"Our Beloved Summer", "Summer Breeze", "Spirit Fingers" by Han KyoungChal on Naver Webtoon
If there's any South Korean industry that is booming with as much success as K-Pop and K-Drama, it is the K-Webtoon industry. Webtoons, or manhwa, as they are called in Korean, have been an inseparable part of Korean culture for as far back as we can remember. All your favorite celebrities and idols probably grew up with their own favorites, albeit with physical copies. Now, in modern times, these physical comic books have translated seamlessly on screen, bringing us webtoons as we know them today.
Some of the most popular webtoon service companies in South Korea today include Naver Webtoon, Kakao Webtoon, RidiBooks, Lezhin Entertainment, Tappytoon, and more. The South Korean webtoon market size in 2022 was evaluated to be around 1.3 billion USD and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.2% between 2023 and 2028, according to industry experts.
Thanks to official translations of original Korean content into different languages, readers all over the world are now able to enjoy these webtoons, furthering the popularity of the medium. In addition, factors such as the proliferation of webtoon-based K-Dramas and AU webtoons based on K-Pop idol groups like BTS have also added to the growth of this industry. Similarly, popular K-Dramas are also getting adapted into webtoonsย to cater to a wider and more diverse audience.
"Our Beloved Summer" by Han KyoungChal on Naver Webtoon
The perfect example of such a case is "Our Beloved Summer". Released in 2021, "Our Beloved Summer" was Studio N's first original series. For those who might not know, Studio N is a subsidiary of Naver Webtoon tha