Only a few will remember, but there was a time when you had to scavenge through trash, like a rabid raccoon, to find a good manwha. And it wasn’t because there were a lot of bad ones, we just didn’t have enough.
In my days manwhas weren’t drawn vertically, they were horizontal, following the steps of their fellow manga, just like god intended. And the colors, oh how gorgeous they were, the majestic binary of black and white, not the profanity of these Webtoons that those gen-z reads.
Boomer
Be that as it may, even if the traditional practice is rare nowadays in Korea, we are still left with hundreds of old manhwas that, in addition to being a great contrast to what is released today, also have some best stories that are still very entertaining.
So, let’s go through the TOP 10 Manhwa from before the invention of WebToon.
The Breaker
The Breaker is perhaps one of the most popular traditional Manhwas, with its first season having seventy-one chapters and its second season, The Breaker: New Waves, having two hundred and one chapters.
The Breaker starts with Shioon, our main character just moments after being bullied. Which is really common, unfortunately, he is the punching bag in his school.
Until the day a new English teacher, Chun-Woo, shows up at school.
Chun-Woo just witnesses Shioon getting his ass kicked, but all the teacher does is make fun of the boy for being a b*tch coward and that’s why he’s constantly being bullied.
Shioon keeps thinking about what the teacher said and decides to learn some martial art to be able to defend himself, just like every kid after watching karate kid. On his way to the dojo, he sees the new teacher in a dark alleyway, being confronted by some big guys for drinking and not paying.
When he was ready to call the police, he sees that the big guys were the ones that needed some help, cause the teacher just fuck-em up.
After several events that test Shioon’s courage, he finally understands that there’s only one way for him to get out of this life of suffering and that is by confronting his bullies. For that, he needs to get stronger and the best person to teach him would be Chun-Woo.
At first, Chun-Woo isn’t interested in helping the kid, he just wants to laze around and chase some girls, so, to change Shioon’s mind Chun-Woo says that he will only train him if he is capable of jumping from a bridge.
To Chun-Woo’s surprise, Shioon jumps from the bridge.
And that’s how Shioon starts to train and enters a new underground world.
A secret society of martial arts, where each school functions as an organization that rules through the shadows. This is where The Breaker’s main plot will revolve, behind the organizational battles and Chun-Woo’s past.
The Breaker is filled with incredible action scenes and martial arts each with a different specialty and effect. In addition to mysteries that exist between the ties of each organization.
But The Breaker doesn’t just focus on action, it has a lot of humor mainly driven by the interactions between Chun-Woo and the world around him.
Although started in 2008, the manwha still hasn’t finished. It is still waiting for its third season, which should start this year, 2022.
Aflame Inferno
Aflame Inferno has a really different kind of plot when compared with the standard of a manga, but at the same time, it uses several mechanisms and clichés already seen in a manga.
It all starts with Kang, who is a great womanizer, in addition to being the best student in the school and with everything guaranteed for a golden and bright future.
Until one day, while returning from a party, he finds two demons fighting.
During this fight, he is injured. Incredibly, one of the demons, called Inferno, decides to fuse with the boy, ensuring that both of them can survive the fight.
After the battle, Kang is introduced to this new world where Demons are secretly surviving from consuming humans and are in a constant battle for territories and more “cattle” to feed.
But what Kang didn’t know was that during his battle, a girl named Chaehee saw everything. Now he’ll have to fight for his survival while trying to keep his secret.
Aflame Inferno although it has some great fight scenes and a lot of action, focuses mostly on the relationship between the characters and the romance that exists between Kang and Chaehee. Also, Kang is constantly conflicted about being a Human who is merging with a Demon and because of that, he is hunted by both sides. All this of course with a good dose of Ecchi.
Vagrant Soldier Ares
Ares takes place in a world fragmented by war, where several kingdoms constantly battle each other and the population suffers from excessive looting and deaths.
For children who live in this reality, there is only one option, to fight. For this, several of them enlist to be Mercenaries.
The story begins with Ares, Michael, and Baroona seeking to become part of the Temple Mercenary for the chance to get a “job” that sustains them and can live in this world full of wars.
The three boys, although still new among the mercenaries, are constantly excelling in battle because of their skills and will to win.
After the introduction, the manhwa mostly progresses between battles with the plot focused mostly on the group of mercenaries and how each young man lives in the kingdom of Chronos. Although the manhwa has some hints of being similar to a Historical Manga, it takes place in a fictional world that tries to resemble ancient Rome.
Although manhwa has a somewhat peculiar and even “ugly” art. It is very good at presenting a cruel side to life and how war can impact every person. Don’t expect anything other than lots of battles and blood gushing everywhere.
Freezing
Freezing is in a slightly different situation than the others in this list, although it was created by two Korean mangakas, it was still published by a Japanese magazine. Even so, the traits and differences between cultures make this work closer to a Manhwa than a Manga, so it will be a part of this list.
Freezing starts by introducing us to Kazuya and the world he lives in. In this universe, in 2065 there was a great attack by interdimensional beings called Nova.
To fight the Nova, the government carried out genetic experiments on the children. It was discovered that the women were able to use a special power with weapons created for each of these girls. They were then called Pandoras.
While men using control skills on opponents acted as support, that’s why they are called Limiters.
Kazuya is starting his training to become a Limiter, but he already has a background with the Novas. His older sister, whom he was really close to, was a great Pandora who died in combat.
During his first day of school, he sees someone who looks like his sister and thus begins his interaction with Satellizer el Bridget. Damn, that’s a long-ass name, let’s just call her Bridget.
This triggers several clichés and scenarios that we see constantly in school romance manga, which bring our protagonists together to become a pair of Pandora and Limiter.
Both have ambitions of their own while having to balance the romance (and ecchi) and the constant combat with Nova.
The manhwa clearly takes inspiration from Claymore, for example with girls having to sacrifice themselves to have some kind of enhancement that allows them to face monsters, also being the main means of combat, and the man having a supporting role.
Freezing is full of combat, and ecchi and the panels are oriented as a manga (right to left). But it still drinks a lot from Korean storytelling standards.
Zippy Ziggy
Kang is an outstanding student, his beauty is exceptional. His academic life no one compares. He has an angel-like personality, has every girl in school head over heels, and all the guys look up to him.
But what if this is all a lie?
Zippy Ziggy is a f*cking funny manhwa where our protagonist Kang doesn’t mind doing everything necessary to make sure he gets what he wants: From lying about having faced a gang or crossdressing to humiliate his father’s competitor and stealing clothes from girls to avoid a fight.
His life was going perfectly until Seung-hui transfers to his school and discovers his hoax.
Seung-hui is a girl super trained in martial arts and able to defend herself, but even so Shingi tries to protect the girl (for his own interests of course).
All of this sparks a little bit of hope within Seung-hui that maybe, even though Kang is pure trash, just maybe he can be recycled.
Don’t expect a super deep plot or exceptional romance, Zippy Ziggy is clearly a Manhwa of humor and it’s VERY good at it. So be sure to check it out.
Immortal Regis
Our story starts with Hyuk. He is a boy obsessed with money, to the point of being able to perfectly identify how much money there is by listening to the sound of a pile of coins shaking.
But what few know is that Hyuk works various odd jobs to pay his younger brother’s hospital bills. Hyuk’s life basically boils down to trying to save his brother, even if it seems impossible.
One day, while taking his brother to the hospital, Hyuk witnesses a fight between what appears to be a demon and a girl. He gets in the crossfire and ends up dying on the spot.
The girl feels guilty and sees an opportunity in resurrecting Hyuk. Making him an undead.
When Hyuk wakes up he finally meets Serin, who is his “benefactor”. However, Serin explains that she comes from a place called Chaos which is where all creatures and monsters reside.
And that Hyuk, now being an Undead, also needs to live there, leaving his brother behind.
For Hyuk, this becomes both a blessing and a nightmare, as his newfound powers can hurt what he loves most and seeks to protect. At the same time, he cannot leave his brother alone, as there is no one to take care of him.
In the end, everything falls into place when the boy understands that in Chaos he will be able to find a solution to the terrible disease that affects his little brother.
It is at this point that the main plot begins to unfold, as the creation of Undeads is seen as breaking the rules in the world of Chaos, and therefore there will be different factions looking to ally or defeat Hyuk because of his powers and what they represent.
All in all, Immortal Regis is filled with battles and intrigues, however, there are so many different intrigues and characters that little by little it can become quite confusing. But those who like a very deep plot will be pleased.
Witch Hunter
In Witch Hunter we follow the adventures of Tasha and his partner Jack. In this world, the Witches have decided to open war against human society.
By having this gigantic power under their control, they managed to take over ⅔ of the world. Seeing that humanity would end, the remaining realms banded together to create the Witch Hunters who are a group of humans trained to fight… Guess what? Bim bim bim, witches.
Tasha, who had his father murdered by his own sister when she became a witch, decides to leave for the world in search of bringing his sister back.
Throughout this adventure, we got to know this world better and the feuds that exist both among the witches, but also in the Witch Hunter’s society.
Witch Hunter is very well balanced between humor, action, and adventure. Reminding a lot of the classic Shounen that we find among the traditional manga, a very close example would be D Gray Men.
Veritas
Veritas starts when Gangryong is about to be beaten up by students of a rival school when Youcheon appears and defeats several people at once.
Gangryong always sought to be strong, to the point that he challenged several rival schools and tried his best to overcome his limits. But he never imagined that it would be possible to fight several people at the same time and still be victorious.
After arguing, begging, and finally going through several different tests to show that he was determined, Youcheon accepted Gangryong as his disciple.
For two months, Lightning Tiger, as Youcheon is known, taught Gangryong the secret of ki manipulation by the way of the Enlightenment Of Thunder and Lightning. A Korean martial art that is passed on through the centuries but to only one student at a time. Well… kinda like a Sith… shit, they even use lightning too!
By properly refining and focusing his Ki, Gangryong learned not only to become incredibly powerful, but he received the ability to create lightning attacks.
When the two months were up, Youcheon left Gangryong, warning him of an inevitable battle against a strong enemy and hoping that they might one day see each other.
Months later, Gangryong was contacted by an organization. He was presented with a box and was told that it contained the arm of Youcheon, whom they had supposedly killed. These men were from Reunion, a multinational organization whose main goals were the collection, evolution, and eventually perfection of traditional martial arts.
They then forced Gangryong to enter a special school designed to train suitable fighters in the fighting styles that had been collected by Reunion.
Veritas has an art style very similar to The Breaker, which helps a lot in battles making them super interesting and fun to follow. In addition to having several exciting techniques and combats.
Don’t expect a manhwa with a deep story, it’s made to be a “Shounen” completely focused on battle, and if that’s what you’re looking for, give Veritas a chance. It is worth mentioning that the designer of Veritas is Kim Dong-hoon, who is currently working on Hoarding in Hell which is damn good and has great art.
Origin
Wait a minute, this art is very similar to something I’ve seen!
Yes, that’s because the same mangaka of Origin is also doing Dr. Stone from Shonen Jump.
Origin takes place in 2048. In a dystopian future, very similar to Blade Runner, where technology has reached a point where Robots are impossible to distinguish from humans.
That’s where we meet Origin, the first robot who tries to live among humans. Origin superficially understands human culture and behavior but he suffers in his daily life trying to be ordinary.
What humanity still doesn’t know is that these robots exist and are infiltrated among human beings. In addition to Origin, 8 other robots live among humans, but unlike our protagonist, they don’t share the same appreciation for living just like a human.
Each of them has a background and a reason to hate humanity and what they are. This then causes the rift between our main character and these 8 robots, the difference between wanting to live in peace and harmony and the desire to be better than a human being.
The manhwa is short with only 84 chapters, yet it’s a great sci-fi containing some deep questions and a shitload of action.
Undoubtedly, it is one of the best choices to venture into manhwa and it even influences our last one on the list which is
Sun-Ken Rock
Sun-Ken like Dr. Stone and Origin is written by mangaka Boichi, who despite having Japanese publications are still created in the Manhwa style.
Ken is a normal kid, who always got into a lot of fights during high school. The only thing that maintained him in school was his love for Yumin. when he finally dared to declare to her, he found out that Yumin was moving back to Korea.
Yumin has a dream of becoming a police officer and that’s why she couldn’t have a relationship with Ken.
Ken without a second thought travel to Korea to also become a police officer. But he was never a person very attached to studying and that dream was gradually becoming more distant.
Until one day while drinking in a small bar, some delinquents start beating up the old owner. It was then that Ken exploded and the beating went down. That was when Ken presented to the world his biggest objective: Being able to protect the weakest.
At this point some people started to see Ken as a great addition to their group… that’s when the plot starts to progress
Sun Kend Rick continues to enter this dark world between the police’s fight with gangs and the question of how far a gang can do good. The manhwa has pinches of humor and a lot of action.
But let’s be clear, the more the manhwa progresses the more it will become Seinen and get more serious with increasing risks and responsibilities for each character.
It’s a great read, especially for those who want a manhwa with humor and action, but focused on adults.
Well, this is the TOP 10.
Leave below in the comments if there is any manhwa that is not a WebToon that I haven’t talked about and why it is special.