“Webtoons are often misunderstood in Japan.” - An interview with the President of Red Seven about letting go of conventional ideas and creating manga that breaks the mold.
Interview by Kyu Nakanishi
One of the most notable examples of vertical-scrolling manga, commonly known as webtoons, is Solo Leveling, written by Chugong and illustrated by Dubu (Redice Studio). This smash-hit South Korean series, which has also received an anime adaptation produced by A-1 Pictures, is loved not only in Japan but around the world.
In this feature, we spoke with Lee Hyun-Seok, President of Red Seven Co., Ltd., the Japanese branch of the Korean art studio that produced Solo Leveling, and a renowned manga editor who has worked on multiple hit series such as Tomb Raider King and The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years. According to Lee, Japan has a skewed idea of what webtoons are supposed to be. What are some common misconceptions, and what underexplored genres should publishers consider investing in? As an expert well-versed in both Japanese manga and Korean manhwa, Lee provides valuable insight into the ever-developing world of webtoons.
Index
- The public’s perception of webtoons is often based on a limited number of series
- Companies should invest in finding and nurturing new talent for long-term growth
- For some reason, there are no high school romance-themed webtoons
- The system for publishing print manga hasn’t changed in 50 years
- Free yourself of the notion that things need to be a certain way
- Works mentioned in this article
- Check out Red Seven’s latest thrilling tale of revenge, Kanshi Otto o Kujo Suru made!
- pixiv Inc. brings you the latest vertical manga news!
The public’s perception of webtoons is often based on a limited number of series
── You’ve been a household name in the Japanese manga industry for a long time. What aspect of webtoons did you feel drawn to, and what prompted you to shift your focus to them?
Lee: It wasn’t so much that I was drawn to them, but rather that I felt the need to due to the impending crisis the Japanese manga industry is facing. Since moving to Japan in 1999, I’ve had the opportunity to work on many series as either a writer or editor. In my years of experience, I’ve noticed that in terms of how mihiraki (two-page spreads) are drawn, there have barely been any stylistic changes for six decades. There’s a highly precise and established formula that authors rarely deviate from, and as a format, it has already peaked. Because of this, I feared the industry would eventually begin to decline.
── In other words, perfection is stagnation, which leads to eventual decline.
Lee: Japan’s population is already shrinking due to falling birth rates, which means there will inevitably be fewer aspiring manga artists in the future, leading to a decline in the publishing market. To combat this, I realized we had to make some changes. South Korea’s new digital comic format, i.e., webtoons, seemed like an interesting new avenue to pursue, and so in 2014, we turned to Comico.
── So it didn’t necessarily have to be vertical-scrolling or colorized—it just needed to be in a different format from traditional manga?
Lee: Absolutely. Webtoons just happened to be gaining traction at the time, and once I read a few, I realized just how interesting they were. Besides being easy to read, I find them highly convenient. Physical copies of magazines take up a lot of space, and throwing away a year’s worth of them can be a real chore. (laughs) Obviously, printed books have their merits, but I really enjoyed the convenience of being able to read an entire webtoon series on my smartphone.
Excerpt from Episode 2 of the webtoon adaptation of Tomb Raider King. Webtoons are known for their vertical-scrolling format, making reading them on a smartphone much easier.
── I feel like webtoons have really taken off in Japan since 2020, thanks to Solo Leveling, which began serialization in 2019. At the same time, I sometimes hear criticism that webtoons within a specific genre tend to be more or less similar to one another. What’s your opinion on this?
Lee: I would say the reverse is also true. In South Korea, the laws were revised in 1998 to gradually lift the strict ban on Japanese culture, and the first stage of partial liberalization took place on October 20th that year. During this stage, manga and other Japanese publications were allowed to be imported for the first time, which gave rise to the popularity of Weekly Shōnen Jump manga such as Slam Dunk, Dragon Ball, and Fist of the North Star, as well as works known for their intricate art style such as Akira. In terms of anime, Galaxy Express 999, Future Boy Conan, and Wedding Peach became a hit. Based on this limited selection of works, people formed their own ideas about what Japanese manga and anime were meant to be. Akira, in particular, had a significant influence on many Korean manga artists’ works at the time.
── I see. That’s a fascinating tidbit of information.
Lee: However, when I came to Japan, I learned that the works that were popular here were completely different from those I’d imagined. When you think of long-running, nationally recognized, and beloved anime in Japan, they tend to be stuff like Chibi Maruko-chan, Sazae-san, and Doraemon. That was when I realized that my perception of Japanese culture had been shaped by an extremely small pool of works available to me at the time, and what was popular in South Korea did not accurately reflect what the average Japanese person enjoyed on a regular basis.
── So you're saying that, for example, you discovered that Japanese Akira fans actually tend to be those who are into more niche or alternative manga.
Lee: It’s basically the same thing with Korean webtoons as well. At the moment, series with bold visuals such as Solo Leveling and The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years are popular in Japan, and these select few works have shaped the public’s perception of what webtoons are. In South Korea, however, individual creators have been building the foundation of webtoon culture long before large comic production companies and studios became prevalent.
Excerpt from Episode 1 of The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years. The attention to detail is evident, from the way the characters are drawn down to the exquisite coloring.
── But most people in Japan don’t know about these indie creators?
── I heard that during the formative years of webtoons, works called “essaytoons” describing people’s everyday lives used to be the norm. In my experience, the more personal the comic, the more likely it is to contain details that require a deep understanding of the country’s social structure and historical background.
Lee: Oh, absolutely. In addition, we also need to take the language barrier into account. The process of translation and localization is incredibly costly, so naturally, companies will only invest in series they’re confident will sell. This has resulted in most translated works being skewed towards action adventure, isekai, or romantasy, as these genres tend not to require a deep understanding of Korean culture to enjoy. Of course, I don’t blame the public for having an inaccurate image of Korean webtoons when that’s all they’re exposed to, but in reality, it’s simply that certain genres are overrepresented on the market.
Companies should invest in finding and nurturing new talent for long-term growth
── Some would say this misconception is precisely what is hindering the growth of webtoon culture in Japan. If I remember correctly, you once said something along the lines of, “I’m positive there is a way Japanese webtoons can leverage the culture’s unique strengths without resorting to a mere imitation of Korean webtoons.”
── Why do you think there aren’t more innovative works in Japan?
Lee: I believe it’s because most companies simply focus on their projected revenue based on the amount they invest; they aren’t thinking enough about the long-term effects. The remarkable thing about the Japanese manga publishing industry is that they have been investing in fresh new talent for a long time from a long-term perspective. Take Shueisha, for example. They continue to put out over 300 new works a year written by up-and-coming manga artists, regardless of how long it takes them to recoup the initial costs they invested. Companies that have joined or are attempting to join the webtoon market ought to take a leaf out of their book and adopt a more forward-thinking attitude.
── So while it may seem like a waste of time and money if you only care about short-term profit, it’s an absolutely vital investment in the long run?
Excerpt from Episode 1 of Home Plate Villain. The gameplay scenes are well thought out to match the vertical scrolling.
── Regarding My Younger Husband, even though it’s a webtoon, it uses a style different from the traditional seamless vertical-scrolling format; instead, it allows the reader to swipe horizontally, panel by panel. To me, this seemed like an ambitious attempt to present an alternative to the usual format in which manga made for smartphones are read.
My Younger Husband is a series about a young married couple with a five-year age gap. This series uses a horizontal, panel-by-panel swiping style called “cuttoon,” making for a more effortless reading experience. The panel featured is from Episode 1 of My Younger Husband.
Lee: This style is actually very common in South Korea, and I highly recommend it to Japanese webtoon artists too. The vertical-scrolling format has a roughly 25-year history in Korea and has been developed through much trial and error. As such, it would take quite a bit of time if you were to learn all of the techniques and fully master them. On the other hand, the cuttoon style is much easier since the size of the panel is fixed. Moreover, things drawn in a horizontal-swiping format can easily be converted to a vertical-scrolling format, not to mention it’s also easy to turn them into printed collections.
── Indeed, it seems even easier to draw in this format than the traditional vertical format.
Lee: This is why I think creators in Japan should give it a shot, too, but unfortunately, it seems like no one is interested in doing so. Perhaps they value traditional ideas too much and are afraid of deviating from the norm.
For some reason, there are no high school romance-themed webtoons
── Agreed. I do feel like we often get hung up on the idea that all webtoons need to be vertical and fully colorized to the point that we forget other options exist.
── It seems like the current trend for manga targeting women is romantasy.
Lee: If there’s one genre Korean artists aren’t good at, it’s Japanese high school romance. After all, they lack the context and experience necessary to write about it. This is a genre where Japanese artists have a clear advantage, and I’m positive many people would read those webtoons if they were available. Moreover, they can easily be made by one person. And yet, you rarely see such stories published.
── That’s a good point...
── The larger the market, the greater the number of people exposed to it. It’s no wonder that if someone who grew up in that environment chooses to draw manga, their first inclination would be to draw in a horizontal print format.
── So print manga that show you the connecting panels are analog clocks, while webtoons that only show you the current panel are digital clocks. Interesting analogy.
Lee: Here’s another example. There’s this manga artist who’s highly popular at the moment named Tatsuki Fujimoto; what sets him apart from other artists is that his works use a lot of “filmic grammar.” For example, his one-shot Look Back is incredibly reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino’s film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and the DVD cover even appears in the manga. And actually, getting inspiration from movies and drawing in a filmic style is a very traditional Japanese way of creating manga.
── Osamu Tezuka used to do that a lot, didn’t he?
Lee: That’s right. Tezuka-sensei was greatly influenced by Walt Disney, and Katsuhiro Otomo, who wrote Akira, was also very much influenced by Hollywood films such as Blade Runner. Korean webtoons are drawn by people who grew up watching films just like them, and they’re mainly being made by a generation that grew up watching movies and dramas on tiny smartphone screens. I believe people in Japan have also naturally acquired this visual language, i.e., a feel for what makes sense cinematically.
The system for publishing print manga hasn’t changed in 50 years
── The Jump TOON Award, which started in 2023, is one of the few places where individual artists can submit their works, which you stated as being very important earlier. How did you feel participating in the inaugural Jump TOON Award as a judge?
Lee: It was a fantastic experience. What was interesting was that some of the works were in black and white, and it felt wonderful to see works breaking the mold of what webtoons are “supposed” to be. I really enjoyed seeing so many fun, experimental submissions.
── To me, it seemed like you were able to discover some potential solutions for how Japan can develop its own unique webtoon culture.
Lee: We did, in fact. One way we can further nurture these possibilities is to instill the idea that it is up to readers to judge whether a work is good or not. I believe this is why Comico succeeded with webtoons, despite them still being an uncommon type of media in Japan at the time. Back then, Comico considered a work to be good if many readers liked it. In order to gauge the public’s honest opinions, they also interviewed junior high and high school students to learn what they thought of the works being serialized and what they were currently into.
── So you’re saying while it’s important to manage the quality of the works being published, it’s not necessary for editors to weigh in on whether they’re interesting or not?
Lee: Say there’s a shonen magazine whose target readers are mainly teens and young adults up to 20 years old. In this case, how old should the editors be? If the age gap between their target audience is too big, it may be difficult for them to share the same sensibilities. Given that we live in an age where we can receive readers’ opinions in real time via the internet, it’s only fair to take advantage of this. In this way, webtoons have developed by placing the utmost importance on reader evaluation.
── So the traditional Japanese approach of manga artists and editors working in tandem to produce a work has both advantages and disadvantages. Would you say there are more downsides to this approach at the moment?
Lee: I do. Even though the world has changed drastically, the system of publishing print manga has remained unchanged for the past 50 or 60 years. I’m not saying there aren’t positive aspects to it, but I do think now is the time to pursue every possible avenue to pave the way for a new era.
── Do you think it’s possible for the situation surrounding webtoons in Japan to change drastically in the future?
Lee: I believe it is possible if a well-known publishing house can produce a smash-hit series. If that happens, I’m certain the situation will turn around, and people will begin placing more importance on webtoons, allowing the industry to bring in first-class talent and resources. In my opinion, anime is the key for this change to take place. I don’t mean just any anime adaptation, but a blockbuster adaptation. It’s the same with print manga as well. As excellent as Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is, it didn’t have nearly the same influence as it does now until the anime became a hit. Another example is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, which created an economic boom for Japanese anime and manga, followed by the hit series Jujutsu Kaisen. The situation surrounding webtoons will probably change as well as more hits are released in the multimedia development process.
── So, you mean that if we can create a situation where many hit animations are based on webtoons, their status will naturally improve, and more people will aspire to become webtoon artists.
Lee: The anime adaptation of Solo Leveling was a success, and I think that served as one of the major turning points. When an anime becomes popular, the sales of the source material also increases, so even though the series has already been completed, it still ranks in the top spot sometimes. The books also sell very well, and the response in the U.S. has been tremendous. Until now, the short IP lifespan of webtoons was said to be a fatal flaw, but Solo Leveling has proved to be an anomaly, becoming a major hit and receiving an anime and video game adaptation. The product lifespan of webtoons has been steadily increasing, and we were able to create an excellent example with Solo Leveling. I believe this is just the beginning.
Free yourself of the notion that things need to be a certain way
── Who knows, there might be future best-selling webtoon artists among pixiv users who we just haven’t discovered yet.
Lee: pixiv is the biggest online platform where artists gather and post their work. Because of the sheer number of users, there is a strong possibility of us finding talented authors and artists. I have high hopes for the future.
── What are some things you expect from pixiv, if you don’t mind sharing in detail?
Lee: I believe pixiv should follow Shueisha’s example as I mentioned earlier. This means constantly investing in discovering new artists and giving them a platform where the public can assess their works. This is something all online platforms should be doing, not just pixiv. It could be in the form of a contest, or it could be a monthly award. If you ask me what aspiring manga artists want most, it’s to make their debut. Everyone longs for the moment when their work is finally recognized, so I sincerely hope a system will be put in place that will allow them that kind of experience.
── Do you have any advice for aspiring manga artists?
Lee: Always be aware of your audience. A work isn’t complete until someone reads it, so it’s crucial to consider the best way to get your point across. Furthermore, a good story isn’t something only you can understand. Out of a hundred, 90 percent of it should be made with the reader in mind; the remaining ten percent can be for the author’s satisfaction. Becoming aware of that is the first step.
── A lot of young aspiring artists often cite not being able to publish weekly as one of the main reasons they avoid making webtoons. Even if they want to create something unique, they feel forced to eventually divide up the tasks to make the workload more manageable.
── As in, just do what you can within your limits?
Lee: First, you shouldn’t assume that you have to constantly churn out X number of pages every week. Trying to draw something like Solo Leveling weekly all by yourself would be overkill. (laughs) That sort of misconception is the last thing creators should have. The whole point of being an artist is to create art freely, not to impose restrictions on yourself. Instead, all you have to do is experiment and figure out what styles and techniques will allow you to keep drawing one episode a week.
── I see.
Lee: In the first place, who says that manga chapters need to be published once a week? Surely not every series has to be published weekly. As long as you get to read something new every day, what does it matter?
── You’ve got a point there. (laughs)
Lee: If that’s indeed what you’re worried about, all you need to do is think about how many episodes and panels you need to draw in order to get people to read your work every day. I truly hope that pixiv users can let their imagination run free in their works, free from the shackles of stereotypes.
── Like you mentioned at the beginining, since Japan has a skewed view about webtoons, it would be much more refreshing to read new works unhindered by such misconceptions.
Works mentioned in this article
Tomb Raider King (3B2S / Yuns / Sanji Jiksong)
©3B2S, Yuns (Redice Studio), Sanji Jiksong / Red Seven, Riverse
Synopsis:
Strange tombs have been appearing all over the world. Among these tombs are relics that give people supernatural powers, leading some to use their newfound powers to obtain great riches and others to plot to take over the world. As the world begins to change, a mysterious individual appears out of nowhere to collect all the relics before anyone else can get to them. Thus begins a gripping, action-packed quest of vengeance as the “Tomb Raider King” seeks to get revenge on those who betrayed him in his previous life.
The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (kd-dragon (Redice Studio) / Parachute, Ttaegaebi, barnacle)
©kd-dragon (Redice Studio), Parachute, Ttaegaebi, barnacle, Red Seven, Riverse
Synopsis:
An underachieving student at West Road Academy, Frey Blake is the black sheep of the prestigious Blake family. Treated as an outcast both at home and at school, Frey takes his own life, unable to withstand the pain any longer. Just then, a new soul enters his lifeless body. The soul belongs to none other than Lukas Trowman, a great mage who was imprisoned in the Abyss 4,000 years ago after a battle with the Lord of the Demigods. With his newfound vessel, Lukas is ready to embark on a journey to seek revenge on the Lord that wronged him.
Home Plate Villain (Jun Fudo, Evilline)
©Jun Fudo, Evilline, Redice Studio / Red Seven, Riverse
Legendary baseball player Hong Bin has an impressive list of achievements, 3,000 career hits being one of them. During his final game at age 40, he hits his last ball, holding up the end of his deal with the Baseball Fairy. Now age 18, his goal is to join the major league and achieve 5,000 career hits. The only problem? He’s lost all his old skills as a pro! Will his past experiences be enough to help him fulfill this new challenge?
My Younger Husband (Yuri)
©Yuri, Red Seven, Riverse
Nao Motoki and Mitsuru are newlyweds. After dating for six months, the pair tied the knot, and they have been the perfect pair of lovebirds ever since. Despite their married life being full of happiness, Nao can’t help but be slightly suspicious of her husband at times. “Am I really the first person you’ve ever loved or been with? With that killer face and bod?!” Follow Nao and Mitsuru as they navigate their exciting newlywed life as a couple with a five-year age gap!
Check out Red Seven’s latest thrilling tale of revenge, Kanshi Otto o Kujo Suru made!
Kanshi Otto o Kujo Suru made (Koharu Yukimura, siosoy)
Brought to you by the author of Kanpeki Wife ni Yoru Kanpeki na Fukushu Keikaku (The Flawless Revenge by the Flawless Wife), which received a TV drama series adaptation last year, this is Red Seven’s first completely original work produced by domestic artists. Enjoy this new work that explores the popular cheating thriller genre with a Red Seven flair!
Synopsis:
Iroha is involved in a tragic accident that kills her parents and renders her paralyzed from the waist down. Following that, she is dumped by her fiancé, and her life hits rock bottom, until a handsome doctor named Aoto comes to her rescue. Now married, all seems well at first. That is, until Iroha realizes that her whole marriage is a sham, and Aoto is secretly in love with someone else. A thrilling tale of deception and one woman’s quest to exact vengeance.
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