Noblesse () is a South Korean

manhwa (; ) is the general Korean term for comics and print cartoons. Outside Korea, the term usually refers to South Korean comics. is greatly influenced by Japanese Manga comics. Modern Manhwa has extended its reach to many other countries. ...

released as a

webtoon Webtoons (), are a type of digital comic that originated in South Korea usually meant to be read on smartphones. While webtoons were mostly unknown outside of Korea during their inception, there has been a surge in popularity internationally ...

written by Son Je-ho and illustrated by Lee Kwangsu. ''Noblesse'' was first posted on

Naver Corporation The Naver Corporation is a South Korean internet conglomerate headquartered in Seongnam that operates the search engine Naver. Naver established itself as an early pioneer in the use of user-generated content through the creation of the online ...

's webtoon platform

Naver Webtoon Webtoon (stylized in all caps) is a South Korean webtoon platform launched in 2004 by Naver Corporation. As the name suggests, it is a platform for posting webtoons, compact digital comics in South Korea. The platform first launched in Korea as ...

in December 2007, and was concluded in January 2019; it was among the first webtoons to receive an official English translation at the launch of Line Webtoon in July 2014. It has been adapted into an aeni in 2015 and an

original net animation An original net animation (ONA), known in Japan as , is an anime that is directly released onto the Internet. ONAs may also have been aired on television if they were first directly released on the Internet. The name mirrors original video animati ...

(ONA) in 2016, and an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series by Production I.G aired from October to December 2020 on

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Plot

A powerful noble, Cadis Etrama Di Raizel (referred to as Rai), has been asleep for 820 years with no knowledge of mankind's advancement and scientific successes. At the start of the webtoon, Rai wakes up in an abandoned building in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, and starts to get used to the

modern world The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is appli ...

. He goes to a school, where he reunites with his loyal servant Frankenstein. With Frankenstein's help, Rai enrolls into high school and inadvertently befriends athletic teenager Shinwoo, computer

geek The word ''geek'' is a slang term originally used to describe eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. In the past, it had a general ...

Ikhan, and Shinwoo's crush Yuna, and a few others. ''Noblesse'' follows the group's often dangerous adventures against a secret organization while uncovering Rai's past.

Characters

;Cadis Etrama Di Raizel (a.k.a. Rai) : :A Noble from Lukedonia who holds the special title of Noblesse, which distinguishes him from all other Nobles as their hidden protector, their judge, and if necessary, executioner. He is Frankenstein's Master and currently attends Ye Ran High School in order to learn more about the modern human world. ;Frankenstein : :Raizel's devoted servant and has loyally served him for over 820 years. He is a scientist, whose abandoned research notes helped to bring the Union's scientific knowledge and technology to the advanced level it has reached in the series. Frankenstein is also the founder and current principal of Ye Ran High School, where he is known to all as the Principal. He is now the latest addition to the RK-5 bearing the title of “Number 0”. ;Han Shinwoo (Spelt "Shinwu" in English) / Yusuke Tashiro (anime) :; John Omohundro (English) :A student of Ye Ran High School and the first person to befriend Raizel after he wakes up from his 820-year slumber. He is also an incredibly skilled martial artist and Ikhan's best friend. ;Woo Ikhan / Manabu Kase (anime) : :A student at Ye Ran High School and Shinwoo's best friend. He is also a close friend of Frankenstein's household, where he usually hangs out with the rest of his friends. He is very knowledgeable when it comes to technology and hacking. ;Seo Yuna / Suh Yuna (ONA) / Emi Iwata (anime) : :A student of Ye Ran High School and a close friend of the Frankenstein household, where she regularly hangs out with the rest of the gang. ;Lim Sui :Sui is a popular pop idol who is studying at Ye Ran High School. She first appeared in chapter 94 of the series, in which she is returning to school after doing her concert. Sui is friends with Ikhan, Shinwoo and Yuna; she is always shown hanging out with the group. She later joined Shinwoo and the others in visiting Frankenstein's house regularly. ;Muzaka : : ;The Previous Lord : : ;Ashleen : : ;Maduke : : ;Gejutel K. Landegre : : ;Lagus Tradio : : ;Roctis Kravei : : ;Urokai Agvain : : ;Zarga Siriana : : ;M-21 : : ;M-24 : : ;Jake : : ;Marie : : ;Regis K. Landegre : : ;Seira J. Loyard : : ;Tao :; Lucien Dodge (English) : ;Takeo : : ;Kranz : : ;Shark : : ;Hammer : : ;Erga Kenesis Di Raskreia : : ;Ludis Mergas : : ;Karias Blerster : : ;Rajak Kertia :; Chris Hackney (''English'') : ;Rael Kertia : :

Nobles/Noblesse

An ancient and powerful race that possess great strength, speed and telepathy as well as various blood related abilities, such as the talent to grant similar powers to others via contracts "of blood and soul." They reside on an island nation, known as Lukedonia, that cannot be detected by human senses. They have guarded humans against predators and the forces of nature as long as they have existed, due to a genetic inability to ignore the slaughter of the weak, helpless humans. Thousands of years ago, they were worshipped as gods by various cultures around the world.

Animation

2015 Animation

The first

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

version of ''Noblesse'' was revealed at the 17th Bucheon International Animation Festival. Its screening time was 37 minutes. It was produced by Studio Animal, a South Korean animation studio, and the animation was first released as a DVD by Woongjin Thinkbig Funnism on December 4, 2015, while its VOD service started later on February 4, 2016.

Anime

On December 4, 2015, ''Noblesse: Beginning of Destruction'' (Kor. 노블레스: 파멸의 시작: Pamyeol-ui Sijak) was created by Korean animation studio as the first full-length animated version of ''Noblesse''. It was an OVA revealed at the 17th Bucheon International Animation Festival in DVD form, from Woongjin Thinkbig Funnism. On February 4, 2016, a 31-minute original net animation (ONA), titled ''Noblesse: Awakening'', was released on

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. Animated by Production I.G, the anime covers the first volume of the manhwa in a heavily abridged format with several minor changes to the story. On August 2, 2019 at Comic Con Seoul, it was announced that an

television series adaptation was currently in production. Production I.G animated the series, and

streamed it internationally outside Asian regions as a co-production. The series is licensed by

Muse Communication Muse Communication Co., Ltd. (also known simply as Muse) is a Taiwanese distributor and licensor that specializes in the distribution of anime. Based in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, the company also distributes Asian and European films ...

in Southeast Asia. In an interview, Jeho Son said during an interview for the series "We recently completed Noblesse, which is a very special project to us. As of this year, it has taken us 11 long years to complete this project. When Lee Kwang Soo and I began work on Noblesse, we thought of the many dreams we wanted to accomplish together. One of the dreams was to have one of our works showcased as a TV animation, which came true. This was all thanks to our viewers, who showed love for Noblesse. I would like to thank Naver, Webtoon, and Production I.G for doing an amazing job on the animation. I hope the viewers find Noblesse exciting and enjoy watching it." The series was directed by Yasutaka Yamamoto, with Sayaka Harada handling series composition, and Akiharu Ishii handling character designs.

Yoshihiro Ike is a Japanese composer, music arranger, and bassist. He is best known for scoring and composing music for film, TV dramas, anime and video games. He has worked on more than 100 titles in the last 20 years. His most recognized composing works ...

and Shun Narita composed the series' music. It aired from October 7 to December 30, 2020 on Crunchyroll. In Japan, the series was televised an hour after its Crunchyroll launch, on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

and two hours and thirty minutes after, on BS11. Kim Jae-joong performed the series' opening theme song "BREAKING DAWN", while

Oh My Girl Oh My Girl (, also stylized as OH MY GIRL and OMG) is a South Korean girl group formed by WM Entertainment. The group is composed of six members: Hyojung, Mimi, YooA, Seunghee, Yubin and Arin. Originally an eight-piece group, JinE left the gro ...

performed the series' ending theme song "Etoile." On November 11, 2020, Crunchyroll announced dubs for the series in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and German, which premiered on November 18, 2020. On May 18, 2021, it was announced

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...

picked up the home video rights. The Noblesse anime series takes place directly after the events of the ''Noblesse: Awakening'' ONA, and begins from the second volume of the manhwa.

Other media

On November 7, 2016, Air Seoul announced that it had collaborated with

to produce a safety video. Some of the works shown here include Denma, The Sound of Heart, and Noblesse. In March 2016, four characters from ''Noblesse'' were added as

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

s in Nexon's 2015

mobile game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone ( feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...

Fantasy War Tactics ''Fantasy War Tactics'' is a free-to-play Mobile game, mobile Tactical role-playing game, strategic role-playing game with Microtransaction, in-app purchase, developed by Nexon GT and published by Nexon. The game ran its global beta stage on ''Apr ...

''. For the duration of the month, various special ''Noblesse''-related items were added, such as a "Noblesse Coin" and "Noblesse Black Coocoo" equipment. In June 2016, the Noblesse event returned, adding Raizel as a fifth hero. Th
first episode
of
Alpha
' is about the Union, the modified human, and the experimenter. At the end, there is a logo called JHS studio, which reveals that Alpha, and this work are in the same world. Because the representative of JHS studio is Son Je-ho, who was the author of this work.