The Beginning After the End Future Uncertain After Tapas App Shutdown Announcement

There are some anime and web novel stories that feel so closely tied to a particular platform that it is almost impossible to imagine one without the other. The Beginning After the End is absolutely one of them for me. For years, Tapas wasn’t simply another app where fans could read about Arthur Leywin’s journey — it was the place where a huge part of the TBATE community gathered, followed the story, discussed every new development, and watched TurtleMe build one of the biggest progression fantasy series on the internet. So when Kakao Entertainment announced that it was shutting down Tapas, my first reaction was basically the same as a lot of other fans: wait, what does this actually mean for TBATE?

The most important thing to understand is that this isn’t an announcement that The Beginning After the End is ending. Far from it. But it does create a genuinely messy situation for the franchise, especially because Tapas has been TurtleMe’s publishing home for roughly eight years. The timing is particularly strange considering that the original web novel is approaching its larger conclusion while TurtleMe has also been developing Soul Forged, giving fans a lot of reasons to be paying attention to his work right now.

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Tapas Was More Than Just an App for TBATE Fans

TurtleMe’s reaction made the situation feel much more serious because he didn’t pretend to have all the answers. In his message to fans, he described Tapas as “my home, our home” for the past eight years and openly admitted that he was still trying to understand what was happening. Honestly, that transparency was probably the right move. When a platform that has been part of a creator’s career for almost a decade suddenly announces its shutdown, pretending everything is already sorted out would only make fans more nervous.

What stood out to me most was TurtleMe’s promise that he would do everything possible to keep the series going. That’s the part TBATE readers should focus on right now. The platform may be disappearing, but the story itself is not disappearing with it. The immediate questions are about distribution, publishing rights, archived content, reader access, and where future chapters and releases will live.

There is also a much bigger creator issue here. Tapas wasn’t home to only TBATE. Countless independent writers and artists built audiences there, and some of them may not have the same publishing infrastructure or financial safety net as a franchise as established as The Beginning After the End. TurtleMe encouraging fans to find and follow their favorite creators elsewhere is therefore more important than it might initially sound.

Why Is Kakao Entertainment Shutting Down Tapas?

The corporate story behind the shutdown goes back several years. Kakao Entertainment made a major move into the North American digital-content market in 2021, acquiring Tapas and Radish in a deal valued at around $810 million. The companies were subsequently brought together under Tapas Entertainment as Kakao attempted to establish a stronger foothold in the Western webtoon and web novel market.

On paper, the strategy made plenty of sense. Tapas had already built a recognizable audience, while titles such as The Beginning After the End, Solo Leveling, and Overgeared demonstrated just how valuable Korean and international digital storytelling could become outside Asia. The problem was that competing in the North American digital-content market is incredibly expensive, crowded, and unpredictable. Kakao has since been restructuring its international operations, including the winding down of Radish and now Tapas.

That makes the Tapas shutdown less about one individual series and more about a major change in Kakao’s broader strategy. Instead of continuing to maintain a standalone Western storefront, the company is increasingly concentrating its digital-content operations around its larger ecosystem. For creators and readers, however, corporate strategy has a very practical consequence: the digital place they relied on can disappear surprisingly quickly.

And Then There’s the Timing of TBATE

If Tapas had shut down during some random point in TBATE’s history, the disruption would still have been significant. But the timing here feels especially unfortunate. The Beginning After the End has been running for more than a decade, and TurtleMe has previously indicated that the main story is moving toward its eventual conclusion after an enormous amount of writing.

We’re talking about a series with more than two million words behind it and a fanbase that has spent years following Arthur Leywin through increasingly ridiculous levels of danger. At this point, TBATE isn’t just another web novel that can quietly move somewhere else overnight. There is a huge archive, a huge readership, ongoing publishing commitments, adaptations, print editions, and an entire ecosystem of fan discussion surrounding it.

And then there is Soul Forged. TurtleMe launched the new high-fantasy web novel through Tapas, which makes the platform’s shutdown especially awkward. Imagine finally getting a new project from an author you’ve followed for years, only for the platform hosting that project to announce that it’s going away. From a reader’s perspective, that’s an incredibly frustrating situation.

The Anime Adds Another Layer to the Situation

TBATE has also entered a completely different stage of its life thanks to the anime adaptation. Seeing Arthur Leywin move from a web novel page to an animated television series is a huge milestone for the franchise, regardless of how individual fans feel about the adaptation. And yes, the anime has been one of those releases where the fandom seems almost permanently divided.

Some viewers enjoyed finally seeing Arthur, Sylvie, and the world of Dicathen brought to life, while others were extremely critical of the animation and production choices. The response from Western fans in particular was sometimes harsh, with discussions about animation quality becoming almost as prominent as discussions about the actual story. TurtleMe has previously spoken about the difficulties involved in adapting an enormous long-form novel into television animation and encouraged fans to keep criticism constructive.

Personally, I think this is an important distinction. You can dislike aspects of an adaptation without treating the creators like enemies. TBATE has reached the point where there are hundreds of people working around the property in different capacities, and every new adaptation, print release, or digital publication is going to attract a different audience.

So What Happens to The Beginning After the End Now?

This is the question everyone actually wants answered. Unfortunately, the immediate answer is that there is still uncertainty. TurtleMe himself indicated that he was trying to figure out the next steps, which means fans shouldn’t expect a complete replacement platform or finalized migration plan to appear instantly.

Several possible routes make sense for a franchise of TBATE’s size:

• A major webtoon or web novel platform could potentially become the new digital home for future releases.
• Direct digital publishing could give TurtleMe greater control over compiled novels and future releases.
• Print publishing can continue independently through existing publishing arrangements.
• A combination of platforms could ultimately replace the single ecosystem Tapas previously provided.

Names such as WEBTOON and Tappytoon naturally come to mind whenever fans discuss possible alternatives, but it would be premature to treat any particular platform as confirmed unless TurtleMe or the relevant rights holders officially announce it. The same goes for speculation about how existing Tapas purchases, subscriptions, or archives will be handled. Those details matter enormously, but they’re precisely the kind of thing fans should wait for official information before assuming.

Why the Print Editions Matter More Than People Realize

Here’s the reassuring part that sometimes gets lost in all the panic: TBATE isn’t dependent on Tapas alone. The franchise has already expanded into traditional publishing, including physical graphic novel editions associated with Yen Press’s Ize Press imprint. That means there is a publishing infrastructure surrounding the property that exists completely outside the Tapas app.

For fans who collect physical volumes, this is a particularly important distinction. A company shutting down a digital storefront doesn’t automatically cancel unrelated publishing agreements. The existence of print editions, collected volumes, and other distribution channels gives The Beginning After the End considerably more stability than a small independent series that exists exclusively inside one app.

It also demonstrates how dramatically TBATE has grown. When I think back to the earlier days of the series, it’s strange to realize how many different forms it has taken since then. What began as a web novel eventually became a comic adaptation, a physical publishing project, an anime, and a broader fantasy franchise with multiple stories attached to it.

What Fans Should Do Right Now

The worst thing fans can do is assume that the disappearance of Tapas automatically means the disappearance of TBATE. It doesn’t. What readers should do is keep an eye on TurtleMe’s official channels and the official announcements from the companies handling the series.

I’d also take TurtleMe’s advice about following creators seriously. Platform dependence has always been one of the strange weaknesses of digital publishing. If you only know an author because an app puts their work in front of you, losing that app can suddenly make the creator feel like they’ve vanished. Following writers and artists directly gives them a much better chance of maintaining a relationship with their audience regardless of which company owns a particular storefront.

TBATE Isn’t Over — But Its Publishing Era Is Changing

The Tapas shutdown is undeniably a major moment for The Beginning After the End. After spending so many years associating TBATE with Tapas, seeing that platform disappear feels almost like the end of an era. But it isn’t the end of Arthur’s story, and TurtleMe’s own comments make that distinction very clear.

If anything, this could become another major transition point for the franchise. TBATE is already moving beyond its original identity as a web novel, and the anime has introduced Arthur’s story to people who may never have touched the original novel. With Soul Forged also entering the picture, TurtleMe now has more than one major story to manage.

As a longtime fan of the kind of fantasy series that makes you say “just one more chapter” at two in the morning, I honestly hate the uncertainty surrounding Tapas right now. But I’m much less worried about whether The Beginning After the End will continue than I am about how messy the transition could become. The platform may be changing, the publishing strategy may be changing, and the way fans access the story may change — but Arthur Leywin’s journey still has plenty of road ahead.

For now, the best thing fans can do is avoid treating rumors as announcements, support the creators whose work they enjoy, and wait for TurtleMe and the rights holders to explain where TBATE goes next. After everything this series has survived, a platform shutdown is certainly a huge obstacle. But if there’s one thing Arthur’s story has taught its readers, it’s that the end of one chapter doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the journey.