The rising popularity of Korean webtoons has encouraged major companies like Crunchyroll and Netflix to comb through the treasure trove of available stories and adapt them into animated and live-action titles. As a whole, webtoons had long been a largely overlooked part of the anime and manga industry until now.

This has led to an explosion of Korean webtoon adaptations, much to the delight of longtime fans. Aside from just receiving anime adaptations, some Korean webtoons also have manga series or even mobile gacha games of their own.

Update on December 12th, 2023 by Hannah Grimes: This list has been updated to include more excellent adaptations of Korean webtoons and to reflect CBR's latest style change.

10 The Tower of God Webtoon Spans Multiple Mediums

What lengths would someone be willing to go to achieve their greatest desire? In the Tower of God, those who reach the very top floor can obtain whatever their heart desires. For Bam, there is only one goal motivating him to scale the tower: a girl by the name of Rachel, who was his only companion amid the darkness that was his whole world. This is the story of a girl on a quest to see the stars and a boy who needs nothing but her.

First published in 2010, Tower of God has been running for almost 12 years now. Its popularity hasn’t waned in the slightest, and it's still heralded as one of the most successful and popular action webtoons on the platform. Tower of God has even been adapted into a cross-webtoon RPG game called Hero’s Cantare in 2019, and the anime adaptation became available to international audiences via Crunchyroll in 2020. A second season was announced in August 2022.

9 Supernatural Beings Condemn Humans To Hell In Hellbound

Set in South Korea between 2022 and 2027, Hellbound takes place in a world where a supernatural being called Angel shows up and begins condemning humans to Hell. This is done at a specific point in the future, anywhere from seconds to years away. Now people must cope with knowing exactly when they'll meet their horrible, inescapable fate. Angel doesn't spare children, either, and one couple in Hellbound discovers their baby is marked for death.

Hellbound's director, Yeon Sang-ho, is also the original creator of the Hellbound webcomic, ensuring his original vision is properly brought to life. It's the first Korean drama to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and became the most-watched series on Netflix the day after its release there. Hellbound took some inspiration from Squid Game, but still tells a unique and thought-provoking story.

8 The God Of High School Explores Korean and Chinese Mythology

Around the same time an island is practically erased from existence, a mysterious organization sends out invitations to all the top martial artists around the world to compete in a competition. The winner can wish for anything they want and will receive the title of the God of High School. Jin Mori is one such recipient of this invitation and, on account of losing his first-ever fight, he agrees to join.

Still critically acclaimed in the webtoon community, The God of High School draws references from classic Korean and Chinese mythology to weave together a mesmerizing mix of fantastical action. Along with Tower of God, The God of High School was incorporated into the mobile game Hero’s Cantare and received an anime adaptation produced by the animation powerhouse Studio Mappa in 2020.

7 A Hard-Working Scholarship Student Deals With A Deceptive Senior In Cheese In The Trap

Cheese In The Trap's Yoo Jung is popular and appears friendly on the surface, but is actually manipulative and has a habit of using and destroying others. Hong Seol, Cheese In The Trap's female lead, is a hardworking scholarship student who returns to school via a scholarship originally intended for Jung. Jung acts incredibly nice to Seol, asking her out on a date, and their awkward relationship becomes more complicated from there.

The original webtoon run for Cheese In The Trap lasted from 2010 to 2017, meaning its television adaptation has a wholly original ending, since the webcomic was still releasing at the time. A film adaptation also released in 2018, and all three versions of Cheese In The Trap's story are compelling and met with positive reception.

6 Noblesse Is an Action-Fantasy Cornerstone Webtoon

After 820 years, Cadis Etrama Di Raizel awakens from his slumber to a modern world he knows nothing about. He happens to stumble upon his loyal servant, Frankenstein, who is currently the principal of a Korean high school. Seeing an opportunity to immerse himself in this new environment, he enrolls and becomes affectionately known as Rai by his classmates. But trouble is always lurking around the corner.

Noblesse has been the cornerstone of action fantasy webtoons for a long time. Even after the release of its final chapter in 2019, it remains one of the most iconic webtoons alongside Tower of God and The God of High School. Noblesse fans had long called for an anime adaptation of the much-beloved webtoon and finally got their wish in 2020, with the release of a proper Noblesse anime by Crunchyroll.

5 A High School Girl's Diminished Belief In Magic Is Restored In The Sound Of Magic

In The Sound of Magic, a high school girl named Yoon Ah-yi used to believe in magic, but that belief diminished over the years. She wants nothing more than to become an adult as fast as possible, but her worldview is challenged upon meeting a magician named Ri Eul, who wants to keep a childlike worldview forever. Over the course of the movie, Ah-yi becomes a follower of Ri Eul's. Her belief in magic is reignited, and she's inspired to once again follow her dreams.

The Sound of Magic is a music drama, and its soundtrack was developed over eighteen months. Capturing the characters' feelings and emotional turmoil through The Sound of Magic's soundtrack is pivotal, and adds an extra layer of emotional depth. The cast's overall performances, as well as the show's visuals, received high praise.

4 Recluse Cha Hyunsoo Faces Sweet Home's Monsters Outside

Cha Hyunsoo lives alone in an apartment complex planning his own death after an unexpected tragedy wipes out the rest of his family. Considered a shut-in by society, he is mainly reclusive until a need for food pushes him outside the boundaries of his apartment. Unfortunately, he has to face a much scarier reality than the judgmental gazes he’s been so afraid of; his fellow humans are slowly turning into monsters. Forced to band together with a group of survivors in his apartment complex, they must figure out how to survive in a world where their companions can turn against them in an instant.

Sweet Home is one of those webtoons that hits all the right notes of its genre. Defined as a horror and suspense webtoon, it certainly achieves that through the artist's masterful storyboards and structures, and its placement of panels. The complex characters and their development throughout the story sets Sweet Home apart from other similar webtoons. It was later adapted into a live-action Korean drama released on Netflix in 2020, with second and third seasons in the works.

3 Humans And Vampires Attempt To Coexist In Orange Marmalade

Orange Marmalade's Baek Ma-ri is a socially outcast teenager who hides her identity as a vampire from others. Although vampires have evolved in Orange Marmalade's universe and no longer need to feed on humans, they're still discriminated against, and most hide their true natures while acting like normal humans. Baek Ma-ri settles into a new city, looking to live a quiet and peaceful life, but this dream is quickly interrupted by blossoming romantic feelings for Jung Jae-min, the most popular boy at her new school.

After Webtoon was first released in Indonesia in 2015, Orange Marmalade quickly became its most-popular webtoon. Its original creator, Seok Woo, said they didn't have many friends growing up and would instead pour their heart out into creating comics, making the success and adaptation of Orange Marmalade incredibly heartwarming as so many people resonated with the author's feelings.

2 True Beauty Explores the Power of Confidence

After being bullied for her nerdy appearance, shy comic book fan Ju Gyeoung binge-watched beauty videos and mastered the art of makeup throughout her break. When she goes back to school next semester, she finds her social standing has skyrocketed overnight as she immediately becomes the most popular girl in school. But that popularity comes at a cost when it is held in place by the power of makeup. Will she be able to keep this secret from her classmates?

First impressions may suggest True Beauty is a typical romance webtoon where the pretty girl gets the guys. Beneath the surface, however, it addresses much deeper issues of self-esteem and the shallowness of society through the medium of makeup. Despite being one of the more recent webtoons so far, it has garnered so much popularity in such a short time that it was recently adapted into one of the best Korean drama of the same name in 2020.

1 Yumi's Cells Uniquely Tells Yumi's Life Through The Cells In Her Head

Yumi's Cells stars Yumi, an ordinary office worker, whose life's story is told through the unique lens of the cells inside her head. Yumi suffers greatly after a failed relationship, causing the cell in her brain that controls love to fall into a coma. The other cells in Yumi's brain, as well as Goo Woong, a game developer and Yumi's romantic interest, try to wake up her love cell.

The original webtoon for Yumi's Cells ran for five years before receiving a drama adaptation in 2021, as well as an animated adaptation in 2022. There are even several video games based around Yumi's Cells, including Yumi's Block Pang, Yumi's Cells: My Dream House, and Yumi's Cells: The Game. The third is available internationally in North American app stores.