r/animenews • u/gossamernotes • Jul 09 '25

Live Action Solo Leveling Live-Action Series Is Officially Happening at Netflix

https://screenrant.com/solo-leveling-live-action-netflix/
155 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

121 comments sorted by

167

u/Vagabond_Sam Jul 09 '25

Animation is literally the perfect medium to depict the stylised action sequences of shows like this. Using live action increases the bar for suspension of disbelief way too high to remain faithful to the action set pieces of the Manhwa

I don't understand the pipeline between comic/manga > Well reievived animated adaption > shoddy, inherently flawed adaption into live action. Are people who develop these projects just trying to fleece Netflix for protect budgets to get a few months worth of pay?

23

u/pratzc07 Jul 10 '25

I think with the success of One Piece to live Netflix thinks it can do the same for SL

37

u/Vagabond_Sam Jul 10 '25

I don’t think exceptions are good justifications.

Also One Piece has a lot more character and adventure focus then Solo Leveling which almost entirely relies on action and spectacle

7

u/Brilliant_Spot_95 Jul 10 '25

Oh it’s no excuse at all but i think we all kinda knew that Netflix getting one successful anime live action to work was gonna lead to them throwing that ball at the wall even more than before. Truly a monkeys paw moment.

5

u/Darwin343 Jul 10 '25

Also One Piece has a lot more character and adventure focus then Solo Leveling which almost entirely relies on action and spectacle

Biggest understatement of the year.

2

u/NoAbbreviations2353 Jul 10 '25

I mean Michael bay has made a pretty lucrative career out of that lol.

Honestly I feel treating it like a complete B film like Sharknado could work for this series lol

2

u/ShiftAdventurous4680 Jul 10 '25

While not as bombastic, John Wick oozes style and "aura farming" as well. The only real kicker is less about the style or cinematography, but rather the choreography. In saying that, the Rurouni Kenshin and Bleach live actions do have quite stylized and supernatural choreography (and some other Japanese films of a similar manner). But I do feel an SL live action has to up the game from there.

1

u/dummypod Jul 10 '25

It has a lot more budget too

1

u/Imconfusedithink Jul 10 '25

Yeah even tho I love the one piece live action, it had to cut out like 70-80 percent of the action. It still works because it's about the characters and adventure. Even if solo leveling can manage to get a budget on the level of one piece, solo leveling has nothing left if you have to take out majority of the action.

6

u/LightHawKnigh Jul 10 '25

Really dont get how they dont see why OP succeeds where so many fail. The people making it cared about the series. They actually worked with the original creator instead of pretending to. Seriously doubt they are going to find someone in charge that actively likes Solo Leveling as much.

0

u/ExpiringMilknCheese Jul 10 '25

Solo leveling is to Korea what One piece is to Japan. I wouldnt worry about passion. especially considering its a Korean show.

5

u/Vagabond_Sam Jul 10 '25

It doesn't mater about the domestic value the shows have in their respective countries.

It's about the global value they hold and Solo Levelling is a seasonal hit, One Piece is a generational hit.

1

u/ExpiringMilknCheese Jul 11 '25

people saying solo leveling is a generational hit and forget that it was huge even before its anime?

3

u/aestherzyl Jul 10 '25

Solo leveling is to Korea what One piece is to Japan.

Like there weren't any cartoons in Korea till then, lmao.

1

u/Capital-Frosting-434 Jul 13 '25

Korea is also, imo, a lot better at live action film than Japan. I mean this was the country that gave us Bong Joon-Ho and Squid Game. So I think, if the team working on it is comprised of actual South Korean filmmakers, this may have a fighting chance.

Still, translating something as stylized and action-heavy as Solo Leveling into anything other than a grotesque-looking CGI slop-fest is a pretty tall order.

5

u/HxH101kite Jul 10 '25

Look I liked the OP live action. But it will absolutely not work basically past Alabasta and even that is a stretch. Take the length away and the fact the actors would be like 80 by the time you even meet Do flamingo.

It becomes more marvel level fights past that.

Put money the show accelerates some timelines, skips Skypiea (which becomes crucial late story) somehow gets to Water 7 and ends on some type of sped up Ennies lobby arc.

The OP shine will fade. I don't want it to fail but it can't realistically make it the distance at high quality

2

u/Thundergod250 Jul 10 '25

Highkey they're gonna jumble the arcs to fast-track it. They can do it anyway since Oda's gonna write the rewrite for them.

1

u/Imconfusedithink Jul 10 '25

They're already not fast tracking. The second season only covers up to end of drum island and they're doing everything up to that including whiskey peak and little garden which a lot of people thought would be skipped. They've also said before they want to do long ring long land which is the most skippable arc which even those who love it can admit. Rather than fast tracking, they'll probs just end on a high note like enies lobby if they can get that far.

1

u/vellyr Jul 10 '25

This seems like exactly the way some bean-counter at Netflix might think

1

u/Guy_Le_Man Jul 10 '25

One piece live action was a success?

1

u/baybeeluna Jul 10 '25

The first success out of how many failures of live action adaptations

1

u/crono220 Jul 10 '25

So as long as they get folks that see the franchise as something more than another quick cash grab like Netflix did with Cowboy Bebop and Death Note.

2

u/burdie185 Jul 10 '25

Trust me, Netflix doesn’t just hand out these development deals. It’s Netflix that wants to blow money developing this, not some trickster writer.

2

u/onyxengine Jul 10 '25

Yea, its like marvel avengers level budget to get this done right. How much money are they really going to sink into a title that is basically just anime power fantasy crack.

It trended hard for a minute, people were obsessed. Shit i was obsessed with it right up until it ended. Its a fun show, it’s not adapt a live action out of it good …. Hope to be pleasantly surprised though.

1

u/KhaLe18 Jul 10 '25

Wouldn't be the first time Netflix has given a TV show a budget closer to 150 million. The One Piece adaptation cost about as much.

1

u/RenDSkunk Jul 10 '25

Because there's people who want so hard to be apart of the group or something big but have some serious hang ups about animation because of their parents swallowing the Kodak Propaganda or the studio's fruitless hope to gain some new watchers.

This won't end as many anime "fans" made it clear they hate animation and only respect live action, even though the ONLY way to get a third of the action is to use animation (CGI).

8

u/Cipher1553 Jul 10 '25

I don't see how you remotely are considered an "anime fan" that hates animation... the literal word itself is a shortened version of the word animation, and stands for an entire style of animation.

I think its much less what you're saying and much more creative directors trying to hitch a ride on whatever is successful and popular at this point in time. I'm also pretty sure that up to this point the One Piece adaptation is the exception to the rule in terms of adapting content to live action, most other live action adaptations bomb horribly and go nowhere.

1

u/Rufus_king11 Jul 10 '25

It's studios banking on name recognition to sell a series to an audience who may have heard of the show but refuses to watch an anime, in my opinion anyway.

0

u/RenDSkunk Jul 10 '25

There's a good sized group that say they like anime only to get a foothold to use it as a stepping stone to their true goals, usually terrible prose novels they written, a political opinion or thinking they can bilk a small following into a Patreon with bare bones "reviews" via tvtrope summeries.

3

u/Vagabond_Sam Jul 10 '25

There's a good sized group that say they like anime only to get a foothold to use it as a stepping stone

This isn't real. You're extrapolating a minority of cynical people into a 'good sized group'.

It's clear the plurality of anime fans consider animation to be a near requirement for high quality shows.

1

u/Greedy-Passion-3947 Jul 10 '25

The only "live action" that is acceptable is toptier stopmotion lol.

1

u/dummypod Jul 10 '25

I dare them to do this tokusatsu style.

62

u/Adavanter_MKI Jul 10 '25

I'm going to make a bold prediction.

This will be awful.

18

u/improbable_humanoid Jul 10 '25

Bolder prediction: It's going to be so obviously bad during production that it will never see the light of day.

1

u/BadNewsBearzzz Jul 10 '25

Yeah right dude with how awesome and award winning cowboy bebop was, and how incredible kakegurui aka BET is, along with how world shatteringly good one piece has been (it’s been rumored Oda himself cried at how happy he was with it), you already know a LIVE ACTION adaptation along the lines of Disney’s recent live action SNOW WHITE would be incredible. Even more so if they get controversial actors that flaunt political things during promo.

53

u/Zoltarr777 Jul 09 '25

Why

15

u/RedAlertSama Jul 10 '25

💰💰💰

12

u/impracticalTactician Jul 10 '25

So everyone needs to do their part and not watch it

8

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

And remember, hate watching makes you part of the problem (unless you pirate).

10

u/kingkellogg Jul 09 '25

That's gonna need a big budget

13

u/imJGott Jul 10 '25

So much cgi might as well just animate it 🤷🏾‍♂️

7

u/Secure_Librarian4871 Jul 10 '25

Knowing Netflix, they'll be cheap and shoot most of the scenes in the dark to cover for shitty CGI

2

u/caiquelkk Jul 10 '25

Maybe they can make it 2D to cut costs?

1

u/imJGott Jul 10 '25

Sidescroller 🤔?

7

u/Rufus_king11 Jul 10 '25

This is guaranteed to be dog shit

10

u/Brain_lessV2 Jul 10 '25

That's crazy, they're producing an even more powerful sleep aid.

4

u/imJGott Jul 10 '25

This. Will. Tank.

If it works it’ll have so many special effects you might as well just animate it.

2

u/DaereonLive Jul 10 '25

I am suddenly reminded of the live action Attack on Titan thing... can't even remember if it was a series or movie, but I shut that shit down in about 10 minutes of trying to watch it...

Can't even remember clearly what it was exactly, but I believe Mikasa was being portrayed as a damsel in distress?

4

u/BurninUp8876 Jul 10 '25

Not even the tiniest chance they'll be able to capture the aura and hype moments of the anime

1

u/JAYJO63 18d ago

Anime couldnt either the LA will be way better

1

u/BurninUp8876 18d ago

Me when I make obvious lies

1

u/JAYJO63 17d ago

The anime isnt close to the manhwa the LA will portray it better since its korean and it will stick to the og source material. Anime changed a lot esp in the start making him look weak and kind. In the manhwa he was a menace from the very start from the snake dungeon.

1

u/BurninUp8876 16d ago

Lol keep lying to yourself

1

u/JAYJO63 16d ago

Ok dude

4

u/tkguru8 Jul 10 '25

I still think One Piece will be the exception and not the rule that live action anime can work...

4

u/vellyr Jul 10 '25

Because One Piece is driven by its characters and world-building

1

u/ExpiringMilknCheese Jul 10 '25

there are plenty of live action anime that have worked before one piece lol.

Rurouni kenshin is one

3

u/DeeCee51 Jul 10 '25

Not even accounting for how a live action isn't needed in the slightest, animation does better in the action department by miles (which is what SL is mostly known for).

3

u/Pessimistic_Gemini Jul 10 '25

Because OF COURSE those jackholes would greenlight a live action adaptation. I don't mind them all that much but seriously ! Not everything needs one and this sure as heck didn't need one!

3

u/RuffDemon214 Jul 10 '25

Who wants a live action?! Ugh I wish they would stop with live actions of anime’s

5

u/GriffithsJockstrap Jul 10 '25

Solo leveling main attraction is its animation. The story isn't going to carry a live action and considering how Netflix butchers every single one unless fkn Oda is holding their hand for one piece, this is a flop before it even started

1

u/jlhabitan Jul 10 '25

Bu it does well with its slate of K-Dramas so who knows?

2

u/Ill_Act_1855 Jul 10 '25

This would need an absolutely massive budget and talented fight choreography director to not be complete shit, since if you can’t nail the fights the series doesn’t really have much else to offer

2

u/Expensive-Pay-5357 Jul 10 '25

Why do they keep doing live action anime after all of their live actions failed

2

u/1RehnquistyBoi Jul 10 '25

I feel so bad for Solo Leveling fans right now.

And I’ve never seen solo leveling.

2

u/ruoka Jul 10 '25

They need to get the Japanese company that did YuYu Hakusho, bet they could do it justice.

2

u/NyuRose1 Jul 10 '25

Mid Leveling

1

u/DefinitionInternal30 Jul 10 '25

Is it safe for me to say uh oh?

1

u/jackythevillen Jul 10 '25

I saw Netflix and had to see the comments section

1

u/Mr-cacahead Jul 10 '25

I know is soon to judge, but yeah it’s gonna suck.

1

u/solidpeyo Jul 10 '25

Not everything needs to be a kive action adaptation.

1

u/xzerozeroninex Jul 10 '25

It’s a Korean novel/manhwa,it would have a Korean live action show sooner or later.

1

u/WheelJack83 Jul 10 '25

My expectations are low

1

u/Zim_Zamble Jul 10 '25

This is going to be the cringiest live action ever made it might even loop back around to becoming a great comedy

1

u/FaceTimePolice Jul 10 '25

Oh, Netflix. You should’ve stopped after Death Note… 🤦‍♂️

Look at what they did with their live action aDaPtATIoN of Kakeguri, “Bet.”

Westernized garbage. 🗑️🤡👍

1

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

This is going to be so incredibly dog shit lmfao, why do studios keep thinking live actions of anime will be profitable, almost all of them fail

1

u/snakeeyes23356 Jul 10 '25

The budget better be high for this

1

u/twat_swat22 Jul 10 '25

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

1

u/LoveMe-Oniichan Jul 10 '25

This is gonna suck

1

u/Greedy-Passion-3947 Jul 10 '25

I blame the One Piece LA show for that lol.... And we al know how faithful that was.

1

u/Thunderfan4life15 Jul 10 '25

It’s gonna be a kdrama, so expect it to be a very heavily modified adaptation most likely, not a 1:1 attempt. I mean kdrama or not any live action adaptation of this is gonna have to be toned down unless it has an insane budget, which wouldn’t be worth it.

1

u/KeepTheNolander Jul 10 '25

I'll only watch this if they make a super shrimpy actor get absolutely shredded over the course of filming

1

u/MiddleOccasion1394 Jul 10 '25

Because of course it is, the sky is blue, and I hate everything.

1

u/RCesther0 Jul 10 '25

Fuck no. Someone kill it already.

1

u/SilverKnightOfMagic Jul 10 '25

it's gonna be so bad lol

there are already tons of content with great visuals but due to lack of story no one cares about them

1

u/geegeenoreeee Jul 10 '25

The jeju island arc should’ve been a perfect example of why studios and especially Netflix SHOULD STOP doing live action anime remakes. Because literally nothing can be added or changed to make it any better than it already is in its original form.

1

u/Boris-_-Badenov Jul 10 '25

live action anime never works, and this will clearly be a bunch of cgi crap

1

u/Panty-Sniffer-12 Jul 10 '25

Oh we gonna see sung jinwoo from temu lol. Whoevers playing the main lead should be prepared for the shitshow

1

u/Mean-Nectarine-6831 Jul 10 '25

I will NEVER understand peoples obsession with making animated series into live action as if that some how "legitimizes" them. something shouldn't need to be live action to reach a wide audience.
we didn't need a live action avatar the last airbender nothing was wrong with the animated series. ATLA worked because it was animated. the stylization and flow of the action worked BECAUSE the animations could tell a story. and we sure as hell don't need a live action solo leveling or one piece. but here we are...

this isn't even a problem exclusive to anime or other animated shows. books will do this as well even if the content would better work in an animated format.

take for example narnia that novel would have been a perfect animated series. we keep getting live action for it, but it's fantastical elements would fit much more perfectly as an animated show or movie.

1

u/WarlockOfDestiny Jul 10 '25

Netflix trying to continue the dogshit trend of everything needing to be live action, then staining the original material. Them and Disney both.

1

u/RuinedShaman6969 Jul 10 '25

This is gonna bomb so badly. There's no reason to make a live action version. You cannot do the same stuff as the animated version anyways.

1

u/SalivatingPony Jul 10 '25

Literally the only thing good about it was the animation.

1

u/PopGroundbreaking916 Jul 10 '25

Duh, it's an action show lol

1

u/squid0218 Jul 10 '25

Why? We have an anime currently happening?

1

u/kevlon92 Jul 10 '25

But why though?

1

u/Silvanus350 Jul 10 '25

Literally the worst possible choice, LOL. The animation/production value is the only good thing about this series.

Netflix doesn’t have the budget to reproduce that, let alone as a freaking live-action show.

I swear some of these projects are just pure money laundering schemes.

1

u/soulwolf1 Jul 10 '25

Does Netflix not understand how shit their live action animes are??

1

u/Unlikely-Complex3737 Jul 10 '25

Don't let them cook.

1

u/El_Archidan Jul 10 '25

There is now way this will be good

1

u/baybeeluna Jul 10 '25

Seems too soon to butcher this overhyped show with a live action adaptation that simply won’t be half as good as it is animated. But Netflix seems to be trying very hard to make us believe it’s the god tier platform for anime so whatever.

1

u/Short_Bet4325 Jul 10 '25

I could see the first season actually doing somewhat well.

The first season there is enough let’s say grounded fighting moments that you can adapt. It’s really only the fight with Igris that it goes into the S rank type speed and power of fights.

Before that the fights and actions you could pull off well enough in live action with very good fight directing and adding a little CGI for the smaller fights and then throwing most the budget into the last fight with Igris and Jin Woo getting his shadow armour.

After that though you absolutely can’t the standard fights are now all Igris level and above and now have massive CGI needed for the shadow soldiers and the speed and power Jin Woo has now means all his fighters are now just CGI. So we won’t get an amazing Beru fight like we maybe could get from the first season. Second season so much budget will go into CGI there just won’t be enough to make that fight next level enough to compete with the anime in and reasonable way.

This at most gets two seasons and is then cancelled. Potentially only one and then cancelled if they just shit the bed with it.

1

u/CoolBreath7177 Jul 10 '25

… what makes them think they can do this style of fighting realistically on live action?

1

u/Any-Distance6586 Jul 10 '25

Why is it that whenever an animated show gets famous and prints a lot of money that just announce a fucking live action?

1

u/BurstTracer Jul 10 '25

These live action adaptations have got to be a money laundering scheme.

1

u/DrTopGun Jul 10 '25

Solo leveling is not good enough to need a live action, why can’t things just be animated? Why does everything need a live action version? Who is asking for this

1

u/JonDoeJoe Jul 10 '25

They’d need the budget and skill level comparable to avatar and golden age marvel to get cgi not goofy looking

1

u/DiedandDried Jul 11 '25

When I heard this was happening the only thought I had was, "Did anyone ask for a live action Solo Leveling?" I honestly cannot think of a single Live Action anime series I have enjoyed. Granted many of the live actions made are of shows I don't care about(Dragon Ball, One Piece ect) but the ones I have seen are always so very bleh. One aspect of many asian live actions is how "fake"(aka so much freaking makeup) the characters have on to make them look animeish. I love Asian movies where the characters don't look like emotionless dolls, like Jackie Chan, Kurosawa and so on where they just look like freaking human beings doing amazing things.

1

u/Aielif Jul 12 '25

Wild. This would be a really hard one to do a live action on and do it well. Having one is better than not having one though so why not. It’s not my money going into the project lol

1

u/Caledric Jul 14 '25

Another reason to hate Netflix. They take anything good and try to make a low budget show about it, to squeeze out whatever they can from the IP. Studios can't say no, because if they do Netflix will pull all their IPs, and make a knock off version anyway.

1

u/Aggravating_Wish_969 Jul 10 '25

As far as completely unnecessary live action remakes go, this one takes the cake. Just embarrassing.

0

u/r4tzt4r Jul 10 '25

Haters on suicide watch.

I just think is a very fucking stupid no-story but fun anime.

0

u/Aggressive_Issue863 Jul 10 '25

So instead of hoping this will be good everyone is on here crying that it's being made, it's gonna be bad, don't watch it (?) what the hell is wrong with people, if it ends up being crap sure let's have tearing it up but come on

-2

u/nomation14 Jul 10 '25

gotta appease that fake anime fanbase