The Korean Culture Center Los Angeles, in partnership with the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), is hosting the 2026 K-Comics Origin Los Angeles – Korean Webtoon Experience Exhibition from September 11 through October 17. The exhibition explores the 100-year history of Korean comics, the evolution of webtoons as a distinct format, and their growing role as a source of IP for Korean content.

The exhibition focuses on three internationally popular Korean webtoons: All of Us Are Dead, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, and Solo Leveling. Visitors can encounter characters and scenes from the works in person and explore their worlds through interactive kiosks. The exhibition also showcases examples of webtoon IP being adapted into dramas, animation, and games, offering a look at how a single story can expand across different media and genres.

Webtoons are rarely presented as a formal exhibition rather than a pop-up event. With three of the most widely recognized Korean webtoon properties featured, including works adapted into multiple forms of media, I visited the exhibition with fairly high expectations.

Visitors first encounter a staircase leading to the second-floor exhibition space, with the Korean titles of the featured works already visible along the way. At the top is a brief introduction to the history of Korean comics, fitting the exhibition’s K-Comics Origin title, followed by displays dedicated to the three featured works.

As an experience-focused exhibition, the displays are broadly divided into two sections. One recreates locations and scenes from the webtoons as photo spots and interactive spaces, while the other takes an archival approach to showing how the original webtoons have expanded into other forms of media.

Examples include the classroom blackboard from All of Us Are Dead, the Oksu Station setting from Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, and life-size character displays from Solo Leveling.

There are also several interactive exhibits. Visitors can play a Solo Leveling game and speak Korean lines into a microphone to trigger corresponding video clips. One of the most memorable displays for me was a machine that allowed visitors to draw Solo Leveling character photo cards. As a fan of Sung Jinwoo, I tried several times until I got the character I wanted.

Although the exhibition space isn’t particularly large, it makes good use of what it has. The emphasis on participation rather than simply viewing the displays makes the experience more engaging. Given that admission is free, the exhibition also offers a lot for visitors to experience.

I saw visitors taking photos at the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint photo spot, and they appeared to be enjoying themselves. In that sense, the exhibition succeeds in both introducing the global reach of Korean webtoons and giving fans a chance to interact with the properties they already love.

There are, however, a few areas where I wanted more.

Given the title K-Comics Origin, I would have liked to see a broader selection of webtoons alongside the three major properties. As a longtime webtoon reader and one of the few journalists in North America who regularly cover the Korean webtoon industry, I was also hoping to see more displays focused specifically on what makes webtoons unique as a medium.

Instead, much of the exhibition explains webtoons’ influence through their adaptations into animation, games, and live-action series. These properties have been successfully adapted across multiple forms of media for a reason: the strength of the original webtoons themselves.

Still, the exhibition could have been even stronger with displays exploring the production process of webtoons or other elements that highlight the medium’s appeal.

The Korean Culture Center Los Angeles and KOCCA’s 2026 K-Comics Origin Los Angeles – Korean Webtoon Experience Exhibition runs from September 11 through October 17 at the Korean Culture Center’s second-floor Art Gallery.
Admission is free. The exhibition is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays and from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays.

They really, really, really, really, really love you, but which of them is your favorite?

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The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.

Crunchyroll streams The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You.

Chris


Lucas, it’s only been a week since the third season finale, and I can already feel myself going through 100 Girlfriends withdrawals. Like Rentaro, I love all these girls so much!

But unlike Rentaro, I don’t know that I can love them all equally. To me, that means it’s the perfect time to send all these girls off by debating the age-old question of any ensemble romance: Who is the Best Girl(friend)?

Lucas


I couldn’t agree more, Chris! While Rentaro is certainly an aspirational figure and we should all strive to love women as much as he does, we’re critics, and that means it’s our job to analyze, interpret, and evaluate media like The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You as well as the characters in it!

We’re up to 17 of these lovely ladies in the anime and 37 of them in the manga! And while Rentaro is right to love them all, I think we can all agree that some of these characters have more going on under the hood than others, or even just a stronger gimmick than their contemporaries. That’s why I couldn’t be more excited to join you in this 100 GFs Best Girl Battle Royale!!!

The institution of the “Best Girl” (or “Best Boy” or “Best Enby”) in an anime is distinct from the discussion of “Waifu,” I feel like I should clarify to start. A waifu tends to denote some kind of attraction and doesn’t even have to be a main character ranked with the others. While the Best Girl in a romantic comedy ensemble (or a “rom-com ensem”) is all about actively calling who you think is the best, greatest character in the bunch. And there are a lot of criteria and granular elements to assess to narrow this dense field down to a decision.

Unless you’re me. The answer is Iku. Next question.

Okay, so like, I want to disagree with you for the sake of giving this column some sense of tension and spirited debate, buuuuuuuut~

100 GFs hits the “little freak” button fast, hard, and often with Iku, and I definitely see the appeal! Also, I just now learned that her flagship episode is titled “Most Athletes Are Masochists,” which is both hilarious and accurate!

Obviously people’s personal predilections are going to factor into who they think of as “best,” and my appreciation for Sports Girlfriends is decently well broadcast at this point. Lynzee’s called me out on it a couple times, at least. I’m the guy who’s probably going for Nozomi on a Tokimeki Memorial playthrough, so I was pretty thrilled when the second season of 100 Girlfriends at last added its own Sports Girlfriend.

And yeah, her requisite characterization shoe drop moment (every girlfriend in this series gets one) revealing that she’s an enthusiastic masochist? How could I not love her?

Oh my god, yes! Sporty, masochist tomboy is such a powerful combination! I especially appreciate how 100 GFs manages to make Iku look super heckin cute without relying on the visual language and shortcuts that anime usually use to make an audience like a character!

She even gets some breakout moments where she expresses anxiety over her femininity without it devolving into the trope of “I’m self-conscious about my breast size.” For as often as 100 GFs uses her for a quick gag or break in the narrative tension, this character is touching on a good amount of grounding material that we don’t see in popular media all that often!

It’s always fun when this series gives characters plots that aren’t wholly dependent on their specific gimmick, and I’m sure this will come up as we rank the other girls. But even as Iku doesn’t get quite as much time to shine in the third season due to the ever-expanding polycule size, she does also demonstrate how the anime gets mileage out of all the girls by finding connections that let them form potential sub-couples.

In Iku’s case, it’s her simmering realization that new Big Girlfriend Yamame could positively flatten her, and I for one am rooting for this baseball bestie to score in the way she’s craving.

Chris, I’ve long been an advocate for the secret sauce of 100 GFs being that the various girlfriends rapidly become girlfriends with each other, and Iku’s immediate crush on the corn-fed Yamame is nothing short of adorable! However, Iku also forms a fast kinship with another girlfriend who I would like to enter into contention for the best girl in the series, Mei Meido.

Beyond being the best bad influence on Iku with her own, more subservience-based masochism, she’s both a maid and a dog girl! That’s two foundational anime archetypes together at last!!!

I may be a BanG Dream! fan first, but I’ll still post this dog every Thursday.

I can absolutely see the appeal of Mei. Each one of the girlfriends is hypercompetent in their specific gimmicky niche, but Mei’s class specifically means she’s super-strong in a litany of arenas. This includes being the only one who can even kind of corral the terminally, troublesomely horny Hahari. She’s important to have around!

I also want to highlight how Mei is an instance of what’s become a neat little tradition for the last couple 100 Girlfriends seasons: The Secret Character Girlfriend! She was hanging around for several episodes without even a hint (for anime-onlies, anyway) that she was a candidate until partway through the second season!

It really is a lot of fun how, even by just the eighth girlfriend 100 GFs was starting to subvert it’s own formula and storytelling expectations! Though, just so no one will accuse me of glazing this series too hard, let me admit here that Mei’s rainbow-colored eyes are absolutely terrifying and do not work at all in the manga lol.

And while Mei’s jack-of-all-trades toolkit does mean that she always plays a noticeable role in 100 GFs‘ growingly wackier hijinks, I especially appreciate the story beats that focus on her and her relationship with Rentaro.

Without getting too far into me and my whole deal, BOY does it hit me where I live to see a character begin the very difficult process of accepting that they are inherently worthy of love and that just them existing is meaningful to the people around them!

That is part and parcel to the process of picking a Best character, and what I meant about setting them apart from a “waifu.” Moca’s my Best Girl in BanG Dream!, but I have nothing approaching simulated romantic interest in her: I actually relate super-hard to her and find that interpersonal insight makes me love following her. So I get you having that same feeling with Mei, and I appreciate how as the series has gone on we’ve gotten to see continued instances of her letting herself accept affection and being waited on herself.

100 Girlfriends has instances of big, sweeping character development moments in its run, but as with the developing sub-couplings between the girlfriends, I almost more appreciate glimpsing these tiny instances of them becoming more eased and comfortable in being themselves as they occupy this arrangement where they’re loved and accepted.

…or in the parlance of one girlfriend, more free to be exactly who they are.

Listen, when a character makes this big of an impression right out of the gate, how can I not fall in love with them immediately???

Also, never forget…what Crunchyroll took from us by changing this localization.

An intro so powerful, Crunchyroll had to retcon it, the cowards.

Ol’ Naddy Ice is a character I’d been eyeing from manga readers posting for a while, so I was looking forward to her debut this season. Then just a little before the premiere, I caught that her full name was actually “Yamato Nadeshiko” and I thought “Okay, that’s a really good gag.” She was always primed to be a potential Best Girl, and that’s before her own screamingly funny characterization shoe drop moment.

Other instances of this sort of thing can obviously be in extremely poor taste, but as an American I’m giving Naddy a pass on this because she is great.

Dude, I’ve got to talk to fans of the series in Japan about Naddy, because her whole westabo schtick and how it’s casually a roast of Americans and American culture is why I, as an American, think she’s in contention for the best girl title!

What’s more American than cutting off your parents?

The idea of a young woman being so indoctrinated into traditional, suppressive Japanese culture that it reverse-polarizes her into idealizing American culture is already an inspired idea. Taking it one step further into Naddy only really being familiar with superficial American aesthetics and therefore making her every line of dialogue a critique of a country that absolutely deserves global ridicule is nothing less than genius!

It’s so rare that a character this fun is also informed by such clever writing! Though, it definitely doesn’t hurt that everyone involved in this project seems to really enjoy drawing Naddy when they have the opportunity!

With Avengers: Endgame back in theaters this week, we are primed to make a joke about America’s Ass.

I will say, Naddy is so wonderful that she exemplifies a limitation 100 Girlfriends runs into occasionally: as the girlfriends increase, there are fewer chances for each one to get focus of their own. Naddy in particular doesn’t get quite as much to do as the third season goes on, which can be a little disappointing for someone who makes such an incredible impression out of the gate.

Agreed, through as someone who’s caught up on the manga, I’m happy to report that the spotlight is regularly turned on Naddy, even as the cast grows further, and is even teeing up some bigger story beats for her down the line.

And, even if Naddy does get sidelined in season three shortly after showing up, I did think it was fun that she was pretty quickly buddied up with the best loli-grandma in all of anime, Yaku Yakuzen.

It is so much fun for me personally to see these two characters together as, on paper, they have SO MUCH in common, but their idiosyncrasies making nearly impossible for them to even have a conversation. They’re both such silly characters with such specific gimmicks, and they make the best parts of the other shine even brighter when they’re on screen together!

Yaku was this season’s Secret Character girlfriend, as they snuck her in without teasing her in either the premiere cold open or the OP. It works really well with her, as it forces you to at least momentarily reckon with the question of if Rentaro is actually going to date his 89-year-old grandmama-in-law.

And of course he is. This is 100 Girlfriends, I will be shocked if he doesn’t add at least another GMILF before this is all over.

It’s interesting, in Yaku’s case I’m not as bothered by her simply hanging around when she’s not shining. It helps that at her age it makes sense that she’d just kind of chill and vibe with all these kids who she can understand, tops, about 30% of the slang. And I know her very particular gimmick means she’s going to be a Best Girl to plenty of viewers out there.

Yeah~ Yaku is one of those characters in 100 GFs whose gimmick is so specific that it’s hard to fit her into most storylines, but she’s cute enough that she brings the vibe up just by being there!

Though I’ll admit that I’m a little bummed that the otherwise spectacular 100 GFs English Dub hasn’t found a great way to incorporate Yaku’s “doesn’t understand loan words” gag from the original Japanese version of the series so far; but fingers crossed these creases get worked out a bit as the show goes on!

There’s so much to this series that the translation and dubbing team is having fun with, and I respect their commitment to that dubbed version meaning more and more English dub actors are going have work so long as 100 Girlfriends seasons keep coming out.

And while giving absolutely everyone bits to do all the time is harder as the numbers go up, I also respect the anime’s efforts at making sure previous girlfriends get to come back for focus segments to keep them in the Best Girl conversation. During our pregame discussions for this debate, Lynzee threw in that her own Best Girlfriend was Nano, who got a couple good portions to herself this season!

Granted, one was a pretty…small part.

Beyond having a really strong “less is more” character design in a series where characters need to be distinctly recognizable, I think Nano is automatically in best girl contention for anyone who has to be a grounding presence for other people in their life.

While Nano’s hyper competence is incredible and the show is rightfully rizzing her up about it regularly, it’s also isolating and leads to her having strained social connections as her talents are antithetical to her learning the soft skills necessary for interpersonal relationships. The fact that Nano has gotten at least one breakout episode every season is proof to me that 100 GFs sees the universality in a character that’s learning to connect with people outside of what she can do for them with her hyper-competency, and that’s really great to see.

Yeah, she’s another character you can tell the people behind the series have an especial fondness for. And because she’s been around since the first season, she’s quietly demonstrated a lot of growth over so much of the series. You can see how she’s gotten more comfortable interacting interpersonally with the rest of the family, with her shrinky-dink focus episode this season even focusing more on her willingness to rely on others, instead of primarily focusing on her efficiency fixation.

The more a character grows (or shrinks, I guess), the more different facets they can show off to provide a reason for them to be in consideration for the “Best.” Never mind that Nano got to show off caring for others in the penultimate episode of the season anyway.

She’s the only Eiai anyone should have for a girlfriend.

It also helps that Nano is so often paired up with ultimate smol bean Shizuka, who is also definitely a favorite of the folks working on this show!

While not my personal favorite as “must protec” characters don’t often do a lot for me, the show has a lot of fun with her timidity and I had completely forgotten how hard the stuff with her mom goes until the season three finale rolled around!

A parent not being able to meet their child while simultaneously frustrated with what they perceive as their child’s shortcomings is a VERY real dynamic, and I’m still floored with how well this anime, which is also aggressively horny and just a few episodes ago introduced an ageless grandma girlfriend, handled this very sensitive situation.

Ah, we’ve been talking about the Best Girls in this series, so it’s only fair to recognize how it managed to introduce an unequivocal Worst Girl.

It’s especially wild after the earlier stuff with Naddy’s parental estrangement was played pretty hard for laughs. The whole show just turns pointedly dark and dour when Shizuka’s mom is involved, and to it’s credit it’s extremely well done and only ups the protectability of Shizuka herself. But man, is it way rougher than people might’ve been primed to expect.

Props for what it does for Rentaro, Nano, and Shizuka herself, though. Especially in Shizuka’s case it was fun to watch this storyline raise her own Best Girl stocks, as her flappy game of charades propelled her to escape velocity as a little meme over the week. She’s doing great!

I know that these longstanding fractures with a parent or loved one take way longer than a single “very special episode” to wrap up in real life, but it’s still super sweet to see the show address this subject, and Shizuka deserves to be doing great!

As this column starts to wind down, though, we should probably take a moment to highlight some future girlfriends for the anime-only audiences! Though, I’m not quite sure how to tell you this Chris, but if season three were just one episode longer chances are one of the greatest gyarus to ever do it would have appeared.

As I knew when the Sports Girlfriend was still being teased, they will always be gunning for my ass.

As Aashii Kedarui is a pretty passive character, I do worry that she’s going to get sidelined fairly quickly once she shows up in season four, but considering a big part of her appeal is “no thoughts, head empty,” that might be fine actually.

If 100 Girlfriends‘s most notable flaw is “All the girls are so great I wish they could find a way to let them do even more,” then its girls must all be their own flavor of Best. Some of them aren’t my personal faves for a few reasons—I love that Momiji’s one of the most explicitly bisexual from the jump, but her whole deal is pretty basic, Kishika came in so late I think she needs a little more seasonal time to shine, and Kurumi is criminally underutilized—but there’s not an out-and-out loser in the bunch.

Given that they didn’t even get to the Gyaru Girlfriend by the third season’s end, it shows there are still so many sights for them to show us.

Listen, I’m not even the biggest Kurumi stan, but there has got to be a better use for a hangry girl other than just deploying her as a straight man when Karane has filled that role one too many times lately!

This girl got one of the biggest laughs out of me in the season finale, and you’re relegating her to second-string tsundere?

Kurumi deserves to be a headliner, damnit! Though, I could say the same for the upcoming alcoholic girl fail (that I will ping Sylvia about when she arrives), tanned karate girl, an “I’m a healer, but…” girlfriend, and the burnt-out catgirl that I think might literally rewire a bunch of people’s brain chemistry when she shows up in the anime.

Tanned karate what you say?

Oh, you know, just the typical half-Brazilian badass karate girl who’s also a big ol’ scaredy cat when confronted with any situation she can’t beat to death. That’s Eira’s whole deal, and it’s a pretty good bit!

Good lord…

What I’m hearing is that I have a whole heaping helping of reasons to finally just go ahead and catch up with the manga version of 100 Girlfriends. I hope the anime version’s continued to be successful and I want them to keep making more. Every season’s made it into ANN’s own Best Of roundups, and it seems like we spend at least one column here on TWIA talking it up any time it’s airing. But I also don’t want them to rush in turning out such a measured adaptation where, as we’ve discussed, they clearly have a lot of appreciation for these girls as Rentaro and the audience do.

We didn’t even get to talk about how Rentaro is a Best Boy among Best Boys in a show where he’s basically the only guy. 100 Girlfriends really is the Best Girlfriends!

You’re right! With all these best girls in the show already I completely forgot to get on my soapbox about how the series needs to introduce a girlfriend who is a boy already! (the people yearn for a boi girlfriend!!!)

One of those who isn’t Rentaro himself anyway, since it turns out he’s also the Best at that.

That’s a whole lot of Best Girls, but like the best relationships, they should just push us all to become better ourselves.

Miyu Tomita is one of the most in-demand voice actors in anime production, with a wide range of characters that include the young and determined Riko from Made in Abyss, the cheerful idol Yume Nijino in the Aikatsu Stars! franchise, the unpredictable Ebisu in Dorohedoro, and the rough but reliable Chuchu in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury. This fall, Tomita stars in Uncle’s Obsession with Cute Things as a character unlike any she’s played before: PAGTARO.

A rotund yellow pug, PAGTARO is an in-universe mascot and the obsession of protagonist Mitsutaka Oji. As a mascot, PAGTARO’s speech is limited to his catchphrase, “Paguuu!” We met with Tomita and mascot PAGTARO while covering cons this summer. Find out how Tomita adds emotion to her performance and learn a little more about PAGTARO.

In the upcoming series Uncle’s Obsession with Cute Things, the main character has a surprising interest in the PAGTARO mascot. What is something you collect that people may be surprised to know?

Miyu Tomita: Yes, I voice PAGTARO in that anime series, and I really feel exactly the same as the protagonist. There are so many cute anime characters in the world! People may think I’m a cool person rather than cute and happy, but actually, I love cute stuff—stuffed animals included! When I get home, I have so many cute stuffed animals on my sofa!

For a character with limited speech, like PAGTARO, how do you communicate different emotions?

TOMITA: In the script, the written line will be just “Paguuu!” But I’m sure the “Paguuu!” by PAGTARO has emotions, so on top of the script, I always write a note saying, “Oh, I’m hungry!” and, ”Oh, I love this guy!” and all the little tips related to emotions, and using all of my imagination for the character. Also, a lot of times I play out the ad-lib, and whenever I see in the top corner that there’s a PAGTARO in the shot, then I try to ad-lib and add lines saying, “Paguuu!” Sometimes the director loves it: “Okay, I’ll take that cut!” I try to add “Paguuu!”’s emotions as much as I can.

There are all kinds of mascots that have different kinds of appeal. How would you describe PAGTARO’s appeal?

TOMITA: I would say PAGTARO is both cute and cool. His physiology is very rounded, and people who love dogs, or even people who don’t love dogs, I’m pretty sure all of them would think that PAGTARO is so cute! That’s my take.

Having performed themes for anime you’ve starred in, do you approach singing a character song differently than your solo artist releases?

TOMITA: When I sing as a solo artist, I place a lot of importance on self-producing; I can best express what makes me uniquely Miyu Tomita. When I sing as a character that I play, I usually approach the song with the character’s personality in mind, like “this character may not be a good singer,” “this character has a special feeling about singing, so I should sing well.” Depending on the character, I try to figure out whether they’re good or poor at singing, and I also think about technical things, like “maybe I should avoid using vibrato for this character.” So I differentiate between singing as Miyu Tomita and singing as a character I play.

When reading a script for the first time, what is the very first detail in a character description that usually tells you how their voice should sound?

TOMITA: First of all, looking at the character, I think through these things myself, like “A small character like this wouldn’t have such a big voice,” “With this kind of body shape, this character couldn’t produce this kind of sound, no matter how hard they tried.” And then I decide what kind of voice I would use. Another thing is, when I look at a character’s profile or background, if I find something in the character’s experience that I’ve experienced in my own life, I can relate to how the character feels; conversely, there are also times when I find it difficult to relate to the character. I use both to help create the character.

​Is there a specific character trope or genre you haven’t had the chance to voice yet that you are dying to try?

TOMITA: Yes. I haven’t been able to share any details publicly yet, but recently I had a chance to play a taller, older-sister-like role than the characters I’ve played before. That really opened up the door to a whole new world for me—I realized that I might actually be capable of being this kind of person—so I’d like to expand on that even further and develop it into one of my areas of strength.

PAGTARO’s infectiousness is something that has to be experienced in person. He is round, wide-eyed, and oh-so huggable. He’s also surprisingly tall in person for a pug! Jacki Jing got the chance to put the mascot in the hot seat and find out burning questions, like what PAGTARO’s favorite food.

Hey PAGTARO, who are you? Can you tell us about yourself?

PAGTARO: Pagu! Pagu Pagu! (Translation: Hello, everyone in Los Angeles! I’m PAGTARO! Thanks for having me today!)

Are you having fun at AX?

PAGTARO: Pagu! Pagu pagu pagu!! Pagu! (I’m having so much fun! I’m amazed by how many people are here! So many people have come up to talk to me as I walk around the venue, and it makes me really happy!

What do you think of our stage and all these people!?

PAGTARO: Paguuu!! Pagu!! (It’s amazing! I want to be friends with everyone!)

What do you want to tell people about Uncle’s Obsession with Cute Things?

PAGTARO: Pagu! Pagu pagu! (I heard it’s coming out in October! Please make sure to check it out!)

What is PAGTARO’s favorite food?

PAGTARO: Paaagu! Pagugu! (Yogurt! The Yogurt land here was so good!)

What is PAGTARO’s favorite hobby?

PAGTARO: Paaaguuu! Pagu pagu! (Napping! I’m actually getting sleepy now…)

What makes PAGTARO go ICK!?

PAGTARO: Pagu…! (Being told to wait before I can eat makes me sad…)

ANN’s coverage of Anime NYC 2026 is sponsored by Yen Press. Whether it’s light novels, manga, or manhwa, Yen Press has everything you might want to add to your reading shelves! Visit Booth #1701 or YenPress.com for more information!