Solo Leveling Isn't Just Great, It's The Blueprint For Doing Edgy Anime the Right Way

A lot of anime want to be edgy. They want their main character to be dark, mysterious, and altogether misunderstood. It sounds cool on paper, but all too often these same series run into the same problems. While darkness and anger are two understandable emotions or feelings, their main characters aren't relatable. Some anime try too hard to be edgy and end up missing the mark. Solo Leveling isn't one of these series.

Solo Leveling might be the best edgy series to come out in the past decade. Everything it does, it excels in. From the fights and the set pieces, down to the 'System' that allows Sung Jinwoo to become stronger is superb. Jinwoo himself is the exact character needed for a dark anime like Solo Leveling to flourish. His ability to persevere through anything, only take his rage out on his enemies, and his entirely understandable set of motivations make him a diamond in the rough of edgy anime series that want to be what Solo Leveling really is.

Jinwoo's Rise to the Top Is a Great Story that Holds Solo Leveling Strong

Edgy Anime Need Relatable Characters

The story that surrounds and supports Solo Leveling is interesting from the very first episode. Sung Jinwoo is known as the world's weakest hunter, and he quite literally may be. He's an E-Rank hunter in a world where E is the lowest rank, and most other people are in D, B, or further above him. When he goes on raids with other low-rank hunters, he's closer to a liability than he is an asset. When he's left for dead in the Double Dungeon, however, everything changes.

He laments his weakness and is frustrated with the people who left him for dead. While he's being brutalized by the stone statutes, he wishes desperately to get stronger. Somehow, the System heard him and not only revived him from death but gave him an incredibly rare ability to get stronger in a world where people's ranks are fixed at one place or another.

As the story progresses, so does Jinwoo. He becomes much more stoic, like the true kuudere character he's destined to be. He also becomes ridiculously strong, but not just because of the System itself. His hard work and determination are second to none. The world Jinwoo is placed in is perfect for a dark, edgy anime. It's brutal, unforgiving, and filled with plenty of backstabbers and evildoers that Jinwoo inevitably dispatches of with relative ease.

Solo Leveling's Amazing Fights Keep Fans Engaged

Based on the Web Novel Series by Chugong; Anime Produced by A-1 Pictures

An edgy anime without exceptional fights can hardly be called an edgy anime at all. Luckily, this is one area Solo Leveling not only does well in, but thrives in. The fights in Solo Leveling are always next level. Whether Jinwoo is fighting fellow Hunters trying to betray him, dungeon bosses way stronger than he used to be, or Igris the Bloodred, the animation is incredible.

The fights in Solo Leveling feel heavy in the best way possible. Jinwoo is agile and strong at the same time. He's able to adapt to most of the situations thrown his way to either go through his opponents directly or find a way to outsmart them and take them down using his intelligence. Ever since Jinwoo was chosen by the System, he's been a one-man army capable of taking down scores of enemies at once. With the newfound Shadow Monarch skill, he's able to summon a ton of dead soldiers to fight his battles as well.

The 'System' is a Great, Understandable Way for Jinwoo To Get Stronger

There aren't a lot of ways to explain how a main character gets stronger, especially in edgy anime. A character will go from the weakest in the world to the strongest without much of an explanation, leaving the series feeling hollow and meaningless. The System in Solo Leveling is a great way to explain how Jinwoo obtains his jaw-dropping power. It also gives viewers an easy way to understand his newfound strength by comparing the System to a video game in which a character levels up.

The System allows Jinwoo to kill monsters for experience points, store new items he finds, and put his different attribute points into the same categories found in any normal game. Most anime viewers have some understanding of video games, so it makes for an easy, somewhat realistic means of conveying Jinwoo's ability to get stronger quickly.

A Ferocious Main Character Gives Solo Leveling the Edginess It Needs

Jinwoo Doesn't Know the Meaning of the Word 'Quit'

There are a couple of key traits that make an anime edgy. First, the character needs to have his back against the wall metaphorically. It's not an edgy anime if the series follows a character who has already been the strongest or is already near the top as well. When Jinwoo nearly dies in the first episode, it gives him a reason to become an entirely different person. The person he was before was physically and somewhat mentally weak, giving room for the new Jinwoo who is stronger in every aspect.

Second, the character needs adversity. Jinwoo had a hard time against a few of the monsters he faced, but none gave him quite the challenge like Igris the Bloodred. Later in the series, Jinwoo admits that if Igris had been using his sword the entire time, he would've killed the newly reawakened hunter. When fighting Igris, Jinwoo had to yet again become even stronger than he previously was to defeat his new enemy and later acquire his soul for his own army.

Finally, the main character in an edgy anime needs to do what it takes to defeat their enemy. This might be resorting to less-than-noble tactics, which Jinwoo doesn't necessarily do, but he was willing to in most of his fights. Against Igris, he had to find new ways to take his enemy down. He used swords, knives, and eventually his own fists in a ferocious fight that saw him finally kill one of the strongest characters in the series before successfully adding him to his shadow army.

Ultimately, Solo Leveling is loved and appreciated by fans for many reasons. It can rightfully be considered as an edgy anime, but its solid storytelling and Jinwoo's qualities as a relatable character form a true blueprint that other edgy anime should look at for inspiration.