10 Reasons Solo Leveling Has Been This Season's Biggest Anime

Summary

Solo Leveling’s immense popularity and high rankings show its well-deserved hype and success in the anime world. A-1 Pictures’ animation in Solo Leveling exceeds expectations and delivers stunning visuals that leave no room for complaint. Solo Leveling’s combination of Korean gaming elements brings a fresh and unique perspective to the world of anime, contributing to its growing success.

Level up alone was the biggest anime of the season, ranked number one in popularity on MyAnimeList’s Winter 2024 category with over 400,000 members and a score of 8.45/10 (as of episode 5 release). The movie also took second place on Crunchyroll’s all-time popularity listbeating out series like One Piece, Frieren and Spy x Family.

While Solo Leveling gets an edge on the popularity list due to its newness, many reasons why the level of hype the series has gathered is still here to stay. Solo Leveling not only lived up to pre-production expectations with A-1 Pictures sparing no effort in the animation department, but also went above and beyond in world-building, storytelling, and character development. Putting all these factors together, it is clear to see why Solo Leveling has quickly become the biggest name in the Winter 2024 anime scene.

10 The overwhelming expectations were met well

Solo Leveling meets the high expectations set by the manhwa

Solo Leveling garnered a significant following for its manhwa, long before it first entered the minds of anime fans in 2020. Starting with Tower of God’s release in April In 2020, countless anime adaptations of manhwa flooded the industry, including The God of High School and Noblesse. With the series’ success has come speculation about how Solo Leveling, a much more influential and hyped title, would perform in anime form. Afterward, a wave of intense anticipation rose at the end of 2020 and even continued until the anime released in 2024, which fortunately did not disappoint.

The art of 9 A-1 paintings is not inferior to Manhwa

From sakuga to stills, A-1 Pictures does it all

Solo Leveling’s anime production studio, A-1 Pictures, has played a huge role in the series’ success as an animated medium. With the manhwa’s art being colored and showing detailed art, paying attention to every smallest line, A-1 Pictures faced high expectations for quality.

However, the studio doubled down on their efforts and produced animation that takes the action to the next level and knows when to add a little serenity. Whether it’s the sakuga-level production in scenes like Sung Jin-Woo’s battle with the Swamp King in episode #4, or the tantalizing introduction of Cha Hae-In stopping a purse snatcher in episode 1, Solo Leveling’s animation leaves no room for complaints.

8 Controversy over language and culture has sparked waves

The Japanese version of Solo Leveling has been localized

Following the news of Solo Leveling being released as an anime, A-1 Pictures announced that in addition to the initial release it will be dubbed into Japanese (which is expected since A-1 Pictures is a Japanese studio). ), There will be localization changes made to Solo Leveling, such as translating the characters’ Korean names into Japanese and having the story take place in Tokyo instead of Seoul. This caused outrage on all fronts, and increased awareness and anticipation for the series.

Considering the tumultuous history between Japan and Korea, such a move by studio directors is causing great controversy internationally. Second, the story of Solo Leveling itself is deeply rooted in Korean geography and patriotism, making fans fear that the anime will completely depart from the manhwa. Luckily, the localization changes only applied to the Japanese release of Solo Leveling, but the topic still raises many questions.

The 7 Winter 2024 Categories are built to thrive solo promotion

Conveniently, there is no overlap in premise or themes with any other anime

In addition to Solo Leveling’s merits in making it one of the biggest shows of the Winter 2024 anime season, The series’ overall lineup served as a springboard for Solo Leveling’s success. Without competition from similar series and other highly anticipated adaptations, a large number of seasonal anime fans will be looking towards this remarkable series. While this season features titles like the second season of Mashle, the second season of Tsukimichi, and the third season of Classroom of the Elite, there aren’t many anime currently airing that are more engaging than Solo Leveling.

6 Manhwa style game elements

Solo Leveling explores a more Korean gaming style

Solo Leveling offers anime fans something not available in the Japanese source material, and to date no manhwa has included the anime genre. With the introduction of unique game elements, systems and interfaces, Solo Leveling has brought a Korean twist to combining RPG with fantasy and sometimes reality.

Traditionally, anime takes on the isekai-oriented RPG-influenced fantasy genre such as Sword Art Online and Overlord, with the premise of being trapped within the game itself. However, Solo Leveling delivers a new perspective on a hero who has received advantages from the game interface in the established universe. When Sung Jin-Woo was given the opportunity to grow when everyone else’s strength seemed fixed, an interesting story of development unravels, which is one of the reasons for Solo Leveling’s growing success.

5 Main character dies early Idea

Sung Jin-Woo is pushed to the brink of death without cliché

The modern implementation of plot armor suggests that the main character cannot die near the first episode, but Solo Leveling found a way to not only make it work but also plot a premise that had never been seen before. . While there are classic series like Yu Yu Hakusho that showcase this idea perfectly, this sets the bar high for any other series that wishes to surprise by killing off the main character. early.

Instead of exploring the boundary between reality and the afterlife like Yu Yu Hakusho, Solo Leveling aims to portray a more metaphorical rebirth. With its graphic art and mature themes, Solo Leveling’s remarkable first few episodes show the protagonist’s pitiful weakness in a dungeon filled with menacing statues that can kill just need a hat. After Sung Jin-Woo is about to die, in less than a second his heart will stop beating, a mysterious system gives him a second chance at life, starting the second awakening of the story that fans will not know. want to miss.

4 Anime connects both Manhwa and Web Novel fan bases

The Solo Leveling brand has expanded its influence since 2016

Solo Leveling’s web novel released its first chapter in 2016, gaining widespread popularity and ensuring a manhwa adaptation in 2018, painting the story in convincing colors. As a result, the manhwa reached even greater heights, elevating Solo Leveling to become one of the most popular titles in the industry, and for good reason. By the time manhwa adaptations began to be adapted into Japanese anime, The Solo Leveling brand has attracted a large and passionate community. A key factor in anime’s success is its ability to perfectly connect these three separate mediums.

3 The world-building is wonderfully realistic

Solo Leveling covers Korean geography, politics, culture and more

Solo Leveling is urban fantasy at its peak, as the fantasy elements of portals, monsters, and hunters often take place in the midst of a bustling urban setting. The nature of the imaginary system also specifically makes it so. This level of continuity with reality allows the story to not only resonate more deeply with audiences, but also provide references for the characters living in the world.

Solo Leveling features locations like Jeju Island, which appears in the opening of episode 1, and Hapjeong Station, which Jin-Woo enters as an immediate dungeon in episode 4. These details not only lay the foundation for the anime’s setting but also sets up for potential political unrest as the world of Solo Leveling has room to expand.

2 Easter eggs and original character introductions

The early appearance has long-time fans looking forward to it

With Solo Leveling’s anime being the third version of the story, following the manhwa and web novel, there are many things to consider regarding newness. One challenge for A-1 Pictures is how to Bridging the gap between longtime fans and new fans, and create fresh content without detracting from the original story or content. To this question, the anime answers it perfectly, as the series introduces a series of Easter eggs, foreshadowing, and initial character introductions.

Characters like the beloved Cha Hae-In and Chairman Go of the Hunter Association made brief appearances in episode 1, tantalizing the taste buds of anyone who knows these characters. Furthermore, their introductions are quick and informative, as each provides essential context for the larger world of Solo Leveling, which is an advantage the animated medium can offer over with manhwa.

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The 10 Strongest Manhwa Heroes of All Time, Ranked

The strongest manhwa heroes are manifestations of accepting the positive nature of plot armor and its ability to enhance the story.

1 Sung Jin-Woo is the perfect main character

Sung Jin-Woo is a hidden dragon, an underdog, and a hero with overwhelming power all in one.

The driving force of Solo Leveling, Sung Jin-Woo, was the biggest contributor to the anime’s success. He creates a combination of main character traits rarely seen before. Starting out as the weakest hunter, Jin-Woo’s pitiful physique was revealed and it became clear that once awakened, there was little to no chance of increasing his strength. As a result, when Jin-Woo is given a system that can help him grow just like in the game, he becomes a protagonist who develops quickly but needs to keep it a secret and eventually fits in. Strong, yet unique protagonist archetype. Therefore.

Furthermore, the mention of One-Punch Man in the series is both adorable and thought-provoking. Jin-Woo’s daily mission is identical to Saitama’s supposed training regimen: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats and run 10 km. With this, Solo Leveling pays homage to the overpowered protagonists’ original masters, but incorporates its own game-like twists. For audiences, it evokes a thought experiment about how Saitama’s mysterious training might be similar to Solo Ascension in another universe. The curiosity born from Jin-Woo’s personality was the biggest driving factor Level up alone Top anime this season.

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