The Best Building of the Kingdom of Isekai Manhwa

Key recommendations

• Many isekai manhwa shift their focus from typical adventures to developing communities for prosperity.
• Kingdom building stories often focus on modern areas, technological advances, and settlements.
• The characters in these manhwas advance society by providing healthcare, infrastructure, and good living environments.

Isekai are usually known for their overpowered protagonists, fun adventures, and unique cast of characters. While most tend to play out similarly, some stories take a different path. Instead of going on a journey, they develop and cultivate the surrounding area, often adding modern infrastructure and regulations for the prosperity of the community.

Kingdom building refers to stories that focus on building settlements and communities. Despite the name of this sub-genre, most manhwa do not always include a literal kingdom; not everyone can be king. They instead focus on smaller areas or specific groups of people, especially in modern environments. The sense of progression is incredibly satisfying, which is why these stories are so popular.

1 Prince Apothecary

A Korean doctor is revolutionizing medicine in another world

• MyAnimeList Score: 6.78
• Published: 2023 to ?
• Genres/Themes: Adventure, Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• Author: Back-kyung Moon
• Illustrator: Dadaeng

Since many isekai take place in a medieval setting, the introduction of certain technology or information is often central to the story. In Prince Apothecarya Korean doctor dies and is reborn as Rachiel, the sick prince from a novel he read. With his body unable to perform simple tasks, he is only able to heal himself with remedies from the modern world, unlocking a health progression system.

While the beginning of the story is mainly about regaining his health, Rachiel goes on to set a standard of health for the rest of his kingdom by providing medical care and medicine. This has a small domino effect of providing jobs for the working class as hospitals and clinics need to be built. In his effort to help people, he accidentally causes other good things to happen.

2 citron

Gathering handsome men with God's Gacha

• MyAnimeList Score: 6.89
• Published: 2018 to date
• Genres/Themes: Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation, Reverse Harem
• Author: Taesun
• Illustrator: Ref

Shojo manhwa often have protagonists who have to rebuild themselves from scratch, but it's usually through personal business. In citrona young woman is reincarnated as a poor countess who had lost everything and was left for dead. Using the god of beauty's gacha system, she is able to recruit accomplished men throughout history as assistants.

Most characters have a good reason to start developing their land. In this case, Chitra does it as an apostle of the god of beauty. Everything she does is to make the world more beautiful, starting with men. She reforms their bad behavior as well as their outward appearance. This is in addition to creating a military, a stable economy and a good living environment.

3 Solo Glitch Player

The overworked man becomes a lord in his favorite game

• MyAnimeList Score: N/A
• Published: 2020 to present
• Genres/Themes: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Video Game, Isekai
• Author: Cheongcho
• Illustrator: Kiminteu

Characters usually put more effort into their territories because they know something bad will happen in the future. In Solo Glitch Playerthe protagonist is sent to the world of “Paradiso”, a popular VR game, and with his extensive knowledge of the game, knows how the world will change in the next ten years. To survive the coming war and famine, he must reform himself and the territory.

Set in a game universe, Solo Glitch Player combines game archetypes with traditional isekai. There aren't many screens, but the protagonist is able to use bugs from the actual game. They are mostly used for his own benefit, but he is able to use his acquired skills to capture bandits, enforce the law, and make deals. Despite the multitude of clichés, this manhwa is quite entertaining.

4 I woke up as a villain

Being is not bad when you have money

• MyAnimeList Score: 6.95
• Published: 2020 to 2024
• Genres/Themes: Action, Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• Author: Right, Yuhyeon
• Illustrator: Arlg

In the modern era, the kingdom building looks a little different. Instead of ruling an entire kingdom, it's usually a business or maybe a gang. In this story, a normal office worker is involved in a web novel as Choi Yuseong, a side character who only appears at the beginning of the story. To survive being used by the main character, he begins to rebuild his reputation and becomes self-sufficient.

Unlike other kingdom-building manhwas, Yuseong doesn't make major changes to society, but he steadily builds a crowd of loyal partners and employees, using his knowledge of the novel to help other characters develop. He focuses on personal growth for most of the manhwa, and much of the community he creates is seen as a side plot.

5 Tyrant of the Tower Defense game

The ultimate single player survival challenge

• MyAnimeList Score: 7.75
• Published: 2022 to date
• Genres/Themes: Action, Fantasy, Isekai, Military, Reincarnation, Video Game
• Author: Ryueun, Garam
• Illustrator: Gyong

This manhwa is a little different from the others on this list. Rather than building a community, this story is about maintaining one. One day, a popular streamer gets caught up in the world of a popular tower defense game called “Protect the Empire”. Assuming the identity of Prince Ash, he quickly learns that his decisions have life-or-death consequences and that his circumstances are no longer a game.

The game world has a gacha pattern, focusing on collecting powerful and unique characters to defend the base, and this is reflected in the overall story as Ash makes connections with many people who will help him. Just like in those games, he has to maintain his resources, infrastructure and the morale of his people.

6 The trash of the count's family

A man tries to solve the world's problems in order to live comfortably

• MyAnimeList Score: 7.82
• Published: 2020 to ?
• Genres/Themes: Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• Author: Yu, Ryeo Han
• Illustrator: PAN4

As seen in the title, the main character of this manhwa is not a king or a prince. Cale Henituse is the eldest son of an earl and a minor villain in a fantasy novel. When the protagonist is reincarnated as Cale, he is determined not only to survive, but to live comfortably. However, knowing the plot of the novel, he knows that there is trouble all over the world. The only way to guarantee his future is to fix everything himself.

The trash of the count's family it is interesting because most of it is about preparing for the building of the kingdom. It was only much later that he began to settle his territory and build villages. However, this means that the story is full of adventures with fun characters, including a pair of shapeshifters and a dragon. It's the best Manhwa character collector out there.

7 My royal awakening

A prince tries to stop history from happening

• MyAnimeList Score: 7.58
• Published: 2020 to 2022
• Genres/Themes: Drama, Historical, Reincarnation, Time Travel
• Author: Gout
• Illustrator: Tae-Hyung Kim

One of the most popular isekai settings is a period in Korean history or somewhere inspired by it. This manhwa follows an ordinary man after being transported into the body of Jinseong, the younger brother of Korea's most tyrannical ruler. However, things are different from what he learned in the textbooks. To prevent his brother from becoming a tyrant, he was going to change history.

Historical manhwa are interesting because the authors often take real events and introduce their own ideas and interpretations. While most people in the US won't know the details of Korean history, the manhwa centered around it remains entertaining. It is an example of true kingdom building as Jinseong is a prince and solves the kingdom's problems to help his brother.

8 The largest real estate developer

A college student can apply for their degree outside of school

• MyAnimeList Score: 8.75
• Published: 2021 to ?
• Genres/themes: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• Author: Back-kyung Moon
• Illustrator: Hyunsoo Kim

The most popular and well-known kingdom builder manhwa is for sure The largest real estate developer. One day, a civil engineering student finds himself as Lloyd Frontera, the troubled son of a poor noble family that is doomed to collapse. With his terrible reputation, the protagonist has no choice but to clean up Lloyd's image and help rebuild his family's territory.

This manhwa is a great combination of resource management, terrain progression, and action. Not only does Lloyd have a special status screen that tracks his building skills, but it also helps him train in aura techniques and swordplay. There aren't many other manhwa that involve so many different things and have an incredibly charismatic protagonist.