Crunchyroll announced at their Anime Expo panel on July 3, 2022, that Chugong’s South Korean web novel series Solo Leveling will be getting an anime adaptation. The anime will release on the streaming platform sometime in 2023.

A new trailer and a teaser visual were released to commemorate the announcement.

“About six years ago when I was writing the very beginning of Solo Leveling, if someone had said to me, ‘The novel you wrote will become a comic,’ I bet I’d have told them to stop pulling my leg. But now, I’m told that it’ll be animated?! Seriously, stop pulling my leg!… But these days, I’m feeling excited and thrilled. Since I’m still half-doubting that this is real, I want to see Jinwoo and the other characters get animated soon and feel relieved. I’ll keep working diligently while looking forward to that day. (lol),” creator Chugong’s message read.

A-1 Pictures is in charge of animating the series. The key staff working on Solo Leveling were also revealed at the expo.

• Director: Shunsuke Nakashige
• Head Writer: Noboru Kimura
• Character Designer: Tomoko Sudo
• Music: Hiroyuki Sawano

Solo Leveling, also alternatively translated as Only I Level Up, started serializing in Kakao’s digital comic and fiction platform KakaoPage on July 25, 2016, and was later published by D&C Media under their Papyrus label on Nov 4, 2016.

The web novel ended in 2018, after 270 chapters, compiled into 14 volumes. It is licensed in English by Yen Press, but under the Only I Level Up title.

A webtoon adaptation by Jang-Sung-Rak (aka Dubu), the CEO of Redice Studio, originally started on KakaoPage in Korea on March 4, 2018. The Solo Leveling webtoon had two seasons and it concluded with its 179th chapter on Dec 29, 2021.

However, it was later announced that the webtoon will soon return with special chapters, suggesting that the webtoon is on a hiatus.

Crunchyroll describes the story of Solo Leveling as follows:

It’s been over a decade since the sudden appearance of the “gates”—the paths that connect our world with a different dimension. Since then, certain humans have awakened to supernatural powers. We call these individuals “hunters.” Hunters make their living by using their powers to conquer dungeons inside the gates. In this world of tough customers, the low-ranked hunter Jinwoo Sung is known as “the weakest hunter of all mankind.” One day, Jinwoo gets fatally injured when he runs into high-rank double dungeons hidden within a low-rank dungeon. Just then, a mysterious quest window appears in front of him. On the verge of death, Jinwoo decides to accept the quest and starts leveling up… while the others aren’t.

Source: Crunchyroll