My favorite webtoon to drama/animation adaptations
I’ll start of by letting you guys know, I was never a big fan of anime live action adaptations…. I used to get the hibbie jibbies every time Iheard that one of my favorite manga’s was being turned into a movie or a tv show — Flashback to Death Note (2006) film series. Shusuke Kaneko truly put me through the ringer with those films and the subsequent Hideo Nakata directed spin off films that put the fear of Kami in me. I have never enjoyed a comic to film adaptation since then, until I ventured into Korean webtoons/Manhwas.
Before I dive into my love and adoration of the Korean webtoon culture some explanations is warranted: My friend, Wikipedia says;
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 [maŋga])are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term manga is used in Japan to refer to both comics and cartooning. Outside of Japan, the word is typically used to refer to comics originally published in the country.
Webtoons (Korean: 웹툰) are a type of digital comic that originated in South Korea usually meant to be read on computers and smartphones. While webtoons were mostly unknown outside of Korea during their inception, there has been a surge in popularity internationally thanks in great part to the rise in popularity of manhwa and the fact that most manhwa are released as webtoons.
Basically, mangas are Japanese comics or cartoons drawn in the Japanese style, while webtoons are just digital comics or manhwa’s shared on these digital platforms like Webtoon(publisher) instead of sold in print copies….
I broke the categories into two, Webtoons adapted into live action shows and webtoons adapted into animation shows. I say shows intentionally here to further emphasis on one thing all anime/manga fans keep saying, “make it a tv series and maybe you might get it right”- am looking at you Ghost in the Shell (2017) and also cursing at you Netflix: Death Note (2017)…
Webtoon was founded in 2004 by JunKoo Kim when the manhwa industry crashed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Manhwa artists adapted to the scrolling format for their comics and it just blew up from their.
Here’s my personal picks for top webtoons adaptations in the past 2 years.
True Beauty — Yeoshinkangrim; THE SECRET OF ANGEL여신강림; The Secret of Angel; Yeoshingangrim ~ is a Romance, Comedy, Drama show based on the webtoon with the same name True Beauty by Yaongyi. It aired on tvN from December 9, 2020 to February 4, 2021.
It’s a coming of age story about Lim Ju Kyung, a high school who is insecure about her looks and turns to make-up to cope. Its a well told story, about a girl who learned to love who she was behind the make up and used all her fears and insecurities to master the skill and help other people who are facing the same fears to over come them through the power of make-up….this more so the webtoon than the drama itself. The drama is a campy, romance story about a girl who was always considered ugly discovered make-up and used it to start a more happy life after being bullied at her old school. A lot of differences between the drama and the webtoon but I’ll be honest, it was still a good show.
A solid 9.5/10
First things first, I was so grateful that the producers of the show went out of there way to find and model the Main Characters (MC’s) after the webtoon characters.
The PD did a great job and I applaud the results
Thank you for that.
Secondly, I love the fact that the drama didn’t change anything for the webtoon, for me. It’s still an ongoing series on Webtoon with a frequent update every Wednesday. I still read it from time to time and the tv show just made me enjoy the manhwa even more. Of course they took creative liberty while creating it for the general audience and changed a few things here and there but he soul of the webtoon is still felt in this show. And I appreciate that with all my heart.
One character arc I was presently surprised with was Ju Kyung’s dad’s character arc, for a strange reason I found the extra details of him finding a niche he is good at and doing good at it makes me happy for the old fool, I found myself not liking the mum as much. She wasn’t my favorite in the webtoon but she was extra frustrating in the drama and I love that. I love that Hee Kyung in the show is the one pursuing the teacher. I like the fresh new look of women pursuing men in the recent dramas I’ve seen. I like that Seo Jun and Soo Ho have a great chemistry and Moon Ga Young does an amazing job being able to keep the sparks going for both Soo Ho and Seo Jun. A funny moment for me that kept recurring was Ro Chong and classmate X, I appreciate the fujoshi fan service. I see you BL
All I’m saying is, watch the drama or read the manhwa or do them both. They are equally entertaining.
A Business Proposal — In-House Confrontation; In-House Match; Confrontation in the Company; Meet the Man; Meet the Guy; Sanae Majseon; Sanae Matseon; Sanae Matsun; 사내맞선; The Office Blind Date; Business Proposal ~A Romance, Drama, Comedy adapted from the web novel “The Office Blind Date” (사내 맞선) by Hae Hwa (해화).
This is one of the few adaptations that made me fall in love more with the drama characters than the webtoon itself. The drama has better comedic quips than the manhwa and the characters are well developed to some degree in the drama than they are in the comic and to be honest I wasn’t really disappointed.
Ahn Hyo Seop as Kang Tae Mu, Kim Se Jeong as Shin Ha Ri, Seol In Ah as Jin Young Seo and Kim In Gue as Cha Sung Hoon and my all time favorite hal-abeoji (할아버지), Lee Deok Hwa.
The main premise of the show is that Kang Tae Mu a perfect third generation Chaebol and a CEO for a food company K-FRESH, Kang Da Goo (played by Lee Deok Hwa) is the president of the food company and Kang Tae Mu’s grandfather. While he is strict and serious, he holds a lot of affection for his grandson, and becomes the brilliant architect behind the blueprints to get his grandson married. He will give his list of possible candidates to his grandson, who has no intention of getting hitched and this leads to the hijinks of an office employee who goes on a blind date with her company’s CEO in place of a friend while hiding her identity.
There is a huge difference between this show and its titular comic counterpart. The production team took a lot more liberty with some details in the show but thy were overall such good twists and fun stories that made the overall drama quit enjoyable.
A solid 8.5/10
Tower of God — Tower of God, Kami no Tou: Tower of God, 神之塔 -Tower of God-, Tower of God ~ a Fantasy World, Mystery, Fantasy, Action, Adventure animation based on the webtoon with the same name Tower God
Tower of God centers around a boy called Twenty-Fifth Bam, who has spent most of his life trapped in a cave beneath a vast and mysterious Tower, with only his close friend, Rachel, to keep him company. When Rachel enters the Tower, Bam manages to open the door into it as well, and faces challenges at each floor of this tower as he tries to find his closest companion.
The story telling in the comics is quite unnerving and thrilling but the animation took to the basic story telling trope about an OP character taking the audience on a ride of self discovery and unlocking untested powers. I love the colours and the vybe the animation is setting showing without telling. I’m more curious to find out how crunchyroll will approach the second season, if there will ever a be a sequel because the webtoon is still on going the arcs and growth these characters have undergone would make for an amazing adventure.
A solid 9/10
In conclusion Koreans are doing it better than the Japanese when it comes to adaptations. I’m not even going to talk about the Cowboy Beebop, One Piece, SAO, Yu Yu Hakusho and ATLA shenanigans coming to Netflix….Bleach (2018)
SIGH!
All in all I’m not giving up on them. I’ll watch all of them adaptations, wash my eyes with soap and give them another chance, so you don’t have to.
Hope you enjoy these recommendations and I’d really love to hear from you and what you think. Feel free to recommend me any thing for me to watch and/or talk about.
I only have one rule: I never watch Dubbed!
