About

Solo Leveling, also alternatively translated as Only I Level Up (Korean: 나 혼자만 레벨업), is a South Korean manhwa (web novel) series written by Chugong. The novel was adapted as a webtoon in March 2018 illustrated by Jang Sung-rak (aka Dubu) and Gi So-Ryeong and was concluded in December 2021. An anime television series adaptation produced by A-1 Pictures premiered in January 2024, leading to an increase in its online presence that year.

Plot

Solo Leveling follows the story^[1] of a weak hunter named Sung Jinwoo, who finds himself in a seemingly endless struggle for survival in a world with dangerous dungeons and monsters. One day, after narrowly surviving an overwhelmingly powerful double dungeon that nearly wipes out his entire party, a mysterious program called the System chooses him as its sole player and in turn, gives him the extremely rare ability to level up in strength, possibly beyond any known limits.

History

The_Solo Leveling_^[2] webtoon was first serialized in Kakao's digital comic and fiction platform KakaoPage beginning on July 25, 2016, and officially published in full by D&C Media under their Papyrus label on November 4th, 2016. On March 4th, 2018, a manhwa^[3] adaptation illustrated by Jang Sung-rak (aka Dubu) started serialization, concluding on December 29th, 2021. (Vl.1 cover shown below)

2024 Anime Adaptation

On July 3rd, 2022, an anime television series adaptation was announced at Anime Expo 2022 to be produced by A-1 Pictures set to premiere on Crunchyroll in 2023. A trailer was also revealed at the event and posted on YouTube^[4] shortly after (shown below), amassing more than 5.7 million views and 260,000 likes in almost two years. (shown below)

On February 15th, 2023, a rumor^[5] was shared online of a possible delay in the anime's premiere. The series was then officially premiered worldwide on January 7th, 2024.

Reception

The Solo Leveling web novel and manhwa had surpassed $30 million in sales,^[6] according to a KakaoPage article from August 3rd, 2020. On January 6th, 2024, IGN^[7] posted a review about the anime's premiere, stating that "it’s a promising start to what could be a fantastic series."

Fandom

On January 17th, 2019, the Solo Leveling Wiki^[8] was created, garnering over 283 pages over the next five years. The /r/sololeveling/^[9] subreddit was launched on November 12th, 2018, enabling discussions about the manhwa and anime series.

Since the fantasy manhwa premiered in July 2016, fan art and illustrations inspired by the series have been shared online by its fandom. For example, on March 31st, 2020, DeviantArt^[10] user @loriyaniver shared a fan art based on the main character Sung Jin-Woo (shown below, left), which amassed more than 12,300 views and 79 favorites in four years. On August 19th, 2019, DeviantArt^[11] user @bykuya shared a drawing of the main character (shown below, right), which received roughly 18,700 views and 155 favorites in five years.

Related Memes

Shin-Sang / Statue of God

Shin-Sang or Statue of God refers to an image of the hidden boss Shin-sang in the Korean "Manhwa" Solo Leveling, depicting several people bowing down to him. Online, it is used as an object labeling template, particularly among the Indonesian community, as a means of expressing how one thing is superior to its alternatives.

Search Interest

External References