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Korean Webtoons – that good?

Someone please enlighten me. Are they really that interesting?

I have known about Korean webtoons since years ago, but I have never been able to finish even one installment.

They just…. don’t appeal to me. Is it me? Or maybe I didn’t read the popular ones. But even looking at those on the ranking list doesn’t help.

First, I can’t stand the drawings. I’m not saying that they are bad or ugly, but they are just not my style. 패션왕 is currently #1 on the list now and when I clicked on it, immediately I’m like meh.

The drawing style just turns me off. I’m too used to the Japanese manga style. It’s like how I love archie comics and hate marvel comics. Personal preference.

Secondly, the dialogue boxes/font. Either they are just awkwardly big or the font is like slanted and unreadable.

Okay, am I being too picky?

But I really dun like them.

Maybe it’s because my Korean wasn’t that good last time, so all these made reading even more of a chore. So now, I shall attempt to start reading one. 사랑일까? caught my eyes because.. the drawings are acceptable. The font is a little hard to read, but I’ll bear with it. Better than too blocky fonts. I dun like those too.

If you are looking for some light reading, check out NAVER 만화.

p.s. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t read the manga. Even though they are short sentences, they usually consists quite a number of slangs. Which are actually high level (:

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55 Comments

  • Reply
    Janzh
    6 December, 2012 at 9:39 PM

    Maybe you should try http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list.nhn?titleId=186811&no=22&weekday=thu ? It’s my favorite haha but it’s romance so I don’t know if you’ll enjoy it. The drawings are pretty good.

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      10 December, 2012 at 10:43 AM

      woooots! Thanks for the recommendation 😀 will check it out!

    • Reply
      random123
      23 April, 2013 at 3:43 PM

      THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD ONES! 😀 im very picky about the art too. of course these arent PROFESSIONAL ones so it wont be super amazing all the time but i’d say theyre pretty darn good (: the ones im reading now :
      ENT (they sub this one) – SUPER SUPER GOOD and if youre into korean media like kpop you might like it even more~
      Dear, Only You Don’t Know! (they sub this one) – its really fun to me xD
      Crepsucule (they sub this one) – PRETTY DARN GOOD.
      Divine bells (they sub this one) – Good story AND good art 😀
      Girls of the Wild (they sub this one) – AMAZING. the story AND ART IS AMAZZIIIINGG.
      -if you like romance (i dont) but i dont like the art for these that much:
      Orange Marmalade & Green Boy

      • Reply
        Jordana
        24 November, 2014 at 3:56 AM

        Where can i read ENT?

    • Reply
      NOGADACS
      21 May, 2014 at 12:51 PM

      http://comic.naver.com/en/index.html

      I suggest this above web page.

      They have some famous Korean webtoon with english subtitle.

      My favorate webtoon is “About death”.

  • Reply
    Yvan
    6 December, 2012 at 9:41 PM

    My personal favorite is the “Blood Type Investigation(?)” series. It’s just silly.

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      10 December, 2012 at 10:43 AM

      I like the title already XD

  • Reply
    joopleberry
    6 December, 2012 at 11:13 PM

    try this! it’s really sweet and cute, about a korean girl married to a british guy 🙂

    http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=169080

    • Reply
      alodia
      7 December, 2012 at 5:59 PM

      I love Penguin Loves Mev! The only webtoon I can follow. 🙂

      • Reply
        Fajar Priyanto (@fajarpri)
        13 December, 2012 at 1:45 PM

        Hi all,
        I’ve checked some of the recommendation, so far only Penguin Loves Me that is bilingual (Kor-Eng). Is there any other webtoon that is bilingual?

        I don’t mean about the English scanlation, I prefer if it’s bilingual so that I can learn Korean from it.
        Thank you ^^

      • Reply
        geronl
        8 February, 2013 at 9:48 AM

        There are sites that translate them to make it easier to follow

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      10 December, 2012 at 10:44 AM

      ooh! This is the only webtoon I’ve heard of. Haven’t got the chance to check it out. Quite a number of people have recommended this

  • Reply
    mishmash
    7 December, 2012 at 2:08 AM

    There are a few that I read on and off but I don’t follow the storyline. I guess it’s just something I read when I have nothing else to do but I tend to read them on my iPad, it’s a pain zooming in and out on the iphone (especially when the fonts are weird) and it’s not something I read on my computer (unless i’m slacking off at work hehe)

    I can’t even recall the name of the webtoons as I just save them as favourites on the app itself. I think the only webtoons I read from start to finish are those by 강풀 and those I bought the published versions, didn’t read them online.

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      10 December, 2012 at 10:45 AM

      Yeah it’s a pain to read it on the phone D: Will check 강풀’s stuff out (:

  • Reply
    Chornghi
    7 December, 2012 at 9:04 AM

    eh… i guess give up on it if you don’t like it… like i’ve been learning japanese but i don’t read manga or watch anime at all…. I used to but now a days I’m just more into other media… infact there’s so much other stuff i’d rather watch or read than anime or manga so that’s why i’m not reading it. i’m sure you have your huge que of books or dramas or whatever.

    • Reply
      alodia
      7 December, 2012 at 6:18 PM

      Same thoughts! 🙂
      Maybe you are just not into it. I’m not into anime or mangas either, but since webtoons have Korean on it that I can read, I read them when I’m bored or got nothing to do to kill time. But never managed to actually follow any of them religiously (though I’m trying to keep reading Penguin loves Mev). I would love to read “The Five”. It looks super okay to me (or was it because I can understand them more now??) but it’s a paid webtoon… 🙁

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      10 December, 2012 at 10:45 AM

      hahahaha that’s true xD Maybe it’s not just my kind of thing

  • Reply
    Tina
    7 December, 2012 at 3:34 PM

    I was about to recommend Penguin Loves Mev (http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=169080) but I see someone has already. The drawings are cute (to me) and the stories are funny (sometimes). 🙂

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      10 December, 2012 at 10:45 AM

      😀 okay one more reason to check that webtoon out!

  • Reply
    Lucie D
    7 December, 2012 at 7:01 PM

    I browsed through several webtoons and I downloaded the app on my ipad and so far the only one that appealed to me is 아는 사람 이야기 http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list.nhn?titleId=460686&no=6&weekday=fri
    The art style is similar to a manga. Trying to read it and translate some words while at it. Trying to improve my vocabulary and get used to reading Korean. Sometimes I just read the words not really knowing the meaning. Just a way to expose myself to reading material.
    But I quite like the story from what I understand.

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      10 December, 2012 at 10:46 AM

      ooo clicked on the link and yeah i like the art 😛

      • Reply
        Eddie
        10 December, 2012 at 7:56 PM

        Came to recommend this and Penguin Loves Mev and both were already done!

  • Reply
    skrwitch
    8 December, 2012 at 2:03 AM

    Wow. I dislike the type of drawings too. I wish it was drawn like manga. That would make it more appealing. When I get better, I might start reading these. But thanks for posting this. I never knew what they were. I’m actually going to read this now, but only to practice reading as the content is far beyond my level.

  • Reply
    Sojin
    9 December, 2012 at 9:07 PM

    A few days late on this. But I wanted to comment anyway.
    Webtoons are really hit and miss most of the time. I remember feeling the same way as you. I really can’t stand most of the drawings for most of the webcomics, but there are occassionally some decent ones. I think part of the reason that webtoons generally don’ thave good art is just that, we get it for free.
    After having found some webtoons who’s art I can stand, I really like most of the webtoons drawn by ‘하일권’ – to date, I think she has posted up to 5 series? You can search her name to find all the series she’s done.
    But yeah, especially when you first look at them, most of them are not very great as far as the art goes.

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      10 December, 2012 at 10:48 AM

      hahaha yeah it’s good that it’s free though. 😀 Will check her works out! Thanks!

      • Reply
        하일권
        7 April, 2013 at 2:58 PM

        actually 하일권 is a male…

  • Reply
    Prashanth Akunuri
    10 December, 2012 at 1:47 AM

    I don’t find them very appealing too, but again I didn’t try that hard reading any webtoon. So it’s probably not just you.

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      10 December, 2012 at 10:48 AM

      same here. Will check out the recommended ones on the post though (:

  • Reply
    Neige
    10 December, 2012 at 6:41 AM

    I start reading Korean Web Toons thanks to you (i didn’t know them) and I love it^^ I feel like it helps me improving my reading skills!
    I love your blog by the way (i’ve been a silent reader for a while). Very inspirational!

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      10 December, 2012 at 10:49 AM

      hehe thanks for the first comment!! 😀 😀 Hope you will have fun reading~~! ^^

  • Reply
    Angeli
    10 December, 2012 at 11:11 AM

    I like 와라! 편의점 :3 It contains interesting and funny stories about things that happen in a convenience store.

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      10 December, 2012 at 11:56 PM

      sounds interesting! 😀 will go check it out!!

    • Reply
      alodia
      12 December, 2012 at 9:33 PM

      Thanks for reminding me of this one. I came across this last early this year but never get to continue reading it. Now I can understand it better and i’m sooo enjoying it! Can’t stop reading it! Love it! Especially because I was a regular 편의점 customer when I was in Korea.

  • Reply
    Fajar Priyanto (@fajarpri)
    10 December, 2012 at 8:12 PM

    Thanks for the info. Do you know why the Penguin Loves Me has translation in it while others don’t? It really helps the learning.

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      10 December, 2012 at 11:57 PM

      since it’s a comic about a marriage between a korean and a british, i guess the author is bilingual (:

  • Reply
    Cordelia
    11 December, 2012 at 10:57 AM

    My favorite webtoons are (they’re all available as english scanlations and the drawings are really pretty/really well done :3)

    These are a few of my favorites:
    http://www.webtoonlive.com/description/Noblesse/
    http://www.webtoonlive.com/description/Tower+of+God/
    http://www.webtoonlive.com/description/Orange+marmalade/
    http://www.webtoonlive.com/description/Girl+the+Wild's/

    This is cute (romance) :
    http://www.webtoonlive.com/webtoon/By+Chance%2C+We…+and…/ch-first/
    http://www.webtoonlive.com/description/Nineteen,+Twenty-One/

    Psychology:
    http://www.webtoonlive.com/description/Dr.Frost/

    Really interesting:
    http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list.nhn?titleId=186811&no=50&weekday=
    (You can get is as an english scanlation by going here: http://www.oddsquad.org/p/cheese-in-trap.html)

    The drawings are so pretty 0-0
    http://www.oddsquad.org/p/pink-lady.html (instructions for getting it as an english scanlation is the same as the one above^)

    Really funny:
    http://www.webtoonlive.com/description/Transfer+Student+The+Storm+Bringer/
    http://www.webtoonlive.com/description/The+Devil+King+is+Bored/
    (these two don’t have the same caliber of drawing as the other ones, but these are by far the funniest)

    The beginning is funny but it gets kind of sad:
    http://www.webtoonlive.com/description/Nowhere+Boy/

    The drawings are gorgeous:
    http://mangafox.me/manga/song_of_the_cloud/

    Other:
    http://mangafox.me/manga/diamond_dust_kang_hyung_gyu/
    http://mangafox.me/manga/model_miso/

    • Reply
      alodia
      11 December, 2012 at 2:40 PM

      didn’t know there are english scans of korean webtoons as well. thanks!

  • Reply
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  • Reply
    Faeleia
    29 May, 2013 at 2:29 PM

    I only have one favorite, and it doesn’t bother me. (I’m soo picky about the graphics, storyline, type, text, font.. etcetc.)

    It’s called Twenty’s first Love. May be too simple for shanna, but maybe you all might like it ^^
    http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list.nhn?titleId=532057

    I’ve been looking at the other recommended ones, but written font.. I can’t. Eek.

  • Reply
    rachel
    22 June, 2013 at 11:17 AM

    I don’t know if you still read the comments here kkeke. I really liked My Heart Is Beating. it was funny and not too long, yet the story was deep and the art was great. i will post the korean scans but if you google you will find the english scans as well.
    http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/list.nhn?titleId=65410

  • Reply
    korean guy
    29 September, 2013 at 10:28 PM

    there’s so many good web toon
    Monday : the tower of god 신의탑
    Tuesday : nobless 노블레스
    Wednesday : 웃지않는개그반
    Thursday : 마음의소리, 어빌리티, 치즈인더트랩
    Friday : the god of highschool 갓 오브 하이스쿨
    Sunday : 악플게임

    These are pretty much the most popular ones in Korea

    • Reply
      hangukdrama
      30 September, 2013 at 5:18 PM

      wow thanks for the recommendations!! hehe 😀 I always wondered which are the more popular ones. now I know where to start from 😛

  • Reply
    korean gal
    3 November, 2013 at 2:09 PM

    OH my god there are so many great webtoons in korea. Not just naver, but other sites like daum or nate has great webtoons.
    NAVER.
    Monday Tower of God(obviously)
    Flower Family(you will laugh seriously

    Tuesday Noblesse(great)
    Mental Rope(total riot you’ll love it)
    Wednesday The class that does not smile(but you will do more than smile)
    Thursday cheese in the trap(super popular)
    Friday God of Highschool(!!!!x1000)
    Saturday OH!MY GOD! (OMG)
    Sunday Girls of the Wild’s(Wild. Totally.)

    Finished webtoons
    The student who brings a storm
    Green Boy
    Pet Diary
    Love Cell

    NATE
    무용지용

    DAUM
    Her,Cherry Boy
    Pale Horse

    Many pieople dont like the style of the drawinfs but theyre just another side of korean webtoons you will enjoy.

  • Reply
    Euodiachloris
    16 January, 2014 at 4:29 PM

    You might want to pick Kubera up, as a strong recommendation on my part: beware… under that highly colourful art and those funny moments drawn by Currygom lies tragedy and dark deceit of all kinds! 😀 One of the tag lines for the series isn’t “there are no villains, only victims” for a reason (but, Sagara is pretty darned good as a not-villain Villain, imo — and, just wait until you hit Riche ). However, the comic itself is strongly Drama-Comedy, with the humour being very good. If you can take the whiplash Dr Who gives you in tone-shifts, you can take Kubera. It does have a lot of characters you’ll need to keep track of, though — thank heaven there’s a wiki. Paying attention is mandatory, as the world (and plot) are complex puzzles, so, if you’re not up for an epic head-scratcher, it may not be your thing — but, if you are willing to reread, it’s an excellent choice. Oh, and beware abs and busty busts in (rather chaste) fanservice… Currygom has her types, and isn’t afraid to use ’em. 😉

    My brother is in the same boat when it comes to not liking SIU’s style… both in art and MMO-style presentation in Tower of God (pity: he’d love the plot if he could get beyond The Crown Game and adapt his eyes)… but, he could get away with Kubera from the first few strips. A note about Tower of God: the art really picks up about midway… and then starts sliding a bit, again (SIU’s fault: he’s busted his wrist and refuses to stop to heal up properly, the workaholic idiot). The plot is, admittedly, a slow burner. But, once it bites down, you can find yourself addicted. And, SIU is a troll along the same lines as Joss Wheadon: so prepare to have rugs pulled from under you, should you try taking it up again. 😛 This has meant complications in scanlation work — speedscans are not always your friend, here.

    You could try Divine Bells, as well: that’s another my brother could get into (also Fantasy, but this time, leaning towards Historic Fantasy more than Kubera does with its Mythic Space Opera type). xD Nose around. There are some really good ones beyond the ones shared here so far…

    …like the dark horse of Black Haze: a Best Challenge strip that really should be with the big boys and girls, if you can get beyond the CLAMP-like artwork — which I recommend you try doing. It’s a rip-roarer that gets out the blocks at full pace… but, which is a fortnightly, so be warned about getting regular withdrawal. 😛 Some of the early artistic gaffs (like, some really weird angles) are worth ignoring thanks to the plot and characterisation — the art improves quickly, however. As most webtoons do: practice sharpens skills. 🙂

    In a Dr Frost-ish, slice of life kind of good is The Children’s Teacher, Mr Kwon. Pack tissues, for, although it has wonderful light moments, the dark ones really whack you. 😐 Very solid read, though. And, the art can be quite stunning in its simplicity at times. There is some very good trope-use for the genres it’s in, as the pacing is excellent. 🙂

    Gaussian Blur (a Daum one: don’t try looking for it on Naver) is… a little odd-ball for a slice of life school tale. But, worth an investigation, regardless. The art is clean and simple… but, the story isn’t: it gets emotionally messy. Beware bullying. 😐

    Another Daum one to look into: Twelfth Night (or Twelve Nights). If you like your relationship and political webs complex and in dodecahedra, with your battle scenes basically the background to them… this is your baby. 🙂 The art can get really stunningly detailed in its historical accuracy (occasionally a bit messy and busy, but, hey ). Yup: it’s historical fantasy… with twists of the farce you’d expect for something probably named after the Shakespeare play. (I’m still waiting for Malvolio to show up…)

    Noblesse (and Ability, actually) is… a little so-so: if you like battles over plot and character development, it’s ace. If not, it’s not so good. 😐 I’m a plot-junkie, myself, so I don’t find them quite as entertaining as others do. Having said that, if you leave your brain at the door and don’t expect much beyond established genre tropes, they’re good reads.

    Also, when reading scanlations*… I suggest reading strip forms, if you can. Batoto is good at allowing you either page or strip views from sites that have given permission for their stuff to be shared on it. Semi-ethical leechdom: it exists! xD

    A further note: treating webtoons as manga or manwha is doing them a disservice. Because they don’t have the same editing policies, they won’t have some of the quality control the paper publishers can enforce. But, because they don’t, they can take you places publishing houses are afraid to go in ways that are not always standard for the medium of comics. They’re webcomics, after all. 🙂 Treat the some of art and storytelling blunders you come across as the experimentation they are, and you’re golden. They’re worth the OMG moments, in the main.

    I could go on, but… I’ll shut up, now. ;P

    *Also hit the raws. Authors need your clicks.

    • Reply
      Hangukdrama
      16 January, 2014 at 5:33 PM

      Hello!! wow thanks for all the recommendations!! Kubera sounds like it’s right up my alley, I’ll give it a try over the weekend! Heard of Gaussian Blur but haven’t got to looking at it.

      The recommendations will be helpful to those who chance upon this post! There seems to be something for everybody. Thanks!!

      p.s. sorry your comment didn’t turn up at first. The blog likes to eat up comments D:

      • Reply
        Thanatos
        23 April, 2015 at 6:00 AM

        One more that really should be mentioned (for you as well Euo) is Knight Run. It’s a sprawling sci-fi epic, pretty soft on the science side but with amazing art and story. Beware though: anyone can die. And there’s a lot of planets being ruined, do a Ahold lot of people do just that. It’s pretty long, with the prologue alone being a good seventy twenty minute chapters, but it’s worth it. Also LINE Webtoons app, but yeah.

        Oh yeah, and if you like romance, try unTOUCHable. It has vampires. A bit like Orange Marmalade actually.

  • Reply
    Koreancartoon
    1 February, 2014 at 3:45 PM

    Do you know ‘Lessa’ naver webtoon?
    I am really Korean, and Koreans think the most quality webtoon is Lessa, Cheeze in the trap and 질풍기획
    I am very interested that foreigners prefer Romance genres than the others, but it seems that they do not feel attractive with the works…..

  • Reply
    macopaleaf
    6 July, 2014 at 4:20 PM

    I didn’t like webtoons at first coz of the art but I got used to it. In Naver, I like Kubera, Tower of God, Noblesse, Lessa, Trump, Black Haze, Cheese in the Trap. In Daum, American Ghost Jack, Twelfth Night and Michelin Star are the ones I’m reading. I’m not good with korean so I’m reading them through translations in batoto. However, Naver said that they’ll provide english translated webtoons through their app this July. Some Daum webtoons are posted in English in the website Tapastic.com.

  • Reply
    unknown
    14 September, 2014 at 9:59 PM

    monday – 모태솔로수용소 (jail for people who are single), 평범한 8반, 일등당첨, 꽃가족
    tuesday- 마음의 소리
    wednesday- 웃지않는 개그반, 꽃가족
    thursday -연애혁명
    friday-마음의 소리
    saturday-야매요리, 프리드로우,
    sunday- 소녀더와일즈

  • Reply
    Thain Gar
    23 November, 2014 at 1:09 PM

    LINE has an app called WEBTOON and they’re all translated into English. <3 You also have two other options for content language, which are Chinese and Thai! 😀

    • Reply
      Thain Gar
      23 November, 2014 at 1:10 PM

      I forgot to mention there’s a website too! just webtoons.com 🙂

  • Reply
    Hehe
    11 May, 2015 at 7:05 AM

    I think you should read secretly Greatly (daum). It is full of comedy and action. It also was made into a movie! You should check it out!

    (webtoon in Korean )
    http://webtoon.daum.net/webtoon/view/covertness

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