Solo Leveling director breaks silence on major anime change
The Solo Leveling director talks about one change in the anime that significantly differs from the manhwa – so here’s what you need to know.
Solo Leveling is one of the best anime of Winter 2024, and it concluded its first season last week. The story is set in a world that drastically changed a decade prior due to the appearance of mysterious portals called “Gates” that connect the world to a realm of magic and monsters.
Modern weaponization doesn’t work on these monsters. Hence, some humans are granted supernatural powers and are called “hunters.” The story follows Sung Jinwoo, the weakest hunter, who hunts monsters tirelessly in low-rank gates to pay for his mother’s medical bills and his sister’s education.
The changes are subtle, yet they have tangible effects on the story’s portrayal in an entirely new version. The narrative revises many scenes.
Solo Leveling Director Shunsuke Nakashige talks about not including the chibi scenes in the anime. Twitter user chromat1cfire shares the translated interview where the director says: “I thought this work required the high-end visuals that are trending these days. Therefore, I tried to avoid cartoon-like expressions as much as possible and tried to use compositions, colors, and shooting processing similar to live-action footage.”
“However, this would inevitably result in too much work and the video itself and could kill the uniqueness of each section. In order to come to terms with this, we had repeated discussions with staff from the reach section during meetings and video checks.”
Solo Leveling anime studio A-1 Pictures was highly praised for its incredible adaptation. It’s clear that the studio was going for a more refined aesthetic in the story. Hence, they decided to remove the chibi scenes entirely. Additionally, creator Chugong also helped the studio with several anime-only changes.
Also, have a look at our list of the best anime like Solo Leveling and the ranking of the 10 strongest characters.