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Toon wars
Japanese manga is being eclipsed by South Korean webtoons
The industry’s business model has hardly changed since the 1960s
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A visitor to the Korean Manhwa Museum in Bucheon looking at iconic webtoon titles on display.
PHOTO: ST FILE
The Economist
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Mr Lee Hyun-seok grew up in South Korea addicted to Japanese manga series such as Dragon Ball and Slam Dunk. As soon as he could, he emigrated to Tokyo to build a successful career as a manga artist and editor.
Then in the early 2000s came “webtoons”, a South Korean cartoon innovation optimised for smartphones. Mr Lee was at first unimpressed. Compared with manga’s inventive graphic styles and sophisticated plots, he found webtoons crude and superficial. “I thought: ‘Anybody can make this’.”
