Solo Leveling Season 2 is being called the anime of the year — is Sung Jin-Woo genuinely one of the greatest protagonists in modern anime, or is the hype just a power-fantasy cult that refuses to hear criticism?

• O

  Omar4d ago

  I showed my husband Solo Leveling expecting him to roll his eyes at me for watching anime and now he's watched every episode twice. That's my review.

  201Reply
• Z

  Zara4d ago

  I work 12 hour shifts as a nurse. When I get home I want to watch a beautiful man become increasingly unstoppable. I do not want complexity. Solo Leveling feeds my soul in ways therapy cannot afford to.

  188Reply
• I

  Iris2d ago

  I teach high school and three students who told me they 'hate reading' have now read the full manhwa because of the anime. If it's getting teenagers to engage with a 14-volume story willingly I'm not going to sit here and call it shallow.

  162Reply
• N

  Nina4d ago

  My 14 year old got me into this. We watch it together every week and he explains the lore to me like I'm a child and honestly it's the best part of my week. Whatever the critics say, it's doing something right.

  154Reply
• A

  Alex5d ago

  I've watched a LOT of anime over the years and I genuinely think the hate for Solo Leveling comes from people who read too much academic media criticism. Sometimes a show just wants to be COOL and it succeeds at that completely. The animation alone is worth the watch.

  143Reply
• J

  Jamie2d ago

  started watching because my coworker wouldn't shut up about it. stayed because the lore is genuinely interesting and the world building actually rewards attention. two months later i'm the coworker who won't shut up about it

  139Reply
• S

  Sam3d ago

  everyone is sleeping on how well season 2 handles the emotional weight of jin-woo's relationship with his family. that scene with his mother literally made me put my phone down. i was not prepared. do not tell me this show has no heart

  118Reply
• H

  Hana4d ago

  Greatest protagonist in modern anime??? Lmao. The man orders shadows around. Guts from Berserk exists. Thorfinn from Vinland Saga exists. We are not having this conversation seriously right

  112Reply
• PR

  Priya R.2d ago

  It's very good. It's not all-time great. Both of these things can be true simultaneously and the discourse would be much healthier if both sides could sit with that nuance for five minutes.

  108Reply
• S

  Sam2d ago

  What I appreciate is that it doesn't pretend to be something it isn't. It's not trying to be Evangelion. It's trying to be the most stylish power fantasy possible and it completely succeeds. Judging it by criteria it never aimed for is bad criticism.

  103Reply
• M

  Marco4d ago

  People calling it wish fulfillment for lonely guys are being genuinely condescending. My whole friend group watches it — men, women, people who've never watched anime before. The appeal is broad. Stop psychoanalyzing the fanbase.

  99Reply
• KR

  Kofi R.3d ago

  it IS wish fulfilment and that is NOT an insult. every shounen ever made is wish fulfilment. Naruto is wish fulfilment. Dragon Ball is wish fulfilment. the term has been weaponized by people who want to feel superior for watching slower shows

  94Reply
• N

  Nina2d ago

  The shadow soldiers are literally more characterized than most of the human cast and that should bother us more than it does

  91Reply
• HK

  Hana K.5d ago

  the 'he has no personality' argument is so lazy. Jin-Woo's whole arc is about a man who was invisible his entire life suddenly having to figure out who he is when the world starts paying attention. that IS a personality arc. people just want 10 minute monologues to notice it

  89Reply
• M

  Marco3d ago

  The people saying Jin-Woo has no personality have apparently never encountered a real introvert. He's not stoic because he's a badly written character, he's stoic because that's who he IS. Some of us recognize ourselves in that and it means something.

  87Reply
• C

  Casey3d ago

  greatest protagonist in modern anime is insane cope. he has three expressions. determined. more determined. slightly sad and then more determined. I like the show but let's not.

  82Reply
• I

  Iris4d ago

  Can we talk about how Cha Hae-In is being completely wasted in season 2? She had actual depth in the source material and the anime keeps reducing her to doe eyes and blushing. That's my real complaint.

  77Reply
• N

  Nina3d ago

  The animation quality is undeniable. A-1 Pictures went absolutely stupid with the budget and it shows in every frame. Whether that covers for story weaknesses is a personal call but visually it's legitimately top tier.

  76Reply
• H

  Hana2d ago

  Anime of the year in February is the most reckless statement a person can make and yet here we are every single year doing this

  74Reply
• P

  Priya4d ago

  Season 1 was good. Season 2 is noticeably rushed in places and you can feel the production pressure. The Jeju Island arc deserved twice the episodes it got. That's not hate, that's just observation.

  72Reply
• Z

  Zara2d ago

  people need to stop acting like emotional complexity is the only metric of quality. tension, pacing, spectacle, score, animation — solo leveling scores highly on all of those. it is a complete experience even if it isn't a deep one

  67Reply
• L

  Leo4d ago

  the soundtrack in season 2 is doing heavy lifting nobody is talking about. hiroyuki sawano understood the assignment completely and i will die on this hill

  66Reply
• T

  Theo3d ago

  Anime of the year is genuinely up for debate but best protagonist is a hard no from me. If Jin-Woo were a villain everyone would immediately see how thin the writing is. We only forgive it because he's on our side.

  61Reply
• R

  Reese4d ago

  ok the power fantasy criticism is true but so what? people watch action blockbusters for power fantasy all the time. nobody goes to a Fast and Furious movie for psychological depth. Solo Leveling is just anime Fast and Furious and that is perfectly fine

  58Reply
• AR

  Avery R.2d ago

  The 'lonely guys' framing in the original post is doing a lot of work to dismiss a fandom that's enormously diverse globally. It's a very condescending way to frame a show's appeal and it reveals more about the poster than the show.

  57Reply
• OS

  Omar S.3d ago

  unpopular opinion but the necromancer/shadow army concept is genuinely one of the most visually creative power systems in recent anime and it never gets proper credit because people are too busy arguing about whether jin-woo has enough feelings

  53Reply
• H

  Hana2d ago

  genuinely curious how people who say jin-woo has no personality would describe what they want from him instead. because every example i've seen is just 'i want him to suffer more' which is its own revealing preference

  50Reply
• M_

  Morgan _x2d ago

  Objectively speaking the show is a technical achievement. The gate raid sequences in season 2 have choreography that rivals theatrical releases. That isn't hype, that's just accurate.

  48Reply
• J

  Jordan4d ago

  The 'anime of the year' discourse every single season follows the same pattern: show airs, Twitter goes insane, three months later everyone has moved on. I'll wait until December before crowning anything.

  45Reply
• M

  Morgan3d ago

  I read the manhwa in like four days in 2021 and was completely addicted and I still think the anime is somewhat overrated because the pacing changes hurt it. reading it felt relentless and urgent. watching it sometimes feels... staged.

  44Reply
• J

  Jamie4d ago

  Honest take: Jin-Woo is less a character and more a camera through which we experience a very cool world. That's not automatically bad storytelling but it does mean calling him 'one of the greatest protagonists' is a stretch that should embarrass you.

  41Reply
• P

  Priya3d ago

  The algorithm discourse is real though. I have been recommended Solo Leveling content on every single platform I use for four months. At some point you wonder how much of the 'organic hype' is just very successful marketing.

  38Reply
• ZL

  Zara L.2d ago

  i think the real reason people struggle to criticize solo leveling is that the fanbase responds to any critique with pure aggression. that defensiveness should tell you something about whether the community actually believes the praise or is just protecting something they love emotionally

  35Reply
• L

  Leo4d ago

  Overhyped. Full stop. The manhwa readers have been artificially inflating expectations for two years and the actual product is a gorgeous but hollow action spectacle. A-1 Pictures can animate anything into looking more meaningful than it is.

  34Reply
• M

  Marco3d ago

  I gave it three episodes and dropped it. The writing around every side character is atrocious. They exist purely to be impressed by Jin-Woo or to die so Jin-Woo can feel briefly sad. That's not a cast, that's scenery.

  29Reply
• T

  Theo2d ago

  Compared to what else is airing right now it genuinely is a cut above. The competition this season isn't as strong as people are pretending and Solo Leveling is benefiting from the field being weaker than usual.

  22Reply
• M

  Maya2d ago

  the real question nobody wants to answer is whether solo leveling gets this much attention partly because it's from a Korean manhwa and the post-hallyu wave is making East Asian media critics more generous than they'd otherwise be. i'm not saying it's bad. i'm saying the cultural moment is doing some of the critical work for it

  19Reply

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