| This page is for any media news or announcements of Webtoon and other Webcomic news. The content can be either negative or positive, old and new, and discussion is implored. ][spoiler]small shout out to my brother, thanks so much Besides that a thread like this has been long needed, I needed to post these very important updates I was notified of and because I want to make this thread as fresh as possible. So here we go. Let's start with the bad news (I apologize for anyone who wants the good news before the bad news but this is just how I work)..... Pirated Content a Serious Threat to South Korean Webtoon Industry “There are over 200 websites for pirated webtoons in Korean language alone and given that they generate a significant amount of traffic, the damages are expected to be worth over 200 billion won. With international platforms thrown into the mix, the figure would be astronomical,” said Kang, who heads Webtoon Guide. Kang warns illegal copying poses a serious threat to South Korea’s webtoon industry, as stagnating sales in recent years despite increased investment and the growing number of webtoon series are thought to be the result of widely available pirated content. Now for the good news! Lezhin tops sales among comic apps in U.S. Lezhin Comics, which first tapped the U.S. market in 2016, said it raked in 6.6 billion won (US$6.18 million) from the market last year. Its combined sales came to 51.3 billion won*, although it posted an annual operating loss of 12.5 billion won due to a rise in marketing costs. *47,639,391$ Lezhin is still number one above the US in paid comics to this day, while Line Webtoon is above the same in free comics. To put a different aspect on how Lezhin beating US comics sales is amazing, the Marvel app has 5 million downloads, while Lezhin only has 1. Of course everyone knows Marvel has been out much longer than Lezhin, as its 80 year anniversary is next year and has at least 4 generations of readers to its name, and as you can see Lezhin's reviews are (much) lower than Marvel's. Yet its still in top. This is incredible and shows the dominance of webtoon; what's more this is only a literal inkling of what it has to bring to the table. *Shounen Jump has 100k downloads, while and the unofficial manga reading app Manga AON has 500k.* ------------ I thought I should share this with everyone because I sense a bit of despondency in the group and I wanted to lighten things up. Guys, don't worry. I know without any doubt that MAL will let Webtoon on here. I WILL happen, they WILL have to recognize how different Korea works to Japan. They can't help it. Manga itself has been dying for the past 20 years and continues to do so. MAL will have to step up the dedication to their so called Asian content. Anyway, that aside, I'm just happy to see the positive talk on Webtoon. It's estimated that in 2020 it will be a billion dollar business. I don't see how that can't happen. More news coming soon~~ |
TomDayAug 5, 2019 10:11 PM
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| oh dam, i know that pirazy ruins the webtoon business(and all others as well) but not THIS much. Im surprised how much lehzin comics is appreciated. Didn know they were so good. I havent really read any lehzin comic. How are they? |
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| Some good facts nice Did your bro help you write this? don't worry. I know without any doubt that MAL will let Webtoon on here  this what Xinil said about allowing webtoons I'm sorry, we don't have any plans to lessen our restrictions on manga/manhwa that we allow in the database. Our manga moderators spend a huge amount of time already maintaining the current list. That's not to say they couldn't handle more (go manga mods go!) but we have to draw the line (PUNS) somewhere |
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KalfKaneda said: Did your bro help you write this? he's my big brother, he's the one who told me, about these links and sparked my idea about this news thread. this what Xinil said about allowing webtoons I'm sorry, we don't have any plans to lessen our restrictions on manga/manhwa that we allow in the database. Our manga moderators spend a huge amount of time already maintaining the current list. That's not to say they couldn't handle more (go manga mods go!) but we have to draw the line (PUNS) somewhere i know that MAL is still standing firm, and i'm not saying it's soon. but it will happen eventually. you know what the phrase is, adapt or die. it could be in the next 5 years, who knows? but it just has to happen. although, do you have the link to when he said this? Cybertron said: Oh, thanks for the thread TomDay, it's kind of useful to have this welcome! |
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ironace said: oh dam, i know that pirazy ruins the webtoon business(and all others as well) but not THIS much. piracy happens to every business and franchise, it's inevitable it would happen to webtoon. but as piracy does, it does take away money but as far as i know doesn't bankrupt anyone. webtoon is making good enough money by itself. Im surprised how much lehzin comics is appreciated. Didn know they were so good. I havent really read any lehzin comic. How are they? you don't need to worry about lezhin anymore, they're shutting down in october because they were scamming their artists and customers. the webtoon they publish has nothing to do with their content, though, which is pretty decent. |
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Cybertron said: @TomDay, you want the link? I found it a few years ago reading it on MAL Interview (before I officially registered an account for it) but i'll send post the link to where the interview was conducted on reddit so hear you go https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/3gedyl/im_xinil_creator_and_lead_admin_of_myanimelist/ctxcufu/ https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1415326 (this one is for mal interview) oh this was a couple years ago? i thought it was recent like last week or something. change can definitely happen in the upcoming years. you must not forget, two years ago was very different of now, as the above articles prove. webtoon is rising higher and higher. like one of my favourite TV characters said, "If something is changing it will make itself seen." Ridleys said: What will happen to the webtoons licensed by lezhin? that's what me and my brother were talking about. we think they will be transferred to daum because line can't handle the mature content that lezhin produced. or maybe some other webtoon publishing place perhaps. |
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| hi everyone, posting more news. don't mind me. (February 27, 2015) AN INTERVIEW WITH JUNKOO KIM CREATOR OF LINE WEBTOON To start with can you give me some history of Webtoons? How did it come about? Webtoons have been extremely successful in Korea, ever since we originally launched the NAVER Webtoons service back in 2004. Webtoons are a popular part of daily life in Korea, where we see more than 6.2 million daily users on our service, with an average of 17 million monthly users enjoying it regularly. Over the last ten plus years, fans have accumulated more than 29 billion reads of the webtoons, which are a combination of the words web and cartoons. Readers in the U.S. may be more familiar with the term webcomic, but they're similar with some unique features we’re excited for fans to experience potentially for the first time. As a fan of comics my entire life, I’ve been dedicated to helping grow the service and helping rising artists become discovered. What makes it different from other sites that publish webcomics? Unlike most published comics or graphic novels, the LINE Webtoon service is a fun digital content service where new content is scheduled to be released daily. In addition to being a free platform to discover, read and share webcomics, we offer a unique way to experience them as well. As comic books typically require a reader to read from left to right and up and down, LINE Webtoon has an intuitive scrolling feature both on the web and on mobile devices from top to bottom, keeping readers in the action or moment without typical page breaks or awkward controls. Our touch scroll system is something everyone should try, as it will change the way you read and think about comics! LINE Webtoon also allows the webtoon artists and creators a way to connect with their fans as users can share their favorite webtoons via social channels, such as Facebook, Twitter or LINE, and also leave comments, where the artists can interact. We’ve seen incredible interaction between artists and fans, helping grow their fan base and building repeat readers. One of the most impressive examples of this is with the series Tower of God, where one episode alone received 731,478 comments from fans. Pretty impressive stuff! The Noblesse series has more than 1.3 billion reads, with more than four million per episode. Our longest running webtoon, The Sound of Your Heart recently reached its 900th episode! Fans can also read the content in multiple languages, which allows the artists to reach fans far and wide to continue growing their audiences. How are you looking to expand Webtoons? As I talked previously, we’re continuing to introduce more varying content within our service, where readers of any age or demographic can enjoy something within LINE Webtoon. However, our method will be different from our competitors in the digital comic distribution service model. Our competitors as content providers discover the needs of users and try to find content to satisfy what they want. LINE Webtoon, as mentioned earlier, offers featured artists a unique compensation program to reward series that have become serialized within the service. These artists are regularly featured within the LINE Webtoon service to further expand their audiences and readership. In addition to the compensation program for paid partners, we also offer the open-platform of Challenge League, where artists can submit any content to reach a wide audience of readers with constant new and engaging content. With this platform, any promising author can present their various works through Challenge League, where users can leave feedback after viewing their content and help grow the webtoon’s popularity. It is a system where content can become discovered regularly by growing audiences, which will help artists get selected to become officially published serially, becoming a paid LINE Webtoon partner based on the popularity of the series. The lineup of LINE Webtoon is expected to become more varying, fan selected and expanded through the Challenge League open platform. By constantly reviewing the preferences of individual users in the U.S. market, we will carry out pin-point marketing ideal content for specific users based on their tastes and interests. For example, we look to expand our presence among the U.S. market by varying methods, including things like participating in a Comic-Con. Since Comic-Con attends love super heroes, we would look to participate in it too in order to let attendees meet the greatest LINE Webtoon super heroes. Last question, do you have any reading recommendations on Webtoons? I recommend ‘Noblesse’ or ‘Tower of God’ to anyone who likes Japanese manga. They are in the process of making both into movies and games as well. It could be a little bit hard to understand at first as they have their own massive worlds, but it will be hard to get out of it once you fall into these worlds and their characters. I would like to introduce ‘Blue Chair’ for people who are new to webcomics, but enjoy fun content. It is based on ordinary life, but it has moments that just make you giggle out loud. Everybody can enjoy it easily, because it’s short and has relaxed stories. It is great to read on-the-go especially. I cannot leave out ‘Space Boy’ by Stephen McCranie, which won our Challenge League contest recently. Please check it out, as it took first place in our recent contest with more than 1,900 webcomics submitted. (take note this is a clipped interview, read the full one below to learn more.) FULL INTERVIEW |
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| a brief discussion of webtoon animation here: Andy Jiwoong Kim, CEO of Seoul-based venture capital TGCK Partners, described how his company focuses on projects based on "webtoons" (Korean comic strips published online) and novels. "They come with a fan base and lower risks," Kim said. "We're working with major Chinese studios, and many of them are investing in Korean webtoon companies. Some animation companies are interested in using Korean IP for feature-length animations and TV series." full article: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/busan-race-intellectual-property-is-936635 |
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| in case none of you have known, an animation of a webtoon called A Day Before Us was released last month. they are 1 to 2 minute shorts, the first ep getting almost a million views. S1 is on YT now: the review is here: https://fadmagazine.com/2018/05/13/a-day-before-us-studio-lico/ if anyone wants to make a thread about it, feel free to make a thread for discussion. @Ridleys @KalfKaneda @ironace what a coincidence since my last post is about animation. EDIT: it's an original aeni, it's unrelated to any webtoon. |
TomDayNov 7, 2018 12:49 PM
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| I feel like so many of these webtoon/manwha series could quite easily venture into anime and be very successful. I mean, they already have huge fan-bases, so that's a guaranteed audience.. Like if a series such as ToG or Noblesse got a full adaptation it'd be huge for both the anime industry (introducing a korean audience), but also for the webtoon industry (introducing an even greater audience), as well as open up more opportunities for webtoon authors, which can only be a good thing. |
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ironace said: @tomday The interview is quite old no? I belive i hjave talked about it on the forums before. This was after the noblesse animation and before the ToG game. Still, i hope an animation of the series comes ;-; yeah it's old, i said in the OP that old and new articles are allowed here, mainly because i want to have as much information on webtoon as i can so i can sort it all out. you know, the timeline and history of when webtoon is getting more attention and so on. Fuchsia said: I feel like so many of these webtoon/manwha series could quite easily venture into anime and be very successful. I mean, they already have huge fan-bases, so that's a guaranteed audience.. Like if a series such as ToG or Noblesse got a full adaptation it'd be huge for both the anime industry (introducing a korean audience), but also for the webtoon industry (introducing an even greater audience), as well as open up more opportunities for webtoon authors, which can only be a good thing. as shown in the above video, korea can make their own animation, and some of the videos have gained millions of views. if you look at line webtoon trailers, almost all of them are in the 10 millions. me and my brother have discussed the future of webtoon for years before it really became a discussion thing on MAL or basically anywhere; when i became a fan of noblesse in 2012-13. firstly, as much as an exciting idea it would be to see webtoon animated, korean or japanese, there is still steeped ignorance of the anime community of webtoon. almost none of them refer to it as its given name, but instead mistake it as manhwa. they don't understand that they are separate things, and this problem could only get worse by the sure explosion of animated webtoon. i mean, fans still don't even know their own culture they adore, pluralising anime and manga with an S. now i'm not saying i am in any control of delaying the eventual animation, but it's good that almost none have been animated, so we can have a chance to blot out some huge ignorance with anime fans. if they are going to share their community with another culture they have to recognise it correctly. secondly, my brother brought to attention on how webtoon being coloured isn't as simple as it looks, and used the noblesse adaption as an example. what franky looks like in webtoon: anime version: shinwoo webtoon: anime: rai webtoon: anime: as you can see there are not any subtle differences of rai and franky, they straight up look like the brothers of them in the anime version. my brother put forward a theory on why this is so. as said before, webtoon isn't just coloured, its style is different from japan's. that's why rai and franky (as well as almost all the characters) don't look like they are inside the webtoon, because they are drawn "anime style", or with a japanese hand. now, compare how rai looks in the korean OVA: this OVA looks closer to his webtoon design than the anime version, because it's done by korean hands. we believe that it's easy for manga to be converted to anime because manga isn't coloured, and art looks different in B&W. anime can easily slightly change the manga art when it is animated, and everything looks fine. but with korean art there is going to be more required than making webtoon anime - they must keep the art style as well. it's the same when you look at an americanime. you can tell that the adjustments the americans took to make it look "japanese" was obvious, but it's clear it was made by a foreign hand. sorry for the long post. |
ironaceMay 17, 2018 5:36 PM
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Manga Sales Drop 31% in Sales, Digital Copies on the Rise June 17, 2017 Flipping through the pages of your favorite manga magazine could soon be a thing of the past as publishers experience a drop in sales. Last month, The Japanese Magazine Publishers Association revealed that three of the country’s most popular magazines have seen a steady decline in their printed sales. Weekly Shonen Jump, the largest and longest running manga magazine in Japan, saw a 29.9% drop in sales within the last two years. Though they still lead the competition with a 1,915,000 circulation, it has dropped significantly from their peak in 1994 with 6.53 million copies in circulation. Meanwhile, Kodansha Weekly Shonen Magazine and Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday are also experiencing the same decline. Weekly Shonen Magazine fell from 1,277,500 copies in circulation in 2015 to 964,158 in 2017. While Weekly Shonen Sunday’s went from 461,250 in 2015 to 319, 667 in 2017. But with the decrease in physical manga sales, came a rise in digital sales. In 2016, it was reported that digital manga sales saw a 21.1% increase. Mobile devices are very popular in Japan; the more convenient, the better. This is why more people prefer to buy the digital version of their manga, and read it on their tablet or phone instead of going down to the store and buying the physical copy of the magazine. Because of this, publishers will be putting more effort in digital distribution. International fans can also benefit from this, as it will be a lot easier for them to get their hands on their favorite manga should the publishers choose to make it available outside of Japan. With the digital age, we could soon be seeing an end to physical manga copies within 10 to 20 years. Japan's Manga Market Grows 0.4% in 2016, Digital Sees 27.5% Increase March 18, 2017 The All Japan Magazine and Book Publisher's and Editor's Association (AJPEA) released a report on February 24 that estimated that the combined physical and digital sales of the manga industry in Japan amounted to 445.4 billion yen (about US$3.91 billion) in 2016, a 0.4% growth compared to the previous year's 443.7 billion yen (about US$3.89 billion). The combined sales of both physical and digital approach 2008's 448.3 billion yen (about US$3.93 billion) total. Sales of print manga volumes amounted to 194.7 billion yen (about US$1.71 billion) in 2016, a 7.4% decrease from the previous year, while sales of manga magazines amounted to 101.6 billion yen (about US$892 million), a 12.9% decrease from the previous year. The combined 296.3 billion yen (about US$2.60 billion) total of print sales of manga from both compiled book volumes and magazines saw a 9.3% decrease from last year. This the 15th year in a row to mark a decline in sales for manga's print market. The print-only market is now about half of what it was in the mid-1990s. However, sales of digital manga volumes amounted to 146 billion yen (about US$1.28 billion), a 27.1% increase from the previous year, while sales of digital manga magazines amounted to 3.1 billion yen (about US$27.24 million), a 55% increase from the previous year. The combined 149.1 billion yen (about US$1.31 billion) total of digital sales of manga from both compiled book volumes and magazines saw a 27.5% increase from last year. The report added that the study didn't factor in sites, apps, and services such as comico and MangaBox, which offer manga for free. The report also didn't take advertising sales into account. The publishing industry as a whole is trending the same way, with the total 2016 sales amounting to 1.6618 trillion (about US$14.60 billion), which is around the same margin as the previous year's 1.6722 trillion yen (about US$14.69 billion). Print sales of books and magazines combined amounted to 1.4709 trillion yen (about US$12.92 billion), a 3.4% decrease from last year, but digital sales amounted to 190.9 billion yen (about US$1.67 billion), a 27.1% increase from the previous year. Japanese Manga Sales Declined 12% in 2017 January 14, 2018 Japanese manga has been in a state of decline for the past twenty years and in 2017 sales decreased 12% from the same period in 2016. Despite the decline, manga is still huge business and overall sales amounted to 600 billion yen, which is around $5.34 billion US. Lite Novels, books and magazines generated 1.37 trillion yen, which is around $12.20 billion US, a 52% decline since the market peak in 1996. that's the most i have on webmanga at the moment. |
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| @tomday the anime follows the artstyle of the S1 chapters of noblesse, where he had comparatively longer hair The OVA follows the newer artstyle of the webtoon. however, I would still prefer the ova artstyle over the anime simply because when i watched the ova, there was something lacking in it. Maybe the shading did something but it didnt seem to fit the tone of noblesse. PS-edited your post as you seemed to not have properly put pictures of some images, hope thats ok |
ironaceMay 17, 2018 5:37 PM
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ironace said: @tomday the anime follows the artstyle of the S1 chapters of noblesse, where he had comparatively longer hair The OVA follows the newer artstyle of the webtoon. actually, as i was typing that i had that theory in the back of my head 😂 21 was designed well, though. however, I would still prefer the ova artstyle over the anime simply because when i watched the ova, there was something lacking in it. Maybe the shading did something but it didnt seem to fit the tone of noblesse. i think it's because of what me and my brother discussed, the japanese didn't really capture the korean art style, but just converted the webtoon to anime's style. PS-edited your post as you seemed to not have properly put pictures of some images, hope thats ok as long as the pictures work i don't see what's the problem :P |
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| @TomDay Personally I don't think that the stigma of not knowing which is a manga or webtoon or manwha is a big deal, at least compared to the progress of the industry. With that said, I can see why the anime design would turn you off, it turns me off too. My thoughts align with Ironace's, I would prefer the OVA art style in an anime series. Of course, that's one episode with gorgeous animation throughout, so who knows how sustainable that is. I guess the ideal situation would be an anime with alot of control from the author, so that way things like the art style and series direction would be properly planned. If the hypothetical series somehow were korean animated, and remained in consistency, I would be all for it, but I just don't see the drive for this. |
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Fuchsia said: Personally I don't think that the stigma of not knowing which is a manga or webtoon or manwha is a big deal, at least compared to the progress of the industry. With that said, I can see why the anime design would turn you off, it turns me off too. My thoughts align with Ironace's, I would prefer the OVA art style in an anime series. Of course, that's one episode with gorgeous animation throughout, so who knows how sustainable that is. i agreed with you, i don't think it an issue now, but i can sense an issue in the future, even if it's just a small one. but then again, perhaps this will work out itself because the k-animation could just promote their content as webtoon and not manhwa. who knows. in the discussion of the korean art style, thought, me and my brother were discussing that as well. that if japan were to capture the more impressive art the k-ova did, they would have to learn and practice instead of immediately resulting to their regular style. it's a different culture, after all. it wouldn't hurt to respect it. i would be more than happy to say that maybe the reason why there isn't a japanese adaption since '16 is maybe because korea didn't like the japanese style, but then, why is there no korean adaptation then? I guess the ideal situation would be an anime with alot of control from the author, so that way things like the art style and series direction would be properly planned. If the hypothetical series somehow were korean animated, and remained in consistency, I would be all for it, but I just don't see the drive for this. because anime is so well known for its style, and korean style is special and needs more exposure. no-one can do anything is japan doesn't take to the korean art style of course, but i hope the creators are strict with what they want their content to look, so that it's not mistaken as another "anime" crossover, but another exposure of another art style and animation. i hope that i haven't fumbled around with words and you don't understand me on what i'm trying to say. |
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| May 1, 2018 - translated from french: Izneo launches into the Webtoon! system (mangas, comics, Bd, and graphic novel), launches into the webtoon like the Delitoon platform. As a reminder, the webtoon is a form of comics from South Korea and thought to be read exclusively on mobile. It is with 3 series that the site embarks on the adventure. The first episodes of each webtoon are free and will allow you to discover the work as well as the format. In The Horizon, the reader follows the dreamlike journey of two children into a world of chaos and adult madness. *learn about the 3 series in the article link Beyond Manga: Webtoons are Going Viral August 31, 2017 You’ve probably already heard of webcomics — but have you heard of the Korean ones? Chances are you haven’t. Webtoons are the Korean versions of webcomics, which are digitally drawn and published cartoons/comic strips. Webcomics are taking over the world in the form of short comics strips like Lunarbaboon and Cyanide & Happiness. You’ve probably seen them floating around as memes; they look a lot like newspaper funnies. Korean Webtoons, on the other hand, take inspiration from manga, manhwa, and comic books. Korean Webtoons tell a coherent, chronological story instead of using the episodic format of webcomics. Webtoons are drawn in full color in a long-strip format, ideal for reading on smartphones. Like webcomics, they are drawn digitally, producing bright colors, soft lines, and minimalist backdrops. Unlike webcomics, they aren’t usually one-offs with a punchline. Essential Korean Webtoons for New Readers Korea’s Webtoons have taken notable influences from other Asian comics like manga, manhwa, and manhua. This means they usually spend a lot more time in the realms of fantasy, action, and adventure. Most pursue long story arcs and continuity. This seems to be preferred over the usual Western trend of episodic installments. Here is my top five list of recommended Korean Webtoons. It contains a mix of both mainstream and lesser-known comics. It’s easy to look up the most read comics on the internet, so I included a few that deserve some time in the spotlight. KUBERA is Action/Fantasy on an Epic Scale The Great Calamity has isolated all the planets in the universe from each other. The Gods no longer interfere with human affairs. The world has settled into some semblance of peace. That is, until, the Red Sky incident obliterates an entire village, leaving only one survivor: Leez Haias. Her birth name is Kubera Leez; she is a girl with the name of a god.  Leez’s character progression. KUBERA has some pretty epic world building going on. The magic system is well developed and the lore is layered with depth. The character development is a bit weak at first, but author and artist, Currygom, makes up for it later in the series. About halfway through is where the character growth really takes off with dark plot twists that tear apart character’s hearts and minds. That character growth is well presented through the change in character designs, as seen above. The character designs in KUBERA are exceptional. On top of being attractive, they grow to reflect character’s states of mind and their internal changes. Leez, for example, begins as a cheerful girl dressed in bright yellows and innocent greens. Darker colors eventually accompany her growth into a troubled woman who dresses in mature formals and combat gear. Currygom uses gradual changes in fashion and color scheme which represents character growth, both in personality and in power, really well. The Haunting Fantasy Dream World of KISSWOOD KISSWOOD is an abstract and atmospheric tale. In a not so distant future, plant life has all but disappeared from cities. The main character, Sul, tends to a garden enclave in the middle of a lifeless city. A mysterious arson fire leaves his body in a coma and transports his mind to a vast world of plants. At first, the gardener is in heaven — that is, until he encounters some of the cruel inhabitants of the land and learns that something sinister lurks in this world of trees.  The monsters and magic of KISSWOOD. KISSWOOD explores the abusive relationship between humans and plants. The Webtoon approaches this exploration with ethereal, contrasting art. Most humans in the Webtoon are depicted as ugly and malicious, while the plants are painted with vibrant watercolors. Even in a paradise for plants, people still find a way to wreck destruction on them. KISSWOOD is a Webtoon with a powerful message, and an engaging plot to deliver it. (note:this is a clipped article. View the rest of it in the link) |
TomDayMay 25, 2018 1:39 PM
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TomDay said: i know that MAL is still standing firm, and i'm not saying it's soon. but it will happen eventually. you know what the phrase is, adapt or die. it could be in the next 5 years, who knows? but it just has to happen. They have shown to be stubborn and i think they aren't going to take back their decisions back because it would mean they made a mistake. |
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KalfKaneda said: They have shown to be stubborn and i think they aren't going to take back their decisions back because it would mean they made a mistake. i wouldn't say that MAL is making a mistake, they just need to admit they need to update their database. and as many have said so far, it's not a matter of them having to admit they're wrong anymore. that could have been the case a couple years ago, but not now. now, it's a matter or evolve or die. |
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| maybe some insight on why there isn't a lot of animation Nov 3, 2017 Why South Korean Filmmakers Are Adapting Local Webtoons Into Movies and TV Shows Wildly popular online graphic novels have become hot properties, and now China and Netflix are getting in on the action: "I see it as a very positive sign." It came as little surprise to South Korean locals when Netflix picked up the romantic drama Love Alarm as its first South Korean original series earlier this year. Based on a story by Kye Young Chon, one of the country’s most popular graphic novelists, it is among a string of film and TV drama projects that are based on local "webtoons," or comic strips published online. The 12-episode series is expected to premiere in 2018. Spanning no more than 30 episodes, widely ranging in terms of genre and readily available to smartphones users, webtoons have emerged as go-to source material for Korean — and increasingly Chinese — filmmakers, similar to how Marvel and DC Comics continue to fuel Hollywood franchises or how manga inspires Japanese cinema. Chinese and Korean film versions of the fantasy love story The Witch are underway as part of a co-production deal between Korea’s NEW and China’s Huace. Along With the Gods, the first Korean film project to be conceived as a franchise from the very beginning, is due to be released in two parts, the first in December and the second next summer. The ambitious fantasy is based on the smash-hit webtoon of the same name. Featuring an all-star cast, the two films in the Lotte Entertainment project were shot simultaneously. "I see [the rising number of films based on webtoons] as a very positive sign,” says Along With the Gods producer Won Dong-yeon. “The number of original scripts in Korea is unusually high compared to other film industries such as Hollywood or Japan. This is very risky from a business point of view, especially when you consider blockbuster-scale projects, and I am interested in fostering a healthy industry environment. It’s the first time that this [shooting two serial films] is happening, but I was confident about the huge fan base of the webtoon and the universal appeal of the story.” the rest in spoiler: |
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| May 25, 2018 Popular Korean Mobile Game Seven Knights Collabs With Tower Of God  Netmarble (CEO Kwon Young-sik and Park Sung-hoon) announced on the 25th that they have collaborated with Naver's popular webtoon 'Shin Top' in 'Seven Knights', a mobile RPG (role playing game). The Tower of God is a popular webtoon serialized on Naver, and it is a story about the main characters' night and the story that goes on when their coworkers climb up the tower for their own purposes. ColaBo Heroes are the newest characters in this update. They are the most popular characters of 'The Tower of God' such as Bam, Enryu, Kun Agero Agnis, Chestnuts and Enrique are released as 6 heroic and awakening heroes, while Kun Agger Agnese and Ha Ha Ya Za Hard are released in 5th and 6th castles. Netmarble prepared a variety of rewards to commemorate the collaboration. First of all, through the push event, all the users are given a six-star free hard-hero, and additional rewards such as pinna and rea are offered. We carry out collaboration event welcoming tower event. Users can clear the top stage of the illusion and get a variety of rewards, including equipment for Skill Options of God's Top Collaboration Heroes. this is not the first time TOG has featured in mobile games. in fact in 2013 an RPG game was released by sunrise based off the franchise and featured over 100 million players. in 2016, it was fully released and stayed in the top top 5 most popular game list. unfortunately now i think it's cancelled. speaking of webtoon, seven knights has their own webtoon story connected to the game, making it as unique as it is popular. also, speaking of webtoon mobile game adaptations, a seven month old game of noblesse has been out, "Noblesse M". english gameplay here (the commentary is foreign tho): you can download the apk here, but apparently it's not working correctly according to the reviews. you can download another noblesse mobile game, "노블레스" (literally nobless) here: https://m.apkpure.com/노블레스-with-naver-webtoon/com.neowizgames.game.noblesse |
TomDayMay 25, 2018 2:00 PM
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| Nov. 27, 2017 Inside the web manga-to-anime connection: An Interview with Satoshi Taira from “Recovery of an MMO Junkie” Can you tell us a bit about your background and career? My role is media mix coordinator for the manga app 'comico.' For anime adaptation projects, I am working on production as a producer. I was also involved in the launch of the comico service and invited some artists in its beginning. Before that, I was responsible for overseeing the company's VOD service and sales of the game department (I am surprised at myself for having experienced so many types of jobs…). I started having interest in animation before I entered elementary school and learned many things from different kinds of series. It is very fortunate for me to have had a job in the animation industry like this now. It is almost like a hobby to me, so I enjoy working every day.  Image: Banner for the Recovery of an MMO Junkie web manga on the comico homepage How would you describe the role of a producer in Japanese animation? The producer in the Japanese animation business is in the position to make decisions, from the beginning to end of the production process. Starting with planning of a new title, the role includes making final decisions on production, such as the staffing plan, scenario composition, character designs, voice actors’ acting, sounds, animation drawings, and even decisions on advertisements. There are, of course, cases that many of them are decided by the director, but the role of producer is indispensable for anime. My role at comico specifically is to expand a number of original works on the comico services into more fields other than manga. In addition to animation, we make develop other projects, such as live-action movies, musicals, and merchandising. We decide what kind of medium is best for the series and fans, and make plans to distribute them to the customers. Adapting an original work for other mediums means that it is arranged by the will of the third party (creators). So it is my greatest mission to adjust both sides to maintain the original creator’s belief while respecting the anime creators.  How does the industry feel about 'original' web comic adaptations? Do you have to take any extra steps to assure partners that they will be successful? Reading manga on smartphones has already become common among Japanese teenagers. However, web manga has not yet been popular enough in the market of the overall manga industry. When negotiating about anime adaptation projects, we used to use the circulation of the tankobon or the sales of the magazine as an index, but they have been replaced by the real 'view numbers.' So it is difficult for many companies to decide to join an anime project based on a web manga. The big difference between print magazines and web manga is the point: 'You can get detailed user data.' In addition to the sales number for each episode and the number of readers, it can be used as a guideline for the sales strategy by combining other data such as male / female ratio, age group, and a number of Likes. Based on the appeal of the titles and the users' data, our comico team is approaching various companies and producing animation with those who are eager to develop Japanese comic manga culture and animation. The most rewarding moment is when I see many people enjoy watching our anime and tweeting about it. I think that animation production is similar to preparations for a surprise party. We carry a plan forward (for two to three years in advance!) while thinking, 'How can we please the audience?' 'Does this kind of background music sound exciting?' 'Let's surprise them at this moment!' So I am very excited when we receive reactions just as we expected!  What was it about the Recovery of an MMO Junkie web comic that made it seem that it would be suitable for an anime adaptation? Recovery of an MMO Junkie was a title that had been serialized since the launch of the comico service. I myself had supported this title as a fan, and I thought it would be good if it had an anime adaptation someday. In addition to the cuteness of the characters, one of the charms of this title is that each character lives their life honestly and positively. And another point is the 'impatience' of the relationship among the characters. Today, with the spread of smartphones, communication has become 'too smooth' due to the active use of calls and messenger applications. I think a concept of 'missing communications' caused by different appearances and identities in the real world and net gaming is a major factor that makes viewers sympathize. You are now interested in this title and reading this article, so I believe my will has reached you even a little.  for those of you who don't know, comico is a japanese webmanga site. the website is simply comico.jp, but there is also a korean version, comico.kr. interestingly, both of them feature the same content, but the popularity changes from each link. webtoon are more popular on the korean site and vice versa for japan. taking my opinions of "MMO Junkie" to the story discussion thread. |
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| August 27, 2017 Trailer for Webmanga "Duel Welding Mother" Described as a "together-with-mother" adventure comedy, the story follows Masato Oosuki, an ordinary high school boy who is magically transported to an alternative world along with his over-protective and over-powered mother, Mamako. Masato tries to take on the role of a hero, but his mother keeps annihilating every enemy they encounter with a single hit. Ai Kayano voices Mamako in the advertisements for the series. |
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| @tomday clubs will be back next week, they said that in their twitter page. |
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| ok! i will type up and share tomorrow. btw i'm moving to a new house so things are busy a bit here, so i may be late following this up. |
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| okay so i'm just going to tag everyone who's been in this thread: @Cybertron @KalfKaneda @Ridleys @Nemurasan @ironace @Fuchsia LONG POST okay so what i learned these months ago was again, by the help of my brother. k-animation, or ani/aeni, seems to us that it is preparing for a takeover. so, we all know that korea has been used on anime work, but what we have found is that "Animation contracts for Korean animation studios range from collaboration/minor contribution contracts, to most of the work." experts also claim that the market would be worth 9 billion dollars this year, so the excuse that "there's not enough money to animate!!!111" is surely out the window. okay so the amount of net worth in "korean character business" can't be copy-pasted so you'll have to look here: so we have NA being #1, china following after and EU being in 3rd. all are in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and there are just exports. naturally, the number of businesses and workers have risen over the years (proof below) so what does this all mean? to me and my brother, it looks like a lot of the money of korea comes from exports and working for other people. (as shown above, exports and imports have a 300mil$ difference). but no-one wants to work for anyone forever, so it looks to us when they get enough stable money for their own native work to go international, they could start animating webtoon. more info on what stories to animate later.*** *proofs of workers as for now, this is when "DR MOVIE" comes into play. it's a korean animation business that has been working almost entirely for madhouse since the early 1990s. MH has valued their work so much that they have placed an investment/ownership in their business and even have connected buildings. they also work with top US channels like nickelodeon and animation biggie warner brothers. so if we see any anime or cartoons and they have korean names, they most likely came from dr movie. here are some of their native work, as in no "help animation" for anime. i don't know if you can recognize it, but aeni has lighter colors and just has a lighter "feel" about it? the frames are slightly faster and there are less movements. idk. anyway that's a side note, moving on - naver announced 2 months ago that it would invest 150 billion won (134 mill$) into more penetration of the US and japan. now this may not seem a big deal to some of you, but for me and my brother this is a huge relief, because the line webtoon site has been shot to hell with too much US stories and almost no OC promotion. it started in around 2015 and has been a disaster to this current day, so we believe by naver pushing this money into more marketing, they will not waste any money on their US site not promoting their work as they should. TLDR, it's the US line website getting its much needed spanking. as for japan, this is better news because line is already dominating with their manga app, line manga. they invaded japan and are the #1 manga app in the country. ignoring that a korean app is ruling in a foreign country, the manga and webtoon industry is worth 4 billion (i'm assuming that since it was announced last year that the manga industry is worth 3 million, the 1 billion belongs to webtoon) we already have another korean app in the makings of domination. kakao had started beforehand as a ways of penetrating japan before, but it ended it a failure back in 2011. but now they developed a manga app in japan as well and within 9 months it became the #2 app, only under line manga. kakao's app, "piccoma", is a combination of webtoon and manga which i don't believe line's app has. in addtion, the "chief strategy officer" of kakao expects the app to rise to #1 by next year. in case some of you don't know what kakao is, it used to be a korean intenet company by itself, but in 2014 it merged with daum, which is why we haven't heard any news of daum singularly. it used to be called "daum kakao" but now it's just kakao. so kakao is essentially daum, which is a huge load off my chest since i thought they weren't doing much except saying in korea. there's more, btw. daum (i'm just gonna call them that) has already clearly had success with japan, and now it's working on china. now, in case you guys have forgotten, there have been partnerships/dealings with chinese animation in japan these two years. granted, it's harder to penetrate in japan as the article has admitted, but when it finally breaks through, china could animate some webtoon as well if the people love it enough, and it could eventually reach japan as well. so i am HYPED for this announcement. line will work on japan and US, daum works on japan and china. so basically japan is getting attacked at all fronts now; even for their 3 billion dollars they can't do much. here's a quote by the marketing manager: For Kakao, which aims to issue an IPO in Tokyo, there is no better place to kick off this strategy than neighboring Japan, a market three times the size of Korea. While downplaying reports of a 2020 target for the IPO, Park emphasized the country’s importance to its expansion. “In the short term, Japan is our top priority,” Park says. “Japan’s economy is having a reboom ... so there are more opportunities, huge opportunities.” Webtoons just scratch the surface, and Kakao has plans to replicate the model for other apps. Park predicts a boom in mobile gaming and music streaming in Japan by next year, and will push high-quality MMORPG mobile games to ride the wave. so pretty soon, "Line Manga" and "Kakao" will be names above famous ones like "Jump" and "Comic Ran". so chances of adaptions aren't as far off as people are saying. ***also, about what i was saying about story adaptions, i used to blame k drama for ruining chances of webtoon animation adaptions, but after thinking it over, they aren't doing much. k drama adapts (unsurprisingly) drama webtoon, SOLs and romance and whatever. either they are made into movies or TV shows. but the action ones (or dongjag) remain untouched. this is probably because it's hard to adapt superhuman action into live TV/movies and make it look believable. but whatever the reason, k drama is off the list. their adaptions haven't done anything to harm the animation of action webtoon. okay, that's what i have. if i mentioned anything beforehand in the PM that hasn't been mentioned here just tell me. (this could be edited later) |
TomDayAug 11, 2018 12:17 PM
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| @TomDay LONG POST but it's informative, good luck with moving. |
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| Sorry, but can you give me a tldr? |
╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭ |
| @tomday forgive me for being so stupid and not understanding hmmm so basically ur saying that line/daum is taking over apps in Japan And that to promote it, series could be animated? That si quite good news in itself. Honestly it is indeed pleasing that their efforts to promote comics of US didnt have as much pay off. I saw a trend from last year where there were many series promoted but most were us based. Now i dont hate that at all but what irked me was htat on LINE's facebook it started to completely ignore the series that were popular. I still have yet to see any arts on their facebook which show ToG/Noblesse-but can see characters from their newer series often. Also can u tell me how big is ToG in korea? Because i heared its pretty big. On the other hand i have also read in SU's blog post that last year Tog came close to being cancelled(or something-cant recall the exact words).Naver has also influnced tog's storyline somewhat. Can u help confirm how true are these statements? |
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Fuchsia said: Sorry, but can you give me a tldr? TLDR animation adaption is closer than i myself even thought. webtoon are very popular in japan right now, if fact dominating. also, one the main animators of japan (also the world, lol) is DR MOVIE, which has frequent collaborations with top dog anime studios such as madhouse and production IG and even studio ghibli. ironace said: Honestly it is indeed pleasing that their efforts to promote comics of US didnt have as much pay off. I saw a trend from last year where there were many series promoted but most were us based. Now i dont hate that at all but what irked me was htat on LINE's facebook it started to completely ignore the series that were popular. I still have yet to see any arts on their facebook which show ToG/Noblesse-but can see characters from their newer series often. are you talking about US FB line? if you are then i agree, i talked a little about that in my post. but since naver is putting billions of their own cash into yet again marketing their content it looks like US line will be forced to change their choice of promotions. Also can u tell me how big is ToG in korea? Because i heared its pretty big. On the other hand i have also read in SU's blog post that last year Tog came close to being cancelled(or something-cant recall the exact words).Naver has also influnced tog's storyline somewhat. Can u help confirm how true are these statements? the CEO himself said that TOG is more popular than noblesse, and noblesse gained over 2 billion views. so idek how much more popular TOG is lmao. i think the TOG cancellation may be referring to the TOG mobile game. which was indeed cancelled a few years back. unless you don't really know what i'm talking about, then you'll have to link me :P @KalfKaneda thanks, i move on the 17/18. me and my family are hyped. also, thanks for saying the post was informative, i was having second doubts on it lol |
TomDayAug 11, 2018 12:16 PM
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Fuchsia said: @TomDay Oh? And which would be the Webtoons most likely to be adapted? I'm assuming something like Noblesse, or one of the myriad of Romcoms that've shot up in popularity recently. why the most popular ones of course! :P idk much about the kakao app so i'll have to check it to see which are the most popular. i did snatch a grab at the site though. it's not jut about the animation, though. just proof that webtoon has finally penetrated japan after some time of efforts, so anyone downplaying it absolutely CLEARLY doesn't know a thing what they are talking about. and don't quote me on this, but it looks like manga itself is being overtaken by webtoon? which is something i never proposed, just that paper manga would die eventually. |
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| i've been on places called mangaking and mangapanda and they don't call korean comics manwha anymore, but webtoon. idk if many other sites are doing this but seeing this seems like people are coming out of ignorance of calling webtoon manwha. ---- in other news, i'm considering posting about dr movie in the anime section to get some reactions. |
TomDayAug 17, 2018 6:29 PM
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| yeah i know, it's like weebs don't know a thing outside of manga/anime. like literally, they don't even know you don't pluralize manga and anime with an s, because there is no such thing in japanese. they don't even know about the language or culture. it's sad. |
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| idk if any of you know, but tribe x is here because i applied it a year ago and it was accepted. i put some info inside of it, but i'm re reading it now to refresh my memory and type up more for the database. link is here:https://myanimelist.net/manga/99792/Tribe-X?q=tribe |
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Naver confirms over 14 billion views arrive on their site each month Authorities said this is because Naver owns almost 80 percent of the webtoon portal market. Naver counts about 15.5 billion views per month -- eight times as many as other webtoon portals such as Kakao and Lezhin Comics. In addition to advantageous ad revenue, many readers pay small sums for services such as viewing the next episode of a series in advance. Some webtoons also get turned into movies and television programs, such as JTBC’s popular drama “My ID is Gangnam Beauty.” please don't forget the very first link i included that started this thread, the link to piracy of webtoon. this means that even with piracy, and naver's move to sue pirates, that this doesn't stop the monstrous domination of webtoon, as i said before and as naver's numbers prove. and someone told me last month that webtoon has to go through some sort of "prestige" before it can eclipse manga, LOL i can't. even shounen jump at its best can't achieve this. in other interesting news, kakao has teamed with the manga app Piccoma to spread more digital manga attention. that's not surprising, but what i wanted to share was this: (https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Kakao-Japan-ramps-up-manga-content-via-smartphone-app) In addition to winning over manga artists wishing to have their comics distributed abroad, Kakao Japan wants to increase the number of unique offerings that its rivals do not offer. Kakao Japan also formally announced that it will kick off a video streaming service called Piccoma TV to offer anime and dramas based on manga comics. The company hopes this will generate synergies with its Piccoma manga app. As a starter, the live-action comedy "Saint Oniisan," based on the manga of the same name, about Jesus Christ and the Buddha living in the suburban Tokyo city of Tachikawa. Kakao Japan launched Piccoma in 2016. The app allows users to read the first few episodes free of charge. Readers can read more if they pay a fee or wait for a certain amount of time. The service has grown rapidly. As of April, cumulative downloads exceeded 8 million, and more than 1.2 million people use the service every day. The users are mostly casual readers, rather than hard-core manga fans. The upcoming Piccoma TV video streaming service will use a similar fee structure to attract as many casual viewers as possible. The content to be distributed through Piccoma TV can be viewed free of charge for 10 minutes before it stops automatically. Viewers can pay fees to continue to view the content. Even if they do not pay fees, they can view a sequel for about 10 minutes free of charge after around 24 hours have passed. given that kakao is focused on their webtoon content as much as if not more than manga, could this mean they could be the pioneers of (potential) webtoon adaptions streamed directly online instead of TV? even more interestingly: (http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180418000517) Kakao Japan said that it had raised 824 million yen ($7.7 million) in the first quarter of this year, up 446 percent from a year earlier. It had also amassed 2.9 million monthly active users as of the end of March. With the record, Piccoma outranked popular global video streaming platform Netflix in terms of in-app revenues on Japan’s Google Play and Apple’s App Store marketplaces, the company said. beating netflix? woah, this is even more successful than i thought. and lastly, the most interesting of all.... With Piccoma, Kakao also hopes to become an international platform facilitating the exchange of Asian webtoon content across borders. Kakao said it plans to hold a web comics competition which will select the top three top webtoons from Korea, Japan and China, and make them available to readers in all three countries via Piccoma. HMMMMMMMMMM........................could this be it guys? what do you think? could kakao and piccoma be the first to adapt webtoon at last? |
TomDaySep 14, 2018 10:31 AM
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the first one is the best. i hate YTers who animate theirselves to make theirselves, it makes them look insecure and immature. and there's something i bloody hate to my damn bones when weeaboos call webtoon manga. again refer to my sig as my reaction to this. |
TomDayOct 1, 2018 10:15 AM
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| @Leneyn nice that you can read Korean if you have more info about any webtoon you can share them here any time I will share ur info about Black Haze the platform/webtoon publishing website the author was on abused authors, like not paying them for months on end and breaking the rules of their own contract. It was a relatively new company but had at least 20+ authors drawing webtoons. So they were practically working without pay. If I remember correctly the authors finally banded up, went on a strike, and filed a class action lawsuit against the company. I don't know what came of it though. At least s/he promised that Black Haze will return...one day. |
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| Oh awesome. When I got a couple hours of downtime I'll add more info about the whole thing. |
| how was the company new if black haze was published by daum?? did the author change companies or something? |
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| Did the author originally publish in Daum's amateur section (not paid)? Good to know the roots, thanks because when I started reading it it had already been picked up by TTale (paid). When that went down, it moved to FoxToon (the company I talk about up there ^^). I'll write a more detailed overview another day if you're okay :) |
| oh wow looks like this story bounced around a lot. yeah sure, post the full story only if you want. |
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