Best Kingdom Building Isekai Manhwa

Key Takeaways

• Many isekai manhwa shift focus from typical adventures to developing communities for prosperity.
• Kingdom building stories often center around modern areas, technological advancements, and regulations.
• Characters in these manhwa progress society by providing healthcare, infrastructure, and good living environments.

Isekai are usually known for their overpowered protagonists, fun adventures, and unique cast of characters. While most tend to play out similarly, some stories prefer a different path. Rather than set off on a journey, they develop and cultivate the surrounding area, often adding modern infrastructure and regulations for the prosperity of the community.

Kingdom building refers to stories that focus on building settlements and communities. Despite the name of this sub-genre, most manhwa don’t always include a literal kingdom; not everyone can be a king. They instead focus on smaller areas or certain groups of people, especially in settings in the modern day. The sense of progression is incredibly satisfying, which is why these stories are so popular.

1 Apothecary Prince

A Korean Doctor Revolutionizes Medicine In Another World

• MyAnimeList Score: 6.78
• Published: 2023 to ?
• Genres/Themes: Adventure, Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• Author: Back-kyung Moon
• Illustrator: Dadaeng

Because many isekai take place in a medieval setting, the introduction of certain technology or information is often the focus of the story. In Apothecary Prince, a Korean doctor dies and is reborn as Rachiel, the sickly prince from a novel he read. With his body unable to perform simple tasks, he’s only able to cure himself with remedies from the modern world, unlocking a health progression system.

While the beginning of the story is mostly about regaining his health, Rachiel does go on to establish a health standard for the rest of his kingdom, providing healthcare and medicine. This has a small domino effect of providing jobs for the working class as hospitals and clinics need to be built. In his effort to help people, he accidentally causes other good things to happen.

2 Chitra

Collecting Beautiful Men With God’s Gacha

• MyAnimeList Score: 6.89
• Published: 2018 to Present
• Genres/Themes: Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation, Reverse Harem
• Author: Taesun
• Illustrator: Reffe

Shojo manhwa often have protagonists who must rebuild themselves from the ground up, but it’s usually through personal business. In Chitra, a young woman is reincarnated as a poor countess who had lost everything and was left for dead. Using the god of beauty’s gacha system, she’s able to recruit accomplished men throughout history as assistants.

Most characters have a good reason to start developing their land. In this case, Chitra is doing it as an apostle of the god of beauty. Everything she does is to make the world more beautiful, starting with the men. She reforms their bad behavior as well as their outward appearance. This is on top of creating a military, a stable economy, and a good living environment.

3 Solo Glitch Player

Overworked Man Becomes A Lord In His Favorite Game

• MyAnimeList Score: N/A
• Published: 2020 to Present
• Genres/Themes: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Video Game, Isekai
• Author: Cheongcho
• Illustrator: Kiminteu

Characters usually put more effort into their territories because they know something bad will happen in the future. In Solo Glitch Player, the protagonist is sent into the world of “Paradiso,” a popular VR game, and with his extensive knowledge of the game, he knows about how the world will change in the next ten years. To survive the oncoming war and famine, he must reform himself and the territory.

Set in a game universe, Solo Glitch Player combines game archetypes with traditional isekai. There aren’t many screens, but the protagonist is able to use glitches from the real game. Mostly they’re used for his benefit, but he’s able to use his acquired skills to capture bandits, enforce laws, and make deals. Despite the plethora of clichés, this manhwa is pretty entertaining.

4 I Woke Up As The Villain

Being Isn’t Bad When You Have Money

• MyAnimeList Score: 6.95
• Published: 2020 to 2024
• Genres/Themes: Action, Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• Author: Soo, Yuhyeon
• Illustrator: Arlg

In the modern age, kingdom building looks a little different. Rather than running a whole kingdom, it’s usually a business or maybe a gang. In this story, a normal office worker is isekai’d into a web novel as Choi Yuseong, a side character who only appears at the beginning of the story. To survive being used by the main character, he begins restoring his reputation and becomes self-sufficient.

Unlike other kingdom-building manhwa, Yuseong doesn’t make great changes to society, but he does steadily build a following of loyal partners and employees, using knowledge of the novel to help other characters grow. He focuses on personal growth for a majority of the manhwa, and much of the community he creates is seen as a side plot.

5 Tyrant Of The Tower Defense Game

A Gamer’s Ultimate Survival Challenge

• MyAnimeList Score: 7.75
• Published: 2022 to Present
• Genres/Themes: Action, Fantasy, Isekai, Military, Reincarnation, Video Game
• Author: Ryueun, Garam
• Illustrator: Gyong

This manhwa is a bit different from the others on this list. Rather than building up a community, this story is about maintaining one. One day, a popular streamer is trapped in the world of a popular tower defense game called “Protect the Empire.” Assuming the identity of Prince Ash, he quickly learns that his decisions have life-or-death consequences and that his circumstances are no longer a game.

The in-world game has a gacha model, focusing on collecting strong and unique characters to defend the base, and this is reflected in the overall story, as Ash makes connections with many people who will aid him. Just like in those games, he must maintain resources, infrastructure, and the morale of his people.

6 Trash Of The Count’s Family

One Man Tries To Solve The World’s Problems To Live Comfortably

• MyAnimeList Score: 7.82
• Published: 2020 to ?
• Genres/Themes: Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• Author: Yu, Ryeo Han
• Illustrator: PAN4

As seen in the title, the main character of this manhwa is no king or prince. Cale Henituse is the eldest son of a count and a minor villain in a fantasy novel. When the protagonist reincarnates as Cale, he’s determined to not only survive but also live comfortably. However, knowing the plot of the novel, he knows there’s trouble all over the world. The only way to guarantee his future is to fix everything himself.

Trash of the Count’s Family is interesting because most of it is about preparing for the kingdom building. It was not until much later that he started establishing his territory and building villages. However, that means the story is full of adventures with fun characters including a pair of shapeshifters and a dragon. It’s the best character collector manhwa out there.

7 My Royal Awakening

A Prince Attempts To Prevent History From Happening

• MyAnimeList Score: 7.58
• Published: 2020 to 2022
• Genres/Themes: Drama, Historical, Reincarnation, Time Travel
• Author: Gusa
• Illustrator: Tae-Hyung Kim

One of the more popular isekai settings is a time during Korea’s history or somewhere inspired by it. This manhwa follows a regular man after being transported into the body of Jinseong, the younger brother of Korea’s most tyrannical ruler. However, things are different from what he learned in textbooks. To prevent his brother from becoming a tyrant, he was going to change history.

Historical manhwa are interesting because authors often take real events and insert their ideas and interpretations. While most people in the US won’t know the details of Korean history, manhwa centered around it remains entertaining. It’s an example of true kingdom building since Jinseong is a prince, and he’s solving the kingdom’s problems to help his brother.

8 The Greatest Estate Developer

One College Student Is Able To Apply His Degree Outside Of School

• MyAnimeList Score: 8.75
• Published: 2021 to ?
• Genres/Themes: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• Author: Back-kyung Moon
• Illustrator: Hyunsoo Kim

The most popular and well-known kingdom builder manhwa is definitely The Greatest Estate Developer. One day, a civil engineering student wakes up as Lloyd Frontera, the troublemaking son of a poor noble family that’s destined to fall to ruin. With his terrible reputation, the protagonist has no choice but to clean up Lloyd’s image and help rebuild his family’s territory.

This manhwa is a great combination of resource management, land progression, and action. Lloyd not only has a special status screen that tracks his building skills, but it also helps him train in aura techniques and swordplay. There aren’t many other manhwa that involve so many different things and have an incredibly charismatic protagonist.