Phenomenon
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The comic strip sector that can be viewed on screen is experiencing a meteoric rise in the country. A success that is reflected in series and in cinema, which is growing abroad, particularly in France.
Under the shade of a half-tent placed over their computers, the illustrators are busy. No backlight must pollute their screens, while they tirelessly draw a new episode. In the offices of the Kenaz production studio, in the heart of the Gangnam district of Seoul, the division of labor is well-oiled. Each person takes care of a part: the lines, the background, the coloring… “From four to twelve people” can work on the same board, explains boss Woody Lee. The end result? A webtoon, a comic strip that can be read on a smartphone by scrolling through the panels one by one.
The genre was born nearly thirty years ago in South Korea and is now extremely popular. More than 10 million Koreans read webtoons daily, nearly a fifth of the population, with a strong appetite for fantasy or romance. This is evidenced, for example, by the success of Mr Villain Husband, a webtoon in which the heroine’s consciousness is transferred into the body of the wife of a mad and evil emperor, Solo Levelingtelling the story of a warrior with supernatural abilities who must fight monsters, and All of Us Are Deadchronicling a zombie outbreak that begins at a high school. Or even Marry My Husbandwhose heroine, killed by her husband, who was cheating on her with her best friend, comes back to life ten years earlier and decides to take revenge.
«Festival de Cannes» you webtoon
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