Solo Leveling Just Lost Its Throne to This Overlooked 2020 Chinese Anime

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Solo Leveling The Daily Life of the Immortal King

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An experienced Editor representing Canada via Screen Rant's Team Anime, J.R. has been reading manga since the first printing of Shonen Jump in North America. This passion drove him to write about anime, manga, and manhwa since 2022, having recently served as Lead Anime Editor for ComicBook.com.

His favorite moments in media coverage include reviewing the series premieres of Zom 100 and Bleach: TYBW Part 2 back-to-back and briefly meeting Junji Ito at a VIZ gallery event in 2023.

Solo Leveling is in no danger of losing its popularity, but its anime's trendiness has slumped recently, giving viewers opportunities to check out anime both new and old. In the case of donghua, which has rapidly been on the rise with particular 2025 hits like To Be Hero X, it's a surprisingly great chance to see another hit.

The Daily Life of the Immortal King has been spotted up and down the rankings of Crunchyroll's Popular tab, where it at times has overtaken the likes of Solo Leveling. Obviously, a major component is the lack of a Solo Leveling season 3 and a year passing since its massive, record-breaking sophomore installment. However, this donghua boasts a unique, flexible appeal.

This Chinese Anime Is a Perfect Power Fantasy for Fans Seeking Something Fun

The Daily Life of the Immortal King Season 5

As far as introductions go, The Daily Life of the Immortal King is about as approachable as it gets. Despite adapting a manhua and webnovel from the popular cultivation genre, the donghua tackles it with the viewers in mind, keeping one foot in competent, well-animated power fantasy, and the other firmly lodged in the realm of parody.

Instead of the usual ancient Chinese setting found in Wuxia stories, The Daily Life of the Immortal King uses a modern Xianxia setting in which its protagonist, Wang Ling, is born outrageously powerful to the point of powerscaling being pointless. Wang Ling's challenge, instead, is to have a happy normal life in his youth, while suppressing his power.

Wang Ling's challenge, instead, is to have a happy normal life in his youth, while suppressing his power.

Much of The Daily Life of the Immortal King, due to its tone and overall premise, blends power fantasy with familiar plot beats to those from Mob Psycho 100. Wang Ling wants to suppress his powers to not destroy the world around him, often drawing incredulous reactions from his peers.

Similarly accessible like Solo Leveling's power system, The Daily Life of the Immortal King's cultivation system is gently explained to the viewers such as in class, to treat the audience like fellow students with the stars. Instead of diving into the intricacies of its Chinese philosophical roots, the genre, its tropes, and powerscaling serve as window dressing for this series.

It's unsurprising, too, that the anime would draw similar audiences as Solo Leveling, while seeking different entertainment. Whether drawn in by TikTok edits, or seeing it either at its BiliBili streaming home or localized on Crunchyroll, its blend of common genre tropes and parody aimed at otaku culture, also makes it perfect for Gintama fans.

The Daily Life of the Immortal King Is Anything but a Solo Leveling Clone

While Solo Leveling and The Daily Life of the Immortal King both feature characters who, at some point of the story or another, is powerful to the point of their threats becoming trivial, their key differences obviously lie in tone.

Jinwoo's plot in Solo Leveling opens up to eventually incorporate high-concept, apocalyptic-scale warfare with celestial beings; The Daily Life of the Immortal King, these similar-scale threats exist, but mostly serve as a way to highlight Wang Ling's vastly superior power. Yet, the latter does so as an obstacle to its protagonist living a normal life.

While this sounds fairly similar on the surface, The Daily Life of the Immortal King uses its supporting characters to demonstrate the absurdity of what's happening. At the start of the series, Wang Ling's origins as an immortal cultivator come as soon as he's born, literally crawling straight out of his mother's womb, walking to his father as a newborn.

Wang Ling encounters hijinks like interdimensional Toad Demon Lords bent on devouring Earth's energy, with the latter killing himself and instead being summoned by the boy as a contracted beast commonly morphed into a dog. It includes parodies of anything ranging from gacha games, to Yu-Gi-Oh! memes, scenes from Studio Ghibli movies, or superpowered fetal heartbeats resembling catchy pop music.

The Daily Life of the Immortal King Is a Layered, Entertaining Experience Worth Having

In many ways, The Daily Life of the Immortal King is often more densely packed with a combination of excellently-animated action from multiple studios, charming character moments as friends like Sun Rong who supplement Wang Ling's emotional growth, and hilarious absurdity. It even features shorter runtimes than the average anime, yet it packs more personality in every minute.

The Daily Life of the Immortal King has been animated by the following studios:

Haoliners Animation League (Season 1)
Pb Animation Co. Ltd (Season 2-3
Liyu Culture (Seasons 4-5)

Comparing Solo Leveling to The Daily Life of the Immortal King is akin to comparing apples to basketballs, but it's a worthwhile series for those who haven't watched yet, even over five years since its 2020 debut. Despite its premise often resembling a simple slice-of-life story, Wang Ling's emotional growth is noticeable, including potential new family members.

None of this is to say one should skip on Solo Leveling, but until more news of season 3, it's perfectly reasonable to shop around the genre. The Daily Life of the Immortal King is similarly accessible, but its character grows more lovable with each episode, while making stronger use of its supporting characters, all while staying charmingly self-aware.