15 Best Anime Like Solo Leveling to Watch Next

Solo Leveling scratches a very specific itch: watching a nobody become untouchable, one measurable level at a time, with production money behind every power-up. Finding the next fix is harder than it looks — most "OP protagonist" shows skip the climb that makes Jinwoo's rise satisfying. These fifteen picks are sorted by which half of the formula they nail: the zero-to-god progression, or the untouchable-from-day-one power fantasy. Know which one you're craving and this list picks itself.

All 15 recommendations at a glance

#	Anime	Formula	Why it fits
1	Tower of God	Climb	Korean webtoon DNA, literal level structure
2	One-Punch Man	Power fantasy	The genre's endpoint, played for comedy and awe
3	Jujutsu Kaisen	Climb	Dark modern action at Solo Leveling's production tier
4	The God of High School	Climb	Webtoon trinity member; tournament escalation
5	The Eminence in Shadow	Power fantasy	OP lead, self-aware and stylish
6	Noblesse	Power fantasy	The webtoon trinity's elegant vampire noble
7	Reincarnated as a Slime	Climb	Weakest monster → nation-scale power, step by step
8	Mashle	Power fantasy	Muscle vs magic — OP played for laughs
9	Misfit of Demon King Academy	Power fantasy	Anos out-Jinwoos Jinwoo
10	Black Clover	Climb	Zero magic → the top, the long way
11	Sword Art Online	Both	Game systems, stat screens, solo carries
12	Kaiju No. 8	Climb	Hidden monster power inside a ranked corps
13	Hell's Paradise	Climb	Dungeon-island lethality, gorgeous action
14	Lord of Mysteries	Climb	Sequence-by-sequence ascension with rules
15	Mushoku Tensei	Climb	A lifetime-long level curve, played seriously

1. Tower of God — the closest blood relative

Same country, same platform, same generation: Tower of God is one of the "webtoon trinity" alongside Solo Leveling and God of High School. Bam enters a tower where each floor is a deadly ranked test and power is explicit, structured and earned — the closest any anime comes to Solo Leveling's dungeon-and-rank skeleton, with far more politics and betrayal. If Jinwoo's climb was your hook, start here.

2. One-Punch Man — the destination, pre-arrived

Solo Leveling asks "what if you could grind to invincibility?"; One-Punch Man answers "and then what?" Saitama did the training arc off-screen and now wins everything in one punch — the show mines comedy and surprising melancholy from the exact fantasy Jinwoo chases, while Genos, Garou and the S-Class supply the spectacle fights. Season 1's Boros battle remains a top-tier action benchmark, and Season 3 continues the Monster Association arc (our S3 explainer covers where it picks up).

3. Jujutsu Kaisen — the production-value sibling

No stat screens, but the same pleasures: a modern-day setting where monsters spill into cities, a protagonist who eats power beyond his station, and fight animation that competes with A-1's Solo Leveling work punch for punch. Yuji's physical style even mirrors Jinwoo's early scrapper phase. See our strongest JJK characters ranking for the power ceiling involved.

4–6. God of High School, Eminence in Shadow, Noblesse

The God of High School completes the webtoon trinity: a national tournament that escalates from martial arts into god-borrowing warfare, with MAPPA choreography that never sits still. The Eminence in Shadow is for viewers who loved Jinwoo's cool-factor: Cid builds a shadow organisation as roleplay and is accidentally the strongest thing alive — the "I am Atomic" scene is the single most Solo-Leveling-coded moment outside Solo Leveling. Noblesse rounds out the Korean set with Rai, an ancient vampire noble waking into the modern world — untouchable elegance over grinding, plus the found-family school warmth the genre rarely allows.

7–10. Slime, Mashle, Misfit, Black Clover

Slime is the systems-lover's pick — Rimuru devours abilities and stacks them with video-game clarity, building from puddle to nation. Mashle plays the power gap as pure gag: a magicless kid solving a Hogwarts-tier world with absurd physical training. Misfit is maximum wish-fulfilment executed with actual style — Anos resurrects, rewinds and rewrites rules so casually the show becomes comedy with production values. Black Clover is the anti-shortcut pick: Asta's anti-magic is Jinwoo's System replaced by 170 episodes of screaming effort — the climb with no cheat codes (watch order).

11–15. SAO, Kaiju No. 8, Hell's Paradise, Lord of Mysteries, Mushoku Tensei

SAO is where anime's stat-screen aesthetic went mainstream — Kirito's solo-carry energy is proto-Jinwoo (watch order). Kaiju No. 8 gives you a ranked monster-fighting corps and a lead hiding game-breaking power inside it. Hell's Paradise is the dungeon itself as a show — an island that kills like a high-level gate, rendered beautifully. Lord of Mysteries is the deep cut: Chinese web-novel royalty where power comes in strict "Sequences" climbed one dangerous ritual at a time — the most systematic ascension story on this list. And Mushoku Tensei stretches the level curve across an entire lifetime — the genre's most serious answer to "show me the whole climb."

Frequently Asked Questions

What anime is most like Solo Leveling?

Tower of God — the same Korean webtoon generation, with an explicit floor-by-floor power structure. For pure "weak to OP" satisfaction, Misfit of Demon King Academy delivers fastest.

Is there an anime with a levelling system like Solo Leveling?

Closest matches: Slime (skill-devouring with game-like clarity), SAO (literal game stats) and Lord of Mysteries (strict Sequence ranks). True System-style solo levelling remains rare in anime — it's a manhwa specialty.

What should I watch while waiting for new Solo Leveling seasons?

Catch up on the story so far with our Solo Leveling watch order and Season 2 recap, then start Tower of God.

Is Solo Leveling an isekai?

No — Jinwoo never leaves his world; gates bring the dungeons to him. It just shares the power-fantasy engine with isekai, which is why our best isekai list gives it an honorary spot.