Solo Leveling:The aim of simultaneous global expansion: Spreading the appeal of Japanese anime to the world

"Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow-", the second season of the TV anime series "Solo Leveling", which has been gaining popularity worldwide, including exceeding 650 million domestic pageviews on the digital manga and novel service "Piccoma", will be broadcast from January 4th. Season 1, which aired from January to March 2024, gained worldwide popularity, becoming the most viewed work of the season on "Crunchyroll", which distributes anime and other content in over 200 countries and regions including the United States. Since the original work was originally popular worldwide, Aniplex, the company that produces the anime, has set up a simultaneous global release. We spoke to Aniplex producer Sota Furuhashi and promotion producer Fuuto Amako about the aim of the simultaneous global release.

◇Unprecedented overseas expansion

The story is set in a world where humans with special abilities known as Hunters exist, a passageway that connects another dimension to the real world. The story follows Mizushino Shun, the lowest E-rank Hunter and known as "humanity's weakest weapon," who suddenly gains the power to level up on his own, rising from the weakest to the strongest.

The original work is a vertically scrolling webtoon specialized for reading on smartphones, and is available in various languages. It was particularly popular in the United States, with many readers from Germany and France. Season 1 had its world premiere in Tokyo, Seoul, Paris, Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Taipei, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Mumbai, and digital advertising was launched in New York's Times Square in December 2023, and outdoor advertising was launched simultaneously in Japan and Korea in addition to the United States in March 2024. Japanese anime is popular worldwide, so it is not uncommon for advertising to be launched on a global scale, but this was a large scale. Moreover, the simultaneous global launch was "unprecedented even for other companies, including Aniplex."

"It's available in multiple languages, and since it was a popular work overseas to begin with, we had in mind a thorough simultaneous release from the beginning. The anime adaptation was announced in 2022, but at the time it was rare for a webtoon to be adapted into an anime. The promotional videos and posters are being released simultaneously in Japanese, English, and Korean. It's common for a work to first become a hit in Japan, and then be released overseas, but we had a global hit in mind from the beginning."

With streaming becoming commonplace, the time difference between the anime viewing environments in Japan and overseas has been greatly reduced. However, the promotion of anime from Japan is prioritized domestically, and works that become popular in Japan often end up becoming popular overseas as well. In the case of "Ore Level," the original work was popular overseas, so the series was simultaneously released worldwide. As a result, it attracted a lot of attention overseas even before it was aired.

"For example, sometimes we release the Japanese version of a PV first, and then the English version later, but for 'My Level' we released the Japanese, English, and Korean versions simultaneously on different channels and accounts. As a result, the number of views for the English version of 'My Level' visibly far exceeded the number of views for the Japanese version."

◇The meaning of making in Japan

As it is a work aimed at a global audience, there were unprecedented difficulties in the production. For example, the name of the main character in the original work is "Mizushino Shun" in Japan, but "Sung Jinu" outside of Japan. Since it was originally a Korean work, the character names were localized for Japan, but outside of Japan, they are known by their Korean names.

"Because the character names are different in Japan and overseas, we did two dubs, one for the Japanese version and one for the overseas version, which is something we've never done before. Japanese voice actors are popular overseas, so we were conscious of people who watch anime with subtitles. That's why we changed the character names during dubbing so that they wouldn't feel out of place. We also used English for the backgrounds, status screens, etc."

On the other hand, he said, "There are some things that shouldn't be changed." Japanese anime has a history of evolving in its own way, and its unique expressions have gained popularity around the world. Overseas anime fans are looking for expressions that are unique to Japanese anime.

"Although it is being released simultaneously around the world, we try not to be too conscious of overseas markets when making the images. It is inevitable to try to make it look like something from overseas, but we thought about the meaning of making it in Japan. We tried to emphasize the good points of Japanese anime while also incorporating the preferences of overseas anime fans in a well-balanced way."

This was probably possible because Japanese anime is now gaining popularity around the world. However, if the work wasn't interesting in the first place, it wouldn't have become popular.

Furuhashi analyzed the appeal of "Ore Level" by saying, "The protagonist is pushed into a corner and grows in a down-to-earth way. It's a classic story with universal appeal regardless of country." Amako commented, "The universality and simplicity of it is also its appeal. The original is easy to read, but the anime is also easy to enjoy."

In preparation for the broadcast of Season 2, they are taking various measures to approach the world, such as screening the anime "Solo Leveling -ReAwakening-", which consists of a special edited version of Season 1 and episodes 13 and 14 of Season 2, in theaters around the world, including Japan. Now that Japanese anime is loved all over the world, simultaneous overseas releases like "Solo Leveling" may become the standard.