4 ms·
Korean here who has been watching webtoons since the very beginning. Unlike some recent hits made by printed manhwa artists, webtoons were initially an amateur
by duckonomy 7y ago
Korean here who has been watching webtoons since the very beginning.
Unlike some recent hits made by printed manhwa artists, webtoons were initially an amateur thing. Where as mangas always seemed to have a certain level of professionality in terms of detail and storytelling.
That said, it is interesting how Koreans adapt to these technologies really fast and globalize their culture through a media platform.
It feels really weird when you spot someone reading a webtoon in public in the US because that was just native Koreans who lived in Korea 5 years ago.
- sdrothrock 7y agoSince you've been reading webtoons for a long time, I have a question if you have time. A lot of the most popular webtoons I've read are based on serialized novels (e.g. 귀환자의 마법은 특별해야 합니다) -- I've been wondering if this is an actual link, or just some kind of selection bias. Do you know?
- duckonomy 7y agoI'm not really sure what the "most popular" webtoons among non-Koreans. I know some American friends who showed me some that were supposedly popular, but I couldn't recognize. That's certainly not a trend in mainstream webtoons, which are usually the Naver Webtoons. Nearly all (can't think of any one based on something) of them on that platform are original content. Sometimes they get published as novels. Like Noblesse. I think the particular one you mentioned is based on a webnovel (similar to webtoons but novels). I definitely see this trend in Japanese mangas though.
- esyir 7y agoI'd compare the Korean webtoon scene more to the american webcomic scene than to the professional manga environment. Maybe it also compares well to doujin, though to me it feels like the closest resemblance is webcomics.