Everybody has heard of K-Pop, many people know K-Dramas. After all, the Hallyu wave from Korea has been stunning the world for a long time now. With the addition of K-Dramas of various genres to Netflix and the exponential rise in fame of bands like BTS and Blackpink, Korean culture is taking over hearts in almost every part of the world. There is another part of Korean entertainment that is also making waves. Though not as prevalent yet, as Kdramas or Kpop, this part is also creating waves in its own way. What I am talking about are Webtoons.

Webtoon is an app that is part of the online portal developed in Korea called Naver. It was initially launched in Korea but soon after its rising popularity, it was launched globally in languages that included Chinese, Japanese, English, French, Indonesian, Spanish, Thai and German.

Webtoon is home to hundreds and thousands of comics across almost 20 different genres ranging from romance, to slice-of-life, to action and horror. Webtoon brought attention to the Korean equivalent of ‘Manga’, called ‘Manhwa’. The translations of these ‘Manhwa’ comics were released through the Webtoon app and has now gained a lot of popularity.

People still prefer reading Manga as books and their digitized copies are also in the form of ‘pages’. But, ‘webtoons’, as the comics on the app are called, are different. They are made solely for the mobile phones. They have a continuous style of page distribution, where one episode is generally one long page that you can scroll through easily on a phone. To be honest, the best experience of reading a webtoon is on the phone. Reading it on a desktop just does not have the same feel. This is bringing a lot of change in the way artists are planning out storyboards and layouts too.

That is another thing about webtoon. They have something called ‘Canvas’. This is a space where any artist can upload their comics for people from around the world to read. Through competitions and contests, many of these comics are recognized and taken up by the Webtoon corporation and made into an ‘Original’ on the app. When released as ‘Originals’, the artist is hired under the corporation and is financed by the corporation. The comic is serialized with proper release schedules and a more wider audience range. In this way, Webtoon is a great platform for aspiring comic book artists to get their works recognized and applauded.

During the lockdown, I came across the app and now I am fully hooked. There is so much variety both in terms of art styles and in terms of stories. So, I have decided to compile a list of my favourite webtoons for those who want to start reading and for those who already know and are looking for something new to read. So here goes!

1. WINDBREAKER

• Status: Ongoing
• Genre: Sports
• No. of Eps: 339 (so far)

This webtoon is one of my all time favorites. It is a sports webtoon about extreme and street cycling. Reading this webtoon made me, a couch potato at the best of times, to also want to ride a bicycle. It follows a group of high school kids who start a cycling crew to enter a street cycling competition. It is about how they grow together both as riders and human beings in general.

The art is amazing, the story is amazing and every week I am waiting excitedly for a new episode to release. It is a really nice webtoon to start off your foray into this world, especially for those who love cycling and even for those who don’t. It is a very underrated webtoon that I hope gets a lot more love.

2. SPIRIT FINGERS

• Status: completed
• Genre: drama
• No. of eps: 167

For anyone looking for a light hearted webtoon to start their day, this is the perfect one. It is the story about a girl who has lived all her life as an awkward teenager and lacking self-confidence. But then, she encounters a group of the ‘hippest, strangest, coolest (yet most welcoming)’ people ever in the form of an art club called ‘Spirit Fingers’. Then begins her journey of self discovery self love.

A webtoon filled with lovable characters, dumb incidents and just hilarious in many senses, it is one that also gives out the message that everyone is unique and a ‘COLOR’ of their own. It is just about taking our the time to find yourself and your group. It is a small webtoon compared to the others on the list with just 166 episodes but a fun read nevertheless. The art took me some getting used to. But it grows on you and by the end of it you are in love with not only ALL the characters but also with how they are drawn.

3.LOST IN TRANSLATION

• Status: ongoing
• Genre: drama
• No. of eps: 71 (so far)

This is one of the webtoons I started reading as soon as it released, so I have been part of the whole journey so far. It is a webtoon that brings the two worlds of webtoons and the Kpop industry together. The webtoon is about an Idol group member whose stage name is ‘Wyld’. As ‘Wyld’ of group ‘Mayhem’ he is embroiled in scandals and has a persona of a player but in reality “Jaehwon’ is just a huge cinnamon roll who was forced to put on the persona by the company he works under. It is a new webtoon with not even a hundred episodes yet but I already love it. The art is distinctive and the story is really good so far. I cant wait to see how much better it is going to get.

Another thing about the band, Mayhem. It actually exists! It is a 2d band that has a huge fan following, basically readers of the series. If you go to YouTube and search for Mayhem, you can even listen to an original song along with a music video that was released by the band. Twitter pages for all band members is also there all having a huge amount of fan following. This is another thing about the webtoon that is keeping me hooked.

So there you have it. A small list of my favorite webtoons that I hope everyone will enjoy as much as me. There are so many more good ones that I haven’t included in the list. Many that can be found the minute you open the app. And new ones are getting added almost everyday. It is a new world in itself. One I have enjoyed stepping into and being a part of. I hope this helps you also in your foray into the world of webtoons.