The Tapas Entertainment website and app is home to many of Kakao’s biggest hit stories across many different genres: romance, action, fantasy, science-fiction, sports and more. But having so many titles to choose from can be overwhelming for a new reader…Where do you start? What’s worth reading?
Whether you’re a new reader, discovering vertical-scrolling comics for the first time, or you’re already an avid reader who wants to find your next series to get hooked on, K-Comics Beat has picked out a few must-reads to get you started.
I’m Justin, your adorable birb nerd, and without further ado, today we will go over the top 10 webcomics from Kakao which are available to read right now on Tapas:
Solo Leveling
By: h-goon DUBU (REDICE STUDIO) Chugong, DISCIPLES (REDICE STUDIO)
412 chapters (completed)
Action fantasy, super heroes, magic, leveling up, dungeons, monsters, anime, weak to strong protagonist, violence, gaming
Available on Tapas and Tappytoon. Also available in print from Ize Press. Webnovel by Chugong also available from Tapas, in print and as audio books from Yen Press.
Anime now airing on Crunchyroll.
Solo Leveling is an extremely successful series with a simple premise: Portals to another world have appeared in modern day Korea, and out of these portals come various creatures and monsters that threaten to annihilate the human race.
In response to this global threat, monster slayers called hunters enter these portals to slay the creatures for a living. Twenty-something Sung Jinwoo starts off as one of the weakest hunters, and he struggles to make a living at the bottom of the ranks. But one day, his entire party is wiped out and he supposedly dies. When he awakens, he’s able to see status windows and is given quests to complete, as if he were a player in an online video game who can see the in-game user interfaces that no one else can see. From there he does what I tend to do in The Elder Scrolls Online…GRIND, to level up!
Sung repeats quests over and over to gain experience points. As a result of his solo leveling-up efforts, he becomes stronger and more powerful than ever before – leveling up from an E-Rank hunter to an S-Rank hunter, much to the amazement of almost everyone he meets. Will it be enough for him to provide for his loved ones and protect his friends?
From the get-go, the art in Solo Leveling is just phenomenal, feeling much more like an anime brought to life through panels pushing the medium of webtoons as far as it can with each scroll.
The story does a great job balancing suspense with action, and there is a lot of action to behold. This is by far one of the best action-packed comics on Tapas, I do recommend giving it a read for a few chapters to see what the fuss is all about.
The Uncanny Counter
By: Jang E, KAKAO WEBTOON studio
181 chapters (completed)
Action, supernatural, mystery, revenge, violence, demons, drama, heartwarming, bullying, revenge, K-drama, Netflix
Available on Tapas, and in print from Ize Press
The Uncanny Counter is a supernatural mystery story, centered around So Mun, a high school boy who is often bullied because of a leg injury after a car accident that has left him with a limp. But all that changes, when he’s recruited to join a crew of demon-hunters, called “counters” who battle monsters that prey upon humans. By day, they run a noodle restaurant. By night, the counters, aided by heavenly mentors, seek out people possessed by powerful demons and seek to send their souls to their eternal rest. But things get complicated when an extremely powerful and malicious demon enters their territory and threatens the counters and everyone they hold dear.
While The Uncanny Counter is full of action and supernatural drama, this series also tackles themes of processing grief and trauma. But what makes it special is how it introduces these themes gradually instead of diving right into the fighting and action-scenes.The Uncanny Encounter takes its time introducing the characters to readers, and explaining the lore and rules of its supernatural premise. This helps readers understand the story going forward, and rewards continued reading as the lot of setup leads to some satisfying payoffs.
And if you’ve already watched this series on Netflix, check out the original story anyway – there’s some really interesting differences in how the story unfolds and how the characters are depicted between the K-drama and the webcomic version – including some pretty intense violence in the comic, and a romantic sidestory in the K-drama that’s not in the comics.
Doctor Elise
By: Yu In, KIDARI STUDIO
156 chapters (completed)
Romantic fantasy, medical, time travel, villainess, isekai, heartwarming, redemption
Available on Tapas and Tappytoon, anime on Crunchyroll
Doctor Elise has one of the funniest premises for a story that you’ll find on this list. Starting several hundred years ago, Elise was an Empress executed for her crimes. She is then reborn in modern day S. Korea where she repents for the sins of your past life by going to medical school and become a renowned surgeon…only to die in a plane crash. She is then reborn once again, as a princess, 10 years before you married the crown prince and became the evil empress Elise we began the story as.
This time, Elise is armed with the skills and knowledge of modern medicine in a world that doesn’t have advanced medical treatment. Elise is determined to use her second time around to become a doctor, bring modern medical practices and techniques to the people who need it most. The trouble is, she’s still engaged to the crown prince, and turning down her role as future empress and becoming a doctor isn’t going to be an easy task.
I rarely ever read isekai stories that involve the main character being taken to another world either by reincarnation after death or supernatural circumstances, but this series has such an initially unbelievable premise that I just love Doctor Elise all the more for it.
Tomb Raider King
By: SAN.G, 3B2S, Yuns (REDICE STUDIO)
412 chapters (completed)
Action fantasy, time travel, adventure, revenge, mythology, super powers, monsters
Available on Tapas, and in print from Ize Press
There’s no Lara Croft here! Not to be confused with the Tomb Raider video game franchise, Tomb Raider King is a revenge tale set in a world where ancient tombs suddenly appear in the most unusual places. These tombs contain powerful relics which grant the holder supernatural abilities.
Our lead, Jooheon Suh, is a relic hunter, but in one of his attempts to retrieve a magical item, he is betrayed and sent 15 years into the past, before any tombs have appeared. Armed with the knowledge of the locations and contents of tombs from his original timeline, Jooheon sets off on a race against time, to find as many of these relics before anyone else.
If you love a unique adventure story with a dash of revenge, with a sprinkle of folklore, I am sure you’ll enjoy Tomb Raider King.
Navillera: Like a Butterfly
By: HUN, JIMMY/SUPERCOMIX STUDIO corp
68 chapters (completed)
Slice of life, drama, art and dance, ballet, heartwarming, family, emotional, Netflix, K-drama
Available on Tapas. K-drama airing on Netflix
There is a beauty that comes from reading Navillera, a somber feeling which slowly builds to hopeful elegance as the story goes on. Navillera follows Dukchul Shim, who just recently attended his old friend’s funeral. Now in his 70s, and with a new perspective on the time he has left in his life, Dukchul turns to pursuing his life-long but never realized dream: ballet. Throughout Navillera, we get glimpses of past moments in his life that shaped him into the man he is now, as well as why he didn’t go after his dream of becoming a ballet dancer earlier.
It is refreshing to see a story centered on someone older in age who is facing his own mortality. Navillera shows just how much of a seismic shift Dukchul’s choices make in his family as they all try to adjust to what is basically a new version of a family member. The art style is unique, simple yet detailed, expressive and also allows for subtle emotions.
If this webtoon sounds like a nice refresher from the other webtoons out there, then Naviller is the one for you. Spread your wings!
God of Blackfield
By: Un, Shin Inseong, Mujang 2020
169 chapters (ongoing)
Action, mercenaries, war, violence, super teens, body swap, drama, superpowers, military, spies, suspense, politics, high school
Kang Chan, a 30-something battle-hardened combat expert, mercenary and sharpshooter is on assignment in Africa, when he gets ambushed within enemy territory and is shot in the back of his head. As he lies dying, Kang suspects that his death is the result of a betrayal from within his unit. But when he awakens, he’s in a hospital bed far from the jungle. To his surprise, he finds that he’s now inhabiting the body of another Kang Chan, a 19-year old high school student in Seoul, who was in a coma after enduring some extreme bullying. With news of the battle where he was killed nowhere to be found in the news, Kang suspects a cover-up and must figure out the truth while living his new life, as a mercenary in the body of a teenage boy.
This comic has some stellar art and attention to detail, the way the art conveys the chaos of gunfights in contrast to mundane life outside of the battlefield is cool to see.
My Life as an Internet Novel
By: A Hyeon, Yu Han-ryeo 2019, D&C MEDIA
196 chapters (ongoing)
Romantic comedy, high school, romance, isekai, body swap, reborn in a novel, psychological,
Available on Tapas and Tappytoon
What would you do if you woke up to get ready for school…except your uniform is suddenly different? A girl you don’t know appears to accompany you to school that you’ve never heard of before. To make matters worse, you slowly begin to realize that you’re stuck in an internet novel, and you’re not exactly sure if you’re a side character or the female lead, and you’re the only one who thinks it’s just a story written by someone else, not “reality.”
My Life as an Internet Novel asks us and Dani if this is indeed a novel being brought to life, or if it is all in her head. There is an air of doubt at play which adds this feeling that the author is intentionally playing with the readers and adds an unintentional bit of psychological horror under the guise of the cutesy art style. I love it.
A Returner’s Magic Should be Special
By: Wookjakga, Usonan 2018, D&C MEDIA
256 chapters (ongoing)
Action fantasy, magic, wizards, magic school, dragons, time travel, time rewind
Available on Tapas and Tappytoon and available in print from Ize Press
Anime airing on Crunchyroll
A Returner’s Magic Should be Special is a fantasy story which begins at the end of the world, with one final goal to defeat a mighty dragon. The defeat is a Pyrrhic victory, releasing a blast of stored up mana that kills the remaining heroes in the party including Desir. As Desir is killed in the blast, he awakens 10 years prior before mankind was nearly wiped out. With his memories from the future intact, he hopes to take this opportunity to rewrite the future.
The art for A Returner’s Magic Should be Special is just as important as the art works much in the favor of the story with simple shading and use of hand-drawn backgrounds. The art style seems to draw inspiration from shonen manga, but also can feel very familiar to something else. It is also interesting to be in a fantasy world with modern technology at play where they both can co-exist together. The biggest question presented is what events transpired that caused the apocalyptic scenario? Will the events to rewrite the future just cause the future events to repeat again like stories such as the Terminator franchise?
So if the premise of rewriting the past to change the future in a modern fantasy world sounds like the one for you, then you should give this webcomic a read.
My Secretly Hot Husband
By: Harara, Gabi Nam, (Jungeyon) / Yeondam X Polarfox
114 chapters (completed)
Romantic fantasy, magic, teen romance, secret identities, time rewind, revenge, demons, suspense, comedy, sweet, heartwarming, cute art
Available on Tapas, and available in print starting in December from Ize Press
My Secretly Hot Husband is another story set after the death of the main character (I wish I was joking, lol). But this time Letitia is reborn in a fantasy world where her life isn’t any better. Her parents were killed by devils, she works as one of her uncle’s maids, and she is manipulated by her uncle’s family to go north to marry the monster lord. However, the monster lord isn’t actually that bad of a guy, and starts to turn Letitia’s life around.
Surprisingly, this is a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously – mostly due to how the art changes and exaggerates the expressions of various characters for comedic effect, which is worth noting as this is meant to be a romance story. My Secretly Hot Husband has this chill vibe as it has readers experiencing the world through Letitia’s eyes as she becomes the monster lord’s wife and brings out the best in him just as he too makes life better for her.
My Secretly Hot Husband is a fun read for anyone interested in reading a very chill romance story with a sprinkle of fun and comedy. Enjoy!
SSS-Class Revival Hunter
By: Bill K, Neida, Sinnoa / Fansia
118 chapters (ongoing)
Action Fantasy, dungeons, monsters, revenge, time rewind,
Available on Tapas, and available in print from Ize Press
Much like WEBTOON’s Tower of God and Re:Zero, SSS-Class Revival Hunter is set in a world where characters fight their way up a massive tower with many arenas and dungeons inside. The reward waiting for them at the top, after they beat all the challenges the tower throws at them, is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make their dreams into reality.
Confucius Kim is one of those who aspire to enter the tower, but has his life cut short when the hero he idolizes murders him. But instead of dying, he is sent 24 hours back in time with his memories intact. His goal is now to get revenge on the man he once idolized before he can even attempt to challenge the tower. Basically a good way to describe this story is if All You Need is Kill or Re:Zero meets Tower of God.
The art is pretty solid, showcasing the art style many would come to think of when they hear of scrolling comics/webtoons. With bold line art, cell shading, overlays, motion blur, and use of particle effects to transition between panels. There are also a lot of creative and dynamic poses and panels on display which keep the reader’s attention as they scroll through each panel. I do like the way the story misleads the reader thinking they’re going to start with the tower first, but that becomes more of the end goal as the current goal becomes simply revenge and tackling any and all obstacles that will be in Confucius Kim’s way so he has a better chance for when he does get to the tower.
Have you read these Kakao webtoons and have thoughts to share with other fellow readers? Or do you have other picks on your “top 10 Tapas webcomics?” Add your comments below!
You can check out many of these comics and more on Tapas.io to find what could possibly be your entryway into webtoons or your next big read!
Follow Tapas on X/Twitter @tapas_app to stay up to date on any news on the platform. You can also download Tapas on your Android or IOS smartphone devices from Google Play and the App store to read those webtoons on the go wherever you go.
As always, until next time my adorable birb nerds! Happy reading!
