When Solo Leveling was first announced for an anime adaptation, I was beyond excited. The manhwa had this stunning artwork, intense battles, and Sung Jinwoo with his Shadow Army just ruling everything, which just made me fall in love with it.
But then A-1 Pictures dropped the anime, and a lot of fans like me saw that the design of the Shadow Soldiers was really different, like, they totally took away that creepy, smoky vibe that made them look so ghostly and scary in the original manhwa.
While I totally understood that animating the smoky effect would be nearly impossible given the constraints of anime production, the solid black coloring of the anime version made the shadows look too basic at first. But seriously, with the nature of animation, it’s hard to fault A-1 Pictures for taking the easier path with the design. I mean, they opted to do quality 2D animation instead of simply relying on CGI, which is all a plus with the adaptation.
A practical and necessary change in Solo Leveling anime
One of the coolest things about Sung Jinwoo’s Shadow Soldiers in the manhwa is their smoky, wispy vibe that makes them look both magical and a bit creepy. This whole effect really made the shadows feel like they were from another world, showing off Jinwoo’s power as the Monarch of Shadows. Plus, it added this intimidating touch, making his army seem like an unstoppable force wrapped in darkness.
I really loved this design element because it actually made the shadows stand out from the typical minions or foot soldiers you find in other fantasy shows. The smoky effect was not merely for aesthetics, it served to create the mood and atmosphere of Solo Leveling, demonstrating that Jinwoo was wielding something far more advanced than human comprehension.
Although the smoky effect looked amazing in the manhwa, trying to do that in animation would’ve been a total pain. Making anime is tough already, and with how they do it: crazy tight schedules, not enough people working on it, and everyone getting burned out, it basically makes that kind of effect super hard to pull off.
As compared to a static picture in a manhwa, animation requires you to draw or render each and every frame. Maintaining this smoky, cool atmosphere between each shadow, particularly with Jinwoo having thousands of them, would be an insane amount of work.
Moreover, the smoky effect, while beautiful in the Solo Leveling manhwa, could damage the clarity of fast-paced battle scenes in an anime. Black designs are clean and easy to read, keeping the animation fluid and dynamic. This also lets A-1 Pictures concentrate on expressive character animation instead of wasting resources attempting to get a tricky effect just right.
The other alternative would be CGI, but viewers have already been complaining about so much CGI used in anime. Do you really want less designs or cheap CGI soldiers instead?
The silver lining: At least they aren’t CGI
One of the best things about this shift in Solo Leveling manhwa to anime is that A-1 Pictures did not overuse CGI for Jinwoo’s shadows. CGI within anime has long been a sticking point, and many fans think that it never quite looks real and feels foreign when combined with 2D animation.
By remaining consistent with traditional 2D animation, A-1 Pictures ensures that the Shadow Army blends seamlessly with the rest of the show. You may lose the smoky effect, but the alternative may have been even worse.
Ultimately, though the smoky look of Jinwoo’s shadows was a neat touch in the manhwa, its absence in the anime is understandable. With the intricacies of animation, production timelines, and the already overworked anime industry, this was probably the best choice A-1 Pictures could have made.
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Would the smoky effect have been cooler? Definitely. But does its removal ruin the anime? Not at all. Actually, the fact that A-1 Pictures is holding out on producing high-quality 2D animation rather than taking the shortcut with CGI is evidence that they actually care about this adaptation.
So whether you like the smoky look of the manhwa or the dense black graphics of the anime, this much is certain: Solo Leveling is becoming one of the year’s best anime, and we should all appreciate the work that is going into making it a piece of eye candy.
Solo Leveling anime is currently available to watch on Crunchyroll.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
