Tapas Entertainment seals print partnership deal for "The Beginning After the End" through volume 6, launches "Free Every 3 Hours" plan for mega hit webcomic titles

NEW YORK, Nov. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Creator-first digital storytelling platform Tapas, a subsidiary of Kakao Entertainment, announced one of its most-loved webcomic titles "The Beginning After the End" (hereafter "TBATE") will be published through volume 6 as a graphic novel. This extends the existing partnership with Yen Press, having released volume 1 in August. "TBATE" volume 2 will hit the shelves in February and the remaining volumes are set for a consecutive triannual release.

The news was announced during Anime NYC, where creator of the series TurtleMe attended for his first-ever face reveal. During the three-day event, TurtleMe drew large crowds, with over 800 fans attending the creator reveal panel session at the Tapas booth and additional signing sessions.

"Over the weekend, I met my fans for the first time at Anime NYC. After meeting fans who had flown to the con all the way from Japan and Korea, it really hit me how much The Beginning After the End has grown globally over the years," said Tae Ha Lee, better known as TurtleMe. "My sincere gratitude goes out to all the fans who came to see me at Anime NYC and to everyone who supports my series on Tapas. I look forward to more in-person events in 2023!" he added.

"The Yen Press team is very excited to continue our print partnership with TBATE and TurtleMe. It's also clear so are the fans – we sold out of TBATE books at our booth after the volume 2-6 announcement," said Director of Sales and Marketing at Yen Press, Mark De Vera.

First introduced as a web novel by TurtleMe, "TBATE" was adapted into a webcomic and illustrated by Fuyuki23. The popular Tapas Original has been translated into Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and French, garnering a large, passionate, and diverse global fan base with millions of readers. The story follows Arthur, a former king in a past life, who is reincarnated into a new world filled with magic and monsters and is on a quest to understand his role in the new world.

Ahead of Anime NYC, Tapas temporarily unlocked all of TBATE season one, making it free for all users until Dec. 2 and unveiled an update to its existing "Wait Until Free" feature. The feature update allows users to unlock premium episodes every three hours for free from over 100 of Tapas top series. With this update, Tapas aims to foster creator fan communities and give users more access to mega hit titles.

"At Tapas we are committed to empowering creators and connecting readers with the content they love. By making some of our best premium series available for users to read for free every three hours, we continue to honor that commitment," said Chang Kim, CEO of Tapas Entertainment.

With the feature update, readers can dive into some of their favorite genres including leading titles such as "TBATE," "Overgeared," "The Viridescent Tiara," and "The Siren." Moving forward, every month new series will be accessible for free every three hours, adding to the robust collection launched last week, and provide more content for avid readers to enjoy.

Tapas at Anime NYC media kit: linked here.

About Kakao Entertainment

Kakao Entertainment delivers an all-encompassing entertainment experience for fans of webtoons, TV dramas/films and K-pop worldwide. Headquartered in Seoul, Korea, Kakao Entertainment has a well-diversified business portfolio across three divisions: Story, Media and Music. It holds over 10,000 original webcomic and web novel IPs, which are delivered through its leading platforms such as Kakao Webtoon and Tapas. Kakao Entertainment's media division boasts a vast network of production studios, directors, and writers for TV dramas, films and has under management some 150 globally beloved actors. Its industry-leading music business is home to Korea's No. 1 streaming platform, Melon, and has a star-studded roster of K-pop artists under its multi-label management system. Kakao Entertainment is affiliated with Korea's leading tech company Kakao Corporation. 

About Tapas

Formed in 2012, Tapas is a leading global digital publishing platform for webcomics and web novels, distributing over 1.6M episodes in almost 100K series from both independent content creators and established storytellers to the 10M-strong community, resulting in over 8B views.

With global offices in Los Angeles, Seoul, and Beijing, and a wide range of publishing partnerships including Scholastic, Yen Press, Podium, and Andrews McMeel Publishing. Tapas is the 2020 Ringo Award winner for Favorite Publisher and received their first Eisner nominations in 2021. Most recently Tapas made a name for itself in its $500M acquisition by entertainment giant, Kakao Entertainment. Tapas is the premiere digital destination to create and consume the stories you crave.

Tapas is owned by Tapas Entertainment. Visit www.tapas.io for more information.

Tapas is represented by CAA. Visit www.caa.com for more information.

About Beginning After The End

Once a bestselling novel, now a bestselling comic. Produced by Tapas, The Beginning after the End (TBATE) comic is a fantasy/action series that has found great success on our platform, having been viewed millions of times. It has been translated into 6 languages, topping the trending charts of online publishers around the world. Recently the series has even become a hit audiobook.

Synopsis: Arthur, a former king in a past life, is reincarnated into a new world filled with magic and monsters, where he has a second chance to relive his life. Underneath the peace and prosperity of the new world is an undercurrent threatening to destroy everything he has worked for, questioning his role and reason for being born again.

For more information, visit the series comic or novel page.

About TurtleMe

TurtleMe, Tae Ha Lee, is the creator of The Beginning After the End, the #1 hit webcomic and web novel series from Tapas. He is Korean American storyteller and grew up admiring action fantasy works in both English and Korean which inspired the creation of his own series where he brings together a blend of western and eastern literature. With the collaboration of The Beginning After the End artist Fuyuki23, both the webnovel and webcomic series update regularly in fast-paced installments to build an epic fantasy that follows the journey of Arthur Leywin, a reincarnated king that is reborn into a new life of magic and twisted fate.

Since its initial release in 2016, the novel consistently updates weekly and is now on its tenth volume. The Beginning After the End—commonly addressed as TBATE amongst fans—was adapted into a webcomic in early 2018 and is now in its fifth season. Today, the web novel is currently available in English and Chinese and as an audiobook via Audible. The webcomic currently publishes in America, Japan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Indonesia, France, Germany, Mexico, and India and debuted as a graphic novel in print published by Yen Press in August 2022.

For more information on TurtleMe, follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

SOURCE Kakao Entertainment Corp.