Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger, KakaoTalk, has joined forces with major talent agency YG Entertainment Inc. to tap deeper into the online comic market in Japan, industry sources said Monday.

Although the two firms have not signed official tie-up deals, the collaboration is drawing attention from industry watchers as Naver Corp., South Korea’s top Internet portal operator and Kakao’s rival, is the second-largest stakeholder in YG Entertainment.

According to the sources, Piccoma, Kakao’s online comic platform in Japan, recently started to publish an online comic series, which is titled “Go Blings” and features globally popular South Korean boy band BIGBANG.

Piccoma has been staging a massive publicity blitz for the 12-episode comic series, timed to coincide with member Seungri’s first concert tour in Japan in August.

In June this year, the online comic platform used the songs of YG-affiliated boy band Winner and singer ikon as the background music for its two new online comics, known as “webtoon” in South Korea.

“We are cooperating with a range of companies in various ways in an effort to make forays into the Japanese online comic market,” a Kakao official said.

Kakao, which launched Piccoma in 2016, recently invested about 100 billion won ($89 million) in its Japanese subsidiary Kakao Japan.

Naver invested 100 billion won in YG Entertainment last year as part of efforts to enrich its content, emerging as the No. 2 shareholder of the talent agency.

In addition, it has unveiled plans to invest an additional 200 billion won in YG Entertainment and its content business by next year.

Naver’s Japanese mobile messenger arm, LINE, currently operates a webtoon service, called LINE Manga, which has emerged as the industry leader in Japan with a cumulative 19 million downloads since its launch in 2013.

Source: Yonhap News

Seungri Reaches 1.09 Million Viewers During Chinese Weibo Live…’ Seungtsby Sweeps the Continent’

Seungri reached 1.09 million simultaneous viewers during Weibo live, becoming the ‘Great Seungtsby’ in China.

On July 26 at 9 PM (KST), SEUNGRI met the chinses fans through his live broadcast in Weibo, which is China’s largest social media platform. The simultaneous viewers reached 300 thousand in 2 minutes, and 420 thousand in 5 minutes, proving Seungri’s popularity.

Seungri’s Weibo live broadcast had the most viewers among all live broadcasts during the time and displayed Seungri’s status as a global artist.

The simultaneous viewers reached 1.099 million viewers, which indicated Seungri’s high popularity among Chinese fans. The broadcast had 10.04 million accumulated views when the broadcast ended and reached 11.16 million views as of July 28 at 8 AM, proving Seungri’s popularity among the public.

Seungri displayed his fluent Chinese skills during his 1-hour live broadcast through Weibo. He not only introduced his new song, but also sang the title song ‘1, 2, 3!’ in Chinese, making the Chinese fans cheer.

He continued to communicate with the fans through games prepared with care, prior to the broadcast. Seungri learned what artists in China say to confess their feelings and made sweet comments, capturing the ears of fans.

He responded to the fans’ support by stating, “I want to meet the Chinese fans. I really want to have a concert in China”.

Seungri also put the people in awe by perfectly mocking a Chinese song he heard for the first time. The simultaneous viewers surpassed 1 million while he was taking polaroid photos to gift the fans, and Seungri appealed that he is a hot topic.

Seungri’s first solo album ‘THE GREAT SEUNGRI’ was placed at no. 1 on QQ Music’s daily and weekly album revenues chart, proving his high popularity among Chinese music fans. QQ Music is China’s largest music platform.

Source: Korean Kyungjae via YG Life

US Billboard Praises Seungri’s MV for ‘WHERE R U FROM’… “A Great Political Satire”

US Billboard spotlighted Seungri’s MV for ‘WHERE R U FROM’

On July 27 (local time), Billboard spotlighted Seungri’s MV with an article titled, ‘BIGBANG’s Seungri & WINNER’s Mino Mock Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in ‘Where R U From’ Music Video: Watch’.

Billboard introduced SEUNGRI’s MV by writing, ‘Seungri’s MV is an obvious political satire, among all MVs released in K-Pop’.

In fact, the MV mocked not only president Donald Trump of the United States and Kim Jong Un of North Korea, but also reenacted a scene from the movie ‘JSA’, with Mino wearing a North Korean military uniform.

Billboard added, “While PSY’s MV in 2012 parodied the socio-economic situation, Seungri’s MV in 2018 satirically described the global political situation”.

Along with Seungri’s comeback, the MV for the title song ‘1, 2, 3!’ was released with his album on the 20th. However, the MV for ‘WHERE R U FROM’ was kept in veil, raising the curiosities of fans.

The MV released on the 27th starts with a global summit conference scene, while the parody of president Donald Trump of USA and Kim Jong Un of North Korea’s meeting captured the viewers’ attention. While representatives argued and raised voices during the summit, Seungri arrives in a black horse, wearing a military police uniform.

WINNER’s Mino appears after Seungri as a featuring artist, wearing a North Korean military uniform, and everyone at the scene starts dancing while the summit becomes a party.

The MV was directed by producer Park Junsoo, who directed ‘YG Electronics’. His unique B-rated emotions flooded within the MV, adding more joy.

Seungri is currently working hard on preparing for his first solo concert ‘SEUNGRI 2018 1st SOLO TOUR [THE GREAT SEUNGRI] in SEOUL x BC CARD’ which will be held through August 4~5 at 6 PM in Seoul Jangchung Gymnasium.

Source: YG Life