Given the popularity of the original series, which ended almost three years ago, fans ofSolo Levelinghave been eagerly awaiting the release of its exciting new sequel,Solo Leveling: Ragnarök,which has been licensed in Englishat last. However, the delay in its localization draws attention to a major problem within the manhwa industry that is holding the medium back from succeeding.
Despite the immense popularity of the franchise,Solo Leveling Ragnarökhas only been licensed in English by Tapas three whole months after the original. This highlights a larger running issue with manhwa, wheremany series are often not officially licensed even until the original is a hundred chapters ahead, pushing readers desperate for more content to turn to illegal scans and fan translations, even if they may be of poor quality. As a result, any attempts to battle piracy are all but futile with late localizations being a major part of the problem.
Solo Leveling Ragnarök Was Licensed in English Too Late
A Simultaneous Release Would Have Greatly Benefitted the Franchise
Initially set up in theepilogue ofSolo Leveling, fans of the series were beyond excited to learn that Sung Suho’s journey would be expanded into a sequel series of its own.Solo Leveling: Ragnarök’s web novel was first released in April 2023, with the Korean webtoon making its debut on July 06, 2025, on KakaoPage, just short of a year and a half later.
While this turnaround is unconventionally quick by manhwa standards, the delay in licensing the series has led many international fans to turn to fan translations of the series instead. In the case of most manhwa, it makes sense to scope the reception of the series before dedicating resources to licensing it in English and other languages, but this was never quite the case withSolo Leveling: Ragnarök,whosesuccess was all but guaranteed.
Solo Leveling’s Version Of Boruto Gets The Next Generation Sequel Story Right
Focusing on Su Ho’s journey while balancing legacy and new beginnings in the Solo Leveling universe - Ragnarök succeeds where others faltered.
With therelease ofSolo Leveling’s anime, the franchise’s fandom was bigger than ever and was still gaining new fans by the day, all of whom were eager to readRagnarökbut simply could not. More importantly,Solo Leveling: Ragnarökalso already hasalmost 30 chapters in Korean, creating quite a wide gap between the fansubs and the original English version, which will likely debut with no more than three chapters at best.
Solo Leveling: Ragnarökreleases on Tapas on June 01, 2025.
As a result, while the higher quality, official translation will surely be appreciated, the series will continue to lose out on readership unless the gap between the two is bridged asfans will simply keep going back to the fansubs to keep up with the latest developmentsin the story.Solo Leveling: Ragnarökwas easily big enough to merit a simultaneous release, which needs to be implemented if manhwa ever intend to seriously combat the ongoing rampant piracy.
Why Webtoons Suffer From Piracy Even More Than Manga
Manhwa and Webtoons Need to Improve Their Reading Services
At the end of August 2024, Naver Webtoon filed a DMCA subpoena against over 170 piracy websites, though it is yet to be seen whether this will yield any long-lasting results. Japanese manga have been trying to fight piracy in vain for years and manhwa’s digital format makes this even more of a losing battle. With every illegal website that gets taken down, another two pop up in its place much like a hydra and the only way to control the problem would be to providebetter services, pricing, and most importantly, better accessibility.
Webtoons and manhwa continue to gain popularity across the globe, even competing with Japanese manga in that regard. However, while manga publishers have been quick to adapt to this global demand, manhwa and webtoons continue to lag behind despite their digital format.It isn’t that fans want to read low-quality scans with poor translations, but simply that they often have no other choice when a series hasn’t been licensed yet or when the official translation simply isn’t up to par.
Overall, manhwa certainly possesses thepotential to overtake mangaor at least compete with it on even ground, but poor accessibility and services are greatly holding back the medium. WhileSolo Leveling: Ragnarökwill undoubtedly do well given the popularity of its predecessor, the series will continue to suffer from piracy issues unless the industry itself begins to change.
Solo Levelingis available to read from Pocket Comics, Tapas, and TappyToon.
Solo Leveling
Cast
Solo Leveling follows Sung Jin-woo, the world’s weakest hunter, who gains extraordinary powers through a mysterious program after surviving a brutal monster attack. As he navigates his newfound abilities, Jinwoo embarks on a quest to uncover the secrets of his powers and the dungeon that altered his fate.
