Most Influential Manhwa

Manhwa, without a doubt, has grown from a regional treasure to a global phenomenon, shaping the comic landscape far beyond its originating shores. However, this rapid and expansive growth is owed to the various successes and impacts of some manhwa works. These manhwa have not only introduced readers to diversely gripping narratives but have also left a lasting impact on the comicscape of Korea and beyond.

From redefining genre conventions to inspiring adaptations in film and television, these manhwa take their places as game-changers in the medium. So, this piece is not only highlighting these transformative works but also celebrating their varied impacts across the medium. As such, here are the Manhwa franchise’s most iconic works.

10 Wind Breaker

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.4 / 5

• Creator(s): Jo Yongseuk
• Genre: Drama, Sports, Comedy, Romance
• No. of Chapters: 522 (Ongoing)

One of the first real exciting sports manhwa series, alongside The Boxer, the Wind Breaker series is correctly one of manhwa’s most influential manhwa, specifically for the sports genre of the medium, and for many reasons. One of the many is its subtle but impactful artistic evolution from its quirky beginnings in 2013, which has seen other manhwa adopt this method of illustrative upgrades.

With more than 500 chapters published in nearly eleven years, its immaculate blend of themes, tropes, and genres is one still relied on in other manhwa. Now, with the story nearing its end, slowly but surely. It is doubtful that the intensity the series has consistently put out will wane anytime soon if other sports manhwa can help it.

9 Cheese In The Trap

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.2 / 5

• Creator(s): Soonkki
• Genre: Comedy, Romance, Mystery
• No. of Chapters: 298

One of Manhwa’s forerunners in the modern romance and drama genres, Cheese In The Trap set a relatively high standard for comedy/romance/ drama series, which has undoubtedly shaped the genres since then. Following the central character, Seol Hang, whose college life is initially as perfect as it can be, things start to go off the rails as soon as she encounters Jung Yu, the senior and campus sweetheart.

Jung Yu is hell-bent on making Seol’s life miserable until she is away for a year and returns. Now, Seol is back in school, but her Jung Yu problem will not disappear. However, this time, Jung Yu is oddly friendly to her in a way that suggests more, but whatever that is, Seol will find out in due time.

8 Bastard

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.4 / 5

• Creator(s): Kim Carnby, Hwang Young-chan
• Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Romance
• No. of Chapters: 94

In some parts of the manhwa community, mentioning horror manhwas without mentioning the Bastard series would be considered blasphemy, and rightly so. In a good sense, the series brought the horror manhwa genre to the light for readers as enjoyable and alluring even in its darkest forms.

The story’s protagonist, Seol Jin, finds himself as the son of a serial killer, in love with his father’s latest prey, all while being possibly a worse serial killer than his psychotic father. To the outside world, the pair are as ordinary as they come, but within, the fair-son duo are the perfect partners in crime. However, with the pair on conflicting sides of the innocent, Yoon Kyun, Jin finds himself the defiant bastard of a psychotic father.

7 God of High School

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.1 / 5

• Creator(s): Park Yong-Je
• Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
• No. of Chapters: 569

The biggest of the trinity of the manhwa series to lead the anime adaptation charge in 2020, God of High School‘s role in manhwa’s recent surge in anime adaptations can not go unmentioned in this piece.

Focused on the central character, Jin Mori, the series begins with what is supposed to be a regular martial arts competition for high schools, where there can be only one winner and one wish to be granted. However, the simple competition, with a lot of dramatic effect, snowballs into a universal struggle for the fate of the Earth between the ultimate powers of good and evil.

6 Tower of God

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.3 / 5

• Creator(s): SIU
• Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Psychological, Supernatural
• No. of Chapters: 648 (Ongoing)

Another part of the 2020 Manhwa-anime adaptation trinity, Tower of God, even while still running, is more or less Manhwa’s gold standard for action/adventure series. The prime example of ideal world-building in any Manhwa series, the Tower of God’s influence on other Manhwa stretches even to intangibles like characterization, power system, and story-telling.

Centered on the central character, Twenty-fifth Baam, the series follows him as he travels the mysterious Tower, initially searching for a forsaken friendship after living most of his childhood alone outside the Tower. However, Baam soon realizes that as much as you travel through the Tower, the Tower also travels through you.

5 True Beauty

Anime-Planet Rating: 3.7 / 5

• Creator(s): Kim Na-Young
• Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy
• No. of Chapters: 257

A series that became something of a cultural phenomenon within Korea through its exploration of issues of self-esteem and societal beauty standards, the True Beauty series may or may not have laid the foundation for relatable romance and high school interactions in recent manhwa.

Further, its strong stance on self-esteem and beauty standards also paved the way even more for diversity in the romance genre. Eventually adapted into a Korean drama series, the story follows the lead character, the middle schooler Lim Jugyeong, who looks down on herself for her unattractive appearance. But after the makeover power of good makeup, Lim finds that the world does run on pretty privilege, or so she thinks.

4 The Boxer

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.4 / 5

• Creator(s): Jihoon Jeong
• Genre: Action, Drama, Sports
• No. of Chapters: 135

The second of the pacesetters of the sports manhwa genre alongside the Wind Breaker series, The Boxer, in just a little over a hundred chapters, delivered a masterclass on infusing the dark trope in sports, cementing itself as sports manhwa royalty. However, its influence even goes beyond the sports genre, finding its way into suspense and thriller categories due to its immaculate narrative and oddly captivating art style.

The series details the dark and numbing rise of the protagonist, Yu, to the pinnacle of boxing through the aggressively manipulative Coach K. It combines very dark elements to explore the darker aspects of the lives of professional athletes. Yu’s only goal is to find the light of a feeling in a life that could hardly be called his own.

3 Noblesse

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.3 / 5

• Creator(s): Son Jae-Ho, Lee Gwang-Su
• Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Supernatural
• No. of Chapters: 544

The final part of 2020’s manhwa-anime adaptation trinity, the Noblesse series, popularized the supernatural high school genre. Also a part of the elite class of manhwa that helped cement Webtoon comics as a major platform for digital comics, the Noblesse series popularized the overpowered MC trope as one of the first to use it and use it well.

The story begins with the titular protagonist, the Noblesse Cadis Etrama Di Raizel, as he awakens from an 800-year-old slumber into modern society and eases himself into a new life at the side of his loyal subordinate, Frankenstein. Unfortunately for Raizel, the events of his old life threaten to rip apart part of his new one.

2 Who Made Me A Princess?

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.4 / 5

• Creator(s): Plutos
• Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
• No. of Chapters: 125

A pioneer of the villainess reincarnation trope, Who Made Me A Princess, not only inspired the wave of similar works with the exact trope, it also basically engineered the trope’s popularization to mainstream manhwa fans and readers. Detailing the dreadful reenactment of a terrifying story in the life of a young woman who wants nothing more than to not have experienced it, the series follows the young man as she is reincarnated as the beautiful Princess Athanasia, the recipient of the story’s terrible fate.

With no choice but to find a way to survive her fate, the Princess lays out numerous plans, all of which come undone at the sight of her father and oppressor, Emperor Claude De Alger Obelia. However, there is one last option: To warm her way into her father’s good graces.

1 Solo Leveling

Anime-Planet Rating: 4.7 / 5

• Creator(s): Sung-Rak Jang
• Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
• No. of Chapters: 200

Manhwa’s most famous and biggest export of the last decade and arguably more, the Solo Leveling series is undoubtedly Manhwa’s most influential manhwa. From its art style, power system, and even plotline, the series pioneered waves of similar works, popularizing the system leveling trope, and the overpowered MC trope among a host of others. Also, a big part of the class of elites that brought Webtoon Comics to mainstream limelight, Solo Leveling almost single-handedly redefined the fantasy manhwa genre.

A big factor in manhwa’s recent worldwide appeal, the series also led the charge for the new wave of anime-manhwa adaptations, making it one of the very few, if not the only manhwa to have achieved mainstay status across four different mediums. From a web novel to a webtoon to a game, and finally, the anime adaptation, sealing its status as manhwa’s most influential export.