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Tomb Raider King Anime: Where It Stands Three Weeks Into Its Run
The Tomb Raider King anime is now three weeks into its Summer 2026 run, and reception so far has been split right down the middle. Studio EEK’s adaptation of SAN.G’s Korean webtoon premiered on Crunchyroll on July 8, 2026, with new episodes airing weekly on Wednesdays, and critics have spent that stretch debating whether the show has enough of its own identity to stand apart from the regression-anime wave it’s riding in on.
Produced by Kadokawa and directed by Seung Wook Woo, the anime follows Jooheon Suh, a relic-raiding mercenary who’s betrayed and left for dead, only to wake up 15 years in the past, before the mysterious tombs and supernatural relics that reshaped the world ever appeared. Armed with knowledge of what’s coming, he sets out to climb the ranks of raiders, relics, and power on his own terms. The season adapts the early arcs of the source manhwa, which ran a full 412 chapters, across a 12-episode run.
What Critics and Fans Are Actually Saying
The early reviews haven’t been kind. But Why Tho scored the premiere a 4 out of 10, describing the protagonist as unlikable and the setup as chasing a trend rather than building something distinct. Anime News Network’s preview coverage raised a similar concern, pointing out an apparent contradiction in the show’s own worldbuilding within the first episode and calling the lead’s design generic. Esquire India’s review of episode two was blunter still, framing the series as a flat power fantasy that struggles to escape the shadow of Solo Leveling and suggesting viewers might get more out of rewatching that show instead.
Not every take has been as harsh. Soap Central called the premiere a mixed but promising debut, arguing the regression mechanic and relic mythology give it a foundation worth building on even if the first episode stumbles in places. Fan reception looks similarly divided rather than uniformly negative, with the show sitting at roughly 65% recommended among fans tracking it on release.
Why the Solo Leveling Comparisons Keep Coming Up
The anime entered this season already carrying the “next Solo Leveling” label, thanks to a shared structural backbone: a regression protagonist, dungeon-style tombs standing in for gates, and relics functioning much like that show’s skill system. The anime leans hard into using foreknowledge as its central hook, with Jooheon navigating threats he’s already lived through once. Critics who’ve pushed back on the show argue that same foreknowledge saps tension from the early tomb-raiding sequences rather than building it, since the audience already knows what he knows.
What’s Next
With Season 1 committed to just 12 episodes covering only the early portion of the 412-chapter manhwa, there’s a wide gap between where the anime is headed and where the source material actually goes. New episodes continue weekly on Crunchyroll, and how the back half of the season handles pacing will likely determine whether the mixed early reception hardens into something more positive or more critical.
FAQ
What is the Tomb Raider King anime about?
It follows Jooheon Suh, a relic raider who is betrayed and killed, then sent 15 years into the past before the world’s mysterious tombs and relics first appear. He uses his foreknowledge to climb the ranks of raiders and relic hunters.
Where can I watch it?
It streams on Crunchyroll, with new episodes released weekly on Wednesdays following its July 8, 2026 premiere.
How many episodes does the anime have?
Season 1 runs 12 episodes and adapts only the early arcs of the source manhwa, which concluded at 412 chapters.
Is the Tomb Raider King anime similar to Solo Leveling?
The two share a regression protagonist and a power-progression structure built around dungeon-like tombs and relics, which is why comparisons between them have been common since the anime’s announcement.