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As the dust settles around the end ofSolo LevelingSeason 2 and the triumph Season 1 had at various anime award shows, fans are settling in for a potential long wait for Season 3. During this time, some fan discussions have begun to focus on what many perceive as the series' biggest flaw upon closer examination: its lack of development for side characters.
Despite the hype, action, and aura-generating moments of Sung Jinwoo,Solo Levelingoutside its protagonist can sometimes feel like a dull affair. This is something fans of the show are finding more noticeable on rewatch, as they are now starved forSolo Levelingcontent until Season 3 is announced.
Side Character Punching Bags
Fans Express Their Feelings About the Human Side Characters
One of the biggest complaints about how the story treats characters not named Jinwoo is that they never get a chance to shine properly.As Jinwoo grows in power, the threats he has to face do as well. However, characters introduced earlier in the series can never grow stronger, so they can never catch up and become relevant to the story again after they have been surpassed by him.
“It’s why I personally can’t rate the series so high. Yea it’s called Solo Leveling but that doesn’t mean Sung has to be the only one who’s useful in the story. Yea the Ant King fight was awesome especially in the anime but watching all the side characters get one tapped just so Sung could save the day again was just so underwhelming. It doesn’t help that we’ve seen that same thing 3 times already before this point and it keeps happening in every story arc after Jeju Island. [It] got old to me.” -Reddit user Blizzard-opwishingside characters got to show how strong they are more inSolo Leveling.
A humorous Reddit post on the subjectfeatured a meme showing sparring bags you would see at a gym with characters like Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In’s hair edited onto them. Jinwoo walks up to both A-Rank and S-Rank punching bags and is unaware of who they even are before beating the current arc’s villain. While some fans enjoy the dedicated focus onJinwoo’s development throughout the story, people can’t help but be attached to the cool designs of the side characters as well. It’s a bit of a tease that the side characters are built up to be so cool and powerful, but we hardly ever get to see that power on screen. It’s hard to blame a disgruntled fan who couldn’t help getting attached to a character and then never gets to see them get a fair share of the spotlight.
Problems With Power Scaling
Never Seeing Other Hunters In Action Makes Them Seem So Weak
Another problem with never showinghow mighty the other hunters areis that it makes them seem much weaker than they are implied to be. A-Rank and S-Rank hunters were built up to be the world’s most powerful people, thought to have so much power that they could cause major damage to a city if two or more powerful hunters fought each other seriously. We had a chance to see this level of destructive powerwhen the Korean and Japanese S-Rankshad a sparring session before Jeju Island in the anime. Unfortunately, the rules of the bout kept power output to a minimum. Also, Chairman Go Gunhee explained that the building they were fighting in was heavily fortified with the latest technology and magic to withstand their attacks. While this makes sense on the world-building side, it leaves the audience underwhelmed when the first real clash between S-Ranks we see barely results in any damage to the environment.
“The whole series we kept being told how obscenely powerful a ranks are. B ranks are pretty strong, but are absolutely dominated by A ranks. Which means A ranks are super strong, yet are nothing compared to S ranks. S ranks are supposed to be oppressively strong, capable of destroying cities if two of them just fight. However, we basically never go to see the S ranks do anything special anyways.” -Reddit user sebsebsebsdescribingtheir gripes about the series' lack of attention to other hunters.
While it’s commendable, the series knows what it does best and chooses to focus primarily on delivering that to its audience; the lack of worldbuilding and showing things outside of Jinwoo may eventually catch up to it. Despite Jinwoo’s efforts and the awakening of powerful magic in the world, Korea feels mostly the same. The world itself feels very static, and the audience is not led to anticipate unexpected events in response to the story’s unfolding events. Indeed, in some ways, the plot ends up in a place where it feels like nothing happens at allby the end of Jinwoo’s narrative.
While building up Jinwoo’s aura and fleshing out his abilities is essential for keeping readers engaged, it’s only half of what is required. If Jinwoo, as a power fantasy protagonist, is the only thing that can change in his world, then people’s interest will wane as they get used to the spectacle of the fights and have nothing deeper to sink their teeth into.Solo Levelingsaw a meteoric rise in popularity thanks to its successful action-heavy formula. However, it remains to be seen if its brightly burning star power can continue to shine like other classic anime series that have managed to withstand the test of time.
Solo Leveling
Cast
A-1 Pictures' Solo Leveling is an anime based on Chugong’s popular web novel. Set in an unforgiving fantasy world where hunters explore dungeons filled with monsters, the vulnerable Sung Jinwoo gains a significant power boost after he is picked to be a solo player by the System.
