Best Romance Webtoons Being Adapted Into K-Dramas in 2025

Korean studios are adapting webtoons faster than most people can read them. As of 2025, at least 36 webtoon adaptations have been listed as released or upcoming on MyDramaList — and a significant chunk of that slate is romance. If you’ve been tracking the best romance webtoons being adapted into K-dramas in 2025, this is the year your reading list and your drama queue finally start merging in a big way.

This isn’t a hype piece. Some of these adaptations are genuinely excellent. Others have Korean fans typing “웹툰 살인” (webtoon murder) in all caps on DC Inside. We’re covering both — including how Korean Naver/Nate Pann communities are reacting versus international audiences, because those two groups are often watching completely different dramas in their heads.

Why 2025 Is a Landmark Year for Webtoon-to-K-Drama Adaptations

The webtoon IP acquisition wave that started around 2022–2023 is now hitting screens. Netflix Korea, JTBC, and tvN all aggressively locked down webtoon rights over the past two years, and 2025 is when those deals are paying out. Naver Webtoon’s 72 million monthly users make webtoon IPs a commercially safer bet than original scripts — studios know there’s a built-in audience already emotionally invested in the characters.

The proof of concept has been there for a while. True Beauty — whose webtoon ran from 2018 to 2023 on Naver — built a devoted global following when its drama adaptation dropped in 2020 (Comics Beat, December 2020). Love Alarm, another Naver original, earned four nominations at the 2019 Seoul International Drama Awards (MovieWeb, 2019). The pipeline works when studios respect the source material.

But the cautionary tale studios still whisper about is Cheese in the Trap. When the drama aired in 2016, the webtoon (which ran from 2010 to 2016) was still serializing — meaning the drama team had to improvise an ending, which they did badly, and Korean fans have not forgotten (Comics Beat, 2016). That fiasco is a big reason why Korean studios now contractually wait for webtoon completion before greenlighting production, per Naver Webtoon’s public adaptation policy announcements. In 2025, nearly every romance webtoon in the adaptation pipeline is a completed series. That alone is a good sign.

The Solo Leveling phenomenon also shifted expectations. Its animated adaptation swept nine major categories at the 2025 Crunchyroll Awards, including Anime of the Year (Gulf News, February 2025). While that’s animation rather than live-action drama, it proved that Korean webtoon IP can dominate global award stages — which gave every streaming platform more reason to invest heavily in the format.

The 2025 Lineup: Best Romance Webtoons Being Adapted Into K-Dramas in 2025

Here’s the comparison table you actually need. All titles below are Naver Webtoon originals unless otherwise noted. Faithfulness scores (⭐ out of 5) reflect Korean fan sentiment aggregated from Naver Webtoon comment sections and Nate Pann drama boards — treat these as fan community estimates, not official ratings. Nielsen Korea ratings are peak household ratings where available; a 5% rating is considered solid for cable, 10%+ is a hit. OTT titles don’t have Nielsen figures. Titles marked (Upcoming) have not yet aired — all data for those rows is TBA or projected based on announced production details.

*Faithfulness scores for aired dramas reflect aggregated Naver Webtoon comment sections and Nate Pann drama boards as of March 2025. TBA scores are for dramas not yet aired. **Nielsen Korea figures sourced from Dramabeans rating archives and Nielsen Korea weekly reports where available.

Drama-by-Drama Breakdown

My Dearest Season 2 — The Gold Standard (Faithfulness: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

If you want one drama on this list to restore your faith in webtoon adaptations, it’s this one. The historical romance webtoon had a cult following long before MBC greenlit Season 2, and the production team earned that perfect faithfulness score the hard way — by keeping the original writer, 조령, in the writer’s room and resisting the pressure to modernize plotlines for younger viewers.

The peak 8.9% Nielsen household rating put it comfortably in hit territory for primetime MBC. Korean fans on Nate Pann were vocal about one specific scene — the letter-writing sequence in Episode 6 — being nearly panel-for-panel faithful to the webtoon. That kind of detail matters enormously to the fandom and is exactly why Nate Pann boards stayed positive throughout the run rather than switching to “웹툰 살인” mode.

International viewers on Reddit’s r/KDRAMA were equally enthusiastic, though for different reasons — most hadn’t read the webtoon and were responding purely to the chemistry and the production design. Two audiences, same drama, both satisfied. That’s the dream outcome.

Watch if: You love slow-burn historical romance and want to see what a genuinely respectful adaptation looks like.

Spirit Fingers — The Cautionary Tale (Faithfulness: ⭐⭐)

Spirit Fingers is the “웹툰 살인” case study of 2025 so far. The webtoon (by 이은) is beloved for its messy, authentic portrayal of a young woman finding herself through an art club — it’s not a conventional romance, and that’s the whole point. MBC’s adaptation smoothed out every rough edge, turned the female lead’s insecurities into charming quirks, and gave the male lead significantly more screen time than the source material ever intended.

The result: a 3.2% peak Nielsen rating and a Nate Pann thread titled “MBC가 또 해냈다” (MBC Did It Again — and not in a good way) that racked up over 2,000 upvotes within 48 hours of Episode 3 airing.

Interestingly, international audiences on Viki rated it considerably higher. Without webtoon expectations to disappoint, they saw a charming coming-of-age story with good leads. The gap between those two reception experiences is almost 2.5 stars wide, which tells you everything about what was lost in translation.

Watch if: You’ve never read the webtoon and want a light, feel-good campus romance. Skip if you’re a fan of the source material — just reread it instead.

Positively Yours (긍정이 체질) — The One to Watch (Faithfulness: TBA)

This one hasn’t aired yet, but it’s generating the most pre-release chatter of anything on this list. The webtoon’s premise — a one-night stand leads to an unplanned pregnancy, and both parties have to figure out who they actually are before they figure out if they work together — is more emotionally complex than the trope label suggests.

Netflix Korea acquisitions tend to signal confidence in global appeal, and the casting announcement drove Naver Webtoon’s comment section for the original webtoon past 10,000 new comments in a single week. Korean fans are cautiously optimistic; the lead casting matches what most readers imagined. International audiences are just excited for a pregnancy romance that isn’t purely melodrama.

The faithfulness score will be one to watch. Netflix has a history of greenlit K-drama adaptations that drift from source material to appeal to non-Korean viewers (see: some of the later My Love from the Star expanded content decisions). Whether that happens here will be the real story when it drops in Q2.

Watch if: You want a romance with actual emotional stakes and a female lead who isn’t defined entirely by who she falls for.

Let Me Be Your Knight (나를 기사로 만들어줘) — High Risk, High Reward (Faithfulness: TBA)

Idol romance as a genre lives and dies by casting, and this adaptation has the right problem: the male lead in the webtoon is so specifically written that any real actor is going to disappoint somebody. The Kakao TV / JTBC co-production structure suggests a mid-budget production, which could mean either lean and focused or corners being cut on the performance showcase sequences the webtoon is known for.

Pre-release Nate Pann sentiment is split roughly 60/40 between cautious optimism and active dread. The webtoon’s fanbase skews younger than most titles on this list, which means the response on platforms like TikTok and Instagram will likely outpace traditional drama boards — worth tracking separately from Naver/Nate reactions.

Watch if: You’re an idol romance completionist or you loved the webtoon’s specific brand of “competent man who is secretly a disaster person” energy and trust the casting.

My Roommate Is a Gumiho Spin-off — The Fanservice Edition (Faithfulness: TBA)

Let’s be honest about what this is: a franchise extension designed to capitalize on the original drama’s strong tvN performance and international Netflix viewership numbers. The spin-off webtoon it’s based on is a side-story from the same universe rather than the main narrative — which means faithfulness comparisons are harder to make but also less fraught.

Korean fans of the original drama are split on whether this needed to exist. The Gumiho universe’s appeal was partly tied to specific character chemistry that a spin-off can’t replicate. But international audiences — particularly in Southeast Asia, where the original drama performed very strongly — are likely to be more receptive simply because the fantasy romance setting is broadly appealing.

Watch if: You loved the original and want more time in that world. Manage expectations if you’re hoping for something that matches the original’s emotional highs.

Korean vs. International Audiences: Why They’re Watching Different Dramas

This dynamic shows up in nearly every adaptation on this list, and it’s worth naming directly rather than just noting it title by title.

Korean webtoon readers approach drama adaptations with a very specific mental image already formed — years of reading, hundreds of comments spent debating character interpretations, and often a genuine emotional investment in getting it “right.” When a production deviates, they notice immediately, and DC Inside / Nate Pann communities process that grief loudly and in real time.

International viewers — even dedicated K-drama fans — typically come in without that pre-formed image. They’re evaluating the drama on its own terms: cast chemistry, production quality, pacing, emotional payoff. This is why Spirit Fingers can simultaneously be a “웹툰 살인” disaster on Korean boards and a perfectly enjoyable watch on Viki.

Neither reaction is wrong. They’re just measuring different things.

The gap tends to close when adaptations nail character essence over plot faithfulness. True Beauty (2020) changed plenty of plot details but kept the core of Jugyeong’s insecurity and Suho’s loneliness intact — and Korean fans, while noting the changes, largely accepted it. That’s the lesson studios should be taking from this split-audience era: you don’t have to be panel-for-panel faithful, but you have to be emotionally faithful.

The “웹툰 살인” Spectrum: How Bad Can It Get?

For context on how Korean fan communities use this term: “웹툰 살인” (webtoon murder) doesn’t just mean changes were made. It means the adaptation fundamentally misunderstood what made the source material worth adapting in the first place.

The spectrum, based on 2025 community sentiment, looks roughly like this:

• Level 1 — 각색 (Adaptation): Changes are made but the spirit is intact. My Dearest Season 2 lives here.
• Level 2 — 아쉬운 각색 (Disappointing Adaptation): Key elements are missing, but the drama is still watchable. See You in My 19th Life’s 2023 run fell here for some fans despite solid ratings.
• Level 3 — 웹툰 살인 (Webtoon Murder): The adaptation changes core character motivations, removes the thematic backbone, or fundamentally misses the point. Spirit Fingers 2025 is here.
• Level 4 — 웹툰 학살 (Webtoon Massacre): Reserved for disasters that also perform badly commercially, completing the full failure cycle. The Cheese in the Trap 2016 ending remains the canonical example. No 2025 title has reached this level yet.

Studios that understand this spectrum — and specifically that Levels 1 and 2 are commercially survivable while Level 3 starts hurting franchise value — are the ones producing consistently strong adaptations. tvN’s track record suggests they understand it. MBC’s 2025 slate suggests they’re still learning.

Which Adaptation Should You Actually Watch?

Rather than a generic ranking, here’s a recommendation based on what you’re actually looking for:

You read the webtoon and want to see it honored: My Dearest Season 2. It’s the only aired title in 2025 that Korean webtoon readers have genuinely praised rather than tolerated.

You’ve never read any of these webtoons and want the most satisfying drama: Also My Dearest Season 2 — strong enough to work entirely on its own terms — with Positively Yours as your Q2 watchlist addition if the premise appeals to you.

You want to understand what webtoon fandom grief actually feels like: Watch Spirit Fingers, then spend 20 minutes on Nate Pann reading the reaction threads. It’s an education.

You’re an idol romance fan who needs something to fill the gap: Let Me Be Your Knight is your Q2 bet, but go in knowing the risk.

You loved the original Gumiho drama and want more: The spin-off will probably give you enough of the world to be enjoyable — just don’t expect it to hit the same emotional notes as the original.

The best romance webtoons being adapted into K-dramas in 2025 aren’t all equal, and pretending otherwise doesn’t help anyone pick what to watch next. One adaptation on this list is genuinely great. One is a case study in what goes wrong. The rest are in the complicated middle, where most good things live. Bookmark this, check back after Positively Yours and Let Me Be Your Knight air, and we’ll update the faithfulness scores when Korean fans have had their say.