Is Solo Leveling a novel, a comic, or an anime?

Solo Leveling confuses new readers because the same title sits on three different products. It began as a South Korean web novel by Chugong, serialized on KakaoPage from July 25, 2016. In March 2018 it became a full-color webtoon drawn by Dubu of REDICE STUDIO. In January 2024 it became a television anime produced by A-1 Pictures. Each step reached a bigger audience than the one before, and each step produced a different object for the shelf.

The chain matters to a collector because the editions are not interchangeable. The novel is prose with occasional illustrations, printed in Korea by D&C Media and in English by Yen On. The webtoon is a comic, printed in Korea by D&C Webtoon Biz, in English by Yen Press under its Ize Press imprint, and in Japan by Kadokawa in a localized edition with different volume math. The anime exists as broadcasts, a compilation film, and Blu-ray and DVD releases in Japan and North America.

The reading order that matches the creation order is novel, then webtoon, then anime, but most of the world met the story in the middle, through the webtoon, and the anime was designed from the webtoon's art. Nothing in the franchise is a reboot: every version adapts the same story Chugong finished in 2018, and the sequel, Solo Leveling: Ragnarok, continues it.