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Tapas Is Closing and Overgeared Hits TV: Manhwa This Week

Kakao is shutting down Tapas, Overgeared makes its anime debut and The Remarried Empress is set for November 4.

A young silver-haired adventurer holds a glowing sword before a fantasy kingdom of floating islands

Two stories shape this week in manhwa: one of the best-known Western platforms is shutting down, and a fan-favourite webtoon has made the jump to TV anime. Here’s what happened and why it matters.

Tapas will close in March 2027

Kakao Entertainment is shutting down Tapas, its North American webtoon and web novel platform, as part of a restructuring that consolidates its webtoon and web novel business around KakaoPage. In Korea, KakaoPage and Kakao Webtoon are also merging into a single service, with the integration due to be completed by the end of 2026. Tapas has confirmed the closure on its own site, and creators have been told the platform will shut down in March 2027.

The move ends Kakao’s strategy of running its own platforms in North America. It follows the closure of the web novel service Radish in December 2025; Kakao bought both Tapas and Radish in 2021, in a deal valued at around $800 million. Tapas itself dates back to 2012, when it launched as Comic Panda. According to Tapas Entertainment, the combined catalogue of Tapas, Radish and Wuxiaworld reached more than 115,000 titles and over 80,000 creators.

Creators are the most exposed. Several say their contracts are still unresolved, and Kakao has promised more details on timelines, content and settlements. Some are already moving their series elsewhere, including to WEBTOON.

Overgeared reaches TV anime

Overgeared, REDICE Studio’s webtoon based on Saenal’s web novel, now has a TV anime: Tempal: Item no Chikara (“Tempal: The Power of Items”). It premiered this autumn, animated by J.C. Staff and directed by Ayako Kōno, known for the Sword Art Online Progressive films. Tatsumaru Tachibana voices Grid and Asami Seto plays Yura. Outside Japan, Crunchyroll streams the series, including an English dub with Ricco Fajardo as Grid.

Coming up: The Remarried Empress

November’s big event is The Remarried Empress, the live-action series based on Alphatart’s Naver webtoon. Its first four episodes arrive on November 4 (on Disney+ internationally and Hulu in the US), with two new episodes every Wednesday until the finale on November 25. Before that, the first three episodes will screen at the Busan International Film Festival, which runs from October 6 to 15. Shin Min-a plays Empress Navier, Ju Ji-hoon is Emperor Sovieshu, Lee Jong-suk is Heinrey and Lee Se-young is Rashta.

If you want a finished story to read while you wait, ChapterBrief’s November guide recommends A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special, a completed series.

Our take

The Tapas closure is a reminder of how fragile platform-dependent publishing is: years of work can lose their home when a parent company changes strategy. At the same time, Overgeared and The Remarried Empress show where the industry’s value is heading, towards stories strong enough to live on as anime and TV series. For readers, the lesson is to follow the stories, not the apps.

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