The webtoon 'Dark Moon: The Moon's Altar' by HYBE surpassed 200 million views on the 10th. In particular, it proved its broad popularity globally by ranking among the top tier on the platform in various regions, including the United States, Spanish-speaking countries, France, Germany, and Indonesia.
The webtoon 'Dark Moon: The Moon's Altar' began serialization in January 2022 and is available in 10 languages, including English, Japanese, and Spanish, to connect with global fans. According to Naver Webtoon's platform by language service, 'Dark Moon: The Moon's Altar' held the top position in the Sunday webtoon category for 32 consecutive weeks in Germany and 10 consecutive weeks in Spanish-speaking countries. It has also been in the top 10 Sunday webtoons for 60 weeks in France, 34 weeks in Thailand, 33 weeks in Indonesia, and 26 weeks in North America. In genre rankings, it achieved the top position in the fantasy genre for 20 weeks in China, 11 weeks in Indonesia, and 10 weeks in Germany.
'Dark Moon' is an original story IP planned by HYBE. 'Dark Moon: The Moon's Altar' was serialized as a webtoon and web novel in collaboration with the HYBE music group artist ENHYPEN. This urban fantasy high-teen romance work, depicting the story of seven vampire boys and one girl, has been widely loved not only by the artist's fandom but also by webtoon readers.
The popularity of the webtoon is attributed to the effective consolidation between the original story and the artists. Since their debut, ENHYPEN has blended story elements into original content, such as albums and music videos. From the title track 'Given-Taken' of the debut album, the vampire concept, a key element of the story, was utilized, and in the music video for the title track 'Drunk-Dazed' from the mini-album 2, the members wore outfits reminiscent of the school uniform from the main setting of 'Dark Moon: The Moon's Altar,' D'Scelis Academy. Moreover, the original story elements have been continued through the 'BLOOD' series albums, such as the mini-album 4 'DARK BLOOD' and mini-album 5 'ORANGE BLOOD.'
The collaboration between Dark Moon and the artists has extended to the release of OSTs and special albums. ENHYPEN's songs 'One In A Billion' and 'CRIMINAL LOVE' from the OST of 'Dark Moon: The Moon's Altar' were applied to the Naver Webtoon platform so fans could enjoy the work while listening to the music. In May of last year, they also released a special album 'MEMORABILIA,' providing multifaceted content for fans to immerse themselves further in the Dark Moon story.
HYBE is also showcasing various brand collaborations to allow fans to enjoy the original story offline. In 2023 and 2024, they collaborated with Lotte World to allow fans to directly experience the world of Dark Moon at a theme park, and they also released fashion items in collaboration with SPAO in 2023.
Collaborations with new brands continue. An ice cream cake created in collaboration with the ice cream brand 'Lara Sweet' is set to begin limited sales from the 14th.
A HYBE representative noted, 'The fact that 'Dark Moon: The Moon's Altar' has become a global hit webtoon surpassing 200 million views is thanks to the love of our fans. We will continue to provide content that allows fans to experience stories in the real world by breaking down genre and format, based on a high-quality story.' They also expressed, 'Please look forward to Chapter 4, 'Sad Happy New Year,' of the webtoon 'Children of Banfield by DARK MOON,' which will be released on August 31.'
[Photo] Provided
[OSEN]