Why 2026 is the year of action manhwa
The best action manhwa in 2026 isn't a one-title list anymore. The deck has been reshuffled: the Solo Leveling webtoon crossed 14.3 billion global views after winning the New World Webtoon award, yet A-1 Pictures still hasn't officially confirmed a third season as of May 2026 — all we have is producer Atsushi Kaneko's tease at Mumbai Comic Con that "something big is coming." Meanwhile, Eleceed gets its first anime in 2026 from DandeLion Animation Studio, directed by Hiroshi Nishikiori, and The Beginning After the End became the fifth most-watched anime on Crunchyroll in late April 2026 after its second season aired.
On the other side, Tower of God entered hiatus after part three closed at episode 235 on February 23, 2025, and Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint wrapped its first season at episode 311 on May 19, 2026. For readers hungry for wider context, check our numbers behind the five most popular manhwa of 2026 before diving into this list. What follows is a list of 15 series, sorted into three tiers.
How we ranked the list
Three criteria, in order of weight. The first is weekly readership on Naver and KakaoPage — that's what actually moves the Korean market, not just a popularity proxy. The second is the availability of an official Arabic or English translation that puts the series within reach. The third is narrative momentum between 2025 and 2026: an incoming anime, a major ending, or a deliberate return from hiatus. Missing one of the second or third criteria doesn't disqualify a series, but missing the first turns it into an archive entry rather than a live-list pick.
Korean moorim got extra weight this year because it shifted from a fringe subgenre into a full trio that defines 2026's taste.
Tier S — The unmissable classics (ranks 1–5)
1. Solo Leveling
The classic that turned "leveling" into common slang. Written by Chugong with art by the late Jang Sung-rak (DUBU), it began as a web novel on KakaoPage before becoming a webtoon in 2018. The numbers: 14.3 billion global views and the New World Webtoon award — and that's before counting the imprint it left on every "leveling/regression" series that followed. With no official third-season anime announcement, the tease has generated more chatter than a half-season broadcast does in other industries. For new readers, it remains the recommended entry point — and you'll also find it ranked first in our guide to the 10 best manhwa on MangaTime.
2. Tower of God
SIU's epic, published on Naver since June 2010, has crossed 5 billion views. Part three closed on February 23, 2025, after 235 episodes, and the series entered a declared hiatus. That hiatus isn't a withdrawal from this list — Naver launched the first official side story, "Urek Mazino," in late April 2025, finally addressing a narrative gap readers had asked about for a decade. Anyone starting now will find a coherent mountain waiting.
3. The Beginning After the End
TurtleMe's writing and Fuyuki23's art. The webtoon returned with its "season seven" arc on March 12, 2026, after a short hiatus, and Yen Press has released 10 English volumes through February 2026. This year's trump card is the anime: the second season, which began on April 2, 2026, on Crunchyroll and +Ultra via Fuji TV, ranked fifth on Crunchyroll in late April. That's an audience-scale shift, not just a story-scale one.
4. Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint
Art by Sleepy-C, Redice Studio, novel by singNsong. The numbers: 488.7 million views and 4.1 million subscribers. The webtoon's first season closed at episode 311 on May 19, 2026, before entering hiatus. Outside the webtoon, Kim Byung-woo's live-action film Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy (Lee Min-ho, Ahn Hyo-seop, Jisoo) released in Korea on July 23, 2025, with a North American theatrical run. Readers waiting for the return have a film to open the year with.
5. The God of High School
Park Yongje wrapped his main story on November 3, 2022, after 569 episodes plus an epilogue, totaling 5.4 billion views. A fully completed work — we slot it in tier S as an archive worth reading, not as an active series. A finished read carries the rare luxury of the great webtoons: no waiting, no theorizing, just the story as its author meant it to close.
Tier A — The current backbone (ranks 6–10)
6. Eleceed
Written by Son Jae-ho and drawn by ZHENA, weekly on Naver since October 2018, with 340 episodes in 10 languages as of July 2025. The announcement that reshaped the 2026 equation came on July 1, 2025: an anime directed by Hiroshi Nishikiori and produced by DandeLion Animation Studio. For readers who want to understand how that announcement redraws the map of webtoon-to-anime adaptations, see Crunchyroll 2026: growth that hides a structural flaw. Eleceed enters 2026 with industrial weight to match its narrative weight.
7. Lookism
Park Tae-jun crossed 500 episodes at the start of 2026, with the current arc titled "The Hunt for the Workers." Netflix hasn't officially announced a second anime season as of May 2026, but the webtoon itself is enough — it's one of the most mature texts a single author has written across a full decade without losing its pacing or the gravity of its world.
8. Hardcore Leveling Warrior
Kim Sehoon ended the series on March 13, 2022, after 312 episodes across two seasons. It's an essential archive for any reader who loves MMO and leveling narratives. And the author hasn't left the universe: he launched Earth Game in the same world, and it's still running. For anyone who read Solo Leveling, loved the idea, and wanted an older, more laid-back jRPG-paced version, this is the one.
9. Return of the Mount Hua Sect
Active in May 2026, with chapter 163 dropping on May 20. This is the gateway any reader uses to enter Korean moorim — kung fu in webtoon form. From Chung Myung's return to his past to the pacing that makes three episodes pass like one, this experience is what flipped a fringe subgenre into a full wave.
10. Sweet Home
Kim Carnby with art by Hwang Young-chan. Netflix closed its live-action adaptation with season three on July 19, 2024, with an ending that diverged from the original webtoon — which sent readers back to the source to see "how the story actually went." Completed action-horror, finishable in two sittings, and it doesn't leave the reader the way it found them.
Tier B — The rising names (ranks 11–15)
11. Bastard
Carnby Kim and Hwang Young-chan again. It became "most read" on Naver within months of its 2014 launch, and Seven Seas picked up the English license in 2024, with a May 2025 print edition. A psychological thriller-action from a duo who knows what they're doing — and the new English translation finally opens it up to a wider audience.
12. Mercenary Enrollment
YC writes, Rakhyun draws, weekly on WEBTOON, and it reached episode 271 on May 19, 2026. School plus street fighting plus a protagonist hiding a military past. For readers who like that school-and-street mix, also see Viral Hit lands on Netflix with 22.8 billion views.
13. A Returner's Magic Should Be Special
Usonan's novel with Wookjakga's art, on KakaoPage since 2018, now past 270 episodes. The anime's second season is scheduled for 2026, produced by Arvo Animation with global distribution on Crunchyroll — and that's an audience-scale shift worth tracking. A regression fantasy with a quiet, precise pace; it doesn't lean on power screaming so much as on the protagonist's intelligence in reusing what he already knows.
14. Nano Machine
Weekly on WEBTOON; the original novel completed at 500 chapters and has a sequel titled Descent of the Demon God. One of the rising moorim titles, pairing the classical sword with futuristic tech in a way that doesn't feel forced.
15. The Legend of the Northern Blade
Another Korean moorim, completing the trio with Mount Hua Sect and Nano Machine for readers who want to dive fully into the subgenre. Secret organizations, family vengeance, and a single-named sword strong enough to be referenced across an entire world.
What we deliberately left off
Three names that deserved discussion and then exclusion. Wind Breaker by Yongseok Jo was officially halted by Naver on July 11, 2025, after the author admitted to tracing panels from Tokyo Ghoul; Naver offered refunds to subscribers on July 19 — the scandal is too large to slip onto a 2026 list. PIGPEN officially concluded with 67 episodes on June 23, 2020, and reads more as thriller than action — outside this list's definition. Second Life Ranker is a tower-climbing story entirely separate from Tower of God with no canonical link between them; we cut it to avoid duplication with ToG at the top.
For readers who want individual reviews of these series, our latest manga and manhwa news covers everything published weekly on Korean manhwa. Which title we left off deserves the 16th slot?