as the popularity of Isekais isn’t what it used to be. Jinwoo’s character especially seems to fall into the Isekai trope.
Entirely Focused on Battles
The Story Doesn’t Offer Much Else
Solo Leveling has gained most of its popularity thanks to one thing—its battles. While that could be seen as a good thing, it just means that Solo Leveling is simply carried by hype moments and doesn’t have any substantial story for fans to discuss, aside from fights.
There’s a battle in almost every episode, which leaves little time for anything else in the story, such as exploring side characters or developing Jinwoo. This could be bad for Solo Leveling’s longevity, as people lose interest in series like this quickly.
Terrible Side Cast
Most Side Characters are Irrelevant
In Solo Leveling, the side cast is simply terrible. The only character that's somewhat interesting in the story is Sung Jinwoo, and aside from him, no character really gets any focus.
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After all, only one Solo Leveling character is really talked about, and no one ever mentions side characters, or even most villains, because they are usually irrelevant or heavily overshadowed by Jinwoo. A good story should have more than one character shining.
Overpowered Main Character Who Faces Little Challenges
Solo Leveling Fails at Pulling Off the Overpowered Main Character Trope
It’s not uncommon to see extremely overpowered characters in anime series, and it’s definitely not easy to pull off. In Solo Leveling, Sung Jinwoo becomes very overpowered after passing through the Double Dungeon and leveling up.
However, the more the story progresses, the less challenging everything around him is. There are little to no stakes in a lot of battles because fans know Jinwoo will always win. Stories like Dragon Ball, or even Jujutsu Kaisen or Frieren handle this a whole lot better.
Below Average Main Character
Sung Jinwoo Has Little Character Development
One of the biggest flaws of Solo Leveling is undoubtedly its handling of its main character, Sung Jinwoo. Jinwoo is definitely popular among fans, as he even won the Best Main Character Award during Crunchyroll’s 2025 Awards, but his character falls flat.
Jinwoo never really gets any character development throughout the series, and if anything, his character sometimes regresses and just becomes more stoic. This is unfortunate, as he had a lot of room to grow and become a far more interesting character.
Solo Leveling has two seasons out right now, one with 12 episodes, and the other with 13, for a combined episode count of 25 episodes available to watch right now. The series can be streamed on Crunchyroll for fans to enjoy while awaiting any more news concerning the third season. For fans who can’t wait for season 3 to come out, checking out the Manhwa might be a great option.
- Release Date
- 2024 - 2025-00-00
- Network
- Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, BS11, Tochigi TV
- Directors
- Tatsuya Sasaki, Toru Hamasaki
- Writers
- Shigeru Murakoshi, Shingo Irie, Fuka Ishii
Cast
-
Taito BanSung Jin-woo -
Genta NakamuraYoo Jin-ho
- Studio
- A-1 Pictures
- Creator
- Chugong
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll
