Webtoon Adaptation Becomes A Much-loved Korean Drama

Cha Eun Woo (Instagram @ tvndrama.official)

JAKARTA - True Beauty is the latest Korean drama to be adapted from a webtoon written by Yaongyi. This is one of the dramas that readers are looking forward to making into a spectacle.

Judging by the webtoon version, True Beauty has been read more than 5.1 million times and is projected to continue to grow after the broadcast of the Korean drama. True Beauty tells the story of a woman named Im Joo Kyeong who tries to cover her face with makeup.

More than 30 webtoon titles have been translated into drakor format, some of which include Misaeng, Cheese in the Trap, and Bring It On, Ghost. It's no new secret that webtoons are one of the main sources of production houses for creating new shows. This year, more than 20 webtoons have been adapted into drakor.

Potential to Bring Profits

The ease of accessing the webtoon for free makes the comics easier to reach the readers. Quoting The Hollywood Reporter, this strategy was used by Marvel and DC Comics to build audience anticipation. The Korea Creative Content Agency also stated that the Korean webtoon market was estimated to reach 265.6 million US dollars in 2015 and will continue to increase until this year.

True Beauty is the webtoon that the Korean drama version is looking forward to. Because of its popularity, before tvN announced its main players, readers often filled tvN's social media by mentioning the names of artists who were considered suitable for playing the characters Lee Su Ho, Im Joo Kyung, and Han Seo Jun.

Webtoons can attract attention with a wide choice of genres as varied as mystery, thriller or social. In addition, visual as the main point makes the webtoon a plus in storytelling. Kim Yong Ki's Strangers From Hell has dark shades indicating the story has a mysterious side.

It doesn't always work

Even though the formula is always the same, that doesn't mean that webtoon adaptations are always successful. KBS2's Orange Marmalade in 2015 is one of them. Orange Marmalade changed the background of the story and added some unnecessary characters. As a result, the highest rating obtained by Orange Marmalade was only 2.4 percent even though this drama was broadcast on national television channels.

Adapting a webtoon is a challenge for producers because they have to satisfy the webtoon's readership with the lay audience. It's not uncommon for adjustments to be needed to tell a story that makes sense.

My ID is Gangnam Beauty is an example of a successful adaptation. Rather than changing the main story, the script presents a different perspective from the webtoon. The comic version tells the life of Mi Rae who is bullied by her friends after getting plastic surgery. Meanwhile, the Korean drama tells the story of Mi Rae's family who sees Mi Rae's development after getting plastic surgery.

A popular webtoon will definitely make readers want to watch in order to increase ratings but on the other hand the scriptwriter must be good at processing stories. After all, no one can predict whether the adaptation results will be successful or not. But the producer has to make sure the adaptation doesn't spoil the original material.