The anime adaptation of popular Korean manhwa Solo Leveling will be streaming exclusively on Crunchyroll starting on January 6th, 2024. The anime adaptation was originally announced during Crunchyroll’s Anime Expo 2022 Industry Panel with a planned airdate sometime in 2023. This revised premiere date moves that a bit forward to the Winter 2024 season. Asa Suehira, Chief Content Officer at Crunchyroll, expressed excitement about the project, stating:
“At Crunchyroll, we are always looking for innovative ways to connect our audience with captivating stories from around the world. Solo Leveling is a groundbreaking series that has captured the imagination of fans globally, and we are thrilled to be part of the journey to bring this extraordinary manhwa to life as an anime. Our collaboration with Aniplex symbolizes our commitment to delivering high-quality, diverse content that resonates with our viewers.”
Solo Leveling began as a best selling Korean web novel written by Chugong. This novel was was later adapted into a webtoon in 2018 with illustrations by Chugong, h-goon, and Jang Sung-rak (aka DUBU), the CEO of REDICE Studio who tragically passed away in July of 2022 after suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage. The webtoon adaptation originally started on KakaoPage in Korea in 2018 and ended in 2021 after 178 episodes and 3 years of serialization. The webtoon is published digitally in English by Webnovel, PocketComics, and Tappytoon and has been licensed in English by Yen Press.
As was revealed during the original announcement and teaser PV premiere, the Solo Leveling anime is animated by A-1 Pictures (Sword Art Online), with motion graphics by Production I.G (Attack on Titan). The series is directed by Shunsuke Nakashige (Sword Art Online). Additional staff credits include music by Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan) and TOMORROW X TOGETHER (K-pop band), character design by Tomoko Sudo, and monster design by Hirotaka Tokuda. The Japanese voice cast includes:
The English voice cast includes:
The Solo Leveling anime will be produced and dubbed in languages other than English, with details and premiere dates about those versions of the anime to be announced later. Crunchyroll describes the plot as:
Over a decade has passed since a pathway called a “gate” which connects this world and another dimension suddenly appeared, and people with superhuman powers called “hunters” have been awakened. 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. On the verge of death, Jinwoo decides to take on the quest, which makes him the only person who can level up.
Ahead of the global debut of Solo Leveling you can read it on Tappytoon here and check out the third official anime trailer below.
Source: Press Release
© Solo Leveling Animation Partners