During the Aniplex Online Fest 2024, it was announced that the webtoon written and illustrated by HYBE and ENHYPEN, Dark Moon: The Blood Altar, will receive an anime adaptation. The press release did not reveal production details or a release date, but it did confirm that Crunchyroll will handle its international distribution.
The Blood Altar, officially known as Dark Moon: The Blood Altar, is a South Korean webtoon that premiered in January 2022. It is a collaborative project between the Naver Webtoon platform and entertainment company HYBE, which also manages several K-pop groups, including ENHYPEN. This series is part of a webtoon trilogy that includes other titles such as 7Fates: Chakho and The Star Seekers, each featuring members of different K-pop groups. In the case of The Blood Altar, the characters are inspired by the members of ENHYPEN, which has drawn many fans of the band to the story.
The webtoon was written by RD and features illustrations by Henie and Kiro. It has gained attention for its striking artwork and supernatural setting, with vampires and werewolves as the protagonists. The series quickly gained popularity, reaching 100 million global views in February 2023, and ranking high on Naver‘s webtoon charts in several languages, including English, German, Spanish, and Chinese. It has maintained a high rating, with a score of 9.80 on the English version of Naver Webtoon.
In addition to its success on the webtoon platform, The Blood Altar has inspired merchandising products and collaborations with fashion brands, such as the clothing collection launched by SPAO, a Korean brand, which includes items featuring the logos and symbols of the fictional Decelis Academy, the main setting of the webtoon. Moreover, in 2023, a themed festival was organized at Lotte World, a theme park in South Korea, where fans could enjoy an immersive experience based on the series.
As previously mentioned, Dark Moon: The Blood Altar has been confirmed to receive an anime adaptation, which was announced during the Aniplex Online Fest 2024. The anime is expected to further expand the franchise’s popularity, which already has a solid fan base thanks to ENHYPEN fans and K-pop enthusiasts in general.
Synopsis
The story of Dark Moon: The Blood Altar begins when Sooha, a mysterious young woman with superhuman abilities, arrives as a new student at Decelis Academy. This school is the stage for a rivalry between two groups: a clan of vampires and a pack of werewolves. Sooha, who has spent her entire life hiding her powers, immediately draws the attention of these youths, who feel an inexplicable attraction to her. As strange events begin to unfold in the city of Riverfield, the forgotten past of the boys starts to unravel, revealing a deeper and darker connection between them and Sooha.
The plot thickens as Sooha becomes entangled in the conflicts between the vampires and the werewolves, who, in addition to waging war against each other, must also contend with external and supernatural forces that threaten the stability of their world. Meanwhile, Sooha starts to learn more about her own origin and her powers, which leads her to question who she really is and what her role is in the fate of these supernatural beings. The boys must also confront their own inner demons and decide whether they can trust each other and Sooha as tensions in the city escalate.
At its core, Dark Moon: The Blood Altar explores themes of loyalty, identity, and destiny, as the characters grapple with the challenges of living in a world divided by their supernatural differences. The relationship between Sooha and the vampiric and lycanthropic protagonists becomes a central point of the story, and as the narrative progresses, hidden truths about the past are revealed that could change the course of their lives and the world they inhabit. The plot combines elements of teenage romance with the constant danger surrounding these characters, creating a captivating narrative full of unexpected twists.
As you know, in cases like these, all we can do is wait for more news about this project which, in my personal opinion, holds a lot of promise. Now’s the time for you to head to the comments section and share your thoughts on this proposal because, you know, we’ll be reading! 😉
Images Source: ANIPLEX Official YouTube Channel, Comic Natalie
