Manhwa has gotten increased attention from curious and casual anime fans after checking out Solo Leveling, enticed by its distinctive style. While nothing truly occupies the exact space Solo Leveling takes up with its immense viewcounts, one may quickly find that its manhwa is quickly outclassed by others in the medium, however.
This is nothing wrong with Solo Leveling, but speaks more to the excellence present on popular apps like Tapas and Webtoon or beyond. This includes manhwa that are either incredibly in-demand for anime adaptations, or had massive viewership even before their international localizations. But each of the manhwa below are excellent for Solo Leveling fans seeking something deeper.
Latna Saga: Survival of a Sword King
Written by Lim Kyung-bae & Illustrated by Soon-Q Kwon
Taking a different approach to how Solo Leveling’s power fantasy, Latna Saga on Tapas stars Ryu Hanbin, a 24-year-old who has completed his mandatory military service only to be summoned to a fantasy world. In this world, he’s tasked with achieving level 5, forced into a fantasy-style Warrior role and surviving while slaying wolf monsters scaled to his stats.
However, the system Hanbin is given is plagued with errors. Every time he reaches his goal, his level resets, while his stats continue to grow and he retains the skills he’s gained. The result is a power fantasy achieved by 20 years of grinding in this entertaining isekai premise.
When Hanbin (as Eric, his persona) is finally brought out of this tutorial zone as an overpowered Level 5 Warrior, the real shenanigans begin as he is shunned as an otherworlder in this new realm. Finally, among others with whom he can freely interact, no longer living in a house of wolf bones, Hanbin is soon recruited on a quest to defeat the evil god Ormphlaus.
Leviathan
Written by Lee Gyuntak & Illustrated by Noh Miyoung
Despite languishing for a long time in localization limbo after Toomics’ license expired, Leviathan recently joined the Webtoon library. The completed series has been regularly hailed as an aquatic Attack on Titan manhwa with its postapocalyptic waterworld premise, and the comparison is surprisingly strong. However, it’s far from a derivative epic.
On an Earth flooded by 70 years of torrential rain following the collision of an icy comet with the Moon, with the heroic Bota Ma and his sister, Rita. Their journey to survive in this collapsing world unearths the greater mystery of the sea creatures who have mutated to become the horrific Leviathans.
Pick Me Up!
Written by Hermod & Illustrated by WASAK BASAK
Another amusing isekai premise along the lines of “trapped in a game”, Pick Me Up! puts its main character, Seojin Han aka Han Isratte, in its titular gacha game as a 1-star hero instead of as a usual master controlling them. But after his fellow heroes die, and a newly-summoned 4-star hero is mistakenly merged into him, Seojin unleashes his ferocious might on the game’s enemies.
But Seojin has another secret: he’s the master Loki, fifth-highest ranker in the world, despite never pulling a 5-star. In this surprising role-reversal, Seojin must carry his teammates, keep them alive, ascend the ranks and the Tower to effectively defeat a god. The series is exceptionally well-written beyond its gimmicky isekai premise, and boasts stellar art and expressive characters throughout.
Return of the Blossoming Blade
Written by Biga & Illustrated by Studio LICO
Much like many series loved by hardcore manhwa fans over Solo Leveling, Return of the Blossoming Blade, aka Return of Mount Hua Sect, doesn’t take itself too seriously while executing an excellent premise. The master martial artist Cheongmyeong dies defending the Mount Hua Sect where he honed his craft against the villainous Cheonma, only for him to die afterward.
One of Blossoming Blade’s greatest assets as a manhwa over Solo Leveling, is its execution of comedy, which Solo Leveling attempts but overall sorely lacks.
Reincarnating while retaining his understanding but without his honed body, Cheongmyeong must seek out a Mount Hua Sect that has fallen far from glory and restore it to prominence. One of Blossoming Blade’s greatest assets as a manhwa over Solo Leveling, is its execution of comedy, which Solo Leveling attempts but overall sorely lacks.
The World After the Fall
Written by singNsong & Illustated by Undead Ttalgi
When seeking out something great following Solo Leveling’s underwhelming ending, singNsong’s stellar library rarely disappoints. In the case of The World After the Fall has fans covered. It has a killer apocalyptic setting, swapping Gates for Towers covering the world, aka “Tower Impacts” with Jaehwan on a mission to stop the calamity.
These Towers of Nightmares are ranked F to S, Jaehwan unravels their mysteries while being traumatized by the visions of his home’s destruction. The art of this series features immense depth and paneling, and boasts a power system honing the protagonist with unfathomably godly powers, his Ouroboros abilities by the end a new level of compelling power fantasy.
The Greatest Estate Developer
Written by BK_Moon, Adapted by Lee Hyun-min & Illustrated by Kim Hyun-soo
Touted by fans as neither overrated nor underrated at this point, The Greatest Estate Developer is a well-regarded, deservedly popular isekai comedy. While its protagonist, Suho Kim inhabits Lloyd Frontera, an irresponsible noble, he soon finds an opportunity to put his civil engineering skills to the task in this fascinating fantasy scenario.
Twisting the usual isekai concepts with an overly virtuous protagonist incarnating into a scumbag noble, Suho must channel his gifts as a civil engineering student to prevent a terrible fate. In doing so, Suho must balance bureaucracy, allow himself to embody Lloyd’s less favorable characteristics, inhabiting one of the most expressive, elastic faces in all of manhwa.
Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint
Written by singNsong, Adapted by UMI & Illustrated by Sleepy-C
While Solo Leveling is a beloved power fantasy, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint replaces this with a metafictional enlightenment fantasy. Dokja Kim is the protagonist of this acclaimed novel and manhwa by singNsong, presenting an apocalyptic scenario on Earth, but with a twist: Dokja has read it before. Following the mysterious Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse, Dokja was prepared all along.
Beyond sporting excellent art, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint feels relentlessly smart with its worldbuilding, especially as the onlookers of this apocalypse, including godly constellations based on real-world mythology, are revealed. Beyond simply being regarded as a Solo Leveling successor, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint handles practically everything, from its overarching plot, to time loop mechanics, far more confidently as a superior series.
Solo Leveling: Ragnarok
Written by Daul, Adapted by Dangdo & Illustrated by Jin
Suho, Jinwoo’s son, takes the formula that thrilled readers around the globe, and surrounds it with far more confident worldbuilding this time around. Daul’s writing is a stellar follow-up to Chugong’s original and, sequel or not, Solo Leveling: Ragnarok creates a wild scenario that incorporates the underutilized supporting characters of its predecessor.
While Suho is hardly underpowered as he too is assisted by the system that empowered his father, he develops a new twist on his abilities as a Monarch’s son. Instead of amassing an army of Shadows, Suho grows his might through Shadow Creation. This does far more than create eye-catching armaments, too.
Solo Leveling: Ragnarok’s manhwa is still ongoing, but it’s showing immense promise, including its latest arc’s spin on Solo Leveling’s Jeju Island Arc. Much like all other series on this list, its protagonist is more dynamic than Jinwoo, its story takes more fascinating directions, while its art, a particular strong point for Solo Leveling, is every bit as gripping here.
- Release Date
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2024 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, BS11, Tochigi TV
- Directors
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Tatsuya Sasaki, Toru Hamasaki
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Genta Nakamura
Yoo Jin-ho
