SP1 - A Hunter Rises
Source: Crunchyroll
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(Please feel free to edit the speaker names if incomplete or inaccurate. Names are handled on a best-effort basis depending on the info on the source file. Dialogue is left as is.)
SIGN Solo Leveling: Chapter 1
[00:21] ---
I find that it's a piece that
evokes emotions in everyone.
[00:26] ---
It can be said that it's the
most successful Korean webtoon.
[00:32] ---
It's the kind of story everyone dreams of.
[00:36] ---
"We have to do it as a webtoon at all costs."
[00:44] ---
It's a great work worth rereading
when you're bored.
[00:49] ---
This is why Solo Leveling is very cool.
[00:54] ---
It's no exaggeration
to say that Solo Leveling
[00:59] ---
pioneered the international webtoon market.
[01:02] ---
My coworkers instantly told me,
like, "You have to get into this."
[01:09] ---
When the animation arrives,
[01:12] ---
it will truly be the
completion of this universe.
[01:39] ---
Solo Leveling is a story about resilience,
perseverance, and fighting for good,
[01:47] ---
and I think that are the three themes
that we get to see a lot of the time
[01:51] ---
through the main character Jinwoo.
[02:02] ---
Sung Jinwoo started off as
a young and weak character,
[02:06] ---
but his personality changed with time,
which I felt was unique.
[02:13] ---
On Kakao Page it said that
Solo Leveling is a masterpiece
[02:17] ---
and all my friends around my age
were reading it.
[02:20] ---
My name is Kim Young-Jo,
and I live in Seoul.
[02:39] ---
D&C Media was founded in 2002.
[02:42] ---
We produce web novels, webtoons,
manhwas, and merchandise
[02:47] ---
and distribute them in Korea and overseas.
[02:54] ---
Hello, I am Choi Wong-Young,
CEO of D&C Media.
[03:05] ---
What's most important for us is
good novels and webtoon authors.
[03:12] ---
Our skilled team's task
is to find those webtoon authors.
[03:20] ---
Aspiring authors can send publishers
their manuscript via mail or directly.
[03:32] ---
Those manuscripts will be given to the editors,
which we nowadays call PDs.
[03:40] ---
A team of those producers will review
the manuscripts and rate their potential.
[03:49] ---
Afterwards the team decides
whether or not they will reach out to an author.
[04:01] ---
Usually, authors use their works
to express their thoughts.
[04:16] ---
They feel lost when having to directly interact
with their readers, so they tend to avoid it.
[04:26] ---
For example, when they are public officials.
[04:32] ---
Those tend to hide themselves and
prefer communicating via their work.
[04:41] ---
They don't like the spotlight.
[04:46] ---
I think, with Solo Leveling,
we were lucky in many ways.
[04:54] ---
Our first contact with the author Chugong
was on an online platform—
[04:58] ---
that's where we read Solo Leveling
for the first time.
[05:04] ---
Back then, there were not
many comparable works,
[05:08] ---
so we were confident
that it would be well received,
[05:13] ---
but we didn't except so much hype.
[05:19] ---
This epic journey started with D&C Media.
[05:36] ---
What's most interesting to the people
seems to be the story.
[05:41] ---
An interesting story needs to be captivating.
[05:47] ---
Of course, the author wanted
the novel to be successful.
[05:54] ---
The story takes place in Seoul
with a Korean background,
[06:00] ---
and I think the author
wrote himself as Sung Jinwoo.
[06:06] ---
A good writer speaks through his work
and connects with his readers.
[06:15] ---
Sung Jinwoo has a rough start and
doesn't really find his place in life.
[06:26] ---
But seeing how he is then given opportunities
and starts to grow as a person...
[06:32] ---
"I want that too," "I want to get better too"—
that's what I thought.
[06:43] ---
In Solo Leveling, an ordinary young adult
experiences amazing things
[06:49] ---
and saves the world.
[06:51] ---
The kind of story everyone dreams of.
[07:10] ---
The story rose in popularity,
so we asked ourselves,
[07:15] ---
how we could express it visually.
[07:20] ---
I read the story in my office and thought,
"We have to do it as a webtoon at all costs."
[07:31] ---
If a novel is adapted into a webtoon,
you need an artist.
[07:38] ---
Who could be a suitable candidate?
[07:49] ---
Back then the webtoon industry
was rather small,
[07:53] ---
so we had to go abroad for promotion.
[07:59] ---
That's where we met Redice.
[08:05] ---
The owner of Redice
was at the Beijing Book Fair
[08:12] ---
and met a representative of D&C by chance.
[08:16] ---
Neither knew which studio
the other belonged to,
[08:20] ---
so they mistook each other as Japanese
and spoke Japanese first,
[08:26] ---
until they found out that they were both
Korean, one from D&C, one from Redice.
[08:31] ---
Both wanted to cooperate.
We told them about a great web novel we had,
[08:37] ---
and Redice wanted to
work with us on that project.
[08:42] ---
That's how Solo Leveling
turned into a webtoon.
[08:51] ---
I am the CEO of Redice Studio,
Jang Jung-Sook.
[08:55] ---
Redice Studio is leading the webtoon
production in Korea and globally.
[09:07] ---
Making a webtoon requires certain steps.
[09:12] ---
First, a pencil sketch gets digitized,
[09:16] ---
followed by line art, color,
background, and final corrections.
[09:27] ---
The most impressive thing about Solo Leveling
is the great artwork made by Jang-Sung Rak.
[09:40] ---
On Twitter, many people expected at least
ten people were working on the webtoon.
[09:48] ---
But it was our first project, and Jang-Sung
Rak's artistry was simply unmatched.
[09:55] ---
Alongside a highly skilled colorist
and a great storyboard writer,
[10:02] ---
they finished the main story
as a team of three.
[10:07] ---
A year ago I was living with
Jang-Sung Rak, learned a lot,
[10:12] ---
and worked on a spinoff with him.
[10:16] ---
I am the cartoonist Seung-Jin Kim.
[10:18] ---
Since it was our first graphic work,
[10:22] ---
we collected many references
to ensure a certain quality standard.
[10:35] ---
Usually, we upload one episode per week,
[10:40] ---
but we need to have 20
prepared before launch.
[10:43] ---
For 20 episodes,
we need around five to six months.
[10:48] ---
During this time, the producer
and artist work closely together,
[10:52] ---
discuss feedback, and correct the draft
[10:57] ---
until the final version is set.
[11:00] ---
I researched a lot, wanting to make
the illustrations look more natural
[11:07] ---
through directing and coloring
[11:11] ---
Until then, from staging
and drawing to coloring,
[11:21] ---
I had never seen a draft
of such high quality.
[11:24] ---
I was sitting in our publishing house,
asking myself how they did it.
[11:53] ---
In Korea, most people have
their mobile phones with them at all times.
[12:02] ---
They can be quickly and easily used,
which makes reading webtoons simple.
[12:14] ---
I think that's the biggest advantage
Korean webtoons have in the global market.
[12:50] ---
It's no exaggeration
to say that Solo Leveling
[12:55] ---
pioneered the international webtoon market.
[13:34] ---
The setting itself is interesting
because we see the juxtaposition
[13:38] ---
of the earthly world that we know of
and we're very familiar with
[13:41] ---
which is also, we see countries like Korea,
Japan, and the U.S. featured in this story,
[13:46] ---
which is familiar to us, and then we
also get to enter these blue gates
[13:51] ---
to then enter a dungeon in a fantasy setting.
[13:54] ---
To me, Hapjeong Station in the story's
introduction was the most impressive.
[14:00] ---
For us Koreans, it's a popular meeting place
if you want to hang out.
[14:07] ---
Turning this station into a dungeon
makes it easier for the reader
[14:15] ---
to dive into the story
and be captivated by it.
[14:20] ---
So, you see the fantasy world and the
earthly world that we are all familiar with,
[14:25] ---
and that fantasy setting allows us
to escape from reality.
[14:43] ---
Entering society as a young adult,
I felt like I knew nothing—
[14:49] ---
like I couldn't do anything
and lacked experience.
[14:52] ---
My situation was similar to Sung Jinwoo's.
[15:03] ---
It's a great work worth rereading
when you're bored.
[15:11] ---
Webtoons and novels are part of the "snack
culture," merely seen as means to kill time.
[15:18] ---
But if you can relate to the characters,
it's more than that.
[15:24] ---
Then you want to possess it
in some kind of physical form.
[15:32] ---
Readers who read the work online
became attached to the story.
[15:41] ---
They wanted a physical copy
they could own and collect.
[15:50] ---
Instead of only having it on their phone,
they wanted a real book.
[15:58] ---
To fulfill those needs,
we published a paperback version.
[16:07] ---
Even the most exciting stories
can be quickly forgotten.
[16:13] ---
But if I'm able to put even just one volume
on my shelf, it will stay in the back of my mind.
[16:40] ---
I remember ordering the first
two volumes immediately,
[16:44] ---
and I felt sadness, unfortunately, at the end
[16:46] ---
because I realized I read through the first
two volumes back-to-back in one night,
[16:50] ---
and then I would have
to wait for more volumes,
[16:52] ---
because I'm a person who likes to read
the physical volumes, rather than digitally,
[16:55] ---
and so I'd have to wait two to three more
months to get another volume to read it.
[17:08] ---
After Solo Leveling was published
and rose in popularity,
[17:17] ---
the word "solo" itself became
somewhat of a phenomenon.
[17:25] ---
Solo Leveling made a huge impact
and gained many fans,
[17:32] ---
so more and more works
with "solo" in their title appeared.
[17:39] ---
Having Solo Leveling create
sort of a subculture of manhwa and novels
[17:50] ---
and receive so much love
and attention from its readers
[17:57] ---
makes me kind of proud,
even if I am merely a reader myself.
[18:15] ---
The transition from novel
to webtoon is one thing,
[18:17] ---
but up to animation is something
I could hardly have imagined.
[18:21] ---
As a fan and reader,
I look forward to the animation.
[18:30] ---
I didn't make the story big,
but I contributed a lot
[18:37] ---
to the creation of the animation.
That makes me proud.
[18:44] ---
The web novel turned into a webtoon
and now even into an anime.
[18:50] ---
When the animation arrives,
[18:54] ---
it will truly be the completion
of this universe.
[18:59] ---
Solo Leveling is definitely on a journey
to level up in its own franchise.
[19:03] ---
So, we got to see this start off as a
light novel, actually published in Korea,
[19:08] ---
and then eventually Redice making
that story into an actual manhwa,
[19:14] ---
now being illustrated into picture form,
[19:16] ---
and now we get to have the anime
adaptation, so now it's...
[19:19] ---
Really, I guess in a way,
it's at its third level.
[19:22] ---