Solo leveling vol 5 bY chugong

Jinwoo has to wait a few days for the results of his re-ranking, but in the meantime, he needs money and fireproof items in order to get through the last levels of the dungeon and retrieve the materials to make the elixir of life for his mother. He decides to join an excavation team, low-rank hunters who go in after a raiding party has taken out most of the monsters in order to mine the dungeon for valuables. Of course, he’s great at mining because of his brute strength, and some of the miners take a liking to him. The next day, he goes to mine again, but the luggage carrier for the raid team didn’t show up. Jinwoo volunteers to go so he can learn more about the raiding parties and how they clear out a dungeon. He has a bad feeling before stepping into the gate but brushed it aside. He comes to regret this as the party is faced with tons of high-level orcs that nearly kill them until Jinwoo uses his stealthy attacks to save them.

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The storyline outside of dungeon crawling is really getting interesting since all of the guilds are vying for Jinwoo to join them. This volume didn't address the high-level hunter who came on the scene at the end of the last volume, so that was disappointing, but I'm sure it'll come up again  (and hopefully soon!). The little part of me who is a shōjo fan hopes the new female hunter we met this volume (and cover image) becomes a love interest in future volumes.

The art in this series is so fluid and beautiful, and is really a highlight for me. The colors are vibrant, and the style really takes a lot of cues from animation. The character movement and storytelling from panel to panel make me feel like I'm watching something on screen rather than reading it.

Sara's Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 10-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4

Publisher: Yen Press
Publication Date: September 20, 2022
ISBN: 9781975344382 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 9/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Dungeon, Action Adventure, Magic, Yen Press