Comics have been a fun entertainment for all ages and everyone can enjoy it anytime and anywhere. Not only that, we can get it in bookstores and libraries nearby too. But the technology era has fully impacted around us in this era and people have been using smartphones in their daily lives. This makes comics evolve to LINE Webtoon, where we can read comics on our phones with easy access.

Indonesian webtoons are currently on the rise, there are lots of amazing visual arts and unique storylines that captured the eyes of the world. Original webtoons from Indonesia has also created events such as comic events to encourage artists more to collaborate with Webtoon and to share their art throughout the media. This situation has led to many webtoons like; Eggnoid, Flawless and WEE!!! to gain fame either in Tiktok and Instagram.

According to a journal titled “Line Webtoon Sebagai Industri Komik Digital”, Kim Junkoo created LINE Webtoon in South Korea in 2004. He noticed a decline in South Korea’s comic book industry due to the nation’s financial crisis. The government had also viewed comic books as a dangerous medium for their citizens. In response to these ideas, Junkoo developed LINE Webtoon, a fresh service for comic book lovers with simple yet unique concepts.

Even though comics from around the world are popular nowadays, Korean comics called manhwas are different with their sophisticated plot and graphic art fused to entertain their readers more. They tend to capture the audience with their amazing storyline and unpredictable moves in their story. As a leader in internet and digital communication growth, South Korea produced a large number of creators in the innovation of new manhwa formats –scrolling panels digitally and sending comments to encourage the creators– that are now available digitally for free and do not break any laws referred to as Webtoon. This inspired Indonesia and created their own version of Webtoon a few years later after Korea’s popularity in Webtoon.

Web manhwa is the term for webtoon since it has been funded by digital technology linking websites and mobile devices. Readers can read it for free and even support the artists if they favor their art and seek for more release. Coins are also available for those who are eager to pay the artists by unlocking the chapters earlier than regular readers. This way, artists and authors can earn more profit from Webtoon.

It has become a trend where many popular webtoons in Korea adapted as a series that grasped people’s attention around the globe, which makes more and more people begin to recognize Webtoons as their media. These are several Korean webtoons that have been adapted into a series; Extraordinary You, Sweet Home, Yumi’s Cells, All Of Us Are Dead, and other famous shows. 

This piqued the interest of Indonesia and the trend spread to our country and started to develop our own Webtoon adaptations made by Indonesian creators. But before that, Indonesian webtoons had lots of genres and many authors tackled those with their fresh imagination which attracted other countries around Indonesia. This makes Indonesia’s webtoon more popular than before and gains readers around the world for its unique storytelling. 

Webtoons like Eggnoid, Just Friends, Born from Death. Whisper of Hope, 90 Days, Terlalu Tampan and Pasutri Gaje are in the recent generation of webtoons that popularized digital comics back in 2015-2018 era. Nowadays, there are many works that are popular such as: WEE!!!, Silver Living, The GOOD/BAD Fortune, KOSAN 95!, Left Hand, Dedes and SCRAMBLED: Journeylism. Not only for reader’s source of entertainment throughout their daily lives, but these webtoons also bring the opportunity to be adapted to films that will go viral by the public’s eye. 

Another advantage that Webtoon brings is that webtoons also bring job opportunities for those who want to continue their passion for drawing that can turn into profit. Coins, ads, and paid chapters can help creators financially and support them in drawing webtoons to motivate them more. The potential of drawing webtoons being a real job is rising in the media industry and bringing more fame to our country itself. Below are Indonesia webtoons made by our creators:

Pasutri Gaje

Pasutri Gaje is an Indonesian film that tells about a couple of their daily lives as a strange newlywed. This film was released on Netflix weeks ago and gained popularity for its fresh storyline. The film mainly shows their ups and downs in starting a family and their romantic behavior towards each other. The main characters, Adelia and Adimas played by Bunga Citra Lestari and Reza Rahardian worked as civil servants who tried to maintain their household in their way. 

Though this is their first time filming together as a couple of newlyweds, they have filmed twice before this movie which enhances their chemistry more. Without this adaptation, they will not be cast in the same projects in recent times that are suitable for them. Pasutri Gaje also portrayed what it is like to be a working newlywed couple that Gen Zs may be experiencing these days. Though their lives are full with work and household, they never fail to communicate and respect each other as well.

Terlalu Tampan

Terlalu Tampan tells a story about a captivating, handsome young boy named Kulin who attracts many females not to his liking. Girls chased him every day as soon as they discovered his dashing looks, and since then he started homeschooling. Not only that, he got it worse at school when his family wanted him to enjoy his youth as he had to study like a regular high school kid. The webtoon was created by Muhammad Ahmes Avisiena Helvin and Savenia Melinda in the Webtoon app where they make their first debut. This Webtoon adaptation film was released in Indonesian cinemas on January 31, 2019, by Visinema Pictures. The movie gained lots of viewers because of its unique plot and gorgeous cast. 

The webtoon mainly tells the story of Kulin’s and his family’s daily lives enjoying their day together. Kulin and his brother get their handsome genes from their parents which makes Kulin’s life as a normal teenager ruins it all. As a result, he was homeschooled but not until his parents persuaded him to attend a public school so that he can enjoy his school life like a normal high school student. This movie shows Kulin’s struggles being a normal high school student and a blossoming love story in the story.

Virgo And The Sparklings

This action romance movie is played by Adhisty Zara as Riani who has a superpower that can see the colors of the music and control fire. However, her powers are sometimes uncontrollable which hurts people around her in the environment. Due to that, she has transferred from school to school to avoid suspicion. After transferring to her current school, she formed a music band called The Virgos with her friends and learned to control her powers little by little with effort. But more and more problems come up within their band and they have to fight another competitive band to win. 

While controversy stated that the casts and the characters are quite different, fans were satisfied with their acting and the setting inside the movie. This movie has given off a neutral sense of feeling due to its rating and acting. As popular movies also released at the same time as Virgo And The Sparklings, the movie seems to be not gaining a lot of fame than others.

Graciella Aurelia Tjan
IG: @graciellaaurl
Email: graciellaaurelia07@gmail.com

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