Best Historical Manhwa You Should Read

Key Takeaways

• Manga volumes are easily accessible now, with top strips available in stores and apps.
• Manhwa offers a fresh perspective on classic genres and deep dives into Korean culture.
• Historical manhwas cover diverse eras, from Ancient China to the Joseon Dynasty, offering unique stories.

In the past, it took a lot of searching to find manga volumes, and even then, they weren’t always translated into other languages. Now, all the top strips can be found everywhere, from stores to online apps and websites, and it’s easier to find newer, rising media. For example, if Japanese comics feel old-hat, readers may prefer Korean comics, known as manhwa.

They can offer a new perspective on classic genres, especially historical ones. They can delve deep into Korean culture or simply tell a good story set back in the day with plenty of drama and interesting characters. With enough browsing, readers can find some truly great historical manhwa.

Updated November 20th, 2024 by David Heath: It’s safe to say manhwa are here to stay. That’s a bit of a no-duh statement to people who have been checking them out for years (or Koreans who have been reading them for decades). Yet they’ve exploded in popularity in the Anglosphere, as all the old entries on this list have risen in their MAL and Anime-Planet scores, showing they’ve gained more fans, and they like what’s on show a lot.

There are also a lot more strips either getting published or catching readers’ eyes in their native Korean. So, alongside the usual tweaks and edits to bring it up to date, this list has received a few more intriguing additions that cover other eras, from Ancient Egypt to the Goryeo Dynasty and beyond.

22 Baroness Goes On Strike

MyAnimeList Score: 7.31

• Written by Go Eunchae.
• Illustrated by Song Ye-Seul.
• Available on Tapas.
• Release years: 2018–2019.

Baroness Goes On Strike sticks to a European-themed fantasy land while following a trend that spun off from the isekai boom: reincarnation. In her first life, Countess Cassia Ruberno was ordered by the Emperor of Simone to marry Baron Zester of Greze, a mercenary knighted for his war efforts. After a decade of trying to run Zester’s land alone, she died from an incurable disease.

But her death takes her back 10 years to the day she met Zester. Given a new chance at life, she rebels against the Emperor’s orders and declares she’d rather live a stress-free life alone than marry the Baron. Yet despite starting this new path, Zester still tries to woo her, which intrigues her. Like a manhwa-themed version of Peggy Sue Got Married, maybe things will get better for both of them on this new path.

21 The Elixir Of The Sun

MyAnimeList Score: 7.45

• Written by Konn & One, based on a web novel by Solddam.
• Illustrated by Song Yi.
• Available on Lezhin Comics.
• Release years: 2021-2023.

The Elixir of the Sun goes to a fantasy world based on ancient Korea rather than the Middle Ages. It follows Bayan, a member of the Siyo clan. Their members usually have the power to heal sickness, but Bayan didn’t inherit this ability. To get her out of the way, the Siyo send her to the court of Dhan, the Great Sun Emperor.

But this isn’t a cushy position; it’s a death sentence. Dhan suffers from violent outbursts that cause him to slaughter his own concubines, and Bayan is next on the chopping block. However, there’s something about her that soothes Dhan’s mood. Through their encounters, some more adult than others, they discover Bayan may be more of a healer than they know.

20 The Divine Surgeon

MyAnimeList Score: 7.50

• Written by Dongshin Park.
• Illustrated by Byungick Choi.
• Available on Tapas.
• Release years: 2022-Present.

Joining the medium’s wide range of isekai, reincarnation, and isekai-reincarnation stories is The Divine Surgeon. However, it’s unique in that, instead of some 17th-19th Century European theme, or Joseon-era Korea, it takes its lead back to Ancient China. Dr Jinsoo did his best to live a noble life, only to get conned, fired, and killed by his professor. But a mysterious being takes his good deeds to heart and rewards him with a second chance at life.

However, his second chance is being reborn as the legendary physician Hua Tuo, who lived through the end of the Eastern Han dynasty just as it split into the infamous Three Kingdoms of Wei, Wu, and Shu. Aside from having to survive these turbulent times, Jinsoo/Tuo has to figure out how to treat people without modern conveniences, making medicines, anesthetics, and more from scratch.

19 My Royal Awakening

MyAnimeList Score: 7.58

• Written by Dopamine, based on a web novel by Gu-Sa.
• Illustrated by Tae-Hyung Kim.
• Available on Lezhin Comics.
• Release years: 2020-2022.

My Royal Awakening is an isekai with a difference. This time, an average guy struggling to get by in modern Korea gets a shot at the high life when he’s reborn as a noble during the Joseon Dynasty. Unfortunately, he was reborn as Grand Prince Jin-seong, the younger foster brother of King Yeongsan, Korea’s most notorious tyrant.

During his 11-year reign, he suppressed free speech and education, purged scholars, and abducted women from across the nation to serve as his court entertainers. The new Jin-seong could let history take its course, and he would succeed Yeongsan after a coup. But perhaps if he took a more active role, he could change things for the better.

18 The Crown Princess Scandal

MyAnimeList Score: 7.74

• Based on the web novel by Jeonghyeon.
• Illustrated by Kitrow.
• Available on Webtoon.
• Release years: 2021-2023.

From princesses having to fight for themselves and consorts turning a death sentence into a romance comes a tale of a girl who didn’t want to be a noble in the first place. Well, kind of. The English title may be The Crown Princess Scandal, based on the imperial palace’s crown princess selection. But the role is more akin to a concubine, which might be why its lead, Hwa-yeong, is angry at her little sister for signing her up for it.

She does her best to get disqualified and sent home early, but as luck would have it, she meets Crown Prince Shin-yeong himself. Seeing through her scheme, he intends to make sure she passes the process just to annoy her. Now, Hwa-yeong has to try harder to avoid winning and getting stuck with Shin-yeong for 6 months in the palace. But as she gets to know him and the court well, the role may start sounding more appealing.

17 Ennead

MyAnimeList Score: 7.87

• Written & Illustrated by Mojito.
• Available on Tappytoon.
• Release years: 2018-Present.

The term ‘Ennead’ refers to the 9 Egyptian gods worshiped at Heliopolis, including the likes of Osiris, Isis, and Set. Inspired by the pantheon, Mojito’s Ennead sees Set, the god of storms and disorder, take control of all Egypt and subject it to his tyrannical rule. The only one able to challenge his rule is Horus, son of the deposed Osiris. Though he is of divine birth, he hasn’t been officially deemed a god yet, stacking the odds against him.

Yet, despite the two hating each other, their feelings change over time. The line between obsession and desire becomes more blurred as the two confront each other, producing a keen psychological drama involving love and trauma. It can be a harsh read sometimes, so it isn’t for the faint of heart. But anyone in need of a heavy, historical BL romance with strong art will find it all in Ennead.

16 Myst, Might, Mayhem

MyAnimeList Score: 7.88

• Based on the web novel by Hanjung Wolya.
• Illustrated by Tae-Hyung Kim.
• Available on Webtoon.
• Release years: 2024-Present.

Being the newest entry on this list (as of this writing), recommending Myst, Might, Mayhem might seem a little premature. There’s always a chance its plot could take a polarizing turn. Yet Hanjung Wolya has had a knack for writing strong, action-based web novels, each of which has been adapted into popular manhwa since 2020. This is why the latest adaptation of his work came out to critical acclaim.

It’s a “Prince and the Pauper”-style story. Only the Pauper is Jeong, a serial killer known as the Slaughtering Scythe. Mok Gyeongwoon, the third master of the Mok Sword Manor, offers him a chance at freedom from prison if he takes Mok’s place. He agrees and then takes Mok’s life as well as his place in the manor. But how long can he pretend to be the third master before someone figures out the truth? Life at Mok Sword Manor might not be as easy as it seems.

15 The Unwelcome Guests Of House Fildette

Anime Planet Score: 3.9/5 Stars

• Written & Illustrated by Arrnuni.
• Available on Tapas.
• Release years: 2022-Present

The problem with some historical strips is that they focus on the same few settings, like Middle Ages European-style worlds, 19th-century noble courts, etc. At least The Unwelcome Guests of House Fildette changes things slightly by being about nobles in the early 20th century instead. Even then, it focuses less on the political intrigue and more on the domestic drama.

Hayden Fildette’s life with his parents, the Count and Countess of Fildette, used to be idyllic and stable. But it gets turned upside down when someone from his father’s past comes back and introduces everyone to Hayden’s long-lost half-brother. His prospects as the family heir are now in jeopardy, but Hayden is more worried about what it’ll do to his family. Will they manage to stick together, or will they fall apart? Fildette’s future now isn’t as certain as he thought it’d be.

14 Murderous Llewellyn’s Candlelit Dinner

MyAnimeList Score: 8.07

• Written by Sumnagi.
• Illustrated by Muk Bu.
• Available on Lezhin Comics.
• Release years: 2020-2022.

Also set around the early 20th century, Murderous Llewellyn’s Candlelit Dinner spells out its intention in the title. It follows Shavonne, a struggling writer too busy trying to stay afloat to be concerned about the series of murders that have happened around his home street. The only break from his routine is his new neighbor, Llewellyn. He’s a curious sort who’s always peeling onions around his apartment block’s staircase.

Weird as he is, he’s also welcoming, greeting Shavonne in nearly every language under the sun. Between his good manners and weird habits, Shavonne finds himself equally enamored by and concerned with Llewellyn. However, when he accepts Llewellyn’s invitation to dinner, Shavonne finds out he really should’ve been worried. Based on Sumnagi’s web novel, it’s a twisted BL story for fans who like their good guys to end up dealing with bad boys. Only Llewellyn is less biker punk and more Hannibal Lector.

13 Joseon’s Ban On Marriage

Anime-Planet Score: 4.04/5 Stars

• Written by Ji-Hye Chun.
• Illustrated by Sanchaek.
• Fan Translations only.
• Release years: 2019-2021.

Many of Korea’s traditional customs, culture, religious practices, and language come from the Joseon Dynasty. Lasting from 1392 to 1897, it had its ups and downs, ranging from cultural booms to isolationist tyranny as seen in My Royal Awakening. Joseon’s Ban on Marriage doesn’t get that tense, and is a fictional tale, but offers its historical character a different problem to untangle. King Lee Heon, broken-hearted after the death of his wife, decreed that no one in the land could get married until he had remarried, leading to seven years of marital stagnation.

Ye So-Rang found it a handy time to run a marriage guidance scam, but when she’s caught and imprisoned, she tries to get out of jail by pretending to be possessed by the late Crown Princess. It works, and she ends up with the King. But if she drops the act, it’ll be the end for her. Based on a web novel, the manhwa has also been adapted into the live-action drama series The Forbidden Marriage.

12 The Blue Guardian Of The Princess

Anime-Planet Score: 4.04/5 Stars

• Written by Heo Sua.
• Illustrated by Robin Bae.
• Available on Tapas.
• Release years: 2021-2022.

If readers want a mature story that isn’t so steamy, The Blue Guardian of the Princess offers that with its political intrigue and unlikely romance. Following the death of her younger brother, Princess Yeong-Myung is cast out with her mother, the Queen Dowager In-Mok Daebi, to a palace far from the Imperial Court.

With the wife of the Emperor, Kim Gae-shi, plotting against her, and the threat of a mythical beast looming on the horizon, the odds are seemingly against the Princess. But she gets help from an unlikely source in the Goblin King, who vows to stay by her side and protect her against all threats. Maybe, together, they can overcome the political intrigue and save the nation.

11 Your Throne

MyAnimeList Score: 8.19

• Written & Illustrated by SAM.
• Available on Webtoon.
• Release years: 2021–2022

There are more full-on historical manhwa out nowadays. But using ‘historical’ as a keyword can still often bring up isekai stories or history-themed fantasy tales rather than real historical settings. For example, Your Throne‘s Vasilios Empire takes its name from the emperors of the Byzantine Empire, but its aesthetic is more Victorian Era-meets-Fire Emblem.

The Greek theme continues with the characters’ names, as the scheming Medea Solon swaps bodies with the popular Crown Princess Psyche Callisto. This way, she’ll get her chance to run the empire with the Crown Prince Eros Orna Vasilios. Psyche plans on reclaiming her position, but to do that, she’ll have to learn how to be as cunning as Medea while learning what life is truly like for her subjects.

10 Black Corporation: Joseon

Anime-Planet Score: 4.10/5 Stars

• Written by Gukppong and Kim Puluk.
• Illustrated by Hong Sanggi.
• Fan Translations only.
• Release years: 2023-Present.

My Royal Awakening saw a guy get isekai’d to the Joseon Dynasty under the brutal King Yeongsan. Black Corporation: Joseon has Jinho, a fanatic of military tech and steampunk aesthetics, getting isekai’d to the reign of Yeongsan’s great-great-grandfather, Sejong the Great. He’s credited with inventing Hanggul, the Korean writing system, as well as promoting advances in science and technology, with his reign being seen as a Golden Age in Korea’s history.

Even so, Sejong reigned during the 1400s, a considerably less cushy time for people than in the 2020s. Reborn as his 6-year-old son, Lee Hyang, Jinho first wanted to get all-in on making Seong’s reign more advanced than it already was. But when he sees people being exploited, he wonders if he can advance society as well. That is if his scheming younger brother Sejo doesn’t have other ideas.

9 The Fantasie Of A Stepmother

MyAnimeList Score: 8.21

• Based on the web novel by Spice & Kitty.
• Illustrated by ORKA.
• Available on Tapas and via Seven Seas Entertainment.
• Release years: 2019-Present.

Also known as A Stepmother’s Marchen, The Fantasie of a Stepmother is about a second chance at life. Shuli, ‘The Iron Widow,’ was barely older than Marquess Johannes Von Neuschwanstein’s eldest child, Jeremy, when they married. After he died, she was left alone to look after the household, perform her duties as Marchioness, and look after 4 stepchildren who didn’t trust her.

Nonetheless, she did her best for them for 7 years, hoping Jeremy would succeed her and his late father after his marriage. But after getting caught in an accident, she awakens to find herself back in the past, hours after her husband’s death. Now she has to relive her past again, but with her old memories intact, she hopes to build better relationships with her stepchildren to avoid making the same mistakes again.

8 Mujang

Anime-Planet Score: 4.12/5 Stars

• Written & Illustrated by Chul-Hyun Kim.
• Fan translations only.
• Release years: 2012-2017.

Before the Joseon dynasty, there was Goryeo, when the peninsula’s split kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekjae, Silla, and Gaya were united into one regime. This era was where the name ‘Korea’ comes from, as it was often Romanized as ‘Koryo’. Even so, it wasn’t necessarily a peaceful union if Mujang is anything to go by, as it follows Kwon, an orphaned child raised as a slave alongside his elder brother.

Once his brother was killed, he lost his last connection to his family and gained a fiery ambition. He seeks to avenge his brother’s death and does everything he can to get stronger, from training in martial arts to learning military tactics, until he becomes one of the era’s strongest generals. It’s a straightforward revenge tale, but an exciting one as Kwon gets wrapped up in conspiracies and attempted coup d’etats along the way.

7 The Red Sleeve

Anime-Planet Score: 4.12/5 Stars

• Adapted from Mikang Kang’s original webnovel by Dopamine.
• Illustrated by CreativeSUMM.
• Available on Tapas.
• Release years: 2021-Present.

Fans of light novels/mangas/animes like The Apothecary Diaries will find The Red Sleeve up their alley, as it also involves a headstrong girl trying to make a living within the royal court. When Deokim isn’t serving in the palace as a maid, she’s playing pranks on the other staff members, or translating texts to support her family. News of her literary skills soon spread throughout the court, until it caught the ear of the queen and crown prince.

Her smarts could make her a more valuable asset in the palace, though if she isn’t careful, she could soon find herself a political pariah. Keeping the royal family happy requires treading a fine line, and it only gets finer when the crown prince is involved. Known among the courtesans as ‘the goblin’, he’s as skilled at political scheming as Deokim is at literature and will use them to get what he wants.

6 Her Tale Of Shim Chong

MyAnimeList Score: 8.33

• Written by seri.
• Illustrated by Biwan.
• Available on Tappytoon.
• Release years: 2017-2019.

Every country has its old classics, whether they’re folklore passed down through the centuries or epics and poems later published as novels. One of Korea’s examples is The Tale of Sim Chong, where the titular character throws herself into the sea as a sacrifice to restore her blind father’s sight. Her wish is granted, and she’s rewarded by being reborn as an empress.

Her Tale of Shim Chong takes the story’s premise and tweaks it a bit. It still follows a poor girl who does what she can to help herself and her father survive. But things change when she meets Madam Jang, the arranged fiancée of the local chancellor. The two have nothing in common but a desire to leave their lives behind and let fate take its course. Perhaps they’ll find it together in this highly-rated girls’ love take on the classic story.

5 Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid

MyAnimeList Score: 8.34

• Written & Illustrated by Na Yoonhee.
• Available on Webtoon.
• Release years: 2019-2021.

House Fildette, Honey, and Your Throne are intriguing stories with historical settings. But they’re not exactly unique to manhwa. There are plenty of isekai, reincarnation, and domestic dramas worldwide, but there aren’t many stories like Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid. It’s even been adapted into a live-action TV drama. Set in occupied Korea in 1926, it’s about Su-Ah, the illiterate maid of a pro-Japanese family.

Things take a turn when she finds a man washed up on the beach. Nursing him back to health, he introduces himself as Ui-Hyeon, and the two bond. He even tells her the story of The Little Mermaid. But he reveals part of the Korean resistance, willing to fight to free Korea from Japan’s clutches. Like the mermaid, she may have to give up her life of relative comfort to join a noble cause.

4 The Tale Of Goldiluck, The Black Kitten

Anime-Planet Score: 4.26/5 Stars

• Written & Illustrated by Gongsam.
• Available on Pocket Comics.
• Release years: 2020-2022.

“Person-with-a-cat” stories are surprisingly popular. Aside from the ever-present Garfield in the West, there’s also the manga A Man and His Cat in Japan, as well as the Natsume Sōseki novel I Am a Cat. Whether they’re sweet or snarky, these slice-of-life stories involving felines are simple, straightforward, and relatable to anyone who’s ever looked after a cat or two.

The same goes for Korea, as The Tale of Goldiluck, The Black Kitten shows. Set during the Joseon Dynasty, the titular kitten is sadly mistreated by the locals because they believe black cats are bad luck. But they’re taken in by a kindly young scholar who, though sickly, does his best to look after the excitable young kitten. If readers need a simple, sweet manhwa, they don’t get much sweeter than Goldiluck.

3 Getting to Know Grace

Anime-Planet Score: 4.28/5 Stars

• Written by Hilde.
• Illustrated by Mokma.
• Available on Lezhin Comics.
• Release years: 2019-2020.

Murderous Llewellyn’s Candlelit Dinner gives BL fans a dark romance to sink their teeth into, but what do GL fans have? Nothing quite as bloody, though just as difficult in Getting to Know Grace. It takes place in a Victorian-themed setting, where the high class oppresses the Sanrit people, erasing their culture while forcing them to do menial tasks for them. This includes Duke Grace and his esteemed family. He has only one daughter, Andrew, who has an incurable disease.

She grew up without any friends save for her Sanrit maid Herta. Andrew falls in love with her, but she doesn’t know if she loves her back. Her family, and society at large, are responsible for Herta’s pain, so she’d be right to hate her back. But she’s willing to go far to earn Herta’s love. Will it work, or will Herta put Andrew out of her misery first? It’s a poignant tale that doesn’t shy away from its bittersweet themes. Still, it might’ve hit harder if it used a non-fictional setting, as the 19th century had no shortage of similar settings to get daring with.