The A-1 Pictures adaptation of Solo Leveling is a great adaptation of the legendary manhwa to the screen. The studio has done the series the insane justice it deserves, with its high-octane choreography and spectacular score by Hiroyuki Sawano. They also gave additional screen time to side characters like Choi Jong-In and the Hunters Guild, which makes the world seem bigger than a one-character series. Yet, since every episode takes about five chapters, certain scenes seem rushed or lack that very ink-on-paper magic.
The anime is an aesthetic feast, yet the original art of the Solo Leveling manhwa has a certain, far-reaching feel difficult to capture in an animation format. In the manhwa, some of the panels are not merely drawings, but they are mood swings. One look can be used to fill an entire vertical scroll and create the feeling of dread that seems to stretch indefinitely. These eight scenes demonstrate how the style and pace of the manhwa provided a competitive advantage to an anime adaptation, which was already a great one.
Solo Leveling: The S-Rank Korean Hunters, Explained
Korea's ten S-Rank hunters stand at the peak of power, each possessing unique abilities that shape the world of Solo Leveling.
8 The First “Arise” (Igris)
When Jinwoo tells Igris to rise, the anime opts to go cinematic, very powerful with music swelling and a digital purple light. It is a dramatic scene, yet it is the manhwa that influences the scene in a different way by the use of negative space. Chapter 45 uses no background music, just a cavernous silence symbolized by a huge, pitch-black speech bubble and jagged, white, handwritten-style writing that immediately draws notice.
The impact of such a word alone is so visual that the effect of something out of the ordinary changes the air. The soothing tone of Jinwoo in the anime is substituted in the manhwa with jagged lettering which seems to be coming out of the shadows themselves, and a sense of coldness is captured by the manhwa that sometimes cannot be captured in animation.
7 The God Statue’s First Smile
The smile of the statue in the Cartenon Temple is an iconic picture. Though the detail of the anime is pretty accurate, the manhwa’s version definitely feels more sinister. In Chapter 4, the stone face is depicted in extreme detail: all cracks and broken teeth can be seen, and the expression appears to be quite terrifying.
Manhwa lets the reader have that grin and go at their own pace, whereas anime accelerates the uncovering to keep the action flowing. According to the fans, the manhwa statue is not just a monster, but rather an ancient god who is sincerely amused by human suffering, which is not easy to portray in an emotional picture.
6 The Murderous Intent Warning of the System
In the fight against the party of Hwang Dongsuk, the System gives a quest: Surpass the Trial (Emergency Quest): Kill everyone who wants to kill the player. The anime depicts a fast UI under a pop-up and the sound of a heartbeat. However, the manhwa (Chapter 23) turns everything red.
The action is overridden by the warning boxes, which reveal the way the System takes over the morality of Jinwoo. In this version, the warning is more like a form of judgment and the coldness of game mechanics is more prominent. The manhwa also creates the claustrophobic effect of a kill or be killed situation by cluttering the visual field, which makes the System a predatory element that decides the fate of Jinwoo.
5 A‑Rank Hunter’s Sparring
This scene was completely cut in the anime to maintain a tight pacing, but it was certainly missed by the community. Chapter 92 shows a skirmish between top A-rank hunters, resulting in large discrepancies in power between normal hunters and S-rank hunters. The flashy techniques employed by the A-ranks would bring a building to the ground, but they are mere child's play compared to the S-ranks who observe them.
Without this scene, viewers have no context to understand the extent to which such monstrous characters like Choi Jong-In or Baek Yoon-Ho are really monstrous. The ground-level moment in the manhwa established that even the best human beings are not competing in the same sport as the actual monsters of the show.
4 The Aura farming (2nd Red Gate)
The “Aura Farming” moment during the second Red Gate incident—after the Jeju Island raid, when Jinwoo decides to create his own guild—is an example of “Monarch energy.” After Jinwoo clears the gate with the help of his shadow army in Chapter 113, his shadow army is not shown anymore as an ability of a necromancer but as a loyal army bowing to honor their king. The picture of Jinwoo loosening up his tie as he strolls through a row of bowing, faithful shadows is one that still remains as one of the most famous panels of the entire series.
Solo Leveling: 6 Major Changes The Anime Made From The Manhwa
The Solo Leveling anime made some interesting changes from the manhwa.
The vertical layout of the manhwa is the subject of much discussion among the readers about what this scene was like: a royal procession. The anime (Season 2, episode 13) captures the cool factor, but the art of the manhwa provides an even greater presence in the shadows and makes Jinwoo appear as someone that has far surpassed the power level of every S-rank hunter now.
3 Jinwoo vs. Kang Taeshik
The fight against the B-rank assassin Kang Taeshik is a favorite of the fans for how it completely changes the character of Jinwoo moving forward. However, the dialogue and attitude of Jinwoo in the manhwa is more cold-blooded. In Chapter 33, Jinwoo's eyes are filled with an unstable, predatory light, and his movements are depicted as blurred, which makes him appear as a ghost. At one point, Jinwoo glances at Taeshik and literally questions him about whether he will be able to see the shadows (things) that are already in the dark, and which are reaching out to steal him.
The anime presents the fight as a high-level action sequence, but the manhwa depicts the fight as a horror movie in which Jinwoo is the slasher. The one-to-one analysis reveals that the manhwa employed more impact frames and blood splatters to highlight the savagery of the murders. It’s the moment when the “human” Jinwoo starts to fade away, replaced by something more efficient and deadly—a transition that felt even more visceral on the page.
2 Korea Hunters vs. Japan Hunters
The tension in the meeting room in Chapter 92 is not presented only by dialogue but also by huge and monstrous auras that appear behind the hunters as they glare at each other in confrontation. Goto Ryuji, especially, is characterized by an aura that resembles a murderous shark that is about to engulf the room.
But all that is instantly turned into embarrassment and fear as soon as he faces Jinwoo. In the anime, it’s shown as both Jinwoo and Goto are on equal footings, but in the manhwa, Jinwoo completely overwhelms Goto, so much so that he feels afraid, a fear which he has never felt before.
1 Jinwoo vs. The Ant King Face Off
The ultimate hype moment is the first time Jinwoo and the Ant King (Beru) stare at Jeju Island. In Chapter 104, the Ant King is described by his appearance as a disruptive and jagged monster that devours the light surrounding him. The split paneling when he and Jinwoo are face-to-face is a perfect example to demonstrate two predators realizing that they are the only two creatures on the island that count.
A New Replacement For Solo Leveling Is Here, And It's Even Better
Solo Leveling is big, but this anime has been taking over in Japan.
It is horrifying that the manhwa version of Beru appears utterly alien: his eyes have nothing human in them, and this is in stark contrast to the cool, commanding Monarch look of Jinwoo. The anime will certainly not disappoint in this battle, but the stalemate in that initial confrontation in the manhwa is mythical. It is a silent dialogue that informs the reader that the stage is set, and it's about to get real.
- Release Date
- 2024 - 2025-00-00
- Network
- Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, BS11, Tochigi TV
- Directors
- Tatsuya Sasaki, Toru Hamasaki
- Writers
- Shigeru Murakoshi, Shingo Irie, Fuka Ishii
Cast
-
Taito BanSung Jin-woo -
Genta NakamuraYoo Jin-ho
A-1 Pictures' Solo Leveling is an anime based on Chugong's popular web novel. Set in an unforgiving fantasy world where hunters explore dungeons filled with monsters, the vulnerable Sung Jinwoo gains a significant power boost after he is picked to be a solo player by the System.
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Seasons
- 1
- Studio
- A-1 Pictures
- Producers
- Kanako Takahashi, Kang Kyewon, Kim Ayoung, Park Jin-hae, Sota Furuhashi
- Based On
- Manhwa
- Creator
- Chugong
- Number of Episodes
- 25
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8.28 (Season 1); 8.86 (Season 2)
- Creator(s)
- Chugong
- Where To Watch
- Crunchyroll
- Executive Producer(s)
- Asa Suehira, Kwak Hae-eun, Masanori Miyake
