The S-Rank hunters are the strongest characters in the world of Solo Leveling, but not all of them are well-written characters.or good people.
In the magical world of Solo Leveling, only the absolute strongest hunters can obtain the S-Rank, the highest tier in their fantastical hierarchy. As a result, some of the most powerful and efficient hunters in the entire series belong to the S-Rank, including the main character himself, Sung Jinwoo.
However, just because someone is ranked in this prestigious tier, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re a good, interesting or impressive character. Many S-Ranker hunters in Solo Leveling are quite poor in terms of writing, likability and overall performance, but the following are the absolute worst ones in the entire series. This list is not based on strength alone, as all the S-Rankers are obviously strong, but many other factors were taken into consideration as well. 8
Eunseok
Anime Debut: Episode 1
The story takes place almost entirely in South Korea, meaning that this country’s S-Rank hunters are among some of the strongest and most interesting in the series, despite a few missteps. However, one South Korean S-Ranker, Eunseok, is notorious for dying before Sung Jinwoo’s journey even started. He was killed by the ant monsters during the original Jeju Island Raid, many years in the past.
Eunseok’s role in the story was so inconsequential that he didn’t even appear in the original manhwa, something that was rectified later by the anime adaptation. Of course, fans eventually learned that the Jeju Island ants are actually quite powerful. But the fact that Eunseok was the only S-Ranker that died during this raid made him come off as weak and underwhelming, especially compared to his fellow party members. 7
Jonas
Manhwa Debut: Chapter 151
Something particularly fascinating about the world of Solo Leveling is that every single country seems to have at least one or two S-Rankers. While the story mainly focuses on hunters from Asian, European and North American countries, Latin American readers were excited to learn that Brazil’s strongest hunter, Jonas, was #6 in the global rankings.
Unfortunately, Jonas was killed by the Monarchs before he could even do anything interesting on-screen, which was very disappointing, especially considering that he was a vessel of the Rulers. Of course, American S-Rank hunter Christopher Reed met a similar fate, but at least readers got to witness how strong he was, whereas Jonas appeared in only a single panel in the entire manhwa. Hopefully, the anime will fix this in future seasons by adding a new scene of Jonas fighting the Monarchs right before his demise. 6
Mari Ishida
Manhwa Debut: Chapter 90
Anime Debut: Episode 21
All the Japanese S-Rankers ended up being quite a disappointment.
