Webtoon ‘Aquaman,’ a Hit With 200 Million Views, to Become 10-Episode Fuji TV Drama

Exploring the subtle emotions of youth… K-webtoon IP expands through Korean-Japanese collaboration

The popular Korean webtoon ‘Aquaman’ is coming to Japanese television. Kakao Entertainment announced on the 12th that a 10-episode Japanese drama based on the webtoon ‘Aquaman’, produced by Fuji TV, will officially premiere on the 25th of next month.

The project is an adaptation developed jointly by Kakao Entertainment and Japanese terrestrial broadcaster Fuji TV for the global market. Kakao Entertainment took an active role throughout the early planning and development stages, going beyond supplying the original intellectual property (IP) to help raise the production’s quality.

The series will premiere simultaneously for viewers in both countries on Japanese streaming service FOD and leading South Korean streaming platform Wavve. This youth romance delicately portrays the psychological conflicts and subtle shifts in emotion that arise as the line between friendship and love blurs among close friends who have shared their everyday lives for years.

Original webtoon’s 200 million views… Top Japanese production team joins rising stars

The localized casting lineup is also drawing attention. Rising star Haru Kashiwagi will lead the series as Naru Shintani, the counterpart to the original’s central character Shinnaru. Noritaka Hamao has been cast as Kazunari Ikeda, corresponding to Choi Seong-jun, while Karen Otomo will play Sora Hoshino, corresponding to Choi So-ra—roles expected to draw fans deeper into the story.

The production team is equally strong. Junichi Kanai, known for his nuanced direction, will direct, and screenwriter Erika Seki, known for her distinctive writing, penned the script. Leading Japanese video content production company AOI Pro. has joined the project, bolstering its production quality.

The drama is based on ‘Aquaman,’ a signature work by comic-creation team Mcqueen Studio. The webtoon ran on KakaoPage from 2016 to 2019, recording about 200 million cumulative views and building a broad fan base.