There is a place where creators and readers alike can meet at common ground to be immersed in good morals and fantasy worlds. This world is that of the Webtoon app. There are hundreds – if not thousands – of comics to choose from, and all of them can be accessed right at your fingertips for free. Not only can you read and view comics with extraordinary characters and places, you can create the story you’ve always wanted and interact with the readers via the comments and like system. 

Webtoons was launched in 2005 and has since been a place for comic makers to freely express themselves. With a wide variety of genres – ranging from fantasy, to thriller, to informative, and even historical – Webtoon has a niche for nearly every writer and artist. This app has evolved from simply a form of entertainment to a community of people who care for the people they interact with.

In the app, each story is separated by genre and maturity level. If a story contains graphic content the app will regulate it and set it to be marked as a “mature” title, making readers aware of the mentality they should have reached before reading the comic. Each title within Webtoon also comes with the choice to ‘subscribe’ and receive notifications for, should you select to do so you may also download each “episode” in a series on Webtoon. Readers can leave comments, giving advice to the authors or sharing theories, these comments can be ‘agreed’ with or ‘disagreed’ with via a system similar to YouTube’s like system. This app is not used as a platform to promote appearance, it is used like a book club. There is no private messaging system, so parents don’t have to  worry about their kids talking to strangers.

Despite having taken precautions, Webtoon still manages to allow certain content to be viewed by younger audiences and have inappropriate themes. Without an adult constantly looming over their shoulder, it is possible a youngster may stumble upon a pg-13 series on the app. Plus, as long as the comment system is active, there is always the chance for cyberbullying and harassment. Most readers will either stand up for the victim or ignore this childish behaviour, but there are many people who will still be rude no matter the consequences. Also, the wish to have the “top comment” (the comment with the most agree:disagree ratio) is so high that people will disagree with comments made by others just to boost their own.

Webtoon is a place where both creators and readers can immerse themselves in fantasy worlds of their own creation. The plethora of comics to choose from allows the users of the app to form closely-knit communities and friends. Though there are also some downsides, Webtoon is undoubtedly an amazing app that allows creativity to be freely expressed.