Highlights
- Uniquely original manhwa blend genres and tropes to create unexpected and quirky stories for readers.
- From horror-supernatural romance to historical action comedy, each series offers a refreshing take in their respective genres.
- Rare gems like Bastard & A Stepmother’s Märchen challenge conventional manga stereotypes with complex, dynamic storytelling.
There’s been a whole lot of redundancy seen in the manga and manhwa industries lately. While new titles and stories continue to emerge in the market, many of them seem to rely heavily on the same old tropes, archetypes, and themes. This brings a sort of staleness and saturation to the field—the ‘new’ content lacks originality and fails to offer new, unique experiences to the readers.
The good news is, the manhwa industry is way bigger than most people realize. The blandness of certain genres is compensated for by blending them with others and coming up with a uniquely original masterpiece. Even if the writer goes for the most generic tropes in their fusion project, the result somehow still manages to be unexpected, quirky, and totally one-of-a-kind with its own special flair.
7 Ghost Wife
MyAnimeList Score: 7.24/10
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Writer(s) |
Sejung |
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Status |
Finished |
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Serialization |
Naver Webtoon |
Ghost Wife is a 2016 manhwa that starts off as nothing too special. The first few panels allude to the story being slice-of-life at most and there’s absolutely nothing about the book that’s striking—or so it seems. It’s a horror-supernatural romance that goes way beyond its premise in terms of story and characters and does a great job of being utterly unsettling for the greater part of the story.
Liz Kim is an average high-schooler who unintentionally witnesses a strange supernatural being devouring a street cat whole. She tries to play it off, but fails miserably and prompts the demon to climb up her window and threaten her. The only thing is, his threat isn’t the conventional ‘tell anyone, and I’ll haunt you forever’ kind; instead, he demands that Liz either marry him or become his meal.
6 I Stan the Prince
MyAnimeList Score: 7.44/10
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Writer(s) |
Jukseon |
|---|---|
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Status |
Ongoing |
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Serialization |
KakaoPage |
I Stan the Prince is an ongoing series from 2020 that—despite being labeled as a romance—stands out as a manhwa that possibly has the quirkiest and most unique premise in the genre at present. It’s a combination of history, comedy, action, fantasy, and romance and nails incorporating all these themes in its story thoroughly. The main characters embody the classic grumpy x sunshine trope, with the male lead giving off major grump vibes and the female lead positively radiating.
Angela is a young woman who dabbles in a little bit of literature occasionally—writing fanfics! She writes an entire book on the first prince of the country and even gets it published unwillingly. Unfortunately for her, while the people of the country absolutely eat the piece of writing, the folks at the royal palace are anything but amused. Angela now has two choices: either make her fanfic into an entire series and write more parts, or get hanged for treason. She obviously goes for the former.
5 Gosu
MyAnimeList Score: 7.72/10
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Writer(s) |
Mun Jung-Hoo (Art), Ryu Ki Woon (Story) |
|---|---|
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Status |
Finished |
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Serialization |
Naver Webtoon |
Ryu Ki Woon’s Gosu, also known as The Master, is a revenge story, unlike anything the world has ever seen. Its over-the-top slapstick comedy sequences merged with a delightfully ridiculous story followed by very detailed, historically-forward art gives it quite a status among historical action manhwa—and the 4th wall break in the prologue chapter is a testament to that.
The story starts off with a sprightly martial arts student emerging out of ‘professional’ seclusion to avenge his master, Dokgo Ryong—the former supreme overlord of the Murim faction who got betrayed by his own generals and forced into exile. Gong Yang marches into the city and, very boldly and very publicly, declares his intentions against said generals, only to find out that they’re all already dead. So, what’s a vengeance-seeking martial artist to do now?
4 Ghost Teller
MyAnimeList Score: 7.85/10
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Writer(s) |
QTT |
|---|---|
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Status |
Finished |
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Serialization |
Naver Webtoon |
Ghost Teller is exactly what it sounds like—a manhwa featuring a series of self-contained short stories narrated from the lens of ghosts! It’s a fantastic piece of work that very cleverly mixes satire, horror, tragedy, and even a bit of comedy.
The book flips the script on traditional storytelling and plays on the concept of humans telling each other ghost stories as a means of entertainment and instilling fear in one another. Instead, in Ghost Teller’s setting, there is a group of ghosts gathered in a circle to swap “human stories.” Each story is essentially a satirical snippet into a reality that demonstrates the darker facets of human nature instead of ghosts.
3 Noblesse
MyAnimeList Score: 8.11/10
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Writer(s) |
Son Jae-Ho (Story), Lee Gwang-Su (Art) |
|---|---|
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Status |
Finished |
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Serialization |
Naver Webtoon |
The vampire slice-of-life trope is an exceptionally rare fusion of genres that doesn’t receive the mainstream attention it truly deserves. What’s not to love about an ancient vampire trying to change his centuries-old, established traditions simply to assimilate into a modern human society in hopes of acceptance? Noblesse captures the essence of it perfectly well and even adds in some hardcore action sequences and comedy skits.
Cadis Etrama Di Raizel “Rai” is an ancient vampire lord who awakens from his centuries-old sleep only to find himself face-to-face with the new technological era. To learn the ‘new’ way of humans, he enrolls himself into a high school and tries to live his life like any other high school student would. Problem is, the man—being centuries old—naturally has had some bad eggs from the past that come haunting him back in the present.
2 A Stepmother’s Märchen
MyAnimeList Score: 8.12/10
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Writer(s) |
Nyangi-wa Hyangsinnyo (Story), ORKA (Art) |
|---|---|
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Status |
Ongoing |
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Serialization |
KakaoPage |
Many people dismiss the josei/shoujo genre without giving it a fair shot because of preconceived notions that manhwa and manga within these genres are all about romance, fluff, and corny cutesy stuff. That’s not always true. Sure, a significant chunk of them are, but there are some exceptional finds out there that truly break that conventional mold. A Stepmother’s Märchen is a prime example of this.
It’s a rare romance manhwa that places greater emphasis on character development and incorporates romantic elements into its premise much later in the story. It has a multifaceted concept, exploring the intricacies of family dynamics, nobility, and the unforgiving nature of life for a young woman forced to fend for herself and her four stepchildren.
1 Bastard
MyAnimeList Score: 8.48/10
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Writer(s) |
Kim Carnby (Story), Hwang Young-chan (Art) |
|---|---|
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Status |
Finished |
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Serialization |
Naver Webtoon |
From diving into the complex inner workings of a serial killer to the impact they have on people close to them, Bastard is a manhwa that does not hold back on absurdity. It has a particularly dark premise that’s coupled with some very complicated, even outright flawed, writing—but that’s exactly what makes it stand out. The ‘outlandish’ writing is a creative liberty and is exactly what gives this piece a sort of dynamic quality that’s not seen in other manhwa. Additionally, it mixes elements of horror, mystery, crime, drama, thriller, and even a hint of romance, that just takes it to the next level.
The story is as bizarre as it is dark. It follows the story of a bullied high school kid, Jin, whose concerns extend far beyond the bullying he’s facing. His father, appearing as a very successful, pleasant, and accomplished person, is a serial killer in reality and has a knack for going after young women. He also has a thing for forcing his son to be a part of his deranged escapades.
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