Netflix’s Next Live-Action Hit Is a Viral Manhwa Hit With Over 2 Billion Views

Netflix’s dominant presence in live-action anime, manga, and manhwa adaptations has made itself clear recently, between The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call, Bet, and Last Samurai Standing. However, this latest series, a Japanese live-action adaptation of a Naver Webtoon series with 2.2 billion views may just be the viral hit fans are craving.

More specifically, January 27, 2026’s Webtoon press release confirms Viral Hit will get a live-action adaptation launching on May 28, 2026. It’ll adapt the original Korean series by Taejun Pak and Kim Junghyun, keeping the premise with mostly cosmetic tweaks for the sake of localization, yet pulling no punches.

Viral Hit’s Live-Action Series Is Coming to Netflix on May 28

Played right, Netflix’s Viral Hit could do the revenge manhwa proper justice. With the new Viral Hit trailer laying out Kota Shimura (manhwa: Yu Hobin) Netflix promises a thrilling romp in a high school society obsessed with online stardom. At the bottom of his class caste, Kota lashes out, accidentally filming his first brawl, becoming an online star practically overnight.

But this is more than a meal ticket for Kota. His mother, in dire need of constant medical care, is racked with debt, with this being an opportunity for Kota to crawl his family ouf of a hole, and maybe even turn a profit. His hook? Streaming fights, with a particular focus on calling bullies out on camera.

Viral Hit Is a Solid Choice for a Manhwa Adaptation

While it can be a bit odd for longtime fans of the 2019 original series’ five-year run, Viral Hit feels ostensibly the same in terms of overall story being told. Kota starts out just as meek as Hobin, and for the manhwa purists, studio Okuruto Noboru’s 2024 anime faithfully adapts the webtoon and is available on Crunchyroll.

Viral Hit’s cast and crew includes the following:

• Ouji Suzuka as Kota Shimura (Yu Hobin)
• Araki Sugô as Toru Kaneko (Woo Jihyeok)
• Ai Mikami as Aki Yashio (Lee Gaeul)
• Mieko Harada, Nana Asakawa, and Takuro Osada will also feature with their roles TBD

Compared to the trickier live-action series requiring more intense special effects yet ultimately falling short like Netflix’s Yu Yu Hakusho, Viral Hit seems the right combination of grounded yet not excessively localized like Bet. Featuring Hideki Takeuchi and Yuichi Tokunaga, who recently adapted Cells at Work! in live-action, it’s an encouraging production for sure.