10 anime like Solo Leveling for power-ups, dungeons and underdogs

Hajime’s unimpressive transmutation skill looks hopeless when he is stranded underground. Like Jinwoo, the person least equipped to survive the dungeon discovers a route to power inside it.

Why it’s similar: weapon-making and consuming monsters turn each encounter into another advantage. The danger begins to work in his favour.

How it differs: guns, anger and the drive to escape give this climb a harsher survival edge. Yue adds a partner to the journey.

Jinwoo gets a private route to growth; struggling player Grid lands a legendary blacksmith class in Satisfy. Both breakthroughs promise to change more than the next fight.

Why it’s similar: equipment becomes Grid’s way upwards. His ambitious sword design runs into missing materials, so the rare class still needs work.

How it differs: crafting, money-making and impatient schemes give the first two episodes a comic edge. This time the dungeons belong to an actual game.

Imagine Jinwoo’s early dungeon grind from near the bottom of the food chain. A reincarnated schoolgirl has become a tiny spider surrounded by creatures that could eat her.

Why it’s similar: repeated fights bring levels, new skills and an evolution, then the labyrinth throws up a bigger problem. Progress keeps changing what she can survive.

How it differs: her frantic inner commentary makes the struggle funny. The monster viewpoint turns every upgrade into another ingenious way to avoid becoming lunch.

Fate’s Gluttony seems good for nothing except hunger, until killing reveals that it can absorb opponents’ skills and abilities. Like Jinwoo, his lowly reputation stops describing his potential.

Why it’s similar: winning changes what he can do next. The first breakthrough opens further growth, rather than giving him one fixed transformation.

How it differs: his appetite demands feeding, and his talking sword Greed offers company. Hidden power comes with a troublesome hunger to manage.

Bell begins badly outmatched by a monster. His determination to catch up with Ais, the swordswoman who saves him, fuels an exceptional growth skill.

Why it’s similar: improvements open the next dungeon challenge. By episode 4 he has reached floor seven, replaced his equipment and found a supporter, making his advance tangible.

How it differs: affection and belonging drive the climb. Hestia offers a home above the dungeon, giving Bell’s ambition a warmer, more romantic centre.

Touka is judged an E-rank failure and discarded in deadly ruins. The low ranking and supposedly hopeless dungeon make this one of the closest starting points to Jinwoo’s story.

Why it’s similar: his overlooked status-effect skills become a way to kill stronger monsters and gain levels. He tests their limits while searching for an escape.

How it differs: revenge drives the climb. Touka wants to turn his survival against the goddess who threw him away.

Take the rare-class appeal in a party-building direction with Kelvin. He trades his old memories for exceptional starting skills and becomes a summoner, with a goddess as his guide.

Why it’s similar: contracts and stronger challenges keep expanding his options. His early partnership with the slime Clotho leads into a dungeon encounter with a black knight.

How it differs: Kelvin already has an enormous head start and actively seeks difficult fights. The fun is assembling a party around that appetite.

Jinwoo turns victories into more power; Rimuru can absorb creatures, analyse them and acquire their abilities. A small slime body holds an unusually versatile set of possibilities.

Why it’s similar: encountering a new monster can mean gaining another tool. The attraction is discovering what that growing collection can do.

How it differs: Rimuru becomes formidable quickly and uses his strength to help a goblin village. Choose this for power that gathers a community, with a more sociable hero at its centre.

Choose Sunraku if Jinwoo taking on something above his level keeps you watching. The bird-masked player brings years of experience with badly designed games into a beautifully functioning new one.

Why it’s similar: the next monster tests his equipment, reflexes and understanding of the rules. Each challenge invites another attempt at mastery.

How it differs: Sunraku is already a skilled gamer, playing for the thrill. The satisfaction comes from clever play, rather than an actual weakling receiving a private System.

Will cannot cast spells at a magic academy, so classmates treat him as a failure. If you enjoy Jinwoo overturning a dismissive judgement, that humiliation gives his fights a familiar charge.

Why it’s similar: dungeon encounters reveal what the label misses. Will earns credits by killing monsters with his sword.

How it differs: he is already an exceptional swordsman, not a weak fighter waiting for levels. His climb is towards recognition and a childhood promise in a world that prizes magic.