Forum - View topicManhwa: What Korean Comics to Start Reading
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2696 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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It's a shame that manhwa really only started to find footing in North America once webtoons more of less replaced the word manhwa wholesale (or, at least, did so for a good number of years), because there were plenty of really good-to-great manhwa released during the 00s that are utterly forgotten & will likely never be given another chance to find an audience.
Personally, last year I re-read two of Park Sung-woo's most iconic action titles, Chun Rhang Yhur Jhun & NOW, and while CRYJ eventually started to win me over after a very rough (& way too fast paced) start, NOW was still just as instantly excellent as I remembered it being. Too bad we only ever got the first half of CRYJ, while NOW only ever got the first six volumes (of an eventual 25), and even in Japan NOW only ever got up to Volume 8 before stopping. Park Sung-woo, in general, saw a lot of his stuff released in English during the 00s (including Zero: Beginning of the Coffin & Péigenz), but ironically enough the only work of his to truly see a complete release was Black God, which was technically a manga since it was made for Japan first. There is word that Infinity Studios might have finished Zero & Péigenz digitially via PDFs, and also did some more of CRYJ & NOW that way, but there's never been any proof that any of Infinity's PDF releases ever actually happened. Another title from that era of English manhwa releases I remember loving was Chronicles of the Cursed Sword, an excellent fantasy series that TokyoPop released 22 volumes of (out of an eventual 37) that I recall being more or less an instant joy of a read, and the spot where TP stopped at literally ended with a cool supporting cast member being crushed under a giant rock. I have nothing against modern-day webtoons & manhwa, but I do honestly hate that the success of those will pretty much mean that no one will ever give pre-webtoon manhwa another chance in English again. |
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tintor2
 Posts: 2168 |
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Is the Solo Leveling anime faithful to the comic?
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FuzzyDave
 Posts: 63 |
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I really enjoy your Manga/Manhwa articles, Rebecca, and this is another nice one. I've been enjoying a number of these already, but didn't expect to find three new ones to add to my to-read list (even if they are out-of-print or hard to find!)
I'll be looking out for Winter Wolf, Give to the Heart, and Cynical Orange for sure! I'd also recommend: What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? (just as fun as the live-action TV series was) Who Made me a Princess? (fantasy/romance with a fun main character) Villains are Destained to Die (dark fantasy with political machinations) Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion (if you liked the anime, you'll love this one) Dave |
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MrPuzzles
Posts: 152 |
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Blade of the Phantom Master comes with my highest recommendation.
Alas, Webtoon is weapons-grade dipshittery if not an outright scam. |
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Auriana
 Posts: 17 Location: South Plainfield, NJ |
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I spend way too much time on Tapas these days. I second A Business Proposal (though I was not fond of the live action adaptation) and Who Made Me a Princess. Others that I love, though I don't know if they're available in print format, are:
Marriage of Convenience (alternate historical romance and there's a mature version) Kill the Villainess (dark) A Villainess for the Tyrant (fantasy/romantic comedy) I Shall Master This Family (fantasy, romance, political) I'm the Tyrant's Secretary (fantasy romance) The Hero's Savior (fantasy) How to Win My Husband Over (fantasy romance, dark) Mother's Contract Marriage (the art in this is amazing) I'm going to stop myself there as there are a bunch more (Villainess Turns the Hourglass, A Red Laurel to My Emperor, Your Regrets Mean Nothing to Me....).
I have this series! It's still sitting on my bookshelves from forever ago. My favorite printed manwha though was The Queen's Knight. I am still upset that they never finished printing that one. |
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Multi-Facets
Posts: 261 |
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I also have manhwa recommendations! "Marry my Husband", which is completed and can be found on Webtoons (at least for now; commenters were saying something about "We don't want this to be archived," which I guess means it won't be available for long), and is getting a live-action K-drama.
Especially recommended is "The Remarried Empress", which can be found in bookstores, on Webtoons, and possibly in digital format. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2657 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I'm so glad you enjoyed the article! I keep meaning to read Who Made Me a Princess?, and now I'm definitely hunting it down, because you just listed three of my favorites that I didn't put in the article.
This is another one of my favorites. It's the right kind of frustrating. @Auriana I've read the novels of A Villainess for the Tyrant and keep meaning to try the manhwa. WordExcerpt is publishing them - and I think they may have put out an audiobook of the first one, but I could be confusing it with a different title - and they're also very good. |
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Saeryen
 Posts: 1005 |
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I absolutely second the Who Made Me a Princess recommendation, it’s amazing and I can’t wait to see the donghua adaptation.
I also have Daughter of the Emperor as a favorite. I also really enjoyed Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion, Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp (both have great anime so far) and The Twins’ New Life. I just finished the first volume of My Gently Raised Beast and love it so far. Other ongoing manhwa I adore are Into the Light Once Again and Little Rabbit and the Big Bad Leopard. |
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Triltaison
 Posts: 799 |
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I'm wholly unfamiliar with the new Webtoon era of manhwa, but read several in the early 2000s. My favorite back then was Demon Diary by a long shot. I loved Kara's art in that one. It was a fantasy BL type of series. I was also a Chronicles of the Cursed Sword reader, like others mentioned.
And one that I suspect I might not enjoy as much today but that I really liked as a teen was Kill Me, Kiss Me. Guy and girl cousins who look alike trade places at different single-sex schools, and romance blossoms in their new venues from their swap. Think Mulan trying to get with Shang if he were the leader of a gang and she's still dressed as a guy. I remember really enjoying it in high school, but not sure if it's aged well or how much the drama will appeal now that I'm in my 30's. Maybe I'll dust off my books and give 'em a whirl again. I'll try and take a look at this new era of manhwa sometime soon. Thanks for doing a bit of a spotlight. |
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FuzzyDave
Posts: 63 |
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Nice to see the love for The Remarried Empress! I can't believe I left it off my list! It's also a favorite For those interested in pure fantasy, I also recommend The Beginning After the End (high fantasy, adventure, isekai) David |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2273 |
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I think my tastes tend to be outliers—stuff that’s middling to fairly popular, and granted, that means not all of them are Korean. Out of the stuff I’ve read so far, I’ve really enjoyed Detective Garden Club, Purple Hyacinth, This Isekai Maid is Forming a Union (especially for its world-building), Your Throne (words cannot express how pleased I was to see spoiler[two female rivals actually work together instead of against each other]), How to Survive a Romance Fantasy, unOrdinary, and Fantasie of a Stepmother/A Stepmother’s Marchën.
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DamianSalazar
Posts: 776 |
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Unholy Blood is my favorite webtoon of all-time. It's one series I've read from start to finish and got nothing but joy out of reading. I love Hayan and Euntae.
Close as Neighbors is a close second. Probably the best "pornhwa" I've ever read. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 14216 |
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Thanks for the recommendations!
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catandmouse
Posts: 221 |
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Wow, that memories.
I own Cynical Orange. Some other titles I own that were released in the early aughts are: Kill me, Kiss me Angel diary One thousand and one nights Bring it on! (Aka Blooming) I feel like I’m forgetting some, but can’t remember who they are. As for Semantic Error, from what I know, Manta does not release the 18+ versions of series, but Semantic Error does have an 18+ version. I tried reading Solo Leveling, but even though I can understand it’s popularity, I personally didn’t like it. |
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InvertedIkemen
Posts: 12 |
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I'm still pretty new to manwha, and mostly use Webtoons, but there's a few I'd like to recommend.
For romance and romance-adjacent stories, "Like Wind on a Dry Branch" is one of my favorites, focusing on the slowly budding romance between a magical widow and, yes, a cold Northern nobleman. While there are the usual political plots lurking in the background (the bad relationship between Duke Killian and the capital, widow Rieta's past), the story very much foregrounds the yearning and hesitation between the leads, as well as the ways they support each other. I'm also rather fond of "My In-Laws are Obsessed with Me", another story of love between repressed people, which is really willing to let the art tell the story when necessary. For guilty pleasures, I'd point to Men of the Harem, which is very pretty, at times funny, and has a far more developed fantasy plot than it probably should. People tune in for the very attractive men, then write how confused they are in the comments. I love it. Reincarnated as an Unruly Heir and Return of the Mad Demon are pretty fun cultivation-type stories. The latter has a delightfully unpredictable MC (a bloodthirsty villain brought back to his youth, still brutal but no longer that interested in killing), while the former has become a surprisingly good story of sect politics. Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint and My S-Class Hunters are good action comics with a fine knack for homoeroticism. ORV has a rather enjoyable setting and storyline, while S-Class Hunters has a bit of a knack for comedy. Doom Breaker is more serious than the above, mixing high-powered fantasy action with a surprisingly grim take on the standard manwha fantasy setting, producing a beautifully macho actioner. The World is Money and Power is a gambling manwha that's a bit like if you took Kakegurui's setting and replaced the action with Akagi, producing a fine soap opera. The Greatest Estate Developer is a very funny fantasy comic, which starts out as the standard "transmigrated man uses modern technology to make a living in a fantasy world", and then becomes increasingly absurd. Solid gags and wonderful cast dynamics have long replaced fantasy engineering as the driving force of the series. |
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