What is ‘Semantic Error’ anime about and where can you watch it?

No doubt surprising for many, anime is not limited to the assortment of animated series derived from Japan. Countries like China, Thailand, and South Korea have increasingly expanded their animated repertoire with new stories, achieving never-before-seen popularity, resulting from the incredibly high demand for anime and all of its different agglomerate genres.

Similarly, in the past couple of years, the BL (Boys’ Love) sphere has also received no shortage of hype among growing genres in anime. Normally derived from an original literary counterpart, either manga or manhwa, more stories are receiving a screen adaptation than ever, including Semantic Error. Written and illustrated by J. Soori and Angy Kim, Semantic Error became a ginormous success in the world of Korean Webtoons since its release in 2020. Depicting a story belonging to the BL genre, this manhwa received an animated adaptation in 2021, and here is all you need to know about it.

What is Semantic Error about?

Based on the manhwa of the same name, Semantic Error is a beautifully illustrated story following the lives of two college students who could not be more different. Sangwoo Choo, the dark-haired character, is often described as an emotionless robot, following strict rules, schedules, and patterns in his daily life. Studying at the computer engineering department, Sangwoo is a practical and rational young adult, with a photographic memory capable of deleting and storing information as he deems necessary. Considered to be a genius, Sangwoo is detached from human interaction, with a neuroatypical condition also heavily hinted at by the author.

In a complete contract with perfect divergent poetic justice, Jaeyoung Jang is a design student that despite being known for excelling at his craft, is a complete freeloader who rarely finds anything interesting to keep him busy. Tall, muscular, and heavily tattooed, Sangwoo and Jaeyoung are polar opposites that are forced to interact due to a group project, but needless to say, the duo do not get along. Through this project, however, Jaeyoung suddenly found someone that he finds interesting, causing a bug in Sangwoo’s perfectly structured life.

Where to watch the Semantic Error anime?

Semantic Error‘s huge surge in popularity has led to not one, but two adaptations being made for the small screen. In 2021, four four-minute episodes were announced depicting a quick rundown of Semantic Error, filled with all the lewd scenes requested by fans. Albeit incredibly short, the anime was also highly popular among fans of the BL genre, receiving an instant following.

Alternatively, a year after, a live-action South Korean drama series based on Semantic Error was released with immediate success. Anchored by actor and K-Pop idol Park Seo Ham and Park Jae Chan as Jaeyoung and Sangwoo respectively, the acclaimed actors immediately guaranteed a crowd of loyal fans who swore to tune in to watch the drama, alongside fans of the manhwa counterpart. The live-action is available on Viki.

Unsurprisingly, Semantic Error‘s popularity has not ceased even after the manhwa reached its final chapters in South Korea. After all, its incredibly detailed and accurate representation of tech knowledge as well as the in-depth explanations of design techniques has only made the story of Sangwoo and Jaeyoung all the more interesting.