Solo Leveling: Will Netflix’s Live-Action Series Work?

Netflix recently threw anime fans for a loop with the announcement that the streaming service was working on a live-action adaptation of Solo Leveling. The anime from A-1 Pictures was based on a manwha series that focuses on the “world’s worst hunter” Jinwoo Sung. Korean actor Byeon Woo-seok has been cast as the protagonist and while it might be some time before we see this new take hit the streaming service, this leaves time for fans to speculate on the live-action adaptation. With all this information at our disposal, here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of bringing Solo Leveling to life.

One of the best ways to make a solid prediction on how Netflix will handle Solo Leveling’s live-action adaptation, is to look at how the streaming service handled previous live-action takes. The most obvious being the Straw Hat Pirates in One Piece, with the platform doing what many thought impossible by translating Eiichiro Oda’s story into a new medium. Unlike Luffy and his crew, Jinwoo’s story takes place in an environment very similar to our own, though the sheer number of monsters and beasts that are standing in his way might bive the Straw hats a run for their money. Netflix has also worked on the likes of Yu Yu Hakusho and Avatar: The Last Airbender, to various levels of success, which might be good news for anime fans.

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The Live-Action Korean Adaptations

While looking at Straw Hat Pirates and benders might make sense for Sung’s upcoming journey, Netflix has worked on its fair share of live-action adaptations of stories that spawned from South Korea. Specifically, Sweet Home, All of Us Are Dead, and Hellbound take some wild concepts and morph them in a way that might appeal to a larger audience. Sweet Home and Hellbound specifically use a level of CG that would be far closer to what Solo Leveling would need with its powerful beasts. Considering how many fantasy-style creatures appear in the battles here, high levels of special effects will be necessary.

While Solo Leveling’s power fantasy structure is an infectious one, translating its story isn’t the hardest thing in the world to pull off. Jinwoo Sung’s story is quite cut and dry in terms of structure, outside of the wild action scenes, with star Byeon Woo-seok most likely shouldering the weight of the drama if the live-action series follows the source material. It might be quite difficult to bring the fast-paced action of the anime, which can often rival the likes of Dragon Ball Z and One-Punch Man, but on the drama side of the equation, Netflix should be able to handle it.

One Piece’s Lesson For Solo Leveling

One major way that Netflix’s One Piece has excelled is not just thanks to its slavish devotion to the source material, it’s thanks to the involvement of franchise creator Eiichiro Oda. Not only does the streaming service consult Oda on the live-action adaptation, many of the decisions made for the television series have to receive approval from Eiichiro before they are put into practice. For Solo Leveling, bringing on the series creator Chu-Gong would make sense to stay in the spirit of Jinwoo’s saga. While there could certainly be some changes to the live-action take, having them go through Chu-Gong would make sense.

Another thing that One Piece did was make changes that made sense when it came to differentiating from the source material. For example, certain characters were given more time in the limelight in the first season than they had in the manga, which is a lesson that Solo Leveling could take to heart. Building a stronger supporting cast might work well in shouldering some of the story beats from Jinwoo.

Solo Leveling isn’t exactly the easiest material to adapt into a live-action series, but Netflix has had success with some wild properties in the past. The fact that the platform brought One Piece to life is still quite the feat and has at least earned them a shot at Jinwoo Sung.

Want to see what the future holds for all takes on Solo Leveling? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on Jinwoo Sung and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.