What are things about western webtoons, that korean webtoons lack?

[T4pasBelongsToKaka0]

Can you show us the meme in question so we can specifically counter it's points please?

The image / meme doesn't have much points tho, the comments on the thread were rather nasty tho, would like a link to the post instead?

[aqua03]

Sure, that would work. Thanks.

[ylldre]

I especially avoid korean webtoons lol cz they just....lack depth? And also the limited diversity on artstyles and stories bother me a lot.

[Iridium]

Most Korean toons are bland, plot-wise; and because of the cultural clash, I find most of the characters' interactions either forced or too aloof and distant, especially when they try (and fail, most of the times) to portray foreigners/ outsiders. I have only liked one Korean webtoon so far, which I think that combined good art + good story just fine (Kang Unnie or Moonlight Garden, something like that).

[Mallory]

I want to say "good female characters" BUT that's not actually true. There are plenty of Korean webtoons that have good female characters. It's just when they're bad, they're REALLY misogynistic/infantilizing in a particular way that's really gross.

Also a more nuanced approach to, shall we say, a "wild" lifestyle. This isn't just a Korean thing, it's an Asian continent thing in general (my grandparents subscribe to this culture), but often times anyone who leads a more social/party/casual inebriation lifestyle is portrayed as someone who deserves bad things happening to them. Drug users are all horrible evil people, etc. In the West we tend to give more credit to people like that and accept that people fall into this lifestyle for a myriad of reasons, most of them not evil. Again this isn't just a Korean thing, because I had attempted to watch an anime last fall that was supposed to be about "tough gang kids" that ended up them like... doing an unsanctioned drug bust against a marijuana joint and everyone, literally EVERYONE associated with the drugs was either drooling braindead or evil. And I was like huh. So gang activity, gang wars, that's all a-ok. Smoking weed though - you deserve to get thrown off a building! (For the record, I am a recluse who doesn't even ingest caffeine due to health problems, let alone any stronger mind-altering substances, so this observation is in no way fueled by self-interest. It's just... dumb to villainize something that CAN be of help to some people). And again not EVERY bit of media from Asia fails in this department, it's just when they do it's, uh. Really harmful, IMO.

[ylldre]

Seconded. Also the chapters tend to be so long but have no substance whatsoever. It’s as if every chapter is a filler. It’s stereotypical stories that revolve around misunderstandings and triangles and pretty boys recycled over and over again.

[T4pasBelongsToKaka0]

I couldn't find the original post, but here's another one making fun of western webtoons... maybe it's a normal feeling among readers.

https:// + www.reddit.com/r/webtoons/comments/mnp9d1/ + its_always_the_good_ones/

For some reason I can't put the actual link, just remove the "+"

[aqua03]

Ah, okay then. Thanks for link. I'll have to check it out myself.

From the sound of it, it kinda sounds like the Korean equivalent of "Wow yes Japan is best in everything like games and animes because they are best and have the hot people in them and such" you see in your average anime and video game circles if that makes sense.

[Iridium]

YESSS!!!! Your thoughts mirror most of the stuff I came across and I find that so... Unrealistic. Like, people are far more complex than one would think, and Korean toons miss amazing opportunities to make even greater stuff because of those prejudicial thoughts.

[T4pasBelongsToKaka0]

Ah, okay then. Thanks for link. I'll have to check it out myself.

From the sound of it, it kinda sounds like the Korean equivalent of "Wow yes Japan is best in everything like games and animes because they are best and have the hot people in them and such" you see in your average anime and video game circles if that makes sense.

You're welcome, yeah it sounds like biased people, not to mention that they only see the top stuff (translation picks) instead of everything like here, there's plenty of korean webtoons that lack in art (their main argument against western webtoons) and story.

[arxianfall]

I'm a party animal. For half a decade I club hopped, pub crawled, and slept/worked in hostels.

I'm a villain. The bad guy who abuses the poor poor secretly nerdy gyaru. I love practicing my psychotic expressions in the mirror before I leave home. And I always, always try to assert dominance when other beings are around me.

[T4pasBelongsToKaka0]

I want to say "good female characters" BUT that's not actually true. There are plenty of Korean webtoons that have good female characters. It's just when they're bad, they're REALLY misogynistic/infantilizing in a particular way that's really gross.

Even women irl write women in a misogynistic way in S.Korea, here in the west you mostly find men writing women bad, but pick any romance webtoon / webnovel made there, and you'll see only 1 "good" woman, she's generally just a vessel for the reader, no personality whatsoever, and every other woman is an evil b1tch.

[DiegoPalacios]

There are good and bad creators everywhere........it has nothing to do with where does a story comes from....

jeez, some people should stop making everything about race

[starless]

There are people who think DC/Marvel style is the only superior one in the world too. They are like them. Ignore them. Good work is good. Bad work is bad.

[starless]

Yes, misogyny is deeply rooted in Asian culture. It is a serious problem along with homophobic, transphobic and xenophobic language and behavior.

Younger people are aware of this and try their best to fight against it but since the awareness has just begun, it's not quite there yet. Including myself, we will fix it. In the meantime, constructive critiques like this can be the fuel we need.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

That Netflix Sweet Home is legit. The cg is really good in my opinion. Didn't know it was a webtoon though. If it's as brutal and violent as the show, I'll need to check it out.

[starless]

Hey, I just saw what you wrote and deleted. So it seems as if you interpreted Korean and Chinese webtoons are heavily nationalistic, but then many American comics and movies are as well.. I'm not avoiding my culture's problem. Yet, you must understand that it's not only a few countries problems too.

[T4pasBelongsToKaka0]

Hey, I just saw what you wrote and deleted. So it seems as if you interpreted Korean and Chinese webtoons are heavily nationalistic, but then many American comics and movies are as well.. I'm not avoiding my culture's problem. Yet, you must understand that it's not only a few countries problems too.

Actually, I deleted it because I reread what you wrote, and realized I was talking about something else unrelated to the topic, sorry for my interpretation skills lol, and yeah I get it, americans are patriotic to the point is funny (I'm not american, but I find really funny how patriotic they're, like a random piece of land on a random planet is so important lmao)

[T4pasBelongsToKaka0]

That Netflix Sweet Home is legit. The cg is really good in my opinion. Didn't know it was a webtoon though. If it's as brutal and violent as the show, I'll need to check it out.

Good to hear, thanks, I remember that the webtoon is very brutal, specially in the latter half, by the way if you read it, and finish, you should check out "Shotgun Boy" too, it's a new webtoon that acts as a prequel / spin-off to Sweet Home.

[sorible]

Most korean Webtoon is romance genre, and although there are other webtoons, romance brings in the most money so it is constantly promoted. Fantasy or scifi stories just aren't very popular.

Usually they will have a full team working, so the art quality is typically very good. One sad thing I noticed was that Koreans have very high standards for art, so even if the story is very good, if the art is mediocre, it will get lower ratings. One webtoon I saw was called 달의 요람. Overall rating is 3.07. If you actually check it out, the art honestly isn't that bad, and there are even comments that defend the artist. But ratings are still very low.

Artstyle is also a big point in webtoon. I don't know if non-koreans can do this, but most Koreans can tell the difference between American style, Japanese style, etc. If your webtoon has similar traits to Japanese style, you might get a few comments about it. And western webtoon has more diverse art styles, so when I saw Lore Olympus on Naver webtoon, I checked the comments and many were saying how it felt awkward that the characters weren't normal skin color.

It's just a difference in culture. Many forget that Korea is a monoethnic country and complain that there isn't enough diversity. Some of my friends have never seen a person of color before.

One thing about korean webtoon that I like more is the horror. Koreans write very good horror.
Sorry I wrote so much, this has been something I was thinking about for a long time