Solo Leveling: An Early 2024 Hit

Solo Leveling: A Highly Anticipated Premiere

For years, one of the biggest manhwa titles around has been Chugong and Dubu's Solo Leveling. The combination of game-like mechanics and a protagonist slowly becoming overpowered worked with the growing popularity of RPG-inspired and isekai anime and manga, and the incredible art and fight scenes worked to sell its strengths even further.

The Architect

Solo Leveling has always been a big hit, and its anime adaptation was surrounded by major excitement and expectations. While it was initially set to premiere in 2023, A-1 Pictures' Solo Leveling will premiere on January 6, 2024, as part of the winter 2024 anime season with exclusive release on Crunchyroll. The first two episodes have been provided as screeners for early review, and despite a few issues with the pacing, they make it clear that Solo Leveling is set to more than live up to the hype and will surely be one of the biggest anime of 2024.

Cha Hae-in

Solo Leveling: A Gorgeous Dark Fantasy

Produced by A-1 Pictures, based on the manhwa by Chugong and Dubu. The first two episodes of Solo Leveling are spent largely on setting up the basic story, but there’s still plenty to like about them. The way that the gimmick of dungeons is merged with political intrigue makes for interesting worldbuilding, and having it all wrapped around fantasy action that’s never afraid to be as dark and unsettling as possible does nothing but benefit that. Add in the gorgeous direction and composition of Shunsuke Nakashige and Hiroyuki Sawano that make every scene great to watch, and there’s a lot to like about Solo Leveling on both a technical and narrative level. Bringing it all together, of course, is Solo Leveling’s protagonist, Sung Jin-woo. Jin-woo's character is the classic weak protagonist wanting to do whatever he can to become stronger for his loved ones, but the execution, thanks in no small part to the anime's stellar direction, does wonders to make him come across as endearing right from the very start, and the promise of him being rewarded for what few outside-the-box skills he's already exhibited makes for an engaging setup for future episodes. With all that in mind, there’s plenty to like with Solo Leveling's premiere that will hopefully be capitalized on for the rest of its run.

If there’s anything to criticize Solo Leveling for, however, it’s the odd pacing choices in the first two episodes. While the main narrative is focused on setting up Jin-woo’s story, there are many times when the show will randomly cut to something going on with other characters, such as Jin-woo’s sister and her friend, or the S-rank Hunter Cha Hae-in, all of which has nothing to do with Jin-woo’s story. Because of that, the pacing of the first two episodes of Solo Leveling ends up being awkward more often than not. However, it must also be said that everything the episodes cut away to serves to foreshadow future plot points from the manhwa and novel, so the anime probably wanted to give those plot points more development than what they had in the source material. Even so, the negative effect that has on the pacing is readily apparent, and it drags down what’s otherwise a solid adaptation of a great story, so far. Hopefully, future episodes of Solo Leveling won't have those pacing issues, and if they're able to avoid them, then it can easily end up as one of the best anime of the year.

Solo Leveling: The Promise of 2024

The first two episodes of Solo Leveling are setting the series up to be an early 2024 hit. The combination of game-like mechanics and a protagonist slowly becoming overpowered worked with the growing popularity of RPG-inspired and isekai anime and manga, and the incredible art and fight scenes worked to sell its strengths even further. Solo Leveling has always been a big hit, and its anime adaptation was surrounded by major excitement and expectations. While it was initially set to premiere in 2023, A-1 Pictures' Solo Leveling will premiere on January 6, 2024, as part of the winter 2024 anime season with exclusive release on Crunchyroll. The first two episodes have been provided as screeners for early review, and despite a few issues with the pacing, they make it clear that Solo Leveling is set to more than live up to the hype and will surely be one of the biggest anime of 2024.

If there’s anything to criticize Solo Leveling for, however, it’s the odd pacing choices in the first two episodes. While the main narrative is focused on setting up Jin-woo’s story, there are many times when the show will randomly cut to something going on with other characters, such as Jin-woo’s sister and her friend, or the S-rank Hunter Cha Hae-in, all of which has nothing to do with Jin-woo’s story. Because of that, the pacing of the first two episodes of Solo Leveling ends up being awkward more often than not. However, it must also be said that everything the episodes cut away to serves to foreshadow future plot points from the manhwa and novel, so the anime probably wanted to give those plot points more development than what they had in the source material. Even so, the negative effect that has on the pacing is readily apparent, and it drags down what’s otherwise a solid adaptation of a great story, so far. Hopefully, future episodes of Solo Leveling won't have those pacing issues, and if they're able to avoid them, then it can easily end up as one of the best anime of the year.