Sung Jinwoo, known as the Shadow Monarch, has ascended to the throne as anime’s reigning champion on Crunchyroll.
On May 27, the anime Solo Leveling achieved a groundbreaking feat by becoming the first to exceed 1 million ratings on Crunchyroll. Remarkably, 95% of these ratings awarded it a flawless 5 stars. This achievement is a significant milestone, both for Solo Leveling and for Crunchyroll as a leading streaming service.
Although another anime may eventually reach the 1 million ratings mark on Crunchyroll, Solo Leveling will always hold the honor of being the pioneer.
While it’s possible (and even likely) that another anime will one day hit 1 million ratings on Crunchyroll again, Solo Leveling will forever be the first to do it.
Solo Leveling Just Surpassed JJK, Demon Slayer and One Piece to Set an Unbreakable Crunchyroll Record
In reaching 1 million ratings on Crunchyroll, Solo Leveling surpassed every other major anime series, from Demon Slayer to DBZ. The only two anime anywhere close to Solo Leveling’s record are actually Jujutsu Kaisen and One Piece, and even they have a long way to go to reach that same achievement.
At the time of writing, Jujustu Kaisen currently sits at 785k ratings, with One Piece at 818k. While big numbers, they pale in comparison to the huge boost Solo Leveling received after its second season alone. Going into Season 2, the series had around 400k ratings, but propelled to over 900k soon after the season finale aired.
Part of what Solo Leveling has working in its favor over anime like Jujutsu Kaisen or One Piece is that it was largely exclusive to Crunchyroll throughout its run. In fact, it’s still entirely exclusive to Crunchyroll in the US, only appearing on Netflix in select regions.
Unlike Jujutsu Kaisen or One Piece, which both stream on multiple platforms, fans are pretty much required to go to Crunchyroll to watch the Solo Leveling anime. That takes nothing away from Solo Leveling’s massive achievement, though.
After all, series like JJK and One Piece also have many more episodes and have been airing for far longer than Solo Leveling has. As of season 3, Jujutsu Kaisen has 59 episodes and 3 movies released. Solo Leveling only has one film and 25 episodes released so far.
That’s testament to the truly meteoric rise in popularity Solo Leveling enjoyed in an extremely short period. The fact the series is still getting hundreds of thousands of new viewers over a year after its second season aired is further proof of Sung Jinwoo’s staying power as a new anime icon.
Solo Leveling’s Popularity Can No Longer Be Written Off as a Fluke
Image via A-1 PicturesLove it or hate it, it’s clear Solo Leveling is the biggest new anime out there. But that doesn’t prevent it from criticism. If anything, Solo Leveling’s extremely fast rise to stardom has largely contributed to a stream of hate towards the series.
Many criticize Solo Leveling for being shallow and mindless action, with some even going as far as to call it an industry plant for getting so big despite being so “mid.” However, there are real, objective reasons why Solo Leveling is as big as it is, and it’s not just about its animation quality (though A-1 Pictures has done an excellent job adapting the fight sequences).
The real reason Solo Leveling is the biggest action anime today is because of the story’s purposeful rebellion against established shonen anime tropes. Sung Jinwoo is not a traditionally kind-hearted shonen hero. He’s a dark, badass anti-hero who takes no prisoners and has very little issue with killing his enemies.
Watching the faint glimmer of humanity within Sung Jinwoo slowly die is a wholly unique experience for most anime fans, making Jinwoo’a “shallowness” as a character more a feature than a flaw.
Jinwoo isn’t really shallow, but he does become increasingly empty inside as he’s pulled deeper into the mysterious System that’s, ironically, the source of his strength. In that way, what many fans perceive as his “aura” is mostly just the inherent darkness in Jinwoo’s character.
The other thing about Solo Leveling that contributes to the series’ success is its pacing. Unlike traditional shonen battle series, which often drag out fights for several episodes, Solo Leveling’s biggest fights tend to last a single episode or even less. They’re short, dramatic spectacles that never over-explain. They just let the action do the talking.
While that aspect of the series is criticized for just being flashy and mindless, it’s arguably the opposite: Solo Leveling’s action actually respects the intelligence of the viewer enough to let them decipher what’s happening in real-time, rather than slowing things down and holding the audience’s hand.
Solo Leveling has set a new standard for action anime, and the industry is already being forced to adapt. Now that it’s also indisputably the biggest anime on Crunchyroll, it’s time anime fans bow down to their new king.
Solo Leveling Seasons 1 and 2 are currently streaming in their entirety on a Crunchyroll.
- 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