What Is Solo Leveling About?
Solo Leveling season 2 recently aired. Chugong originally wrote the Korean light novel, and DUBU created the art. The story is better known as a manhwa and has gained global popularity.Solo Leveling has gained a massive following, especially because it has an English translation.
The creators uploaded the final chapter on December 29, 2022, after releasing over 170 chapters over more than 4 years.
About The Anime
During Crunchyroll’s Anime Expo in 2022, it was announced that Solo Leveling was receiving an anime adaptation in 2023. A-1 Productions would be handling the adaptation. Solo Leveling Season 2 started airing recently, last January 4, 2025. This was after the theatrical release of Solo Leveling: ReAwakening, a recap movie of season 1 with some teasers of season 2.
How Does Season 1 Compare to Season 2?
Solo Leveling Season 1
When the anime was announced many online fans were skeptical, like this on Reddit. I saw a lot of talks that the anime wouldn’t live up to the hype of the manhwa. A big part of the manhwa is the amazing art style, and in my opinion the anime doesn’t do the original art justice.
It didn’t help that the first official trailer of Solo Leveling didn’t even have any animated scenes in it. So many hardcore fans weren’t holding their breath.
The animation of Season 1 wasn’t terrible by any means but it also wasn’t anything amazing. I think what fans had issue with in Solo Leveling Season 1 is that the anime cut out a lot of the humor.
The manhwa had a lot of comedic elements to it. I think it was a bad decision to cut a lot of it out. The anime became a lot more serious, which is sad since those jokes in the manhwa gave it some charm.
A lot of times in Season 1 the anime changed things from the manhwa. An example are side characters in Solo Leveling Season 1. Production cut some stories out, while others were expanded.
Solo Leveling Season 2
Season 2 has three episodes so far. The first two premiered on Crunchyroll at the same time. Just like season 1 there are already scenes that were removed for pacing reasons. In 13 episodes of season 1, the anime adapted 45 chapters.
In these two episodes of season 2, 10 chapters have already been adapted. Also just like Season 1 they changed some scenes in Season 2. It might not seem like a big change, however there are articles online that say otherwise.
Are There Any Improvements?
No, I don’t think there are any improvements. Does it mean that it is a terrible adaptation? Fans still love the fight scenes and the anime overall.
I like anime adaptations that stay true to the source material, but this doesn’t stay true to the source material.
Synopsis
In this world mysterious gates and dungeons appear. There are humans who possess magical abilities called hunters. They kill monsters for rewards and for survival.
The story of Solo Leveling follows Sung Jinwoo, a very weak E-Rank hunter. He barely survives a double dungeon that almost takes out his entire party. He wakes up days later and is chosen to partake in a mysterious program called the ‘System’. Where he can infinitely level up just like a video game. With every quest he finishes, he gains power.
Sung Jinwoo sets out to discover the secrets of the dungeon and gates, and additionally find out where his powers came from.
