Solo Leveling Volume 1 Manhwa Review: A Must-Read for Fans Who Can’t Wait for More

Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

A four because Volume 1 does exactly what it needs to do: it pulls you into the manhwa format and makes you want to keep going. The full-color art is the real hook here. If you watched the anime first (like I did), you already know the story, but reading it on the page hits differently.

One point off because Volume 1 only covers the earliest arc, before Jinwoo becomes the character that made everyone fall in love with the series.

📋 Quick Facts

Written by: Chugong

Art by: DUBU (Jang Sung-rak)

Publisher: Yen Press

Pages: 320 (Volume 1)

Format: Full-color webtoon, reformatted for page reading

Total series: 179 chapters across 15 volumes (complete)

Covers: Prologue + Chapters 1-3 (Double Dungeon arc + Reawakening)

The Art Changes Everything

Solo Leveling is a full-color webtoon, not black-and-white panels. Every page looks like a frame from the anime. That alone sets it apart from most manga on your shelf.

DUBU's art style closely mirrors what A-1 Pictures eventually brought to the screen. The character designs, the dungeon environments, the sense of motion through each panel. Reading it feels less like traditional manga and more like flipping through storyboards for the show.

Color adds more than you would expect. Blood has actual red to it. The glow of the quest window has a palette that makes it feel like UI from a real game, not just a narrative device.

The Double Dungeon sequence benefits from the format the most. The shift from dim corridors to the blinding light of the statue room lands harder in color than it would in greyscale. You feel the scale of that room in a way that static black-and-white panels cannot replicate.

The original webtoon was designed for vertical scrolling on a phone. The physical volume reformats that art into traditional page layouts, and the transition works. Panels that were meant to be swiped through still carry their weight when you turn them by hand.

Reading It After the Anime

I picked up the manhwa because Season 2 was so intense that waiting week to week became unbearable. Volume 1 covers ground the anime already handled, so there are no surprises.

You know Jinwoo survives the Double Dungeon. You know he gets the Player system. None of that ends up mattering as much as you would think.

Reading the same events at your own pace, controlling when you turn the page, changes the experience. The anime compresses the early arc into a few episodes. The manhwa lets you sit with Jinwoo's desperation longer.

There is a stretch where he is listing his debts, his sister's tuition, his mother's hospital bills. The anime moves through it. The manhwa makes you read every number.

His internal monologue gets more space on the page than it does in the show. The anime gives you his thoughts as quick voiceover. The manhwa gives you full panels of his face while the text sits next to him, and you read at his speed, not the episode's.

I caught details I missed in the anime. Panel compositions that foreshadow later events, background characters whose significance only clicks if you already know the full story. The kind of things you cannot catch at 24 frames per second.

What Keeps It from a Five

Volume 1 ends right at the reawakening. Jinwoo has just become a Player, and the system is brand new.

This is before the job change quest, before Igris, before the shadow army. If you watched the anime, you already lived through this arc, and Volume 1 does not add enough new material to feel like a revelation.

The pacing is fast, which is both a strength and a limitation. I finished the entire volume in one sitting, and 320 pages moved quickly.

But finishing in one sitting also means there is not a lot of density here. Volume 1 gets you hooked on the format. The story it covers is the prelude, not the main act.

If you are coming in cold, the hook is strong enough. The Double Dungeon alone justifies the price of entry. But for anime viewers, Volume 1 is the setup you already watched, presented in a format that makes it worth experiencing again.

FAQ

Is the Solo Leveling manhwa worth reading?

Yes. Especially if you watched the anime and want more. The full-color art is the biggest draw. It is a different experience from watching the show, even when covering the same story beats. Start with Volume 1 and see if the format clicks for you.

How many volumes of Solo Leveling manhwa are there?

15 volumes total, covering 179 chapters. The series is complete. Written by Chugong with art by DUBU (Jang Sung-rak), published in English by Ize Press.

Is the Solo Leveling manhwa in color?

Yes, fully. Solo Leveling is a Korean webtoon, not a traditional black-and-white manga. Every page is in full color, which makes the action sequences and dungeon environments significantly more immersive.

Should I read the Solo Leveling manhwa or the light novel?

Different experiences. The manhwa is visual, fast-paced, and carried by DUBU's art. The light novel (eight volumes in English, also by Chugong) has more internal monologue and world-building detail. If you came from the anime and want something that feels similar, start with the manhwa. If you want deeper lore, try the novel.

What does Solo Leveling Volume 1 cover?

The Prologue through Chapter 3 of the manhwa. This includes Jinwoo as the weakest E-rank hunter, the Double Dungeon disaster, and his reawakening as a Player. It covers roughly the same ground as the first few episodes of the anime's Season 1.

The Man Behind the Panels

DUBU, the artist who brought Solo Leveling to life on the page, was Jang Sung-rak. He passed away in July 2022, before the anime ever aired.

The manhwa is his work. Every panel in this volume, every action sequence, every expression on Jinwoo's face.

The anime exists because of what he built here. Worth knowing when you read it.