over the last two days I finished reading the 7th volume of the solo leveling light novel. as of the time of writing this I realize that the Korean and Japanese title for this series convey "Jinwoo is the only one who levels up" and I have been sitting here interpreting "solo" as "Jinwoo levels up by himself"
anyway despite the English PR for the upcoming anime positioning Jinwoo in some sort of revenge-like "he used to be the weakest" role, I have consistently been finding the series a quick and high-energy read for reasons that basically don't match this at all
Jinwoo is strapped to a numbers rocketship, blasting him very quickly past "world-class hunter" status straight to "no one else on earth, nor off earth, is even close. like many of his fellow isekind, he is primarily a stoic batman who stands in front of those he has chosen to protect, but there's a certain earnestness granted to him by his college minor in Numbers Gremlin.
the Numbers Gremlin is one of my favorite naroukei types, where a character becomes fascinated with their capability to gain power, often more than the ends to which they wield that power. they are the ones who, when they learn they are breathing Cookie Clickers, immediately unfold a giant, formula-laden spreadsheet in their mind, determined, above all else, to Numbers the hardest.
Jinwoo has clear desires, both personal and overarching, that limit him from being a pure Gremlin, but his understanding of the freedom-granting power of leveling (early in the curve, when the training wheels are still on) and his insatiable desire to try out his new, comically effective toys grant his character the Gremlinness to make it feel a bit more real.
overall, for his archetype of character, I find Jinwoo to be a solid person who is easy to root for - he is clearly a Good Guy, but he is not cloyingly innocent nor fatalistically jaded. he kind of just wants to be left alone (a la Yogiri) but he also understands the importance of his power and is willing to accept responsibility in order to protect those important to him
and the arc of Solo Leveling is bending faster and faster in that way that the best naroukei, thrusting more and more responsibility and numbers upon Jinwoo in jaw-dropping fashion. the most wild naroukei know to go up exponentially, and Solo Leveling 7 takes this to new heights even for a series known for raising the stakes from personal to planetary exceedingly fast.
a strength of this series is how tied into the real world the Obligatory Fantasy-Monster Fighting System is - it's an international affair with dedicated industries and divisions all over the world, replete with politicians butting heads with management. I wouldn't say it's necessarily intricate or complex (a fact that is often reinforced by the portrayal of major Asian countries), but it's the right action-movie level of detail, and it helps sell the kind of crises that Just Leveling raises in between slick fights (which I also appreciate as being more raw power than overcomplicated trickery)
I think that's my overall thought - Solo Leveling knows it is an easy-to-digest action series, and it brings the power and the stakes to match. It's just a good time