Solo Leveling and Dragon Ball Z, anime from two entirely different generations that share so much in terms of themes, genre, and those all-important fight scenes. While Dragon Ball Z innovated the field of Shonen anime way back in the 80s, paving the way for modern-day, martial-arts centred anime, Solo Leveling is making its own innovations, enough to win it Anime of the Year at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2025 despite some controversy over said win.
It seems only natural, therefore, that we should compare the two, how they made waves in the industry, how both series handle the hardcore mission of animating heavy fight scenes, and what their methods will mean for animation going forward. Do you think that Solo Leveling will be innovative enough to have the longevity of the beloved Dragon Ball series? What has Solo Leveling taken from Dragon Ball, and what has it made its own in an attempt to stand on its own two feet in an increasingly popular medium?
I’ll Increase My Speed!
Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, by extension, were series born of a love of martial arts. Like giving the keys to the city to each animator every time Goku came up against an opponent, there was an exponential increase in frame rates, artistic quality, and the pacing of the episodes to heighten tension and really make you pay attention. Sometimes, this tension was heightened through storytelling before a fight took place, but the real electricity sparked through those exchanges of blows, which highlighted the animator’s knowledge of the art form and took animation as a whole to a new level.
Slow and Steady
Nothing shows this off more than the clash between Goku and Freiza, the entire thing spanning eighteen full episodes of Dragon Ball Z as Akira Toriyama rushed to get out more manga content so the story could continue. Each little detail of the fight was broken down and analysed to a microscopic degree in order to drag the fight out, and the result was a battle-weariness that the fans themselves felt right alongside Goku as his stamina wavered.
Somehow, though its become something of a meme to have characters merely screaming at each other for twenty minutes at a time, the clash never lost its tension. Between Freiza’s epic build up over the course of the arc, his own cruel actions, and watching him decimate the Z fighters prior to Goku showing up, we were all glued to our seats through those eighteen episodes, desperate to know if Goku would be able to deliver the final blow and save the universe.
Fast and Furious
Solo Leveling is on the opposite end of the scale here, with the climactic fight against Beru at the end of Season 2 taking up only eight minutes and fifty seconds, only half of a single episode. The fight itself is beautiful in much the same way that the dance between Goku and Freiza was, in much the same way as any clash in Dragon Ball Z still is, but there is a sense of realistic urgency to the quickness of the exchange that never lets audience retention drop for a moment.
The fight is gorgeously choreographed, and as with the Goku vs. Freiza fight in Dragon Ball Z, we get moments of much-needed introspection from both Sung Jinwoo and his opponent, showing how they’re not enjoying themselves in the way that Goku tends to with a challenge. For Jinwoo, Beru is a barrier to helping Cha Hae-In, and he even says: ‘I can feel his anxiety, that makes two of us. I need to end this quickly.’ Right after this sentiment, the battle really amps up, with Jinwoo calling out his weapon and Beru going through a Freiza-like transformation to get stronger.
The Tortoise or The Hare?
So, which approach is better? The unstoppable juggernaut energy that Freiza gives off is only achieved through the utilisation of that long, drawn-out battle, but the speed of Sung Jinwoo’s fight against Beru is electric and realistic. New age anime tends to dial in on faster battles to save on audience retention, but the creators are able to maintain higher frame rates and true quality of animation, yet the stakes of the battle might suffer, for the altercation only lasts for those eight minutes.
Transformations and Twists
In a somewhat direct homage, Solo Leveling’s Beru showcases a transformation akin to Freiza’s four stages of power upgrades during his fight against Goku. In a swell of Hiroyuki Sawano’s musical genius and cracking sounds as Beru’s exoskeleton hardens, we see as the Ant King becomes more formidable, and the flash of a knife through the blue fire of Jinwoo’s power only heightens this sense of anticipation.
The transformation sequence highlights the change in pacing that comes with the next stage of the fight and amps up that sense of adrenaline as the two fighters clash once more. All this after the two have had an introspective moment about each other, Jinwoo about being able to read Beru’s emotions, and Beru about whether Jinwoo is truly human, planting the seeds for a potential later fall on Jinwoo’s part.
The OG
Freiza’s transformation is just as important, bolstered by his delightfully in-character narcissistic spiel about his own power prior to breaking Vegeta’s soul and bulking like a bodybuilder on steroids. The subsequent transformations proceed in much the same way, though they lack the breathtaking impact of Beru’s transformation because of the way Solo Leveling takes the concept of transformation and elevates it.
Nothing says respect like imitating something you’ve found memorable, though, and even though Beru’s transformation is arguably cooler in its streamlined impact, it draws attention to the Dragon Ball influences in a way that is delightful and shows how beloved that show really is.
Clever Enemies
Solo Leveling, unlike Dragon Ball, is more about the wider world and Sung Jinwoo’s misplacement within it. Dragon Ball Z focuses in more on the fighters, their tactics, and the progression of the struggle they engage in. For Dragon Ball Z, any situation involving the Prince of all Saiyans will demonstrate this idea beautifully. His time on screen is met with exhilaration as the audience holds their breath waiting to see what clever scheme he will come up with to win whatever battle he gets himself into.
Jinwoo’s struggle is less about this clever innovation, more about bringing home that base survival theme that was present in the early episodes. Sung Jinwoo vs Igris is the best example of this. The fight is as beautifully choreographed as you might hope, but the emphasis is really on Jinwoo’s facial expressions.
Does he look confident? If yes, this provokes the question of how powerful he is now. Even with Beru’s claw inches from his eye, Jinwoo didn’t flinch, but with Igris, he still looked scared in various moments; he was still very much human and thinking in bursts of survival rather than tactical innovation. This gives the fight the edge of realistic brutality that lacks in Dragon Ball Z, though the argument for which approach is better is undecided as its just as thrilling to watch Vegeta outsmart an enemy by doing something completely unexpected, like having Krillin blast him in the stomach so that he can be healed with a boost in power to take Freiza off guard.
Other Players
With Sung Jinwoo able to level up and take on any challenge, is it possible that there is someone, or something else, that could evolve right along with him? At the moment, Jinwoo is the only player, the only person able to evolve in a world of static magic simply because he has been chosen as the new Monarch of Shadow, but wouldn’t it be interesting to see him come up against an enemy with the propensity to match him in that evolutionary term.
Would our stoic protagonist panic and show us the same facial expression as he did against Igris? How would he adapt to someone who could and would adapt right back, and how would taking away his boon affect his psychology? Perhaps, with Season 3, currently rumored to be releasing in time for the Olympics in 2028, we will find out.
