Manhwa, manga and manhua all translate to the same thing: comics. The difference is where they come from. Manhwa is Korean, manga is Japanese and manhua is Chinese. Each tradition has its own reading direction, colour habits and favourite genres, and the rise of the phone-first webtoon has blurred the lines further. If you read on Toonily, you will come across all of them, so it helps to know what to expect when you open a new series.
Toonily is a free online library for reading Korean manhwa, webtoons, manga and manhua, with series pages and a vertical chapter reader that works on any phone. Because the library mixes all three traditions, knowing the formats helps you pick the right series and read it the way it was drawn.
One Word, Three Languages
The three words share a root. They are the Korean, Japanese and Chinese readings of the same written characters, which roughly mean “casual” or “impromptu pictures”. In each country the word simply means comics in general, whether for children or adults, printed or online. Outside Asia, readers use them to say where a comic comes from: manga for Japan, manhwa for Korea and manhua for China.
Manga: Japanese Comics
Manga is the best known of the three. A traditional manga is printed in black and white and read right to left, starting from what a Western reader would call the back of the book. Chapters usually run first in weekly or monthly magazines and are then collected into paperback volumes.
Manga uses audience labels such as shonen (young men), shojo (young women), seinen (adult men) and josei (adult women). Those labels have spread to Korean and Chinese comics too, which is why you will see seinen and josei tags across the manhwa library.
On Toonily, Shikeisyu 042 and Deadlock are Japanese manga. You read them chapter by chapter in the same vertical reader as everything else, with the pages shown one after another.
Manhwa: Korean Comics
Manhwa is the Korean word for comics. Printed manhwa reads left to right, like Western comic books. Since the early 2000s, though, a growing share of new Korean comics has been published online, in full colour, as vertical webtoons. That is why many readers now use “manhwa” to mean a colourful, phone-first Korean comic.
Korean manhwa is especially strong in romance, drama, revenge stories, fantasy tropes such as regression and reincarnation, and action stories with hunters, gates and power rankings. On the site, No Longer A Heroine!, Death Row Boy and The Mafia Nanny are good examples of how wide the range is, from a celebrity comeback drama to a hard-edged revenge story.
Manhua: Chinese Comics
Manhua is the Chinese word for comics, used for works from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Older printed manhua, particularly from Hong Kong, were known for martial arts and action stories. Modern online manhua are often in full colour and published in a vertical scroll, much like webtoons.
Manhua is closely tied to genres such as wuxia (martial arts heroes), xianxia and cultivation (characters training to gain power and immortality) and large-scale fantasy epics. Reading direction varies: printed manhua usually run left to right, while digital ones often scroll vertically.
Where Do Webtoons Fit In?
“Webtoon” is not a country; it is a format. The word combines “web” and “cartoon” and describes a comic drawn as one long vertical strip per episode, designed to be scrolled on a screen. The format took off on Korean web portals in the early 2000s and spread worldwide with smartphones. Today many manhwa and a growing number of manhua are published as webtoons, and the phrase “Korean webtoon” is often used interchangeably with manhwa.
A story can therefore be both: a Korean manhwa published as a webtoon. On Toonily, series in this format carry the Webtoons tag. If you want to make the most of the vertical scroll on a phone, see our guide to reading Toonily webtoons on mobile.
Manhwa vs Manga vs Manhua at a Glance
| Format | Origin | Reading direction | Colour | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manga | Japan | Right to left, page by page | Mostly black and white | Magazine serials, collected volumes |
| Manhwa | South Korea | Left to right in print, vertical scroll online | Full colour online | Romance, drama, revenge, fantasy tropes |
| Manhua | China, Hong Kong, Taiwan | Left to right in print, often vertical online | Often full colour | Martial arts, cultivation, fantasy epics |
| Webtoon | Korea, now worldwide | One long vertical scroll | Full colour | Phone-first episodes that end on a hook |
How to Choose Between Them
If you love detailed black-and-white art and long-running classics, start with manga. If you want colour, regular episodes and stories built for the phone, manhwa and webtoons are the natural pick. If you enjoy martial arts, cultivation and sprawling fantasy worlds, try manhua. None of these is better than the others; they are simply different traditions with different strengths.
In practice, most readers mix all three. The easiest way to do that on Toonily is to follow genre tags rather than formats: a drama tag can take you to Korean and Japanese stories alike. Our Toonily manhwa genres guide explains each tag in the library.
One last habit worth keeping: when a series you love has an official English release in your region, support the creators by reading or buying it there too. Licensed releases are what keep artists and writers drawing the next season.
Manhwa, Manga and Manhua FAQ
Is manhwa the same as manga?
No. Both mean comics, but manga is Japanese and manhwa is Korean. Manga traditionally reads right to left in black and white, while modern manhwa is usually full colour and read as a vertical scroll.
Are all webtoons manhwa?
No. Webtoon is a format, not an origin. Most webtoons are Korean, but Chinese, Japanese and Western creators publish in the vertical format too.
Does Toonily have manga and manhua as well as manhwa?
The library is built for Korean manhwa and webtoons alongside Japanese manga and Chinese manhua, all read in the same vertical reader. Browse what is available now from the Toonily homepage.