The bond between music and anime just got a little tighter with the announcement that Crunchyroll has tapped reggaeton star J Balvin for his vocal qualities — not just as a musician, but as a voice actor in one of the streamer’s hit series. Balvin has been cast as a “key character” in Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise From the Shadow-, which he’ll handle in both English and Spanish.
“I’m beyond thrilled to join the cast of Solo Leveling!” said the “Rio” singer in a press release. “This series has such a passionate fanbase and getting the chance to be part of the anime world, after being a fan for such a long time, is an absolute honor. I can’t wait for everyone to see what we’ve been working on!”
Solo Leveling is an adaptation of a Korean web comic, inspired by dungeon crawling video games. The protagonist, Sung Jinwoo, searches for answers about The System, a mysterious program that increases his powers and skills way beyond what they should be.
The connection was an easy one to make; unbeknownst to some in the US, anime has a long and rich history in Latin America, where some series were translated to Spanish and aired decades before their English counterparts Stateside. There’s a long and fascinating history; you can find out more about it here.
Crunchyroll has been stepping up its efforts to unite anime fans within music with the medium itself; in 2024, it invited Megan Thee Stallion to present at the Anime Awards in Japan and teamed up with Logic for an exclusive merch collection inspired by the classic series Cowboy Bebop. With J Balvin joining the cast of an anime directly, it’ll be fascinating to see how this connection evolves in the future.
