Crunchyroll says Solo Leveling exists 'because of them'

Crunchyroll CEO Rahul Purini has revealed in a recent podcast that his company introduced the "Solo Leveling" manhwa to Aniplex and was instrumental in bringing the anime series into production. When asked by The Verge about the two-way influence between anime fans and anime production, Purini revealed a very recent example of how fans influenced the production of a series.

"In fact, there's a series that we launched in January called Solo Leveling. It is a program based on a Korean manhwa. Our team read the manhwa, liked the IP, and so we actually took it to one of our sister partners in Japan – Aniplex – and co-produced the series with them. We announced the series about a year and a half ago – it's been very well received by fans around the world! So that's an example of when we co-produced a series that we brought to the table based on what we were hearing from our fans," Purini said.

Purini also said, "Sometimes, certain stories may not be what our partners can create and produce primarily for Japanese audiences. So, we step in and invest with our partners because this could be something we strongly believe in for our international audience. So we take that step and co-produce with our audiences."

Crunchyroll's gamble seems to have paid off, with "Solo Leveling" entering the Top 100 of IMDB's most popular TV series. The platform describes the series as follows: "They say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but that's not the case with the world's weakest hunter, Sung Jinwoo. After being brutally murdered by monsters in a high-ranking dungeon, Jinwoo returned with the System, a program that only he could see, which is improving him in every aspect. Now, he's inspired to uncover the secrets behind his powers and the dungeon that spawned them."

Source: ComicBook