Mugen Monday - Nineteenth Edition

It hasn’t begun yet, but it is my assumption that soon the world of Manhwa shall find meaningful Anime adaptations, incorporated into the larger pool of Anime originating from Japan.

Manhwa, which is a manga equivalent in Korea, is quite different from its Japanese cousin. Not only are Manhwas coloured, but they also seem to contain an art style that’s quite nostalgic and yet different from most traditional Anime art ways.

Today, we take it upon ourselves, as the branch of Spiel dedicated towards Anime, to talk a little Manhwa. Especially with the new Solo Leveling Anime on the horizon - which has truth be told gone through some horrendously radical changes. Mind you, horrendous is not exactly a negative connotation.

For all things concerned, the positive-negative judgement is quite up to the masses. Simply put - the production behind Solo Leveling has decided to change all the cultural contexts of the source itself. From Korea, the entire plot will now revolve in a Japanese context.

You may like: The Beginning After The End vs Solo Leveling compared 

The reasons for this range in quite many, the particulars of which I shall discuss below. But one thing is quite a question worth asking - is changing the cultural context of a source just because it involved an interpretation of the adapting country (in this case Japan) which was negative? We’ll dive all into it.

For the uninitiated, Solo Leveling is one of the most mass-appreciated Korean Manhwa out there, with its source originally being a light novel. Since before the hype of Anime, Solo Leveling climbed the manhwa hierarchy, easily overwhelming not only the rather unreached to west people who got their new-found dose of coloured Manga (Manhwa).

Will Solo Leveling Anime live up to the source material? It’s a question we shall discuss. Hang tight.

For Those Who Dare Dream

- From the Editor’s Desk

Rhytham Das, Editor-in-Chief, Spiel Anime