Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid

Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid (Korean고래별; RRGoraebyeol) is a South Korean manhwa released as a webtoon written and illustrated by Na Yoonhee. It was serialized via Naver Corporation's webtoon platform, Naver Webtoon, from June 2019 to July 2021, with the individual chapters collected and published into 6 volumes. The manhwa has been published in English by Line Webtoon. A live-action adaptation series has been announced and producing from the series.[1] The historical background of this cartoon is the Japanese colonial period. It's published every Friday. The meaning of 'Goraebyeol' is an interpretation of "鯨星 kyunsung/ whale /star".

Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid
고래별
Goraebyeol
GenreRomance, Drama
AuthorNa Yoonhee
Webtoon
service
Original runJune 21, 2019 – July 8, 2021
Volumes6

The story is loosely inspired by Andersen's The Little Mermaid with the chapters named after key turning points of the original tale.[citation needed]

Plot summary

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In 1926, Joseon (Korea) is under Japanese colonial rule. The main character, a 17 year old girl named Su-a, works as a maid in the house of a large pro-Japanese landowner in Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do. One day, Su-a finds Uihyeon, an independence activist, lying injured on the beach and she secretly takes care of him...through this encounter her life changes drastically as she is exposed to love between people, and the love between a person and their home country.

Media

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Manhwa

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Na Yoonhee launched Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid in Naver's webtoon platform Naver Webtoon on June 21, 2019.

Volume list

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No. Korean release date Korean ISBN
1 August 12, 2020[2]978-8-92-559005-9
2 November 19, 2020[3]978-8-92-558950-3
3 February 28, 2021[4]978-8-92-558909-1
4 July 16, 2021[5]978-8-92-557996-2
5 July 16, 2021[6]978-8-92-557995-5
6 January 15, 2022[7]978-8-92-557899-6

Other media

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The series was featured on the South Korean reality music show Webtoon Singer, premiered on the streaming service TVING on February 17, 2023, which featured K-pop artists' performances combining webtoons with extended reality technology.[8] It is also making an audio webtoon on the website.

References

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  1. ^ 네이버 인기 웹툰 '고래별' 드라마로 제작. Yonhap News Agency. July 9, 2019.
  2. ^ 고래별 1 [Whale Star 1]. Naver Book Database. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  3. ^ 고래별 2 [Whale Star 2]. Naver Book Database. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  4. ^ 고래별 3 [Whale Star 3]. Naver Book Database. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  5. ^ 고래별 4 [Whale Star 4]. Naver Book Database. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  6. ^ 고래별 5 [Whale Star 5]. Naver Book Database. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  7. ^ 고래별 6 [Whale Star 6]. Naver Book Database. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  8. ^ Lee Si-jin (January 30, 2023). "Webtoons, K-pop come together in TVING's XR music competition show 'Webtoon Singer'". Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 31, 2023 – via The Korea Herald.
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