Korean animation

The art of Korean Animation, or Manhwa Film (Korean: 만í™" 영í™"), Manhwa Aenimeisyeon (Korean: 만í™" 애니ë©"이션; literally Manhwa animation), known as Aeni (Korean: 애니) has gone from hand-held flip books in early times to studios that produce most of the work for major American animation companies and collaboration/minor contribution contract for Japanese animation companies. The South Korean animation industry can be considered dynamic in that there are around 120 animation studios, mostly competing with some of the larger studios that throw smaller studios by way of overseas export market (OEM) work. Notable examples of Korean animation include all episodes of Pucca, Hey Arnold, The Fairly OddParents, The Simpsons, The Boondocks, Ben 10, Family Guy, Phineas and Ferb, The Legend of Korra, and Justice League Unlimited, which were made and drawn in Seoul, South Korea. While it is mostly firms in South Korea that contract with Western studios, some of the work is reported to be subcontracted to North Korea as well.^[1]

The Korean animation industry was in a period of crisis throughout the 2000s as depression born of the realities of being merely an industry the West gave factory-type drawing work to, began to sink in. This followed the 1990s, a period of explosive growth for the industry when Korean studios made most of their profits from OEM, mostly from the United States.

In many ways 2011 was a bright transitional year for Korean animation with "home-produced" animated feature films finally finding box office success in South Korea instead of the usual financial failure. As far as OEM is concerned, the likes of Rough Draft Korea (RDK) keep on landing new contracts which have seen Rough Draft perform the manual work on over 45 popular "Western" cartoon titles over the last 16 years.

Korean animation has boomed in popularity in Eastern Asia with the success of the series Pororo the Little Penguin and Origami Warriors in 2011, leading fans to want to discover more Korean animated product. This success is due to the perfecting of technique and financial returns being reinvested into new animated product.

Some Korean animators still blame the booming Korean game industry for draining the animation industry's talent pool,^[2] but the box office success of the Korean animated film Leafie in 2011 in South Korea is inspiring a new generation.

Selected list of Korean animation

• Aachi & Ssipak (아치와 ì"¨íŒ) (2006)
• Alien Three's Club (외국인 인ë""ê³  세 클럽) (2002)
• Apple Candy Girl
• Ark (2004)
• Armageddon (1996)
• BASTof Lemon / BASToF Syndrome
• Black Rubber Shoes (검정고무신)
• Blue Seagull (1994)
• Cocomong
• Curucuru and Friends (꾸루꾸루와 친구ë"¤) (12-episode series) (2006)
• "Dallyeola Hani" (1988)
• Diatron-5 (다이아트론 5)
• Doggy Poo (2003)
• Dooly the Little Dinosaur (아기공룡 ë'˜ë¦¬)
• Empress Chung (왕후 심청) (2005)
• Golden Iron Man (1968)
• The Great Pig Pirate Mateo (2004)
• Guardian Fairy Michel
• Hammerboy (2004)
• Hamos: The Green Chariot
• Hey Yo Yorang
• Hong Gildong (홍길동) (1967)
• The House (2010)
• If You Were Me: Anima Vision (2005)
• Jang Geum's Dream (장금이의 꿈) (26-episode series) (2006)
• Ki-Fighter Taerang (기파이터 태ëž') (26-episode series) (1998)
• Kimchi Pong
• Bubble Bubble Cook
• The King (2001)
• Leafie, A Hen into the Wild (마당을 나온 ì•"탉) (2011)
• Life is Cool (그녀ëŠ" 예뻤다) (2008)
• Mad Monkey (Director Jo Beom-jin of Aachi & Ssipak)
• Maskman
• Mazinger 3 (1982)
• Mazinger 7 (1983)
• Mix Master
• Mug Travel (빼꼼의 머그ìž" 여행) (2007)
• My Beautiful Girl, Mari (마리이야기) (2002)
• Olympus Guardian (2005)
• Oseam (오세ì•") (2003)
• Petit Petit Muse
• Phantom Master: Dark Hero from Ruined Empire (2004)
• Phoenix-bot Phoenix King (í"¼ë‹‰ìŠ¤í‚¹) (1985)
• Pororo the Little Penguin (뽀롱뽀롱 뽀로로)
• Ragnarök (라그나로크, Japanese and Korean co-producer) (2004)
• Regular Show [3]
• Restol, The Special Rescue Squad (레스톨 특수 구조대) (26-episode series) (1999)
• Robot Taekwon V (로보트 태권브이) (1976)
• Run=Dim (2001)
• Solar I II III (초합금 로보트 쏠라 원, 투, ì"°ë¦¬) (1983)
• Solar Adventure
• Space Gundam V (스페이스 ê°„ë‹´ 브이) (1983)
• Spheres (2003)
• Super Car Bots (슈퍼카봇) (2003)
• Tai Chi Chasers (태극천자문) (2007)
• There she is!!
• Turtle Hero (2001)
• UniminiPet
• Wonderful Days / Sky Blue (원ë"í'€ 데이즈) (2003)
• Yobi, the Five Tailed Fox (천년여우 여우비) (2007)
• Youngsim (영심이) (1990)