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Description
From NetComics: Set in a soulless neo-Seoul ruled by young punks and pleasure seekers, an amoral teenager named Dai is the living embodiment of the city's beauty and cruelty.
As the leader of the vicious Furies gang, Dai seduces everyone who lays eyes on him, only to blind them to his own barbaric nature. When an honest schoolboy named Jaehee rescues a beautiful girl from being mugged by the Furies, he can't possibly realize how this brief encounter will plunge him into a downward spiral of unbridled passion and unfathomable pain.
From his brutal gang initiation to an unspeakable act committed against his girlfriend, Jaehee wavers uncomfortably between revulsion and fascination. And in Dai he finds a tender, caring friend one moment and a heartless sociopath the next, awakening strange and unhealthy desires in Jaehee that he could never before have imagined.
I'm too old and jaded for this manhwa now. My world has taken on a grayish tone and a trifle more subtlety. My teenage self wants to give this a nine and keep reading, but my adult self is giving this a seven and stopping after the sixth volume.
I was entertained at first because I've lived through the philosophical argument Let Dai is putting forth, but the manhwa shows no signs of identifying the shaky support for the argument, applying some good critical thinking, and moving forward with a new thesis. If the author did that, this book could be very, very interesting. Instead, it just sort of stops and rolls in the angst. Now to be honest, I spent a good four years rolling in this same angst pit myself, and I had a lot of fun while doing it.
At the right point in your life, this book could be quite relevant, interesting, and moving. Dai and Jaehee also make a sexy couple, which will be reason enough for some readers. (It was enough for me for two or three volumes, at least!) Despite the lowish rating I feel the need to give, I'd say pick it up and give it a try. The feel of the book is pretty consistent throughout, so you'll know if it's right for you within a couple of chapters. More than any other manga/manhwa I've read, I feel like the quality of Let Dai really depends on where you are in your emotional and mental life. I found it at the wrong point, but I can imagine it being a great find from a different yet sympathetic perspective.
For real i have to say that i'm not interest in manhwa so much, it could be because of its art.However with this manhwa i have to admit that the art suits it than any others.It is very touching, i cried so much... The love is so beautiful, how could the gender still be asked for?
One of the most beautiful and amazing stories I have ever come across. Shounen ai really isn't my thing but this was about so much more than 2 boys in love. The characters were fantastically unique and the trials heart-wrenchingly real. I found the art to be a great reflection of the manhwa and the story is so deep and emotional. The sheer amount of tragedy in this can seem to paraody a cliche soap but the way the lives of the characters intertwine so that the tragedy of one is the tragedy of many if not all the others keeps a definite sense of realism. The potrayal of beautiful violence and over-powering love is extremely well done, the love scenes being more touching than corny and the violence shocking but relatable. An emotional rollercoaster and compelling read. There is a lot of text but that only serves to drawn you deeper into the story in my opinion. I felt the ending was slightly rushed but nevertheless it was a fantastic way to end it.
In short one of my favourite ever reads and one I shall definitely read again and again. A must read no matter what you preference. Absolute perfection.
This series is one of the few that have ever evoked such emotion from me. I was crying almost the whole time (or at least during all the sad parts) because the anguish that the characters faced was just jumping off the page. Dai is an unforgettable character to me because the depth of his emotions can span so far to either side, which is suprisingly realistic of the human race. And it gave me goosebumps to think that i was only reading a fictional story...the love between Dai and Jaehee was just so overwhelmingly powerful! However, like several others have said, i didnt really like the abruptness of the ending. And to be perfectly frank, it left me confused. Maybe I'm just thick in the head...^^; But it WAS an appropriate ending for the story i think.
it's been a week since I finished this manhwa and still I don't have a clear opinion about it. The themes touched are really adult, the level of tragedy and pain is very real and quite shocking, and I like this, it makes this manhwa different from the ones you are used to. Some serious reflections too, especially concerning love and the relationships with parents... but boy there's too much text sometimes! It looks more like an illustrated novel than a manhwa (and I love reading... this just doesn't suit a manhwa). However the main couple still remains a big fog in my mind. When exactly did they fall in love? How? Do they EVER go beyond kissing? And the last three pages have some huge timeskips that really looked like either the book I read missed some pages or the author had to wrap it up quickly.
Can't give this more than a 7... there's too many other better (even though they are shorter) manhwas.
This manga is one of the rarest i've ever come across, the feelings that left me after reading it seemed unreal, since the characters were so strong drawn that it even influenced the way i view life and such. Dai has such an intense personality, his views of the world, the people around him being so ignorant, it all made me feel shock and see the truth behind things that we usually see past by, his personality made me feel aware of everything around me and has changed me the way i look at the world, the people and everything. "Never seen such a POWERFUL manga, To be able to change the way i think about life and our world seems unbelieveable."
this story is amazing i don't know how else to convey my impression of this story it's absolutely wonderful. at the last chapter they did introduce a character that i'm confused on and want more information on, also what happened in America? i want more!!
Old review: What? The way the MU description was written, you'd have thought Let Dai would be even more melodramatic and depressing than one of Shakespeare's tragedies. In the end, what unfolded was a fascinating story about youth and their trials of life, the few(if any) tragedies that unfolded. And how lack of empathy, naivety and absence of good friends and family can turn anyone into another Dai. And I felt the story wasn't so much about love and life but rather the kind of experiences we go through and often at the expense of others.
Anyways, it was interesting: watching how Dai evolved from a heartless devil into a human, none too removed from us. Or no, should I say that his reasons for his cruelty changed? The bad thing though... was the ending which was way too abrupt.
Update! After a few years, my regret is that I overlooked the bad points of this series. First, the cast is okay but at times, the story felt kinda contrived and fake, in order to push forth the themes and messages the creator had chosen. It was like: what was the point of letting some of the characters undergo that much suffering? Other than, selling the point of the story, that is.
Second, the length! At times, it felt like the story and characters were starting to ramble. I don't mind some literal ponderings but at times, the overall themes felt too preachy, like some "moral diatribe". Herein is the difference between much of manhwa and manga: show, don't tell. Manhwa, often, forgets to "tell" the story and instead, relies heavily on narration that sometimes just doesn't flow with the story or which doesn't do much justice for the story. Of course, there is manga that does commit this offense but not too much of it.
Third, the flow of the story. At times, the story flowed very well and at other times, it just didn't. Sometimes, it felt more like peeking into selective moments of a story, than being privy to the entirety of it. The length of the series only worsened the issue.
I've found a certain trend with the few manwhas that I've read - they are always deeply psychological and pretty angsty (vs. the atmosphere of manga). In Let Dai this angst is in no way corny, because Woon Soo-yeon is excellent at justifying everyone's feelings. Even with the amount of violence and tragedy this manwaha has, I still tend to feel more captivated by the intensity and sadness of everything than cheated out of emotional plot development.
One thing I would warn about is that this is not a love story you want to read if you're just horny. Yes, there is definitely raw sexual attraction between the two main characters, but I believe Soo-yeon means to place more emphasis on the emotional bonding/philosophical aspect of the relationship than anything physical. If you try to twist their relationship one of those "sad uke! violent seme! squeeee!!!" things, you're overlooking the true meaning.
That being said, I'm gonna go round up some good old-fashioned smut to indulge in...
Edit: I found a picture of model Boyd Holbrook that really looks like Jaehee in the later volumes (though I guess you can make up your own mind about it. maybe you'll think it's more like Dai than Jaehee) http://i41.tinypic.com/axlmwh.jpg
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