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There’s been a steady increase in the number of webtoons and manhwa being turned into anime and live-action shows, with the success of Solo Leveling being one of the biggest examples of this. Unfortunately, one upcoming show is already drawing controversy, and it’s not the first time for the franchise it’s based on.
Via Anime News Network, the upcoming live-action Netflix adaptation of Get Schooled (tentatively titled True Lessons) is drawing heat from the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union. The KTU is concerned over the story’s depiction of violence as it relates to the South Korean education system, finding that its themes undermine teachers. This comes almost two years after WEBTOON canceled the English localization of the story due to other contentious elements, making it a fairly notorious webcomic.
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As noted, the upcoming live-action adaptation of the webtoon series Get Schooled (by Yong-taek Chae and Ga-ram Han) is drawing the ire of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union. The storyline of the source material concerns Hwa-jin Na, who works for the Ministry of Education’s Teacher Protection Bureau and seeks to return a sense of peace and control in schools after a law bans corporal punishment. This often involves outright violent means, with the story similar in some ways to a battle-oriented shonen manga or anime. The KTU has stated that Get Schooled “legitimizes violence by portraying a government-backed character who assaults students under the pretext of protecting teachers’ rights.”
The official statement, titled “Violence Is Not True Education,” has the goal of seeing the Netflix show canceled outright. The series is being directed by Jong-chan Hong and written by Nam-kyu Lee, with the former commenting on the content of the source material and addressing it by stating that the show will deal with things more tactfully. This comes two years after the English WEBTOON release was canceled due to concerns about racism and misogyny, with characters of color portrayed in a particularly negative light amid the sometimes sadistic action in the story. While Ablaze Publishing is set to print the English version of the manhwa, the fate of the new TV series adaptation may now be in question.
Source: Anime News Network