While manga may have been created in Japan, that hasn’t stopped similar mediums, like South Korea’s manhwa, from adopting and adapting the medium to phenomenal success, as proved by the best ongoing manhwa of 2023. Manhwa offers readers much of the same entertainment value as manga but also comes with additional benefits including colored pages and immediate global access.
With the success of manhwa titles such as Solo Leveling, Noblesse, and The God of High School, 2023 has been a pivotal year for the manhwa industry’s emergence as a viable alternative to Japanese manga. Fans of manhwa, or manga fans looking for a new source of entertainment, have much to look forward to in the coming year. Indeed, there’s a variety of established or ongoing titles producing quality manhwa content for anyone willing to partake. The ten series below suggest that this is only the beginning of the manhwa content revolution.
10 Eleceed Proves That Cats Can Be Humans’ Best Friends
Created by Son Jae-Ho and Zhena
Eleceed follows the adventures of Jiwoo Seo and a stray cat he picked up named Kayden. What the reader soon comes to find out is that Jiwoo and Kayden are not a normal pair. Jiwoo has the speed and quickness of DC’s The Flash, and Kayden was a top-level Loid Forger-esque master spy who was transformed into a cat, as a way of hiding from sinister forces who want to do him harm. With nothing else to do while he waits until the coast is clear, Kayden takes Jiwoo under his paw to help him be the best he can be.
What makes Eleceed good is its fascinating plot of teaming up a super-powered kid with a grizzled, hard-as-nails, but experienced mentor who happens to be an overweight cat. While the story is chock-full of humorous situations that such a pairing demands, that’s just an overlay for a well-written and tightly drawn journey.
Read on Webtoon
9 Your Throne Explores Self-Hatred & Redemption
Created by SAM
Your Throne details the Machiavellian plans of Lady Medea Solon, who lost her position as the next wife of Crown Prince Vasilios, and with it, her lifelong dream to be queen. Rather than remain a consort to the queen, Solon hatches a plan to kill her and get Vasilios to choose her as the replacement. Her plans fail as she ends up dying in the process of killing the queen. Things become interesting, as she is granted another chance to live, but as the queen she just tried to kill.
While most stories of this kind tend to follow either the hero’s path to the dark side or the hero’s temptation to the dark side but subsequent refusal, Your Throne follows the villain’s path to finding the light. Solon is a selfish and evil person who is willing to kill to get her wish. But rather than punish with pain, the powers that be decided to make her the very person she abhors. Nothing could be a more fitting punishment and a road to redemption.
Read on Webtoon
Related
10 Best Manhwa Which Deserve Anime Adaptations
Lots of manhwas have the potential to be great anime adaptations, but these titles prove their worth with their captivating storylines and artwork.
8 Viral Hit Follows a Streamer’s Wild Life
Created by Park Tae Joon and Kim Junghyun
Viral Hit tells the story of Hobin Yoo, a high school student geek who, thanks to the class bully, figures out how to monetize his hobbies into an actual wage. This all starts when the bully, Jihyeok Woo, who wants to become a streamer himself, forces Hobin to let him live stream on his mom’s computer. When Hobin accidentally spills food on Woo, he curses Hobin and his mom. This throws Hobin into a rage where he beats down Woo with a ferocity nobody knew he had. Unbeknownst to both, the fight was being live-streamed and the next day, Hobin is considered a hero. After begrudgingly agreeing to work together, Hobin and Woo begin a streaming collaboration where they’ll fight anyone as long as it promises to be good content.
In addition to sharing the same manhwa universe as the popular Lookism manhwa, Viral Hit has all the elements of a great series. There’s a little bit of something for everyone, and more than enough interesting characters to sustain a reader’s attention without overwhelming them. One of the most interesting elements is the series’ take on the streamer phenomenon and the willingness to do anything for content.
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7 Villains Are Destined To Die Is a Unique Spin On Isekai
Created by Gyeoeul Gwon and SUOL
Villains Are Destined to Die tells the story of Cha Siyeon who finally gets away from her dysfunctional family life by attending her dream university. Her happiness soon turns to fear as she is mysteriously transported into the video game Daughter of the Duke Love Project that all her classmates have been playing. The game requires the heroine to meet and find her prince among a group of suitors and live happily ever after. Unfortunately, she gets transported into the game’s hardest mode, where she plays a mean-spirited villain who never finds her true love and perishes.
The story depicts several interesting tweaks to the harem and romance isekai genres that make it an interesting and worthy read. For instance, the reverse harem aspect finds Cha in the role of Penelope Eckhart being chased after by a bunch of princely rogues. Beautifully written, it keeps the reader interested in seeing if Cha/Penelope can overcome the odds and stay alive.
Read on Kakao
6 The Greatest Estate Designer Is a Surprisingly Fresh Comedy Isekai
Created by Moon Bak-Kung and Kim Hyunsoo
The Greatest Estate Designer is another isekai tale that follows modern-day civil engineer Kim Soo-ho who one day wakes up as a questionable character in Iron-Blooded Engineer, a novel he was reading the night before. Naturally, having read the novel, Soo-ho knows what happens in the end, and uses that knowledge and his civil engineering experience to change the novel’s sad ending into a happy one.
The series itself has all the elements of a classic isekai manhwa. Moreover, rather than the death-defying action that is common to the genre, this story focuses on the design, planning, and construction of real estate developments in ancient times. While this may not strike potential readers as particularly exciting, the author’s approach not only makes it interesting but utterly addictive. Readers not only want to see if Soo-ho’s plans work out but also whether his designs are as great as he believes they will be. Along the way, Soo-ho transforms himself from a misfit to a hero.
Read on webtoon
5 Omniscient Reader Proves that Bookworms Can Be Heroes
Created by sing N song and Sleepy-C
As the title implies, Omniscient Reader is a story about an avid reader, average office worker Kim Dokja. Outside of work, Dokja spends most of his time reading his favorite web novel, Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse, which stars his favorite character, Yoo Joonghkyu, who is everything Dokja isn’t. As it turns out, Dokja is the only person in the world who has read the story to the end. This works out well because when the world is suddenly thrown into an apocalyptic situation that mirrors the one explained in the novel, only Dokja knows how it will end and, most importantly, what to do – with the help of his new friend Joonghkyu – to avoid the end and save humanity.
Flipping the script of the traditional isekai story, Omniscient Reader brings an alternative world to reality and the story is better for it. A well-written saga with a plethora of interesting characters surrounding protagonist Dokja, it’s an adventure that never loses its thrill.
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4 Nano Machine Explores the True Meaning of Symbiotic Relationship
Created by HaJoog Wueol Ya and Geumgang Bulgoe
Nano Machines tells the story of Prince Cheol Yeo Woon, the illegitimate son of the Demonic Cult leader. As a result of his heritage, Yeo Woon is targeted by his other five half-brothers, who seek to remove him from the bloodline. They almost succeed, but Cheol is saved by his future descendant, who travels back in time and injects him with smart nano machines that can do everything from healing his wounds to supplying him with on-demand situational analysis and feedback. Armed with these new abilities, Yeo Woon plans to take on his brothers and avenge his dishonored mother.
The appeal of Nano Machines isin its marriage of martial arts action and technology. While these genres are not new to manhwa, they have rarely been combined as creatively as they have been in this series. It’s a fun read that keeps the pages turning.
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3 Tower of God Is an Intense Shonen-Esque Series
Created by SIU
Tower of God details the story of the young boy Bam, who was orphaned at a young age but is found and cared for by a girl named Rachel. One day, Rachel abandons him to climb the Tower of God: a massive – yet mysterious – structure that dominates the landscape. The rumor is that if a person can make it to the top of the tower, their deepest desires will be granted. Since she is the closest relationship he has to his family, after Rachel leaves, Bam decides to follow and find her in the Tower. So begins Bam’s adventure to climb the tower by any means necessary.
Tower of God‘s mesmerizing mix of battle action, with unforgettably heartwarming instances of friendship and camaraderie, transforms what would be a standard adventure story into something truly special. The story is only part of its lure; it’s also filled with memorable characters that are hard to forget.
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2 After School Lessons For Unripe Apples Is an Intricate Coming-of-Age Tale
Created by Soonkki
After School Lesson for Unripe Apples follows the story of teenagers Mi-ae Hwang and Cheol Kim, who years earlier were friends but lost touch with each other during elementary school. However, they are reunited in middle school. Mi-ae is a typical kid who likes comics and music and hanging out with her friends. With her laid-back personality, Mi-ae doesn’t like to attract attention. Cheol, conversely, has become quite the delinquent since they last played together. As the new kid at Mi-ae’s school, his size and unfriendly attitude scare a lot of his classmates. Mi-ae is the only person he seems to have a connection with. Naturally, this leads to a lot of unwanted attention as others begin to think Mi-ae and Cheol are a couple – which is the last thing both want – or so it seems.
This is a fun and humorous series that identifies and explores how Mi-ae and Cheol develop and mature during their adolescence, but it’s not a typical school slice-of-life tale. As the two navigate being a teenager and their relationship, they discover a lot about themselves and the world around them. It’s that process of discovery that makes the story so endearing.
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1 Coming-of-Age and Cycling Come Together in Wind Breaker
Created by Yongseok Jo
Wind Breaker follows the story of high school sophomore Jo Ja-Hyun as he tries to navigate the pressures of school, being a teenager, and his hobby – bike riding. As the class president and top student, Jo likes to unwind by riding his bike; a practice he’s become quite skilled at. It’s a solitary life, but that’s fine with him. The situation changes, however, when he accepts and wins a bike race challenge. Not only does it bring him into contact, and friendship, with a group of classmates who will change his life and broaden his horizons, but it also makes him the target of jealousy, hate, and fear.
Mixing sports themes with youth gang drama and a slice-of-life situation, Wind Breaker has a unique plot that is both entertaining and intriguing. The characters are likable, and their interactions are believable. As for the art – while the beginning chapters are quite raw, it gets increasingly better as the series continues, making it one of the best ongoing manhwa of 2023.
Read on WEBTOON
