Solo Leveling Threw Its Best Female Character Under the Bus — Or Did it?

Summary:

• Based on a South Korean manhwa, new anime Solo Leveling is all the rage these days
• The anime likes to surprise the viewers with unique twists on storytelling and character development approach
• However, when it comes to Lee Joo-hee, one of the female characters in the series, fans are left disappointed

Spoiler alert for Solo Leveling season 1!

For us fans of Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen, Solo Leveling turned out to be a true silver lining.

The new 2024 anime not only managed to do a great job adapting its South Korean source material, but also gave us yet another perfect spin on the "special people hunting down supernatural creatures" trope — which, let's be honest, is starting to get tired.

Telling the story of Sung Jin-woo, an E-rank hunter who seemingly has no way to ever get stronger, Solo Leveling proves that even "humanity's weakest weapon" (hi, Levi fans!) can eventually grow and outdo itself. The anime is praised for its unique approach to "weak" characters (making him a main protagonist is already quite unusual) and toying with various storytelling tropes.

However, one experiment seems to be too questionable for fans. Enter Lee Joo-hee — a B-rank hunter and a healer who used to babysit Sung Jin-woo in every mission making sure he doesn't kill himself.

Shortly after Sung Jin-woo starts getting stronger, his once-powerful and promising friend suddenly gives in to fear and trauma. Unable to move on, Lee Joo-hee decides to retire from hunting — even though her friend's growth inspired her at first!

Needless to say, it was frustrating to see a promising character stepping away. It would have been one thing for Lee Joo-hee to just accept she's traumatized and decide to do something else, but it's the fact she didn't choose a very obvious way to be helpful that angered fans the most.

Why didn't she become a doctor? For someone with healing powers, it was the best way to stay out of a job as dangerous and hunting while continuing to actually help people.

However, even though it seems like an obvious missed opportunity, some fans have a very viable answer.

"It’d make a LOT of sense. Now, maybe it doesn’t work in non-hunters? Maybe it’s harmful to non-hunters because of mana. Remember, just from being near hunters, normal humans may go to that eternal sleep, so that’s that," Redditor GhostLukke suggested.

It also may be too early to bury Lee Joo-hee's character for good — after all, we have a season 1 finale ahead, and something tells us that Solo Leveling is nowhere near wrapping up after just one chapter. But even if Lee Joo-hee's story does end here, it doesn't mean her character arc was wasted.

"Not everything has a happy ending. The author knew what he was doing. In life, there are things we never get over, and this just shows how deep her trauma ran. She really did try, but at the end she couldn’t heal from it. That’s as real as it gets," Redditor Curious_Phrao added.

It's just funny how it's always about female characters, huh?

Solo Leveling season finale arrives on March 30. You can watch the anime on Crunchyroll or Prime Video.