The first season of the world's most popular new cartoon series, currently running on Crunchyroll, has many great reasons to be so popular
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| Image Credit: Crunchyroll |
In first place for popularity in the winter catalog of MyAnimeList, Solo Leveling is the most popular anime of the year, as well as the second most viewed on Crunchyroll (more than One Piece!, and so much so that it crashed the site when viewers are connected to watch the first episode). Not since Attack on Titan has an anime caused such a stir. The animation studio A-1 Pictures does not save on the quality of the animation, but the animated series based on the Sonyung (i.e. shōnen) manhwa/webtoon of the same name stands out from similar productions for the attention to world-building, for the development of its protagonist and above all for the credentials.
The source material, i.e. the light novels written and illustrated by Chugong, boasts a very vast and loyal following. The adaptation is a success despite a risky choice, namely that of not relying on the expedient of the double introductory episode which more easily captures attention and raises hype. The director has in fact chosen to focus on a cautious and subdued first episode and then "explode" in the immediately following episodes. Here are seven reasons to watch Solo Leveling.
1. A prestigious adaptation
Solo Leveling is made by A-1 Pictures, a prolific subsidiary of Aniplex (and therefore Sony) which also created Sword Art Online and Nier: Automata Ver1.1a. Considered a powerhouse in the animation industry, it does justice to Solo Leveling's source material by displaying smooth graphics even during the fastest and most furious fight scenes.
The direction is by Shunsuke Nakashige, already at the helm of the first season of Attack On Titan and Chainsaw Man. The character design and animation direction are entrusted to Tomoko Sudou, who also worked on Sword Art Online, as well as the long-running The Seven Deadly Sins and Spy Also from Attack on Titan we recognize the composer of the soundtrack, Hiroyuki Sawano, also the author of Kill la Kill. He also sings the opening theme, LEveL, in collaboration with TomorrowXTogether.
2. The origins of success
After 179 chapters, which ended in December 2021, followers of the Solo Leveling manhwa continue to have a fervent passion for the story and the characters, so much so that it has become more appreciated even than Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer. The manhwa continued in 22 side stories in 2023 following the passing of the original writer Chugong in 2022 (the cause of death is the same as Akira Toriyama's, brain hemorrhage), who created the story as a web novel/light novel in Korea South in 2016. The manhwa was then illustrated by Dubu (Redice Studio) on KakaoPage starting in 2018. The solid base of supporters is the main guarantee of Solo Leveling's quality and a great reason to join them.
3. Upgrades
As mentioned, the series transposes a manhwa that already boasts a solid reputation thanks to epic fight scenes and a hero you immediately root for. Solo Leveling is set in a world where hunters - human warriors who possess supernatural abilities - must fight deadly monsters from portals to other worlds to protect humanity. They are divided into categories according to abilities, and these qualities remain unchanged throughout each person's life.
Sung Jin-woo is perhaps the weakest of all, but to earn a living, he risks his life on missions that forge his incredible resilience and ability to assess dangers. Everything changes for him when he is offered the opportunity to become the first and only human capable of leveling up by passing a series of tests, becoming increasingly stronger, more skilled, and more confident. This increasingly powerful hero, born from the ashes of a born underdog, is the real secret to Solo Leveling's popularity.
4. Sung Jin-woo, the protagonist
Sung Jin-woo is a changeable character, and this also applies to his appearance. In the beginning, the teenager is unequivocally a loser: weak (his E level, the lowest, indicates that his abilities are almost equal to zero), skinny, inept, he is dragged into missions by others, always more powerful than him, to make up the numbers. He always keeps to himself, is made fun of by everyone, and suffers with a submissive attitude.
The possibility of leveling up triggers an impressive transformation, even physically: with less childish features and a more robust physique, he becomes more calculating and contemptuous, more courageous and rational. He is the symbol of the impossible redemption that we would all like to identify with, especially from the perspective of a strongly classist reality (like the Japanese and Korean ones) which rarely allows someone like him to redeem himself and emerge.
5. From South Korea to Japan
Another reason that adds value to Solo Leveling is the uniqueness of his origins: Korean, not Japanese. Korean webtoons, i.e. the digital comics that very often inspire K-dramas and films produced in South Korea, have been successful for years, but no one has ever managed to transform themselves into a much-loved and followed Made in Japan anime.
Not only has the Japanese transposition not changed the names (Korean comic book characters have always been renamed in Korean and vice versa, just think of Hanamichi Sakuragi from Slam Dunk who in Korea is known as Kang Baek-ho), but all the cultural connotations and geographic data have been maintained in the internationally distributed version. Incredible, considering the historical precedents (the Japanese occupation of Korea in the first half of the 20th century) and the hatred that has "united" these two peoples for years. But, initially, it wasn't supposed to go that way. Before release, A-1 Pictures announced that the series would be localized, including translating the characters' Korean names into Japanese and setting the story in Tokyo instead of Seoul.
6. A realistic fantasy
Solo Leveling is a curiously urban fantasy, as the fantastic elements - portals, magical powers, monsters, hunters wearing armor, and holding swords - often pop up in the middle of the teeming metropolis. Breaking away from a type of setting typical of the fantasy genre - which immediately makes detractors, like the writer, stop wanting to follow the series - constitutes an enormous incentive. Solo Leveling faithfully reproduces real locations such as Jeju Island, Hapjeong Station, and other recognizable sites.
7. The horror component
Honestly, Solo Leveling is one of the most disturbing anime since Attack on Titan, so much so that it qualifies as supernatural horror. You may not lose sleep over giant spiders or wolves with mechanical jaws, but those in Solo Leveling are not the usual scary creatures of fantasy-action anime: just think of the terrifying guardian statues at the beginning of the series thanks to which Sung Jin-woo he makes himself appreciated for the first time by demonstrating wit, analytical skills and a spirit of observation.
These creatures are part of an extremely rich, complicated, mysterious, and initially difficult-to-decipher worldbuilding, making the story a complicated mystery to solve. However, the narrative always remains balanced, balancing action, suspense, and plot without inundating the viewer with information.
