Throughout the wide world of manga and anime, several storylines recur in many different series. The Jeju Island Arc from Solo Levelling and the Chimaera Ant Arc from Hunter × Hunter, have often been compared by fans, which is down to several reasons. With a gap of nearly ten years, Yoshihiro Togashi wrote Hunter X Hunter, a manga, while Chugong published Solo Leveling, a Korean webtoon.
Hunter x Hunter and Solo Leveling’s portrayal of strong explorers known as “Hunters” share many similarities, the creation of ant-like organisms that quickly grow into powerful, intelligent beings is the subject of both storylines, the two however differ in terms of the overall structure and depth of the plot.
Origin of the Species
The Chimaera arc is one of Hunter X Hunter’s most captivating stories. The initial appearance points of both species are the first resemblance between the two arcs. The Chimaera ants came from the Dark Continent, an enigmatic area that lies across Morbius Lake and is full of dangers that skilled hunters cannot successfully explore. No hunter has yet come back from this area with a story to share. The Chimaera Ant Queen washes up injured on the shores of the tiny, remote nation of Neo-Green Life Autonomous Region, which is located on the Mitene Union island.
An S-rank Gate, an artificial dungeon with the hardest difficulty level, is where the ant enters when solo leveling. A gate is a portal to another mysterious universe which can be considered similar to the dark continent.
The Korean S-Rank Hunters were too weak to defeat the dungeon monster in seven days, therefore a dungeon break happened. The huge ants teleported to Jeju Island and made the entire island uninhabitable. Thousands of people were killed as an army of huge ants swarmed across Jeju Island.
Objectives Chemaera and Giant Ants
The Chimaera Ants multiplied incredibly quickly, devouring their prey and passing on their traits to succeeding generations. The Chimaera ants eventually devoured and murdered a person with nen powers, which gave them increased strength and intelligence. In an effort to evolve and become the strongest, the ants began to leave the island in pursuit of other Nen users. The humans felt compelled to act quickly because they believed that the Chimaera ants would eventually drive them to extinction.
The ants in Solo Levelling originated from the S rank gate and were already extremely powerful when they first arrived. They eradicated every human and made the island habitable, but eventually, they ran out of food, which caused the ants to develop wings and travel to other islands in search of food, much like the Chimaera ants did. The only difference between the two groups of ants is that the chimaera ant Queen wanted to gather more Nen users in order to give birth to a powerful king, while the ants from Solo Leveling had no ulterior motive they just wanted to eradicate humans
In a nutshell, the Jeju Island Arc in Solo Levelling and the Chimaera Ant Arc in Hunter x Hunter may have many parallels, yet their separate plots differed in effect and finish. Jeju Island lacks the dark and tragic undertones of the Chimaera Ant arc and is far more action-packed and fast-paced.
Some of the story’s similarities may be attributed to the fact that both writers chose ants as their common monster, which forced them to base their stories on the ant colony. Even if the plots are somewhat comparable, readers should still read both of the arcs and come to their own conclusions.
