Solo Leveling Director Details One Cut Element of the Webtoon

Solo Leveling's director addresses why the anime cut the comic's chibi scenes.

By Megan Peters

Solo Leveling has brought its first season to a close, and now all eyes are on the future. The hit adaptation tackled one of webtoon's most popular titles with ease, and a second season has already been ordered. Of course, this means fans are eager to see more of the webtoon folded into the anime, and the show's director is now addressing one of the cut elements the anime couldn't accommodate.

The reveal comes from Shunsuke Nakashge as the director recently answered fans' questions about Solo Leveling. It was there the director was asked about some of the webtoon's cut comedy scenes. It turns out the removal was intentional as the anime team believed Solo Leveling season one needed a sleek aesthetic.

"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," the director shared.

"However, this would inevitable 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 reach section during meetings and video checks."

As you can see, the decision to cut out the chibi comedy asides came down to aesthetic. The team at A-1 Pictures felt Solo Leveling needed a more refined look, and this choice did pay off. Week after week, Solo Leveling was praised for its animation, but fans of the webtoon admitted the anime felt overly serious at points. Hopefully, a better balance can be found in Solo Leveling season two. So if you are not caught up on the series, you can read its synopsis below before finding season one on Crunchyroll:

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"They say whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but that's not the case for the world's weakest hunter Sung Jinwoo. After being brutally slaughtered by monsters in a high-ranking dungeon, Jinwoo came back with the System, a program only he could see, that's leveling him up in every way. Now, he's inspired to discover the secrets behind his powers and the dungeon that spawned them."

What do you think about this Solo Leveling update? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!

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