One Underappreciated Manhwa Does One Thing Better Than Solo Leveling (2024)

Solo Leveling clearly resonates with a massive audience for its epic fights and stunning artwork, but it plays a more important role in that it helps spread awareness of manhwa as an Asian entertainment medium from outside of Japan, coming from South Korea. However, another manhwa called Viral Hit has accomplished the same thing in one way that even Solo Leveling has not. The characters actually look Korean in Viral Hit when Solo Leveling adheres more to the distinct styling of characters in anime and manga, which partly strips them from their places of origin.

Of course, the fact that the character names in Solo Leveling (as well as Viral Hit) are easily distinguishable from what Japanese characters are often referred to is probably the most effective way of proving that their series didn't begin as manga. After all, Viral Hit's and Solo Leveling's main characters, Hobin Yoo and Sung Jinwoo respectively, are typically not what heroes from most anime are called.

However, Viral Hit presents the whole package in comparison to Solo Leveling: the characters in Viral Hit look and sound Korean, and this is important to help casual anime-goers realize the series' true country of origin.

Viral Hit's Korean-Looking Characters Shed Light on an Overall "Problem" with Anime

Anime Characters Don't Look Asian Even If Most Stories Are Set in Japan

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Ironically, it's easier for people to see that the source material from South Korea is different from Japanese manga. Manhwa uses a distinct style that's associated with webtoons, where the content is not only in color, but, when consumed online, is read vertically, which transforms the reading experience. This differs greatly from the black and white panels of manga that are also almost always read from right to left, though there are some rare cases like Ghost Reaper Girl that adhere to Western literature.

This is ironic because - although manhwa still has an impressive audience, especially in Solo Leveling's unique case - anime will always gain more recognition, as is also the same for manga. As such, it's important for the anime adaptations of manhwa to be more recognizable as originating from South Korea. Outside Viral Hit and even manhwa, the importance of "looks" can also have an impact on how the setting is perceived by viewers.

Sometimes the setting is incredibly important in anime, especially when the story takes place in Japan, where the viewer can more readily appreciate the Japanese culture presented when they feel like they have been transported there, especially for places that fans can easily identify, like Shibuya in Jujutsu Kaisen. However, when people look like anime characters, whose appearances can't really be associated with an Asian country, it can detract from this effect.

Viral Hit and Solo Leveling Still Have One Major Problem That Anime Should Rectify

Truth be told, the topic of realism in anime actually sheds light on another problem with the industry, specifically series outside of Japan. Although renowned for being vastly superior to dubs, anime in the native Japanese language usually suffers when the story takes place in other countries since it's more difficult to emulate the varying dialects and accents of other languages in Japanese. Meanwhile, anime dubbed in English usually thrive in this regard, most notably in series like Hellsing, where certain characters need to sound like they're from England and Ireland to feel more authentic.

Coincidentally, language plays another crucial part in manhwa anime adaptations, and it's one of the main problems that still persists in both Viral Hit and Solo Leveling's anime adaptations. In fact, both anime's original subbed languages are still in Japanese. So, while both anime still perpetuate a language bias, Viral Hit is at least one step closer to being depicted and identified as South Korean. Of course, all thanks should really go to the original creators, writer Taejun Pak and illustrator Kim Junghyun, who depicted them as such.

Regardless, it's still vastly important for fans to realize that manhwa anime are adaptations that originate from South Korea, since the industry is understandably more associated with Japan. Luckily, Solo Leveling, and even Viral Hit despite being less popular, are helping spread that awareness.