Let Dai, Volume 01

Let Dai #1

by Sooyeon Won

Let Dai is a tragic tale of forbidden love and unforgivable betrayal. 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.

Genres: Manga, Yaoi, Manhwa, Comics, Graphic Novels, Romance, LGBT

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Sooyeon Won is commonly acknowledged as the greatest shoujo (romance) artist in Korea.

Since her debut in 1987, she has been creating comic books of extensive scope ranging from effervescent romance titles to dramas that speculate on human nature in its profundity.

Her zodiac sign is Aquarius and her blood type is A.

Reviews

[The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let Dai will break your heart. It will take you on an emotionally intense journey into the heart of darkness and the incandescence of love. It is beautiful and brutal. In some places it shocks. It is a dark and twisted love story between two young men whose forbidden passion is like an unforgiving whirpool, sucking others around them into its twisted depths. Some survive it, some do not. This fifteen-volume manwha series is not for those who like their yaoi all light and fluffy and filled with shiny, happy bishie males. This is not a series for people who aren't willing to walk the razor's edge or have their comfortable notions of right and wrong challenged. There are few grey areas in Let Dai. For the rest of us though, Ms. Won's brilliantly illustrated and well-crafted tale is one the will remain with you long after the last page is turned.

Let Dai is not a comfortable read. The main character, Dai, the leader of a vicious street gang in neo-Seoul, is a beautiful sociopath. Really. And that's the nicest thing I can say about him. He's as close to evil as a main character can possibly get. And yet, he's strangely compelling and even sympathetic at times, which often made it rather discomforting to find even a modicum of empathy for a young man with such darkness in his soul, but I did. When Jaehee, a regular schoolboy rescues a young girl from being mugged by Dai's gang, he runs headlong into the vortex that is Dai, and from that very moment of meeting, things quickly spiral out of control around him, including the rape of Jaehee's girlfriend, and a brutal gang initiation. Jaehee finds himself both fascinated and repelled by his frightning attraction to Dai, and there were times while I was thoroughly engrossed in both the art and the narrative where I found myself talking to Jaehee, telling him to run as far away from Dai as possible. But Jaehee isn't some pushover; his strength lies in his ability to shine a light into Dai's darkness and to even face it head-on. But in Ms. Won's world, things aren't so cut and dry, for Dai has moments where he is caring, loving and even vulnerable. When he laughs or is smiling, it's easy to see why Jaehee has fallen for him. His concern for his elderly grandmother, for instance, is a lovely interlude, the proverbial calm before the storm. And when that storm called Dai strikes, it has the power to demolish everything and everyone--including Jaehee--in its path. Seeing such a beautiful face turn cold, callous and brutal made me thankful that this was just a manhwa. Dysfunctional doesn't even begin to describe this relationship. And yet, there are those little glimmers of hope, which keeps Let Dai from becoming weighted down in ugliness.

The best advice I can give for anyone interested in reading Let Dai is to leave all your preconceived notions at the door. Read other reviews from the Netcomics website(www.netcomics.com) and then decide whether such a tragic tale is for you. Beauty and brutality, that's my best overall summation.

[Rosenblue(promoting non-biased,honest reviews & a dislike button on GR) · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Beware of the spoilers!*
Read:
January 4,2020

This is not a typical BL story but a coming of age story for mature readers.
For the people who are skeptical about reading this manhwa because of the reviews on GR and ever changing summary on Wikipedia.

This is a summary for the first five volumes,once again:
*Beware of the spoilers!*

Let Dai is set in neo-Seoul ruled by delinquents,criminals and pleasure-seekers,the story follows three teens,Jaehee Yoo,Dai Lee, Eunhyung Song and her older sister Yooneun Song.

Jaehee is kind,honest and gentle but too trusting at times.
His character is a little inconsistent when it comes to his relationships and friendships.
The story at first states Jaehee and Eunhyung is dating but later on it seems that they aren't and Jaehee doesn't even seem to realize how much Eunhyung loves him.
He thinks they are just friends.
He is a love interest of Dai, Eunhyung and Yooneun.

Dai is leader of the notorious and extremely violent Furries gang.
He is unreasonably violent and cruel.
Dai becomes more tolerable as the story continues and he is shown to have a soft spot for his grandmother even if he's completely awful to everyone else.
He is a love interest of Jaehee.

Eunhyung is a colorfully dressed light hearted girl and a childhood friend of Jaehee.
She later becomes more aggressive,emotional and becomes violent after her abuse by Dai gang but she really grows and develops as a character.
I really like her despite some of her stupid antics. She's a love interest of a rival of Dai's.

Yooneun Song is the selfish,demanding and annoying older sister of Eunhyung.
She lusts over Jaehee despite the fact that he is still in highschool and a love interest of Eunhyung.
Her obsession and demanding behavior with Jaehee after he saves of from a gang attack and mugging from Dai's gang caused Dai's gang to harm her sister out of revenge.
She is a love interest of Jaehee's friend Naru Hagi and Dai's older brother.

Volume 1-5
The first volume begins with Jahee taking Eunhyung on a "date" with some friends when he is across Eunhyung's older sister.
it turns out Yooneun met Jaehee earlier before when he saved her from the Furries he doesn't realize how this brief encounter would plunge him and Eunhyung into a downward spiral of unfortunate events.
Later on Jaehee is beat to a pulp by Dai and gang for revenge or gang initiation?
Who knows the first volume focuses on making Dai as violent and mysterious as possible never given a explanation for anything he does.
Jaehee's affection in the first three volumes towards Dai makes no sense.
Why does he love someone who is violent towards him?
Why is Jaehee drawn to him?
Why is anyone drawn to Dai including his gang members? Apparently it's his "I don't give a f*ck" attitude and strength.
"Dai seduces everyone who lays eyes on him,only to blind them to his own barbaric nature."
That's the only explanation the readers are given.
The monologues of Jaehee's feelings towards Dai,Eunhyung and the situations he's found in are poetic,beautiful and introspective.
Jahee's wavers between revulsion and fascination of Dai and almost never going a few panels with thinking about him.
One moment Dai is a tender,caring and then the next heartless gang leader.
He's rollercoaster of a character.
It makes sense why Jahee is interested in him but in love?
It still doesn't make sense.
That aside this doesn't excuse Jaehee for obsessing over Dai after what happened to Eunhyung it makes him look like selfish and uncaring.
I don't like how Yooneun never takes accountability nor is questioned for her part in her sister's r*pe(the scene isn't shown thanks God),instead Jaehee is blame despite the fact he WASN'T THERE.
Jaehee took the blame when Eunhyung blamed him.
Why? I don't know maybe he's airheaded? Eunhyung wanted to blame him instead of her sister for some reason.
Yooneun doesn't give a sh*t either way she just wants to bang highschool boys even though she's college student.
This situation is unnecessary and the worst part in the story.
The supporting characters shouldn't be "paired up" for the sake of it.
Eunhyung needs healing and Yooneun needs to disappear to college and never be mentioned again.

Art was okay but the expressions of the characters were often exaggerated and the fighting scenes are awkward to view.
It looks as if the artist didn't have much practice or experience drawing these scenes.
Artist does a good job drawing the covers though,they look great.
Three stars.

[emily tntn]

I don't typically read manhwa or manga nor do I remember how I found this series but when I came across it in 2022 I just remember consuming it all in one go. I loved the art and the fashion and the characters and basically everything. I didn't have money then to buy the physical copies of this series but now that I do I might just spend my entire paycheck on all 15 volumes.

[Lord · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of shonen ai, for obvious reasons, but this book is amazing and I can't wait to read next. The story is superb and the main characters remind me a bit of Griffith and Guts reborn under a different sky.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've recently been burring through a bunch of old manga I've had sitting on my to-read shelf and I've noticed something rather disturbing. I've been reading a lot of crappy manga that have I'll-defined characters, lame & cliche plots and rushed & often unfinished artwork that have 'mature content' or 'adult only' labels. Yet this one, Let Dai has extremely interesting characters and clearly a mature theme and subject matter, far more mature than most of the racey crsp that gets the 'mature label' simply because there's a poorly drawn sex-scene included. Because Let Dai isn't explicit, only implicit, it gets a 13+ rating but is a far better production and thus a far more mature story than most of the stuff marked as 'mature content.' This only illustrates how hopelessly immature and ineffectual American rating systems imposed by the religious fundamentalists actually are.
This first volume of the series was a fascinating read that compelled me to devour page after page. There are odd moments where the translator failed to grasp the nuances of the English language, but far fewer than most of the manga I've been reading lately. The characters are well developed, even the secondary ones, and like any good drama the reader finds themselves drawn into thus every growing tangle of tragedy, pain and cruelty. This is not a nice story. This is not a happy ending. This is as harsh and as disturbing as Romeo and Juliet is when it is staged correctly.

[Valentina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the volumes in two days, I could not let it go. When I started reading I did not know what I was getting into, I just saw it was really high rated in the manhwa section. It was a pleasant surprise. The more I was reading, the more it reminded me somehow of Mars, Volume 01 (by Fuyumi Soryo). At first it was for the illustrations, but then I got it. It is one of those stories where the author keeps reminding you that life isn't fair, that some people do have real problems, that you have to try to overcome your fears and keep going, grow and go past your youth. I read somewhere that "Dai" is indeed a term for "youth". It makes sense, even interpreting the title in this way. Youth is one of the underlying themes of the entire story. There are strong and mature themes, maybe someone won't feel comfortable reading it. Still, it is this realism that makes it so special. Maybe Let Dai is categorized as a shounen ai, but it really is not the point of the story. For those who it might concern, there is no graphical depiction of sex. There is plenty of violence of different kinds though.
First of all, there is a lot of text, and the reading is somewhat slow. More than once I stopped to re-read some phrases. Some will likely struck a cord in your heart too. It can be very profound. At times I felt more like I was reading an illustrated novel. This is not a critic coming for me, at all.
The drawing style is particular. When she wants to, the author can really draw beautiful and refined illustrations, especially facial expressions really convey emotions. But sometimes the lines are rough and simple, it is not something drawn to make you appreciate the art. The art is there to support and narrate the story, not to be looked at.
The characters are so flawed in so many ways, each one of them makes mistakes and in the end learns to change. You want to hate them sometimes, and in the end you can't. Well, I despised only the older sister, and that's saying something in a comic where the main protagonist should be the bad guy. It's not just the main protagonists though, there are so many stories told in these 15 volumes. I understand why someone might want to skip the parts related to the supporting cast, but truly they are good and they are the reason I think the "shouned-ai" category does not define this books.
There are tragedies, at times it might feel too dramatic, and yet somehow it reminds you of how did it feel to live that emotions. Surely, here they are maybe taken to their limits, but never in that overly romantic and unrealistic way that I saw so may times. And there are funny and sweet moments to counterbalance the overall despairing tone.
And I like that, after all, there is a sort of happy ending. It would have been so easy to keep hitting the tragedy chord, really. It might have even been fitting. The ending is strange, maybe not fulfilling for many, but for me it was just the perfect mix. In the last volume we have a glimpse of what life could have been for the main characters, they are hit again by reality, but still there is hope and in my mind all is well.

Let Dai might not be for everyone. But if you like mature stories with strong themes and realistic flawed characters, go for it. The philosophy and poetry spread through all the pages will likely leave a mark on you too.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oof. Reread. Forgot how intense and wrong this series is.

[🫶🏽🫶🏽 · Rating 5 out of 5]

najtuznuja i najlepsa stvar koju sam ikad procitala ovj volume je lightweight posle sam oreplakala pola knjiga i nije mi bilo dobro od plakanja. procitala sam jedno 20 puta i svaki put placem kao picka

[Talia · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, this has been on my "currently reading" shelf for forever. And now it's not, because technically I did finish volume one, just not the rest of the series. And...I'm not sure if I want to.

On one hand, I've heard lots of praise for this series, saying that it's incredibly deep and complex, and not like your typical yaoi love story.

On the other hand, it seems really, REALLY dark so far, and while I like dark stories...I'm not sure where this one is going. Right now it just seems like a really messed up relationship, which can also be interesting, but, mmrmph. I'm not sure what the difference is; sometimes I L-O-V-E dark stories that are edgy and meaningful, but sometimes, like with A Cruel God Reigns, the darkness gets to be too much, and it drags me down in its depressingness. And I liked ACGR, but at the same time I can't say that I'd be up for reading very many more stories like that.

So I might finish this one eventually. Or I might not. If you liked or hated the story, please let me know!

[aixae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bu mangaya ne kadar aşık olduğumu kelimelerle anlatamam. Dünyanın en mükemmel shounen- ai mangası. Maalesef bu mangadan sonra yaoi/ shounen ai türünü okumaya bir son verdim çünkü bu türde hiçbir şey Let Dai kadar beni etkileyemedi. Okuduğum hiçbir şey zevk vermemeye başladı (belki killing stalking dışında). Bu manga sadece iki erkeğin birbirine duyduğu aşkı değil, aynı zamanda genç erkeklerin büyüme çağında kendilerini tanıma, dünyaya karşı tanımlama, kalıpları ve sınırları aşmaya çalışma evrelerini anlatıyor. Aynı zamanda zorbalık, tecavüz, ölüm gibi derin konuları da işliyor. Chapterlar ilerledikçe kalbimde bir rahatsızlık hissetmeden, yüreğim sıkışmadan okuyabildiğim bir anımı hatırlamıyorum (4-5 kez baştan okudum). Realist, sert, psikolojik ve gerçekleri yüze tokat gibi çarpan engellerle dolu gerçek bir ilişkiyi görmek istemeyenler okumasın. Muhtemelen Jaehee ve Dai'nin arasındaki ilişki kadar okuduğum hiçbir ilişki beni etkileyemeyecek.

[mghf · Rating 4 out of 5]

90s art is so unique and very beautiful in its own way, though i was enjoying the arts rather than the plot itself. but the writing is very poetic, the prose and everything are so beautiful. i think that's korean lit speciality. there were so many content warnings in this series, i was going through it. so please check it out before reading it.

[giada · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

You Construct Intricate Rituals Which Allow You To Touch The Skin Of Other Men

[Lucy s · Rating 5 out of 5]

love the poetic parts of it and amazing art

[Nihal Vrana · Rating 4 out of 5]

About 10 years ago, in Seoul, I was going to comic shops with the hope of finding some English Korean comics. This one looked like the most interesting within the available batch. Then, somehow, I have forgotten about it and just recently came across it and read it. It is not the type of story I would typically read, but just because of that, I find it very interesting. Dai as a character is very interesting, albeit frightening, and the dynamic between Jaehee and Dai is handled very subtly. The irresistible attraction of Dai for Jaehee is tangible and feels like coming from a deeply personal experience. Overall, the characterizations are very strong, and the random cruelty of the world they live in is both offputting and fascinating. I'm not sure if I will seek the rest of the series, but as a try-out I liked it.

[maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Words can't describe how enraptured I was when reading this manhwa from start to finish, as my second time coming around. Although there are times throughout where the plot gets a bit jarring and nonsensical, I found myself consistently gravitating towards the world of Dai and Jaehee, and their overly convoluted, dramatic, excessive, transcendental, decadent, soap-opera worthy displays of eternal devotion, affection, and perennial love. I ultimately gave it a 4 on my rating scale. From a psychological perspective I understand Dai's motivations and incentives for his behaviors and decisions, wanting to constantly protect Jaehee but also understanding that he is the fundamental reason for the chaos and destruction in his life. The seemingly endless streams of consciousness of never ending monologues were egregious but I loved every single word of this profound and emotionally intense melancholia.

[Cara Patel]

This is a queer story that was published at a time when it was really hard to get LGBT comics into the world through traditional means. Stories that made it through back then often focused on really unhealthy relationships or dark endings — just to justify their existence — and Let Dai fits into the “unhealthy relationship” category. It could’ve been the translation or just the way it was written, but every scene felt like it jumped into the next too quickly without any setup. I couldn’t follow anyone’s motivation. I know it’s a comic and I DNFed it, but it still didn’t make any sense.

[Fenko · Rating 2 out of 5]

This manwha just isn't for me.

For unknown reasons the main character is fascinated by the bully Dai, who runs a gang and robs students from several schools of their lunch money. Beside bullying and torture, this book also contains willful betrayal and rape.

The positives? It's well drawn, and those horrible things are shown to really affect the characters. Nothing dark is glossed over.

I read there's 15 volumes in total, but I'll stop after this one.

[Liphéo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Les personnages font des choix assez agaçants pour l'instant... Faut voir la suite

[Brittney Bower · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much better the second time around.

[Gurleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great writing. This manwha gave me depression.

[ciera blase · Rating 4 out of 5]

DONT EVEN JOKE LAD 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭

[bow down to our ace king victor vale · Rating 1 out of 5]

….i like the art!




lol anyway i might come back to this? idk i didn’t rlly like the direction the story was heading, also i didn’t find it interesting oops 😭 and these characters are meh

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful manga written poetically. Kind of a slow read, but characters are likeable and makes you just want to find out what will happen next. This is just a slice of life about two students with completely different personalities who clash in a unlikely encounter that brings a group of people together and paves way for the rest of their lives. the characters have great chemistry and the two guy leads who are also lovers will go through many obstacles to test their love for each other. Just a warning, the ending is a cliff hanger and will leave that gut feeling like as from Inception the movie.

[pan pan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suppose the last time I reread all of these was at least a year ago. Always makes me feel like there is a special hell for people like me who adore this twisted tale Of fucked up, unbalanced relationship that is between Youhei and Dai. And I will burn for this but yeah, one of all time favourites.
I can't rate every volume by it's own until I reread them but the average never really went below - suck my thumb, baby, his will keep me up all night- so I'm giving all volumes 5 stars and will change it in the future if I will have to do so.

[Isa Peña · Rating 3 out of 5]

La historia va demasiado apresurada, no me gustó que hubiera insta-love y me cuesta comprender a algunos personajes.
Pero el dibujo me parece bonito a pesar de ser un poco antiguo y creo que la historia va a tomar giros muy dramáticos y oscuros, lo cual me emociona, así que continuaré con el siguiente tomo.
De lo único que estoy segura es que amaré u odiaré este manga, pero no me dejará indiferente, y sin importar el camino que tome, sufriré bastante.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous story about 2 teen boys struggling to understand their feelings for each other. I found this to be such an emotional series. Up and down and you care about all of the characters in the story. I was actually surprised by the realism and the emotional development of the characters. Not something for everyone, but for those who enjoy shonen ai I would recommend this series.

[Nyie Rombeng · Rating 4 out of 5]

let dai adalah yaoi manga yang classic & mungkin pertama ada.
coba tebak dengan cover yang begitu simpel & berwarna biru ini menjadikannya penasaran & wajib dimiliki para yaoiholic!
cerita didalamnya ndak kalah bikin penasaran dech.cukup mengahrukan & menghibur!
well,yaoiholic tidak perlu berpikir 2 kali untuk satu ini!

[H. Givens · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNFed on page 84 of 230. I was set up for something dramatic and emotional and edgy, but really it was just bland. I had a hard time figuring out who felt what in regard to whom, and after I did, I just didn't care. Plus it was super rapey, and gave me no reason to put it up with that. Gave it two stars because it wasn't a shoddy job, just not GOOD.

[Aubrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very depressing - not graphic. My friend Maggie who is a Yaoi girl wanted me to read it and since it wasn't graphic I agreed - but it is violent and not happy. Very well written and drawn but not my cup of tea.