10 Best Anime Like Solo Leveling to Watch Next

Finishing Solo Leveling leaves a very specific itch. You want another series where getting stronger actually feels exciting—where a character walks into a fight that once would have terrified them and you can immediately see how far they have come.

The problem is that simply recommending ten anime with overpowered protagonists misses what makes Solo Leveling work. Sung Jinwoo's appeal is not just that he becomes absurdly strong. It is the progression: the dungeon raids, visible growth, increasingly dangerous enemies, status systems, lone-wolf aura and the satisfaction of watching the weakest hunter become the person everyone else fears.

So this list is built around different pieces of that experience. Some shows have literal game mechanics. Some have dungeon crawling. Some offer the same overwhelming protagonist fantasy. Others match Solo Leveling through escalating battles, dark supernatural worlds or a hero whose growth changes how everyone sees him.

If you're caught up with Jinwoo himself, AnimeSparks also has a guide to Solo Leveling: Beyond the System, the theatrical continuation announced after Season 2.

10. Sword Art Online

If the interface, stats and RPG flavor of Solo Leveling are what hooked you, Sword Art Online remains one of the obvious next stops.

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Kirito is trapped with thousands of players inside Aincrad, a virtual-reality MMORPG where dying in the game means dying in the real world. Floors have to be cleared, bosses have to be learned, gear matters, and combat skill determines whether players ever get home.

The comparison with Solo Leveling is not exact. Jinwoo's System exists inside a real supernatural world, while SAO begins with a literal game. But both series understand the appeal of translating RPG progression into anime spectacle. Kirito also scratches some of the same lone-wolf protagonist itch, especially during Aincrad.

SAO is inconsistent across its many arcs, but its influence on game-world anime is impossible to ignore. If you want the longer version of that argument, read why Sword Art Online changed virtual reality anime forever.

Watch this if: you want levels, bosses, game mechanics and a highly capable swordsman at the center.

9. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

Ignore the title for a moment. DanMachi is one of the better recommendations for viewers who specifically miss the dungeon side of Solo Leveling.

Bell Cranel begins as an inexperienced adventurer entering the enormous Dungeon beneath Orario. He is not secretly the strongest person in the world. He gets hurt, needs allies and spends much of the early story looking painfully small next to elite adventurers.

That is exactly why his growth works.

Like Jinwoo, Bell has an unusual path to rapid improvement, but DanMachi gives the progression more of a classic fantasy-adventure feeling. The Dungeon has floors, monsters and threats that become increasingly hostile the deeper characters go. Later arcs also become considerably darker than the playful title suggests.

The payoff is less about instant domination and more about watching Bell slowly become the adventurer other people once seemed impossibly far above.

Watch this if: dungeon raids and visible character progression were your favorite parts of Solo Leveling.

8. Kaiju No. 8

Kafka Hibino and Sung Jinwoo begin in very different circumstances, but they share one important quality: both know what it feels like to stand below the people they wanted to become.

Kafka has spent years cleaning up kaiju remains while watching others fight the monsters he once dreamed of facing. Then his body changes, giving him a power that could make him one of humanity's greatest weapons—or mark him as a monster that needs to be eliminated.

Kaiju No. 8 has no leveling System, and Kafka's personality is much warmer and more openly comedic than Jinwoo's. The similarity comes from the pleasure of watching someone dismissed by the existing hierarchy reveal strength that completely changes how that hierarchy sees him.

The Defense Force structure also gives the series rankings, elite fighters and monster threats that can appeal to viewers who enjoyed Solo Leveling's Hunter Association and S-Rank ecosystem.

Watch this if: you liked hunters, rankings, monster threats and the moment everyone realizes the underestimated protagonist is terrifyingly powerful.

7. Jujutsu Kaisen

Jujutsu Kaisen is the recommendation for viewers who care less about RPG mechanics and more about Solo Leveling's supernatural battles.

Yuji Itadori enters a hidden world of curses after swallowing one of Sukuna's fingers. From there, the anime builds an increasingly dangerous hierarchy of sorcerers, cursed spirits, inherited techniques and Domain Expansions.

JJK does not deliver Jinwoo-style solo progression. Its power system is much more distributed across an ensemble, and Yuji is frequently surrounded by people who are more experienced or technically stronger than he is. What it does share is a taste for dangerous missions that can suddenly become catastrophes when an enemy is far beyond the expected level.

The animation is another obvious bridge. If what you want after Solo Leveling is simply more modern action anime with fights designed to become events, JJK is difficult to skip.

The next stage is already underway; AnimeSparks has the latest on Jujutsu Kaisen Season 4: Culling Game Part 2.

Watch this if: the fights, monsters and high-end animation mattered more to you than the game interface.

6. Tower of God

There is an obvious reason Tower of God belongs on a post-Solo Leveling watchlist: both grew from Korean webtoon culture and became major anime adaptations. But the better reason is their shared obsession with ascending through a hostile system.

Bam enters the Tower looking for Rachel. Each floor brings tests, alliances, betrayals and increasingly strange rules. Progress is physical, social and psychological rather than represented through a visible stat screen.

Where Solo Leveling becomes increasingly focused on Jinwoo's overwhelming individual strength, Tower of God is much more interested in factions, mysteries and the people controlling the structure everyone is trying to climb.

That makes it a good recommendation for viewers who enjoyed the sense that Jinwoo was operating inside a much larger world whose rules he did not initially understand.

We have a full breakdown of whether Tower of God is still worth watching in 2026 if you are unsure about committing to it.

Watch this if: you want Korean-source fantasy, tests, rankings, mysteries and a world built around climbing higher.

5. Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation

This is not the recommendation to pick if all you want is Jinwoo effortlessly deleting monsters.

Mushoku Tensei is slower, more character-driven and considerably more controversial. Rudeus Greyrat begins a second life in a fantasy world and develops extraordinary magical ability, but the series is interested in the years between major victories: learning languages, traveling, damaging relationships, repairing them and discovering how enormous the world really is.

The connection to Solo Leveling is growth, not tone. Both protagonists start from positions of profound weakness and eventually operate on a scale that would once have seemed impossible. But Rudeus's progression is tied to an entire second life rather than a rapid System-driven transformation.

It is also worth knowing that the series contains sexual and behavioral material that many viewers find uncomfortable. That should be part of the recommendation rather than buried after someone starts watching.

For readers who enjoy detailed power hierarchies, our guide to Mushoku Tensei's Seven Great Powers explains the legendary figures at the top of its world.

Watch this if: you want another fantasy where becoming powerful feels like a long journey through a much larger world.

4. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

Rimuru Tempest and Sung Jinwoo share the kind of progression that makes you periodically stop and remember how unimpressive they were at the beginning.

Rimuru starts as a slime with an ability that lets him absorb and analyze other beings. That foundation grows into a huge collection of skills, evolutions and eventually political power. But Tensura's smartest choice is refusing to make combat the only form of progression.

Rimuru builds a nation.

Monsters become citizens. Villages become infrastructure. Alliances, trade and diplomacy start mattering alongside new abilities. The power fantasy therefore expands outward: getting stronger changes not only what Rimuru can defeat but what kind of society he can protect.

It is much warmer and more communal than Solo Leveling, which increasingly isolates Jinwoo at the top. But if watching numbers, abilities and status evolve is the addictive part for you, Tensura delivers that satisfaction on a huge scale.

Watch this if: you want an overpowered protagonist, constant evolution and a progression fantasy that grows into nation-building.

3. The Eminence in Shadow

If the image you have in your head when someone says Solo Leveling is Jinwoo walking out of darkness with an army behind him, The Eminence in Shadow may be the easiest recommendation on this list.

Cid Kagenou is absurdly powerful. He dresses in black. He commands a secret organization. He loves dramatic entrances. He speaks like a final boss even when nobody around him understands what he is doing.

The difference is that The Eminence in Shadow knows how ridiculous this fantasy is.

Cid invents an elaborate conspiracy as part of his role-playing fantasy, only to accidentally describe a conspiracy that actually exists. He thinks he is improvising. His followers think he is an incomprehensible genius. The joke continues because the world takes him far more seriously than he takes the world.

That makes the series a strange but effective follow-up to Solo Leveling. It delivers the same kind of overwhelming cool-factor while simultaneously making fun of the desire to look overwhelmingly cool.

AnimeSparks has a full review of why The Eminence in Shadow works, including why its parody never prevents the action from landing.

Watch this if: Shadow Monarch Jinwoo was your favorite version of Jinwoo and you are willing to laugh at the power fantasy while enjoying it.

2. Shangri-La Frontier

Shangri-La Frontier may be the closest recommendation for people who love the actual process of getting better.

Rakuro Hizutome, better known as Sunraku, is not trapped in another world. He is playing a virtual-reality game because he genuinely loves games—especially difficult ones. His experience beating terrible, broken games gives him an unusual skill set when he enters the polished MMO Shangri-La Frontier.

The series understands something crucial about progression fantasy: improvement is more satisfying when the audience understands the challenge.

Boss mechanics matter. Equipment matters. Timing matters. Other players matter. Sunraku can be extremely capable without making every encounter feel predetermined because the game continually introduces problems that require adaptation rather than a bigger attack number.

It lacks Solo Leveling's darker supernatural atmosphere, but it captures the excitement of discovering a new ability, entering a dangerous area and realizing a boss is operating on a completely different level.

Watch this if: leveling, boss fights and the feeling of mastering a system are what made Solo Leveling addictive.

1. The Rising of the Shield Hero

For viewers chasing the specific fantasy of starting at the bottom and forcing the world to reconsider you, The Rising of the Shield Hero is one of the clearest follow-ups.

Naofumi Iwatani is summoned to another world as one of four Cardinal Heroes and almost immediately finds himself disgraced, isolated and treated with contempt. His Shield also prevents him from fighting like the conventional damage-dealing heroes around him.

So he adapts.

Naofumi learns to exploit what his class can do, builds a party and becomes increasingly difficult for the people who dismissed him to ignore. That underdog-to-powerful trajectory is the strongest link to Jinwoo. Both stories derive enormous satisfaction from the gap between how the protagonist is initially perceived and what he eventually becomes capable of doing.

Shield Hero is messier and more divisive as it continues, and its revenge-oriented opening is stronger than some later stretches. But the first season in particular captures the progression fantasy that sends many viewers searching for 'anime like Solo Leveling' in the first place.

Watch this if: your favorite part of Solo Leveling was seeing the weakest man in the room become someone nobody could dismiss again.

Which Anime Is Most Like Solo Leveling?

There is no perfect substitute because Solo Leveling combines several appeals that other anime usually separate.

For leveling and boss mechanics, start with Shangri-La Frontier. For dungeons, choose DanMachi. For an absurdly powerful dark-clad protagonist, The Eminence in Shadow is the obvious pick. For Korean webtoon energy and a mysterious progression structure, try Tower of God. For modern supernatural fights, go with Jujutsu Kaisen.

And if what you specifically loved was the transformation from 'weakest' to overwhelmingly capable, The Rising of the Shield Hero offers the most familiar emotional starting point even though its world and mechanics are very different.

What Makes Solo Leveling Hard to Replace?

Jinwoo's strength is not actually the unusual part. Anime has no shortage of protagonists who can overpower nearly everyone around them.

What Solo Leveling does unusually well is make becoming overpowered the spectacle.

Early Jinwoo is fragile enough that a low-level dungeon can kill him. The System then gives the audience a visible language for his transformation: quests, stats, classes, skills and increasingly difficult enemies. By the time other hunters begin treating him like an anomaly, viewers have watched the work that created that gap.

That is why recommendations based only on 'OP main character' often feel wrong. A character who begins unbeatable does not necessarily recreate the satisfaction of watching Jinwoo cross each threshold.

The Hunter world matters too. Ranks give strength a social meaning. Jinwoo is not merely stronger in Season 2 than he was in Season 1; he has moved through a hierarchy that once defined his entire identity. Our ranking of every major S-Rank Hunter in Solo Leveling shows just how far beyond that hierarchy his progression eventually takes him.

If You Want More Overpowered Protagonists

If this list still does not contain enough overwhelming main characters, the broader isekai genre is the obvious next rabbit hole.

Our updated ranking of the 10 best isekai anime to watch in 2026 includes Re:Zero, Overlord, KonoSuba, Tensura, Mushoku Tensei and other series that approach the 'another world' fantasy from very different directions.

Just remember that Solo Leveling itself is not really an isekai. Jinwoo does not reincarnate or permanently move into another world; the supernatural world invades his own through Gates and dungeons. The similarity is progression-fantasy structure, not genre classification.

The Best Place to Start After Solo Leveling

If you only want one recommendation, start with Shangri-La Frontier if the System-like progression and boss fights were your favorite part of Solo Leveling. Start with The Eminence in Shadow instead if you mainly want another protagonist who can enter a room and instantly make everyone else feel underleveled.

For something closer to Solo Leveling's Korean roots and mystery-driven world-building, Tower of God is the more interesting choice. And if you simply want another polished supernatural action series, Jujutsu Kaisen is the safest bet.

There is no anime that reproduces Jinwoo's journey exactly—and that is probably a good thing. The best follow-up is the one that identifies what you actually liked about Solo Leveling and gives you a different version of that feeling rather than a weaker copy.