The first season was already satisfying.
Summary:
- Manhwa fans liked the adaptation of Solo Leveling, but they have some minor complaints.
- These include the anime being too short and not having the best art at first.
- They believe it will get better if it gets a sequel.
As the Solo Leveling (Ore dake Level Up na Ken) anime is almost over, manhwa fans are discussing if the adaptation got proper treatment. And, while they’re generally satisfied with it, they have some minor complaints — but they believe it will actually get better in the future.
What are these minor complaints?
The main complaint by the fans is that the anime is way too short. This is nothing new: we have already heard that since the one-cour runtime was announced for it.
The anime only adapts what basically is the prologue to the actual story, and takes some time to get to the point as well. A two-cour duration would have helped a lot, but the series is so popular that fans are talking about a second season already.
Others say that the visuals could have been better as well. When the Solo Leveling anime looks good, it looks really good — but when it doesn’t, it can feel underwhelming.
The art style doesn’t help, either — fans weren’t really fond of super sharp chins and Jinwoo’s face changing in every other shot. Granted, the art and animation got better near the end, but they weren’t really the best at the start.
Another common complaint was the anime airing a recap episode in the middle of the season, but overall, that is just a result of unfortunate circumstances. Fans don’t even know what to blame — the studio falling behind schedule or something else — and the episode is easily skippable anyway.
Fans believe the sequel will be even better
However, outside of that, fans are generally satisfied. Many manhwa adaptations have been completely butchered by Japanese studios before, and this is among the ones that actually weren’t. For something as popular as Solo Leveling, this is definitely a good outcome.
In general, fans would love A-1 Pictures to continue adapting Solo Leveling. They feel most of these complaints will be addressed in potential sequels.
Some fans complained about how the anime was less interesting than the source material. Sadly, that was pretty much expected for many source readers: one of the main draws of Solo Leveling is its hype moments, and they just don’t hit as well the second time.
The fact that the adaptation doesn’t even cover the most amazing parts of the manhwa certainly doesn’t help.
Anime-only viewers, however, are mostly satisfied — with some saying they are going to read the manhwa after the anime is over. That’s the best possible outcome for source readers, who got many newcomers to their fandom.