Will the Solo Leveling anime have multiple seasons? Explained

One of the most highly anticipated anime projects of the upcoming year is none other than the adaptation of the Solo Leveling webtoon. Originally written by Chugong and illustrated by the late Jang Sung-Rak, also known as Dubu, the anime adaptation will be the next Crunchyroll Originals collaboration with the website Webtoon.

While fans have plenty of questions about the Solo Leveling anime series, a common one is exactly how many seasons the anime adaptation will consist of. With the webtoon version having a total of 179 chapters, fans can at least look at the adaptation rates of other such projects to get a feel for how many seasons the series will have.

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Solo Leveling anime adaptation likely to consist of at least two separate seasons

Easily the biggest factor that determines how long an anime adaptation will be, is the adaptation rate of the source material. This refers to how many chapters of the source material are adapted per episode of the anime, typically ranging around a 3:1 ratio depending on the pace of the original material.

However, this 3:1 ratio typically deals with manga source material rather than webtoons. The initial lineup of Crunchyroll Originals, which included The God of High School and Tower of God, seems to have rewritten what this approach is for webtoons. Both series easily surpassed the 3:1 chapter-to-episode adaptation ratio on average.

Each series also presents a different approach with very diverse end results. The God of High School and Tower of God had 13 episodes each in their debut season. However, The God of High School’s adaptation rate was much higher. In just 13 episodes, the anime adaptation covered webtoon material equivalent to over 100 chapters.

At exactly 100 chapters, this would put the adaptation ratio of source material chapters to anime episodes as higher than 7:1. Obviously, plenty of plotlines and moments from the source material were cut in this adaptation, in an effort to shorten the series’ overall storyline. That being said, such a pace is still incredibly high and undoubtedly takes something away from the series.

Tower of God, meanwhile, was able to successfully adapt 79 chapters in 13 episodes while cutting minimal plotlines and story moments. This provides an adaptation ratio of just over 6 webtoon chapters to 1 anime episode, which readers of the original webtoon seemed pleased with. However, the same cannot be said for The God of High School, whose adaptation tactics were largely panned by source material readers.

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In summation

All that being said, the Solo Leveling webtoon has 179 published chapters in total. Thus, the adaptation team only has two options in terms of pace. They can opt for a pace slightly faster than Tower of God, but much slower than The God of High School, and try to adapt the series into two seasons of roughly 85 chapters each.

The alternative, which seems to be a better option given the reception of both of the aforementioned series, is to slow down the Solo Leveling adaptation. This would likely result in three seasons of roughly 60 chapters each.

In either scenario, it seems more likely that the series’ anime adaptation will consist of at least two seasons, and no more than three.

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Be sure to keep up with all Solo Leveling anime news, as well as general anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2024 progresses.