It's not your regular "weakling becomes OP" story!
Summary:
- Solo Leveling anime will be released in January 2024.
- The story is simple, but it changed the manhwa community.
- The production seems promising.
There are a lot of sources for anime adaptations, be it manga, light novels, or webtoons. The latter two are the originals for the Solo Leveling anime that will hit the screens in January 2024: first it was a web novel that later turned into a webtoon, which then was released as a printed manhwa. It was extremely popular. The initial run ended on 179 chapters in 2021, but in 2023 the author started posting a side story.
And at first it feels like another power fantasy show with an isekai vibe, where a main character has to get good in order to survive, and he does. But one thing that's special about Solo Leveling is that it executes this simple premise well — and anime adaptation may fix some pacing issues presented in the beginning of the original webtoon.
Power fantasy done right
The story follows Sung Jin-Woo, a 20-year-old young man who lives in a world that has the Gate: the portal connecting the real world with the magical one. The magical world, however, is filled with monsters who are pretty interested in getting close to humans, but, thankfully, some ordinary humans received special powers that allow them to battle these beasts and got aptly named Hunters. Sung Jin-Woo also got these powers, but not much: he's known as "The World's Weakest". Yet he never stops fighting in low-level Gates so he could make money for his family, as he's the only one who can work.
One day during the raid he firmly believed that he'd die — but he opens his eyes in a hospital and sees a screen presenting him a Quest Log: a rigorous training schedule that would make him one of the most fearsome heroes should he undergo it. Otherwise, he would face a penalty. And so the journey to becoming overpowered starts.
It changed the industry
The impact of Solo Leveling is immeasurable. For many people it was the introduction to the world of manhwa, and for the manhwa community the character of Sung Jin-Woo became a staple for the lead, for better or worse: the success of Solo Leveling created a specific sub-genre of Solo Leveling lookalikes, similar to the effect the success of Sword Art Online caused in Japan in terms of isekai.
It starts out a bit slow and feels dragged out, but this exposition in hindsight feels necessary for world-building and establishing the characters. The anime may condense this part a bit and bring up the first main event — Sung Jin-Woo's leveling-up — a bit earlier.
Fortunately, it was confirmed that the show would run for 24-25 episodes with a break in the middle, so we will be able to witness proper character development in this season. The run may cover the story up to the events of the Jeju island Arc, which takes place in chapters 90-107 of the webtoon.
The split in the middle would help the teams keep the consistent level of animation and avoid filler content — and aso will keep the viewers on edge with a cliffhanger. It's done by two studios: A-1 Pictures and Production I.G, both renowned for their high-quality work. And that makes us excited.