Perhaps you noticed the brush of graphics that floated onto the screen every now and then in Netflix’s joyous queer drama Heartstopper. And how the cells in Yumi’s Cells are faithfully animated throughout both seasons of the psychological romance. Or the strange yet magical way the K-drama romcom Business Proposal first unveiled its starry lead: a suave, sharp man slowly glides through the halls of an airport, only he’s fully animated unlike the rest of the passersby surrounding him. To the uninitiated, the instantly memorable introduction for the latter might simply read as a visual metaphor for his supposedly stunning visuals (you’re not wrong), but for those in the know, this was also a welcome and gratuitous homage to the source material: a webtoon or manhwa of the same name.
Heartstopper and Business Proposal both join a number of many other dramas—mostly in the South Korean entertainment space—that are based on said webtoons, perhaps more easily referred to as animated comics. Rather than the superhero-led scene of the comic universe in Hollywood—think Marvel or DC Comics—these manhwas are more closely paralleled to indie comics or the vast animated world of Japanese animes.
Not only do webtoons span endless genres, they are also formatted to be read like a dream; in full colour (much unlike Japanese manga in this sense), a miasmic variety of alternative art styles and attuned to the intuitive motion of scrolling from top to bottom on our mobile devices. Considering most of these webtoons first stemmed from countries such as China and South Korea, a huge chunk of them are also reflective of East Asian cultures and histories. Take for instance, My Roommate is a Gumiho—now also a popular K-drama—that melds romance and Korean folklore into its plot.
With the sheer breadth of creative material popping up in this space, it only stands to reason that an increasing number of directors and production houses are seeing the value in adapting these presently available narratives for the TV screen. Unbeknownst to many, some of the hottest Korean dramas in the past few years alone have actually been based on ongoing or completed webtoons. We’ll flip through the catalogue for you: simply recall the likes of thriller-horrors Sweet Home, All Of Us Are Dead, Hellbound and romance favourites My ID is Gangnam Beauty, True Beauty and Business Proposal. Or perhaps the most recent offerings in the K-drama space might be of notable mention; think Choi Woo-shik’s recent delivery in A Killer Paradox, Yang Se-jong and Bae Suzy’s cosmic team-up in Doona! or the superhero venture of Disney+’s Moving starring Han Hyo-joo, Ryoo Seung-ryong and Jo In-sung.
And it doesn’t end there. In the works, a number of upcoming South Korean drama releases based on webtoons have already been timed for release—the next in line being the socio-political dram-com Pyramid Game which is currently airing, and Netflix’s The 8 Show, starring Ryu Jun-yeol, timed for a May release. Whilst a slew of others have been confirmed for production, and stand to benefit from some extremely smart casting decisions in the K-drama space. Below, spy a shortlist of the most exciting Korean webtoon-based drama adaptations to look out for no matter what genre enthusiast you are, with source material that boast stunning panels of visuals; captivating storylines and intriguing main characters to get acquainted with.
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The 8 Show
Wes Anderson meets Squid Game in The 8 Show. Based on the original works by Bae Jin-soo, yet another twisted survival game series is soon to be with us. Set in an isolated concrete building with nothing given to them but clothes, a rule book and the knowledge that they have to survive for 100 days to earn the sum of prize money at the end of it, the darkest sides of human nature are brought to light once again. No doubt, a catch remains: purchasing any form of regular commodity—a scarcity in the building—would be taking out cash from the final pool. Set for premiere in May, the series will see Ryu Jun-yeol, Chun Woo-hee and Park Jeong-min star in this offbeat drama-comedy-thriller.
The 8 Show will air on Netflix on 17 May. Read Money Game here
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Pyramid Game
The contentious topic of school bullying in South Korea comes into question once again—with Pyramid Game. Based on Dalgonyak’s webtoon with the same name, the narrative follows life at Love High, where students determine their social ranking by a popularity poll. New transfer student Suji, played by Twenty Five Twenty One‘s Bona, makes a beeline for the top of the pyramid chain in an effort to topple the system entirely.
Pyramid Game is now showing on Viu. Read Pyramid Game here.
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A Killer Paradox
A-listers Choi Woo-shik and Son Suk-gu meet in A Killer Paradox. Playing a university student, Choi is Lee Tang, a regular university student who realises he has the ability to recognise bad people who deserve to die after he accidentally murders a drunk man who turns out to be a serial killer. Son is Detective Jang investigating the murder, and he grows suspect of Lee’s vigilante actions.
A Killer Paradox is available on Netflix. Read A Killer Paradox here.
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Cashero
Just confirmed by Netflix, Cashero will see A Shop for Killers’s Kim Hye-jun star alongside the ever-famous Lee Jun-ho, who made waves last year with King The Land opposite Yoona. This particular adaptation is from the namesake webtoon Cashero: a superhero-leaning alternative that sees an ordinary superhero Kang Sang-woong attempt to protect the people around him. The catch? His powers are in direct proportion to the amount of cash he has.
Read Cashero here.
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Death’s Game
A fantastical epic awaits—in the form of Death’s Game. Seo In-guk is the unlucky Choi Yi-jae, who has been cursed with 13 deaths by Death herself, played by Park So-dam. Constantly reborn as someone on the verge of death, he must play the game and attempt to change the ending of at least one of his ‘lives’ in order to live. It’s a star-studded set too, with Moving’s Go Youn-jung, Lee Jae-wook, Lee Do-hyun, Oh Jung-se, Sung Hoon, Jang Seung-jo, Super Junior’s Choi Si-won and Kim Jae-wook all on the cast list.
Death’s Game is available on Prime Video. Read Death’s Game here.
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Marry My Husband
If there’s a revenge plot in the making, it’s in Marry My Husband, which will see popular actor Park Min-young take on the role of Ji-won, who finds out her husband and best friend have been having an affair with each other behind her back despite the fact that she only has a few months left to live. On the cusp of death, she gets sent back 10 years—back to when everything began, and sets her revenge plan into motion.
Marry My Husband is available on Prime Video. Read Marry My Husband here.
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The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract
Lovers of historical romance have surely been set abuzz by this particular one. At the core of The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract is as it sounds: a contract marriage. Throw in some time travel, enthralling fantasy and the romantic notion of fate across worlds, and there you have it. The plot follows Park Yeon-woo, played by Lee Se-young, a Joseon lady who loses her husband to a heart disease. Next thing you know, she’s thrown into a well, wakes up in modern day Seoul and falls into the arms of one dashing CEO Kang Tae-ha—who also looks an awful lot like her late husband.
Read The Story Of Park’s Marriage Contract here.
8 / 12
Doona!
With South Korean A-listers Bae Suzy and Yang Se-jong helming this particular drama adaptation, it almost seems impossible to fail. Whilst the latter takes up the role of Joon, a college student moving into his new apartment, the former has landed the role of Doona herself, an ex-celebrity who is The Girl Downstairs, the name of the original webtoon. It’s a clear romance plot waiting to happen as the duo find themselves constantly entangled, and the mysterious life of Doona unravels along the way.
Doona! is available on Netflix. Read The Girl Downstairs here.
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Study Group
Based on the eponymous webtoon by Shin Hyung-wook and Ryu Seung-yeon, Study Group sees Yoon Ga-min take it upon himself to form his own study group in Yusung Technical High School—nicknamed the ‘school for future criminals’—in order to fulfil his aspirations of going to college. Contrary to his rather timid appearance, he proves himself to be a great fighter and uses it to protect his friends. The role of Ga-min has been claimed by yet another rising actor-idol Hwang Min-hyun, who has been steadily earning himself acting credits in the past few years with his popular roles for Alchemy of Souls and My Lovely Liar.
Read Study Group here.
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Secret Playlist
If you enjoyed the double life that Hannah Montana used to lead back in the day, perhaps Secret Playlist might capture your attention. The main protagonist Song Han-joo (played by Kim Hyang-gi) is seemingly your ordinary college student but her online alter-ego is a music Youtuber named PLII. She gets involved with Lee Do-gook (Shin Hye-seung), a popular idol group member who looks up to her and wants to collaborate with her, not knowing that she’s actually his classmate in school.
Read Secret Playlist here.
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A Good Day to be a Dog
The fantastical quality gleaned from the recent See You in My 19th Life no doubt comes through its source narrative written by Lee Hey; the premise being that the protagonist, Ban Ji-eum is someone who remembers all her past lives. Perhaps it makes sense then, that Lee’s other popular webtoon titled A Good Day to be a Dog, has also earned itself a remake. With over 10 million views on the Webtoon application, the romance-fantasy revolves around a high school teacher Hana, born with a family curse of turning into a dog at night the moment she’s had her first kiss. What perhaps makes this particular adaptation to look forward to is the star power of its leading cast: heartthrob actor-idol Cha Eun-woo and Park Gyu-young of Celebrity and Sweet Home.
Read A Good Day to be a Dog here.
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The Witch
Put simply, it’s the story of how a man fell in love with The Witch. Written by popular author Kang Full, the webtoon with the same name, sees the fiercely loyal Dong-jin attempt to uncover the mystery of Mi-jeong, an ex-classmate who is used to leading an isolated and quiet life away from people despite her strong aura, because she is certain she is the bearer of bad news after multiple strange happenings to the people around her. Whilst GOT7’s Jinyoung takes on the role of Dong-jin, Roh Jeong-eui plays the unfortunate ‘witch’, Mi-jeong.
Read The Witch here.
