Solo Leveling has emerged as one of the most popular recent animes. The series showcases a fascinating premise of skill augmentation, is full of battles, and has stunning animation, making Solo Leveling’s Season 2 one of the best upcoming animes. The key to the series’ success was the popularity of its original manhwa, both in its country of origin, South Korea, and in many other territories. However, it was recently shared that Solo Leveling‘s manhwa has been surpassed in the U.S. by a new big hit, The Beginning After the End.

Solo Leveling’s manhwa was a true mass phenomenon, considered by many to be one of the most popular. It also greatly boosted the manhwa industry, with a broad base of readers that only increased after the anime adaptation.

Despite these achievements, Solo Leveling has been surpassed in the U.S. as the most successful title on Kakao Entertainment’s webtoon platform for North America, Tapas, by its considered successor, the popular webcomic The Beginning After the End.

The Beginning After the End Has Surpassed Solo Leveling’s Manhwa in the U.S.

TBATE Shares Many Similarities With Solo Leveling.

In an interview shared by the Chosun Daily, Kakao platform’s Global Story Business Division’s Head, Kang Jung-goo, recently highlighted Tapas’ top three webtoons by cumulative transaction amount, with the most successful title being The Beginning After The End, followed by Solo Leveling and A Business Proposal. The Beginning After the End has over 34 million views on the platform, while Solo Leveling has over 22 million views. The fact that TBATE has gained that incredible amount of followers without an anime adaptation like Solo Leveling or Business Proposal, which had a live-action version recently, proves the incredible potential of the series.

Fans have often compared The Beginning of the End to Solo Leveling, and some even claim that this is its successor. While Solo Leveling takes place in a modern time and differs from The Beginning After the End in that the main character isn’t reincarnated, they share many similarities, with both being fast-paced fantasy-oriented series with a charismatic main character, Sung Jinwoo, and Arthur Leywin, who seeks to get stronger, eventually becoming a powerhouse. Also, both series manage concepts like magic, mana, beasts, and mages, feature intense battles, and are based on web novels.

The Beginning After the End Was Created to Appeal to International Readers

Based On The Web Novel By TurtleMe And Illustrated By Fuyuki23.

Although it is referred to as a manhwa by fans and readers, The Beginning After the End is an original English-language webcomic that follows a manhwa style. Based on a web novel by the Korean-American writer TurtleMe, the author’s influence crafted The Beginning After the End‘s story to not be the typical isekai, mixing elements of Western and Eastern literature to resonate more with international readers. In 2023, TBATE‘s author shared on X that the series reached third place on Amazon’s bestsellers in the action and adventure fantasy category, reflecting its popularity in the U.S.

Since several animes based on manhwas have gained recognition, like the upcoming Tower of God Season 2, Viral Hit, and Lookism, more webcomics could be adapted in the future. The Beginning After the End is increasingly being acknowledged and enjoyed by western readers, and it has already accumulated millions of views. If it gets an anime adaptation, The Beginning After the End could even surpass Solo Leveling worldwide and become an ever bigger international success.

Source: Chosun Daily, TurtleMe’s X Account.

The Beginning After the End is available on Tapas.