Solo Leveling Sequel Highlights a BIG Problem in the Manhwa Industry

Given the popularity of the original series, which ended nearly three years ago, fans of Ground Leveling We eagerly await the release of its exciting new sequel, Solo Leveling: Ragnarök, which was finally licensed in English. However, the delay in its localization draws attention to a major problem within the manhwa industry that is hindering the medium’s success.

Despite the immense popularity of the franchise, Individual Leveling Ragnarök it was only licensed in English by Tapas three full months after the original. This highlights a larger problem with manhwa, where many series are often not officially licensed, even until the original is a hundred chapters aheadleading readers desperate for more content to turn to illegal scans and fan translations, even if they are of low quality. As a result, any attempts to combat piracy are largely useless, 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 benefited the franchise

Initially configured in the epilogue of Ground Levelingfans of the series were very excited to learn that Sung Suho’s journey would be expanded into a sequel of its own. Solo Leveling: Ragnarök’The web novel was first released in April 2023, with the Korean webtoon making its debut on August 1, 2024, on KakaoPage, just under a year and a half later.

While this turnaround is unusually quick by manhwa standards, the delay in licensing the series has led many international fans to turn to fan translations of the series. In the case of most manhwa, it makes sense to broaden the series’ reception before devoting resources to licensing it in English and other languages, but that’s never quite been the case with Solo Leveling: Ragnarök, whose success was practically guaranteed.

With the launch of Ground LevelingIn the anime, the franchise’s fandom was bigger than ever and was still gaining new fans every day, all eager to read Ragnarök but I just couldn’t do it. Most importantly, Solo Leveling: Ragnarök also already have almost 30 chapters in Koreancreating a huge gap between the fansubs and the original English version, which will likely debut with a maximum of three chapters at most.

As a result, while the higher quality official translation is certainly appreciated, the series will continue to lose readers unless the gap between the two is bridged as much as possible. fans will simply keep coming back to fansubs to keep up with the latest developments in history. Solo Leveling: Ragnarök was easily big enough to merit a simultaneous release, which needs to be implemented if the manhwa is to seriously combat the ongoing rampant piracy.

Why Webtoons suffer even more from piracy than manga

Manhwa and Webtoons need to improve their reading services

In late August 2024, Naver Webtoon filed a DMCA subpoena against more than 170 piracy sites, although it remains to be seen whether this will produce lasting results. Japanese manga have been trying to fight piracy in vain for years and the digital format of manhwa makes this battle even more lost. For every illegal website that is taken down, two more appear in its place, like a hydra, and the only way to control the problem would be to provide better services, prices and, most importantly, better accessibility.

Webtoons and manhwa continue to gain popularity around the world, even competing with Japanese manga in this regard. However, although manga publishers have quickly adapted to this global demand, manhwa and webtoons continue to lag behind despite their digital format. It’s not that fans want to read low-quality scans with bad translationsbut simply because they often have no other choice when a series has not yet been licensed or when the official translation simply isn’t up to par.

Overall, the manhwa certainly has the potential to surpass the manga or at least compete with it on even ground, but the lack of accessibility and services are greatly harming the medium. While Solo Leveling: Ragnarök will undoubtedly perform well given the popularity of its predecessor, the series will continue to suffer piracy issues unless the industry itself begins to change.

Ground Leveling is available to read on Pocket Comics, Tapas and TappyToon.