Crunchyroll Exec Praises Solo Leveling's Success
Crunchyroll CEO Rahul Purini talks about how the streaming service put its weight behind the story of Jinwoo Sung.
One of the biggest new anime series of 2024 has been Solo Leveling. Not based on a Japanese manga, Jinwoo Sung's story arrived initially as a "Manwha" in South Korea, with the digital comics becoming a growing trend in the anime world. In a recent interview, one of the heads of Crunchyroll took the opportunity to state how the streaming service helped in bringing Solo Leveling to life.
Solo Leveling, for those who might not be familiar, points a camera at a world of "hunters" as mystical monsters break through into the world thanks to recurring gates. One hunter who leads the anime series, Jinwoo Sung, is cursed with the title of "world's worst hunter" thanks in part to his "E-Rank" status. Thanks to a life-or-death scenario in the bowels of a mysterious dungeon, Jinwoo has been able to turn the tide of his life and might become the strongest hunter of them all in the process.
Crunchyroll x Solo Leveling
In his interview with The Verge, Rahul Purini took the opportunity to talk how Crunchyroll led the charge for creating the anime adaptation of Jinwoo Sung with A-1 Pictures, "Actually, there's a show that we just launched in January called Solo Leveling. It's a show based on a Korean manhwa. Our team read the manhwa, liked the IP, and so we actually took it to one of our sister partners in Japan -- Aniplex -- and co-produced the show with them. We announced the show about a year and a half ago -- it's been really well-received by fans across the world! So that's one example of where we co-produced a show that we brought to the table based on what we were hearing from our fans."
Purini continued by stating that Crunchyroll would need to take matters into their own hands based on audience demand, "Sometimes certain stories might not be what our partners might be able to create and produce primarily for the Japanese audience. So, we step in and invest with our partners because this might be something that we believe strongly for our audience internationally. So, we take that step and co-produce with our audiences."
Has Solo Leveling been one of your favorite anime series of 2024? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Jinwoo Sung.