Solo Leveling just concluded its first season. The show was a huge success, but fans are wondering where the gags went in the series.
Solo Leveling concluded its first season and the second one was already announced. The series became one of the most popular shows of Winter 2024, but now as it concluded, some fans are wondering why a key aspect of the manhwa was taken out of the series.
Fans on Reddit have realized that the show removed the "comical" aspect of the manhwa, not animating some of the funnier gag panels and making Jinwoo seem far more serious than he is at times during the manhwa. Well, there could be an explanation for this.
Solo Leveling Anime Mixes Light Novel And Manhwa
Now that Solo Leveling has concluded, fans noticed that a lot of the gag panels from the manhwa were never added into the anime. This means that a lot of Jinwoo's sillier personality traits never truly got to be shown in the show, which has some fans confused.
On Reddit, a fan pointed this out after they started reading the manhwa thanks to the show. They stated that the "missing piece to send the anime over the top for [them is] a silly personality like [Jinwoo] seems to have in the manhwa".
Just Started Reading The Manwha After Finishing Anime And Something Was Bothering Me About Jinwoo.... by u/Inside-Ad-8055 in sololeveling
Other Redditors agree, but have pointed out that the silliness of the characters was deliberately added into the manhwa when it was being adapted from the Light Novel .
The manhwa has definitely been the primary focus, while drawing from the original source material (novel) occasionally. [...] I’d say they are following the tone of the novel being more serious as opposed to the manhwa though.
In an interview with animate Times, Shunsuke Nakashige, director of Solo Leveling, revealed that the animators tried to deliberately avoid cartoon-like expressions. He explained this was done to elevate the high-end visuals that have been trending in anime recently.
I tried to avoid cartoon-like expressions as much as possible, using compositions, colors, and shooting processing similar to live-action footage.
So, it seems that the anime deliberately decided to be more serious compared to the manhwa, taking out the chibi's and gag panels. It didn't seem to hinder the anime's success, though, with it being one of the most popular shows of Winter 2024.