(AfroGamers.com) Solo Login is a manhwa that has gotten my reading time recently. Normally, isekai is what I read but this title is something different but very familiar. I guess you could sum it up as more of a stripped-down action-fantasy series. It is based around the main character being broken or overpowered and the comedic/action-packed moments that come from that.
I kind of look at Solo Login as Hercules modernized for a young Korean audience.
What is Solo Login?
In the world of SL, the Sky Castles appeared. These are sky dungeons that have towns and societies around them. These towns are made up of Players, people who were blessed on Earth with the ability to clear the sky dungeons. When a Player awakens, they manifest wings that allow them to get to the Sky Castles and can also be used in combat.
These Players have formed their own guilds and groups to tackle the dungeons. This resulted in popularity and wealth for the Players in addition to the power and potentially inflation-causing wealth gained from clearing dungeons.
The series follows 26-year-old Jung Si-Woo, an questionably-employed young man who often gets into scraps. I say “questionably-employed” because his work status becomes vague once he begins riding a red Chinese delivery motorcycle. However, he’s typically depicted as unemployed—which is a popular job status for heroes in modern-setting action manhwa.
Anyway, he was born with ridiculously superhuman strength and stamina. The guy is a monster and longs to be a Player. Unfortunately, it just never happened for him. At 26, it looks like it might never happen. That is until he saves a Player who wipes out of a powerful dungeon and falls to the Earth.
When a Player dies in a Sky Castle dungeon, they usually fall into an underground dungeon called an Ant Hill dungeon. These dungeons take the form of the dungeon a Player failed in and the retired Player typically dies after losing all of their power.
Soo Ah-rin, an idol-like healer from the Tornado Guild of Players avoids death. As a result, she ends up in a weakened state that reduces her size to that of a fairy. In crashing into the Ant Hill dungeon, Jung Si-Woo is given an opportunity to become an underground Player—an blows the test dungeon out of the water with brute force and bravery.
Impressed by what she has seen in Si-Woo’s performance, Soo Ah-rin becomes his support, a role that guides a Player’s development and helps them in dungeons.
What Rocks About This Series?
Honestly, this series isn’t much different from other series with overpowered main characters. It has a constant progression where the main character gets stronger and stronger while gaining new attacks and skills. There are some enemies that provide something of a challenge but the main character is definitely going to beat them.
Later, the real challenges begin to appear in the series and we get the large destructive battles that the main character will barely win. Solo Login gives you all of that on the action front. It’s very predictable but fun at the same time.
What makes the overdone tropes palpable are the world-building, how Jung Si-Woo navigates being an underground player, and his interactions with close ones and others. It’s the stuff between each dungeon run that really keeps this series going and worth following.
Without that, it’s kind of like Rooftop Sword Master where it’s violence on top of violence and just marathoned action scenes. It would keep things lively but the appeal would fade early.
The other thing is that the stuff in the middle isn’t even new or groundbreaking. As a young hero in a modern day fantasy setting, he would worry about his family and friends as well as making money and control his public perception…at least for a young hero with any sort of power.
I mean, Peter Parker was also taking pictures of Spider-Man to show him in a good light. It was always while Spidey was fighting crime but J.Jonah Jameson always had other plans, right?
Si-Woo is portrayed in a similar manner only he’s very shrewd. Whereas Peter was broke the majority of the time, Si-Woo is always after the loot and increasing his power. Of course, that doesn’t mean he won’t do the right thing. It just means that he’s a hero who knows that he can’t save everyone and doesn’t bother trying.
Worth the Read?
Solo Login is 100-percent worth the read. The artwork is pretty good, not as dope as Solo Leveling or The World After the Fall but it has an edge over Hardcore Leveling Warrior. It’s a very standard art style for action manhwa. The story is decent enough that it’s not simple to the point of being boring but it’s far from being complex to the point of being a slough to read.
That’s the benefit of this series—and this genre—in that the pace moves briskly without leaving anything important out. There’s a lot of dialogue and explaining of everything in Solo Login but things move along soon afterward since Si-Woo has to either immediately apply everything learned or apply it at a high level after training.
If you can find it, add this one to your manga viewing list.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.