Toon-Up: Solo Leveling

My Toon-Up articles are about webtoons that are NOT currently on Arktoons

This webtoon caught because it’s NOT romance.  I was beginning to think that was the only genre allowed.  However, Solo Leveling is in the young readers’ fire category called Progression Fantasy.  It’s a subcategory of Lit RPG. 

The basic premise of any Progression Fantasy is that the protagonist starts out clearly framed as a level 1 player character, and it follows his/her story as they go up in rank. These stories usually start out on a platform like RoyalRoad, or in this case, the Korean OG website, KakaoPage. Sometimes they blow up, most times they don’t. 

If you can’t stand outlining your stories, Progression Fantasy is for you. You pretty much have to write these stories that way.  Brandon Sanderson would pull out his own teeth before getting into it. 

Anyway, this particular story started life as a Korean story on KakaoPage by Chugong (pen names are extremely common in the genre). It was adapted as a webtoon by Jang Sung-rak, and that was where this series really took off. This webtoon is now at 14.3 billion views, which is substantially more than the population of the Earth.  So yeah, it’s kind of popular. 

Here’s the setup. An event happens in our world.  Portals or “Gates” to pocket dimensions open up, and people start applying gaming terminology to them just as a common point of reference. These pocket dimensions are called “dungeons” because that is what they resemble, gaming dungeons.  After a certain amount of time, monsters come pouring out of them and kill everyone they can get their claws on.  However, this can be prevented if an expedition of Hunters goes into the dungeons and kills the Boss of the dungeon. Each dungeon has minions in it who defend the Boss or do its bidding. There are treasures inside these dungeons unique to them; some have real-world applications like the potential for clean infinite electricity, others are useful for crafting weapons needed to fight in the dungeons.

Not everyone can enter a dungeon. Only Hunters.  How do you become a Hunter? Luck. When the Gates first opened a smattering of people across the world had Awakenings, they gained powers and abilities similar to RPGs. Again, gaming terminology was applied to them. A tier down to F tier are the most common, and these levels correspond to dungeon levels. The most powerful Hunters are the godlike and super rare S-tier; the lowest of the low is the E-tier, basically a vanilla human who can enter a dungeon.  

Here’s the important part: your level never changes.  You get what you get, and you don’t get upset.  Sung Jin-Woo is stuck at E-tier.  He is generally acknowledged to be the weakest hunter of all mankind, he is only sent to the weakest of dungeons and he still gets his ass kicked everytime. However, other Hunters are always happy to see him because they know it’s going to be an easy day. 

However, on one such easy day (for everyone except Jin-Woo), they find a second dungeon connected to their E-tier dungeon.  To their horror, it turns out to be an S-tier, and the expedition is nearly wiped out. Jin sacrifices himself to save the others.

Good call on his part. When he wakes up in the hospital, video game menus that only he can see start appearing and offering him daily quests.  You guessed it, for every quest he completes, he gains ability points.  He begins leveling up. He is the only one who can do this, and he has to do this or the human race is doomed to extinction.

“Jinwoo then sets out on a journey as he fights against all kinds of enemies, both man and monster, to discover the secrets of the dungeons and the true source of his powers. He soon discovers that he has been chosen to inherit the position of Shadow Monarch, essentially turning him into an immortal necromancer who has absolute rule over the dead. He is the only Monarch who fights to save humanity, as the other Monarchs are all trying to kill him and wipe out humanity.”

The story is naturally a long and slow burn as we follow Jin’s development from laughing stock with the powers of a flea to demi-godhood. Jin’s most basic trait is his unwillingness to quit; he had this at the bottom, and it stays with him throughout his journey.  Although many other things change within him. He becomes a seasoned and effective killer, and that exacts its price from him. 

His relationships change with people as he goes up the ladder. Normal friendships he took for granted slip out of his reach as he becomes something the world depends on.  The mentor he outgrows and the best friends that he doesn’t dare take with him on the higher-tier dungeons. People he’d only heard about as celebrities become his enemies and friends(?) along his lonely road. 

The webtoon’s artwork, in contrast to something like Lore Olympus, is a masterwork of complexity.  Unlike comic book art where you flip open an entire page at once, webtoons are foundationally a guided experience.  You must scroll from bottom to top, and that means the artist has control over what you will see first.  Just as comic book art was created by advances in early 20th century printing technolgy, so too with webtoons.

“Solo leveling art style is a unique art style that originated in korea for digital art. Solo leveling is drawn by two artist Jang Sung rak and Gee So Lyung who work under the pseudonym Rsdice Studio.”

…

“Solo leveling uses a style of concept art that is detailed and dynamic illustrations, with creating visually impactful scenes. The series employs a consistent and high-quality standard of artwork, ensuring a visually engaging experience for readers. The backgrounds are carefully crafted, contributing to the overall immersive storytelling. In essence, Solo Leveling’s art style is characterized by its attention to detail, dynamic compositions, and a commitment to delivering a visually impressive narrative.”

Webtoon art is based on Korean manhwa, which is not just Korean for manga. Japanese comics are noted for their hyperstylistics and exaggerations.  Manhwa, on the other hand, has always been more realistic and grounded.  Which makes for a much bigger impact when something unearthly is being depicted. 

Shading in Solo Leveling was very effective at providing Jin’s emotional background with some nuances, as well as enhancing the emotional background. He fears his own growing power but also loves it. 

Speaking of the background layouts, they were incredibly intricate. Especially when you consider how little time these artists typically have to get them done.

Webtoons at their best are fundamentally dynamic because you are literally moving the story along as a reader. However, this takes a very careful mixture of doling out the right amount of story combined with the art carrying the tone.  It’s why a lot of comic book artists have had problems making the transition to webtoons. 

The pacing is superb. Each chapter does what it needs to while still leaving the audience on a cliffhanger.  At the same time, it manages the escalation of Jin’s power as the story builds up to a climax which is not that common of a feature in Eastern storytelling traditions.  For the most part, a proper rhythm was maintained.

However, I do have some notes.

The fight scenes were kind of repetitive and ultimately a bit predictable.  Jin would enter a creepy place, fight something above his weight, win, and get his reward. Granted, the same thing happens in video games, and that is what the entire genre of progression fantasy was based on. 

There were promising and intriguing side characters that were just sort of dropped and left undeveloped. 

Finally, there is a lack of moral nuance. Jin doesn’t ask himself some of the harder questions that he should have.  The story was ultimately predictable. Granted, this story is primarily for a young person’s market, and since they haven’t read as many endings, it’s not as predictable for them.

Do the minuses outweigh the pluses?  Nope. Not even a little bit.  Hell, you could easily have leveled all of these criticisms at Star Wars (1977) and none of us were complaining back then.

Its popularity in the webtoon community has rightfully been immense, and its impact on the Progression Fantasy genre has moved the needle on it from being niche to a lot more mainstream.  It has demonstrated that it has legs, too.  This story is now seven years old, and it’s still gaining new fans.

Myself among them.

The Dark Herald Recommends with confidence (4 / 5)