Studio N, a subsidiary of Naver Webtoon, has partnered with Toei Animation to turn the popular webtoon Gosu into an anime. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing was attended by top executives from both companies including Studio N CEO Kwon Mi-kyung, Executive Anime Producer Takashi Washio, and Gosu Webtoon creator Moon Jung-hoo at Naver Webtoon’s headquarters on Friday (4/14/2023).
By signing this agreement, both companies will combine their strengths to produce quality work. Studio N’s storytelling ability and Toei’s unparalleled animation production technology will produce an animated series targeting the global market, including Korea and Japan.
Gosu is a popular webtoon that tells the story of a martial arts expert named Gang Yong who is determined to avenge his master’s death. After his master’s death, he trained tirelessly to become unbeatable and sought out students who betrayed and killed his master. As he began to exact his revenge, he discovered that his targets were already dead. Now, he is confused about what to do next.
In the midst of his confusion, he works in a food stall. With a relaxed life and plenty of food, he becomes out of shape and doesn’t look like a typical martial artist. Gosu is a two-season webtoon, with the first season mostly telling the funny and interesting daily life of Gang Yong after failing in his revenge. The second season has a higher intensity of battles. However, as the series is a martial arts genre, of course, fight scenes won’t be missing in every episode. Gang Yong will face off against the world’s best martial artists.
Gosu is Korea’s best martial arts webtoon series, which has been airing since 2014. The series has been translated into various languages such as English, Japanese, and Chinese, and watched by more than 1.4 billion viewers worldwide.
“We are looking forward to introducing Naver Webtoon’s interesting IPs to the global market as the best production and animation company in Japan,” said CEO Kwon Mi-kyung.
“Gosu is a great work that combines an amazing worldview, a strong story, and interesting characters,” added Executive Anime Producer, Takashi Washio.
Studio N has produced many webtoon series into dramas that are popular with viewers, such as Sweet Home and Yumi Cells. Their latest Netflix original film, Unlocked, which is adapted from a Japanese novel and produced by Studio N, has become a sensation worldwide, including in Korea and Japan.
Toei Animation, on the other hand, is the world’s largest animation company and has produced various hit anime series such as One Piece, Galaxy Express 999, Dragon Ball, Slam Dunk, and Sailor Moon. Founded in 1956, Toei Animation has built a strong global animation fandom, producing 255 feature-length animated films and 13,100 episodes of anime series.
