Top Ten Best World-Building in Webtoons

Hey! Today we’re talking about the top ten best Webtoons, which, in my opinion, centers around amazing stories that build  detailed and interesting culture, rules, laws, characters, and scenery. This will include fantasy worlds and science fiction worlds, and even the real world, as the real world can be as strange as fiction a lot.

Let’s start with the honorable mentions:

Duty After School, Ilkwon Ha

Knight Run, Sungmin Kim

A Matter of Life and Death, The Spinster

Dr. Frost, JongBeom Lee

The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn, Tri Vuong

Onto the list!

10. UnOrdinary, Uru-Chan:

Link: UnOrdinary

UnOrdinary has a fairly realistic idea for what the world would be like if everyone had superpowers…with a few exceptions. There’s a hierarchy within school, and it seems like people have jobs that match their powers. There’s also different levels to each power, and often enough, people with high-tier powers get treated better than people with low-tier abilities. This world, so far, feels surprisingly realistic.

9. Gepetto, Jewon Yeon:

Link: Gepetto

Gepetto has one of the most detailed backstories for a dystopian universe I’ve read. Since a large part of the story involves its history, it would have to. Basically, there’s a war between androids and humans over the late Dr. Gepetto’s  legacy. This world has an interesting dystopia; humans living in an Earth where a mysterious scientific Institute controls a lot of their lives, while performing unethical experiments involving clones and androids.

8. Cheese in the Trap, Soonkki:
Link: Cheese in the Trap

Although Cheese in the Trap takes place in real life, I still think the world building is really well-done, such as social norms and human behavior. Like with one of my honorable mentions, you really get a feel for what it’s like to be in Korea. College life is very different over there; there’s even more pressure to do well on tests, and I didn’t know that it was highly recommended they learn English. It’s also shown to have a lot of pressure to study abroad. Besides, their way of hanging a with peers is very interesting. Cheese in the Trap is a fascinating window into Korean life.

7. Aisopos, Yangsoo Kim:

http://m.webtoons.com/en/drama/aisopos/list?title_no=76

Not many Webtoons show what it was like to live in a different time period, but Aisopos shows an interesting version of Ancient  Greece. It’s being ruled under a tyrant, and the main character, although he has done nothing wrong so far, is sent to become a slave. I’m not far into this Webtoon, but so far, it shows Aesop’s life as a slave, which is really interesting. Each prisoner has their own story, and even slaves have their own hierarchy, which Aesop is trying to beat. I have no doubt that there will be more to Ancient Greece then slavery shown, but so far, it’s very detailed.

6. Nightmare Factory, Snailords:

Link: Nightmare Factory
Art Credit: Nightmare Factory Poster

Nightmare Factory may only have a little over twenty chapters, but it’s done a good job at building several worlds, including Kreyul’s dimension, Emai’s dimension, and of course, The Nightmare Exchange. While the two main character’s worlds are a little underdeveloped (all we know is that Kreyul’s home world seems really interesting, and that Emai’s world has vastly different beauty standards than our own), The Nightmare Exchange is very developed. People who get involved have to survive their worst fears for twenty four hours, and it can even simulate other dimensions. I look forward to seeing more about the Exchange, and other dimensions as well.

5. Lackadaisy, Lackadaisy:
Link: Lackadaisy

Like Aisopos, Lackadaisy tackles history, yet in a more fantastic manner; it’s the 1920s in America, but with anthropomorphic cats! I’m still not far into this Webtoon, but I’ve seen enough photos of 1920s America to tell that the author has truly captured buildings and fashion from this era beautifully. And they’ve gotten the speakeasy culture down quite well. It involves performance, illegal activity, machinery, alcohol, and possible murder.  Each character is involved in the speakeasy in some way, as well.

4. Hooky, Miriam Bonastre Tur:

Link: Hooky
Art Credit: HOOKY!

Hooky captures a world of witches, wizards, and humans  very well. It shows the most likely outcome of having magic in the world; discrimination. Although witch burning has been outlawed, witches and wizards alike are still feared and hated. Bonastre Tur has done an amazing job of integrating magic in a fantasy world that still hasn’t come to grips with it. However, not all humans discriminate, and not all wizards and witches are innocent; The Wyttes may have been victims, but their revenge is going much too far. And characters like Mark and Monica prove that humans are capable of accepting wizards and witches.

3. Sword Interval, Ben Fleuter:

Link: Sword Interval
Art Credit: Sword Interval: Wrapping Things Up

Sword Interval is one of the most interesting post-apocalyptic Earths I’ve seen; rather than having zombies or science fiction, monsters and other fantasy creatures come into the mix. They’ve been widely accepted as part of this new Earth, and everyone acknowledges their existence. There’s dragons and ghosts around, and nobody denies that they exist. There’s even a Paranormal Witness Protection Program, and there are bounty hunters everywhere who fight monsters. The monsters can even hire humans, witches, and wizards to work for them!  It’s so interesting to see a post apocalypse handled in this way; it’s truly one of the most creative Webtoons I’ve seen in a long time.

2. Siren’s Lament, instantmiso:

Link: Siren’s Lament
Art: https://mobile.twitter.com/AnggitaPratiwiA/status/730579876701339648/photo/1

Although much of Siren’s Lament is shrouded in mystery, instantmiso’s idea of Sirens is so unique, I had to put it here. In her vision, Sirens aren’t just women from the ocean who sing to lure men; they’re both men and women who resemble mermaids and mermen. They don’t sing just to lure people to their deaths; they sing to transfer their curse to someone else. Being a Siren is portrayed as something almost akin to depression; isolated, lonely, and hollow on the inside. Sirens are also allowed a talent from their previous life, although they don’t always fit into their new life.  So while characters like Ian may seem petty for being so desperate to transfer their curse to someone else, I really can’t blame him; I wouldn’t want to go back to that life.

1. Space Boy, Stephen McCranie:

Link: Space Boy
Art Credit: Space Boy Episode 56

I struggled with choosing this as number one. I nearly put my number two choice here instead. But I decided on this due to how integrated their technology and culture is; Space Boy’s world may be in the future, but it’s also similar to our present. There are space colonies where people live and mine minerals from. There’s cryogenic freezing, so people from the colonies can come to Earth. And Net Gear! The Net Gear is one of the best parts of the world building; they use it everywhere, even in schools. Net Gear is similar to our iPads in that way. There are prosthetics and robotics experts, and an Artifact in space. Their culture is also really unique; it’s a mesh of other countries. So that’s why I had to put Space Boy‘s world at number one; it feels the most natural to me.

Did you like the list? Any worlds you think I missed? If you liked this list, please like or comment. And as I always follow back, please don’t be afraid to follow! Also, FYI; I’m thinking of editing my Top Twelve Female Leads in Webtoons and Top Twleve Male Leads in Webtoons. I may be replacing some official images with fanart…just wait and see!