The author, Chugong, takes the "Solo" in Solo Leveling very literally. The series itself does a fantastic job at presenting the meteoric rise of Sung Jinwoo into godhood. However, the supporting cast, most of whom were presented with detailed backstories, unique motivations, and huge potential, were frequently left to suffer the tunnel vision of the narrative in pursuit of its goals. With the power scaling involved going up to the planetary scale, the human factors that made the early arcs feel so grounded were completely abandoned.
It is a narrative tragedy since Chugong is actually superb at writing characters with huge potential in Solo Leveling. We encountered traumatized healers, noble captains, and German legends who seemed to have gotten out of their own spin-off series. However, toward the finish line, these curves were thrown aside more rapidly than Jinwoo could clear an E-rank gate. Here are the characters left in the shadow by the Shadow Monarch.
Solo Leveling: 7 A-Rank Hunters in Solo Leveling Who Deserved More Recognition
Sometimes, the real heroes are in the background. Meet the A-Rank Hunters whose stories are worth a second look in Solo Leveling.
Lennart Niermann
Lennart Niermann was introduced at the International Guild Conference as the strongest Hunter in Germany and was 12th in the world. His design and aura indicated a character who would have been central in the fight against the Monarchs as the epitome of European power. He was among the few who felt the chill of the Frost Monarch and the King of Beasts and had something closer to perception than even some National Level Hunters had.
With all that, Lennart was still the ultimate hype tool who failed to fight at all. Throughout the crisis in Canada, he followed Jinwoo around as a glorified bodyguard, but was never assigned even a single major action sequence to prove why he was the number one in Germany. He was almost completely forgotten by the last war. Chugong made him a world-class powerhouse just so he could place him on a scale against how much stronger Jinwoo had gotten. Fans and the community in general were left wondering just what his true abilities could accomplish.
Son Kihoon
Son Kihoon is the A-Rank Captain of Strike Team B of the Hunters Guild when participating in the Kargalgan (High Orc) dungeon arc. He was composed in the traditional heroic style of the protagonist, a great leader who was ready to sacrifice his life to save his team under unattainable conditions. His fight with the guards of the High Orc demonstrated pure noble fighting spirit and defensive skill that placed him among the most admirable A-ranks of the series.
Having been rescued by Jinwoo out of the High Orc throne room and his comrades, Kihoon has a handful of blink-and-you-miss-the-background appearances in the briefing with Jeju Island and the final gates, but never says or does anything to further plot development. He was a flawless personality which even moved Jinwoo with his kindness to present the human side of mid-tier raids. However, when the story turned to S-ranks and Gods, Kihoon quietly disappeared to the background without even a trace.
Han Song-Yi
Han Song-Yi is the E-Rank student hunter who acted as the link between the past and future of Jinwoo. Being the friend of a sister of Jinwoo, she was the embodiment of the threat of being the low-rank hunters who enter dungeons only to earn money. The Red Gate incident was a change of direction in her character because she experienced the cold-blooded nature of survival and the real picture of the concealed power that Jinwoo possessed.
Her path appeared to be towards her becoming a protégé or at least a regular civilian connection to the life of Jinwoo, but was totally abandoned midway through the series. Her dreams of becoming a hunter and her relations with the Sung family were neglected after the Red Gate and a short meeting at the gym. She was a key component of the world-building, which was done on the ground level to provide the series with its initial stakes but was ultimately abandoned in favor of more flashy, high-end action.
5 Things Confirmed About Solo Leveling Season 3
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Park Heejin
Park Heejin is the B-rank Mage from the White Tiger guild and one that had survived the Red Gate together with Jinwoo. The reason why she was special was her keen instinct; she was the only one to notice Jinwoo saving Han Song-Yi during the Red Gate and among the first ones to understand that it was Jinwoo who kept them alive. She did not run towards safety like other side characters, but instead gave strategic assistance and held herself together when in the middle of a crisis that claimed the lives of experienced hunters.
Her unusual design and smartness often led the community to refer to her as a character with main cast potential. But when the survivors of the Red Gate were rescued, she ceased to be part of the tale. She did not become a member of the Ahjin guild, never participated in further raids, and was never shown again other than in crowd shots. She was smart enough, and had the rank to be a constant tactician, but Chugong preferred to leave the whole strategy to Jinwoo.
Baek Yoonho
The first real rival-turned-mentor figure, Jinwoo, was: Baek Yoonho, the master of the White Tiger Guild. His quirk of transforming into a beast was what made him one of the most visually appealing hunters, and he used to have a tense and respectful relationship with Jinwoo in the beginning. He was the one who truly understood the mystery of Jinwoo's "Double Awakening" before anyone else and the only one to actually appreciate what Jinwoo did during the Jeju Island Raid.
His decline is perhaps the most tragic of the S-ranks. In the early chapters, he felt more like a co-protagonist but, by the midpoint of the manhwa, his beast form was no more than just for show. He was always a reference to demonstrate how horrible the villains were (defeated by Beru, etc.), and the development of his character ceased abruptly. He was no longer the threatening lion hunter of Korea, but a background character who used to appear shocked about the amount of power that Jinwoo had.
Min Byung-Gyu
Min Byung-Gyu was the retired S-Rank healer with the Heart of Gold. His backstory of retiring because of the horror of his friends being killed and because of his fundamental pacifism, was of good writing in the series. He was a symbol of the mental cost of being a hunter, a theme the series did not often delve into. Even in his death and the short-term resurrection as a shadow, he was the only shadow who ever smiled and exhibited a kind nature, which touched Jinwoo to set him free.
The dilemma is that we never had an opportunity to watch his life or impact until the tragedy at Jeju Island. He was brought in just so that he could be sacrificed. Although his death worked the plot, the series squandered a golden chance of delving into his pacifist ideology in a violent world. He was an all-too-human figure in an ensemble of power-loving warriors and was more of a plot element than a human being.
Solo Leveling: How Different Is Cha Hae-in From Lee Joo-Hee?
Both have a close relationship with Jin-Woo, but how different is Cha Hae-In from Lee Joo Hee?
Lee Joo-Hee
Lee Joo-Hee is the ultimate "forgotten" character of the series. She was the B-rank healer who accompanied Jinwoo when he was the weakest hunter in the world. The most realistic depiction of PTSD in the whole series was her trauma of the Double Dungeon, and her retirement was a moment that was a bitter lesson that brought the stakes of the story down to Earth. She was the emotional chain that made Jinwoo tied to his humanity, but fans could not help but feel sad about how quickly both the series and Jinwoo completely forgot about her.
How could I ever tell him…... I want you by my side until I draw my last breath? — Cha Hae-In
Her relationship with Jinwoo might have been just platonic, but they still had a bond for years, and it was she who took care of Jinwoo at a time when he was nothing. She did not get a decent reunion and a place in the finale. The romantic struggle and the past they had spent together were totally left to Cha Hae-In, with far less development, but she was someone who could stand next to Jinwoo because she was higher in rank. Ju-Hee became the heart of the beginning of Solo Leveling, yet she was completely abandoned in the competition to the top.
- 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
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.
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Seasons
- 1
- Studio
- A-1 Pictures
- Producers
- Kanako Takahashi, Kang Kyewon, Kim Ayoung, Park Jin-hae, Sota Furuhashi
- Based On
- Manhwa
- Creator
- Chugong
- Number of Episodes
- 25
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8.28 (Season 1); 8.86 (Season 2)
- Creator(s)
- Chugong
- Where To Watch
- Crunchyroll
- Executive Producer(s)
- Asa Suehira, Kwak Hae-eun, Masanori Miyake
