The mystical and dangerous world of Solo Leveling first entered our digital consciousness in 2016 in the form of a web novel. Now, however, nearly decade later, fans of the popular webtoon incarnation of the saga will be able to enjoy the story as an anime streaming series on Crunchyroll starting January 6, 2024. 

Imaginatively blending fantasy tropes with commentary on corporate culture, Solo Leveling explores a world where about ten years ago, a pathway called a “gate” that connects this world and another dimension suddenly appeared, and people with superhuman powers called “hunters” were awakened by its emergence. Hunters use their superhuman powers to conquer dungeons inside the gates to make a living, and Sung Jinwoo, a hunter of the lowest rank, is considered the Weakest Hunter of All Mankind. One day, he encounters a double dungeon, a high-level dungeon hidden inside a low-level one. In front of a severely wounded Jinwoo, a mysterious quest window pops up, and on the verge of death, he decides to accept it. 

The energy at the Saban Theatre in Los Angeles for the premiere on December 14th was fervent and anticipatory. “It was a huge excitement hearing this [was] coming out as an anime because I followed it every single week…it’s been years,” divulged Mindy T., one of the fans at the premiere. Crunchyroll provided bento boxes, an open bar, and a themed photo op for fans attending the event, and some of whom donned their cosplay for the event. 

Though the screening showed the first two episodes of Solo Leveling in Japanese with English subtitles, the English voice of Jinwoo, Aleks Le, was among the creative team who attended the event to support the series, as dubs of the show in other languages will be released on Crunchyroll at a later date. Solo Leveling producer Atsushi Kaneko flew in from Japan for less than twenty-four hours to attend a pre-screening Q&A with fellow producer Sota Furuhashi, and Crunchyroll’s Chris Han.

Kaneko and Furuhashi addressed the challenges and opportunities when adapting the webtoon of Solo Leveling into an anime series. “The level of completion of the webtoon is just so high, so there is a very high standard we had to achieve,” acknowledged Kaneko during the Q&A. “Which is why in spite of being the animation producer on this project, I tried to avoid the webtoons when were in production, and a lot of that is because I have a huge team in Japan…I wanted to make sure that as animators and creators, they had enough room to be able to express some of their creativity and different forms of anime expression, that had we been restrained by the webtoon, we may not have been able to explore.”

The audience was enthusiastic pre-screening, but once the lights in the theater dimmed, everyone fell quiet, ready to be transported by the first two episodes of Solo Leveling. We can’t share any spoilers, but the silent spell the show cast over its viewers was only broken by shocked gasps during particularly action-packed moments, and thunderous applause at the end. 

“A lot of us fans have high expectations,” shared Eric D., another fan of the property. Solo Leveling was the first webtoon he ever read. “After just watching today’s two episodes so far gave us high hopes for it – it’s 10 out 10 for me. It’s only been about a year since I’ve read Solo Leveling, so I have a pretty good memory of it, and I feel like the first episode portrayed it really well, they adapted it really well. I’m really excited for more episodes next year.” 

Fans both familiar with the original webtoon and new to Jinwoo’s story were eager to see more once the screening concluded. Hunter Davis, a Crunchyroll subscriber who hadn’t read Solo Leveling beforehand, commented, “It definitely reeled me in…and the second episode at the very end [was] you know, pretty much hook, line, and sinker. Anybody who can dissect a storyline can see where this is going, and it’s really exciting to see how well it was executed.” When asked if he’ll watch more episodes when the series premieres in January he answered, “Absolutely.” 

Mindy T. concurred with Davis’s reaction, “I feel like if you haven’t read the webtoon before and it’s your first time viewing it as an anime, I think you’re going to get the same impact as though you’re reading it. I feel like they did everything spot on, and furthermore, I can’t express how crazy the animation was. I was just so happy to see the first two [episodes].”

With such positive feedback from fans and Crunchyroll subscribers alike, it seems that Solo Leveling is poised to become a hit for the platform when it officially debuts next month. 

Event photos courtesy of Todd Macmillan & Michael Jacobson.

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