Also, Aniplex and Crunchyroll have announced an anime adaptation of another famous webtoon, Solo Leveling, for 2023, with A-1 Pictures studio bringing the much-expected anime series to life.

RELATED: The Best Korean Webtoons

What Are Webtoons?

The webtoons, also known as webcomics or South Korean manhwa, are not necessarily something new, but it is undeniable that this type of media serves as a virtually endless source of stories with lots of potentials — as well as popularity —, which have already been adapted into K-dramas and, in recent years, have crossed seas and have been adapted into usually well-received anime.

These webcomics known as webtoons are frequently full-colored rather than black and white, and they can sometimes feature sound effects or even background music. The technology behind these digital comics, meant to be read on a smartphone, tablet, or computer, originated around 2003 when the sales of physical comics dwindled in the country, that is, a new promising market was born when the old model of the market was dying.

The rise of the format of webtoons happened with the country’s two leading platforms, which are Naver Webtoon and Kakao Webtoon, the Japanese affiliate of which, Piccoma, is the second highest-grossing non-gaming app in the world, staying behind only TikTok, according to 2021 data, with monthly revenue of $96m. Since both platforms allow the registered creators to upload their Webtoons for free, it leads to a massive range of stories, and titles, attracting huge fanbases and leaving room for endless possibilities in terms of storytelling.

This immense potential, variety, and the possibility of consuming Webtoons quickly and on the go rendered the format increasingly popular in South Korea and beyond, properly adapted to the target public of this age in which fast, but good entertainment is more than welcome. Also, they tell stories about Korean culture, being relatable to Koreans and, for the rest of the world, being a source for learning more about their culture and customs. In terms of market reach, webtoons are increasingly looking overseas for success. With many mobile applications to read webtoons, worldwide consumers can easily access them, while South Korean agencies implement the webtoon content export to other countries.

If superhero movies achieve immense success, public and box office records in the US and all over the world, the comics they are based on are more restricted to a niche, and not only in the US. Webtoons, which is a digital comic format originating in South Korea, on the other hand, has started somewhat of a splash outside of East Asia in recent years.

Live-Action Adaptations Of Webtoons

Being famous in South Korea, it should be expected that webtoons would be adapted to the domestic market. So, more and more webtoons that are wildly popular in South Korea have been adapted to the screen, following a recent trend. Some of the most recently famous and outstanding K-dramas on Netflix are based on webtoons that already had big fanbases, with storylines spanning into genres from romance to horror, before being adapted into other media.

Some examples of webtoons that were adapted into K-dramas and that are available on Netflix are the supernatural drama Tomorrow, about a group of grim reapers who guide the dead to save the people who want to die, based on the homonymous webtoon by Llana, the zombie apocalypse series All Of Us Are Dead, based on the webtoon Now At Our School, by Joo Dong-Geun, the also supernatural thriller Hellbound, based on a webtoon of the same name by Yeon Sang-Ho, who also directed the adaptation and is famous for directing the South Korean zombie movie, Train To Busan. — but not only on Netflix, True Beauty is another example of an adaptation of a webtoon into a K-drama at Rakuten Viki.

The Korean Wave Washing The Shores Of The US And Japan

Recently, the famous K-Pop group, BTS, has had the bestselling song in the US for 2 years in a row. Parasite, the 2020 Oscar winner by Bong Joon-Ho, is the fourth highest-grossing foreign movie in the US box office history, and Squid Game is extremely successful in America and beyond - an Emmy winner. According to Variety, it had reached 1.7 billion hours streamed by subscribers of the platform by the end of its first 28 days after it was released. The k-drama craze is also growing in Japan. Considering all that, it comes as little to no surprise that South Korean webtoons started to be adapted into anime. Big K-Dramas in their homeland is also huge in Japan. Both Descendants Of The Sun and Goblin sold rights there for a huge sum. K-Pop idols still hit the Oricon charts, and have a history of creating anime opening and ending songs. So, why not turn good webtoon stories into anime? It is not a phenomenon indeed, but a consequence of the chain of events delineated herein so far.

In 2020, WEBTOON, the world’s biggest webcomics publisher expanded its reach with its production division, WEBTOON Studios, connecting the huge library of titles and creators and entertainment platforms, including films, TV, interactive entertainiment, licensing, and marketing, as well as it partnered with companies like Crunchyroll.

Considered a fever of 2020, Tower of God, season 2 of which has already been announced, was the first product of the NAVER and Crunchyroll partnership to create Crunchyroll originals adapting famous webtoons. With Japanese production, the anime counted on the opening and ending theme songs by the famous K-Pop group Stray Kids. Crunchyroll also has Noblesse and The God Of High School. With the Solo Leveling anime slated for a 2023 release, and after the successful receipt of Lookism on Netflix – which is, unlike the others mentioned, produced by Studio Mir, a South Korean studio, with Korean voice actors, set in Korea, with the opening song, “Like That”, by the K-Pop band, ATEEZ, showing the main characters of the anime dancing to it in an animated MV-style of K-Pop, it can surely be stated that the Korean Wave has not yet ceased to try and reach more shores with the webtoons turned into anime, and the public is awaiting, and avid for more.

MORE: Amazing Webtoons With LGBT+ Representation