Warning: Contains spoilers for Solo Leveling season 2, episode #13.It’s common for adaptations to make changes to their source material, and Solo Leveling is no different. The story began as a web novel before being adapted into a novel series, which, in turn, was adapted into the iconic manhwa, and with every new adaptation, it’s always a toss-up if scenes will be improved upon or made worse.

Solo Leveling hasn’t been entirely consistent in how it adapts certain scenes, but the season 2 finale has had a notably great handling of things. The season 2 finale adapted multiple scenes from the manhwa that haven’t been without criticism over the years, and surprisingly, Solo Leveling season 2’s finale restored a controversial scene from the manhwa to how it was in the novel and even expanded on it for further character work. The scene ended up as one of the biggest highlights of the finale, and overall, it was one of the best changes the anime could have made.

How Solo Leveling Season 2’s Finale Fixed A Controversial Character Moment

Solo Leveling's Big Character Change Explained

Solo Leveling season 2’s finale covered the aftermath of the Jeju Island raid, which included Jinwoo attending the funeral of everyone who died. There, Jinwoo had a brief encounter with Cha Hae-In, and in the manhwa’s take on the scene, Hae-In blushed at the sight of Jinwoo before turning away from him. That wasn’t how it went in the novel, however; Hae-In’s reaction was supposed to be more vague, and since her next major appearance is when she s the Ahjin Guild, Solo Leveling’s manhwa gives the impression that Cha Hae-In is motivated almost exclusively by her feelings for Jinwoo.

The manhwa didn’t leave a good impression of Cha Hae-In, but the anime more than fixed things. Not only was her reaction to seeing Jinwoo kept more vague, but the anime also added an original scene where Hae-In lamented how useless she was and vowed to get stronger, thus better setting up her ing Jinwoo’s guild. In short, Solo Leveling’s anime not only fixed Cha Hae-In’s character after the manhwa changed it for the worse, but it gave her more to work with by better emphasizing her character arc, and it ends up being better than even the original novel.

Solo Leveling Needs To Fix One Of The Original Story’s Biggest Failures

How Solo Leveling Can Do Right By Cha Hae-In

The way Solo Leveling’s anime handled Cha Hae-In compared to the manhwa was great, and it can’t stop with the season 2 finale. Solo Leveling has a bad reputation for never giving anyone other than Jinwoo much to do, and Hae-In gets the worst of it as she’s gradually reduced to being little more than Jinwoo’s love interest. The anime shows a clear intent to give Hae-In more to do, however, so with that in mind, Solo Leveling’s anime can improve Cha Hae-In’s character by giving her more agency where she was otherwise lacking in the original story.

That idea might already be in effect, of course. In Solo Leveling’s sequel, Solo Leveling: Ragnarok, Hae-In has a far larger role compared to the original story and even has more chances to be involved in fights; series creator Chugong likely understood how wasted she was, so Solo Leveling: Ragnarok giving Cha Hae-In more to do is the perfect justification for the anime to do the same. With Solo Leveling season 3 still up in the air, it’s unknown when any of that would come to , if at all, but nonetheless, it’s something well worth looking forward to.