Solo Leveling is the most popular ongoing anime at the moment. And Dragon Ball is a legendary Shonen that almost everyone has heard of unless they live under a rock. The two series are legendary in their own departments, but seldom have they crossed paths.
But did you know that both series are connected to each other by a single date? This date signifies huge turns for both Dragon Ball and Solo Leveling.
Solo Leveling and Dragon Ball are connected by one co-incidence
Solo Leveling first began as a webnovel in 2016 before it received a webtoon adaptation. The manhwa, written by Chugong and illustrated by Dubu, first began serialization on March 4, 2018. But why is that relevant? Because Dragon Ball achieved a major milestone on the exact same date.
On March 4, 2018, Dragon Ball Super received its 129th episode. It is the same episode in which Goku debuted his Perfected Ultra Instinct for the first time. In the episode, Goku faces Jiren, but Ultra Instinct alone isn’t enough to defeat him. Thus, Goku’s white-hot ki begins lighting up.
Jiren realized that he must do something to stop Goku, but it was too late; Goku had already reached Perfected Ultra Instinct. After that, knocking out Jiren was just a child’s play. The webtoon debut of Solo Leveling and Perfected Ultra Instinct coincided in the most unexpected of ways. March 4th was probably one of the best days for anime and webtoon fans, and no one had even realized that two marvels took place together.
At the time of its webtoon debut, Solo Leveling was not as popular, but soon after, it became an iconic franchise. Today, the anime can hold up its own against Dragon Ball DAIMA, the latest series of Dragon Ball.
Solo Leveling‘s homage to Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball
Akira Toriyama, the legendary creator of Dragon Ball, died on March 4, 2024. Anime and manga fans all over the world mourned the loss of one of the greatest mangakas of all time. His legacy will never be forgotten as he has immortalized himself through his works.
Episode 9 of Solo Leveling season 1 aired on March 17 of the same year and paid homage to Akira Toriyama. In the episode, a Dragon Ball reference was included which was detected by fans pretty easily. Just as a battle between Song Chi-Yul and Kang Taeshik was about to take place, Jinwoo interfered and began bouncing on his feet.
This movement seemed to follow in the footsteps of Goku. Goku’s iconic light bouncing on his feet to prepare for a fight in Dragon Ball Super: Broly is unique. And it seemed like Jinwoo was doing the same step to warm up before charging at his opponent. Fans all over the world took to social media to mention the clever homage to Akira Toriyama and how it was the cherry on top.
Solo Leveling and Dragon Ball are currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
