Solo Leveling (俺だけレベルアップな件, Ore Dake Level-Up na Ken / 나 혼자만 레벨업, Na Honjaman Level Up) is a 2024 television anime series based on Chugong’s manhwa & web novel series of the same name with illustrator Jang Sung-rak (Dubu). The anime was adapted by studio A-1 Pictures, and the staff credits include director Shunsuke Nakashige, series composition writer Noboru Kimura, character designer Tomoko Sudo, and music composed by Hiroyuki Sawano. The anime season first aired in Japan on January 2024.
Background:
“Monsters invade our planet through portals, and only hunters can stop them. The world’s weakest hunter, Sung Jinwoo, struggles to survive until a near-death dungeon battle grants him a program called “the system.” With hard work, he’ll level up like no one before.”
Plot Synopsis via Crunchyroll UK, July 2025.
We have our next big anime hit once again, this time it’s based on a Korean property which is different than usual. Granted we have received adaptations of various Korean titles in the past, like Freezing back in the 2010s and Tower of God from Crunchyroll’s Originals series a few years back, but most tend to be handled in live-action format like a number of WebToon properties including All of Us Are Dead and Sweet Home.
Solo Leveling to my knowledge is currently the most popular Korean manhwa to date and you can tell why people enjoy it due to the overpowered main character premise. Despite that, the show was surprisingly entertaining and I managed to watch the series in a single sitting which is unusual. It’s by no means perfect and I do think Sung Jin-woo reaches his peak pretty fast with the second season, but I’m down to watch more. There’s interest in a third season but the studio is probably occupied by the likes of Fate/strange fake, Too Many Losing Heroines! and any Sword Art Online projects that are probably in the works at this current time.
In Japan, the license is with Aniplex but Crunchyroll was able to secure the streaming and home video rights for the English speaking territories which includes the US & UK. There’s also different versions of the Japanese track where one used Japanese names and another used the original Korean names, the latter of which is what Crunchyroll used for their platform which makes sense because the source material did get translated with the Korean names so a lot of international people would have preferred it.
Limited Edition Contents:
Solo Leveling is a very popular series, and Crunchyroll in return produced a limited edition to celebrate. It’s not as grand as what Frieren received but it’s at least shelf-space friendly(ish).
The limited edition release is presented with a rigid box containing an Amaray case with an o-card sleeve to house the Blu-ray & DVD discs, and alongside the case includes an 68-page Artbook and a cardboard box that also contains 4 Art Cards and a Sticker Sheet. The artbook includes character designs, and interviews with the series director, cast and staff.
The rigid box artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Crunchyroll releases. The limited edition Blu-ray & DVD has an unspecified number of units printed for an SRP of £69.99, with a standard edition Blu-ray available for retailers at an SRP of £44.99.
Originally I ordered at the last minute through MVM’s Anime-on-Line store before it was released as they tend to increase the price once its released, and it was cancelled because they didn’t get enough stock to allocate all the orders. Rarewaves had stock and also a 10% discount sale so I was able to secure one for £53.10. It did take a while to ship out but it arrived in the end since the listing did eventually sell out.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with clean artwork
- Amaray case packaging with o-card sleeve
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 68-page Booklet
- 4 Art Cards
- Sticker Sheet
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Crunchyroll UK
Released: 21st July 2025
The limited edition release for Solo Leveling Season 1 contains the entire season, episodes 1-12, across two Blu-ray discs and two DVD discs. The discs were authored and encoded by Crunchyroll.
Audio options include Japanese with English subtitles and the Crunchyroll English dub.
The white subtitles are locked during playback, and the Blu-ray discs are region accessible to players set to A & B and the DVD discs accessible to players set to 1 & 2.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 BD-50s |
DVD Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | 2 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1:
- The Leveling of Solo Leveling – Documentary (43:18 runtime)
- Next Episode Previews (02:08 runtime)
Disc 2:
- Episode 7.5 Recap (23:42 runtime)
- Next Episode Previews (02:40 runtime)
- Character Promo Videos (03:08 runtime)
- 7 Day Promo Video Countdown (02:56 runtime)
- Promo Videos (09:48 runtime)
- Textless Opening Song “LEveL”
- Textless Closing Song “request”
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 2:
- Episode 7.5 Recap (23:42 runtime)
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Solo Leveling Season 1 is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll in the UK & Ireland.
The limited edition Blu-ray & DVD release has sold out for a number of retailers but stock may be available for Amazon UK, HMV and Zavvi.
The standard edition Blu-ray is also available for purchase from retailers Amazon UK, and Anime-on-Line.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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