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I finally got around to give Let Dai a try, even though I usually tend to stay away from tragic stories. For those of you who don't know what Let Dai is, it's a BL manhwa created by Won Sooyeon. Here's a brief summary taken from Netcomics:
"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."
Hell, it's one hell of an emotional rollercoaster ride. It's the most dramatic, complicated, darkest, violent, heartbreaking, yet most beautiful BL/romance series I have ever read. The writing is amazingly poetic - I felt as if I were reading some poetry book when Jaehee narrates the story... or, whenever there are sidetexts. It's stunningly captivating; more so or less than the story itself. And yes! This BL series actually had a plot! A good one, too, that is. And although this is categorized as a BL series, you won't be finding any random hardcore yaoi sex scenes in here. Heck, there's not even random kissing! The main characters kiss at the best moments.
[Spoilers from hereon out]
I admit, the art definitely was not my cup of tea... but, damn, you can see the improvement in Won Sooyeon's art gradually as the story unfolds itself. And, god, the emotions are so real (which, in my opinion, is best portrayed in Eunhyung's story). The rape, the rumors, the complications, the jealousy, the confusion, the misunderstood love... all jumbled up together can definitely force a broken girl into a corner and to ultimate suicide.
What I love about this BL series is that the entire universe is not homosexual. With this set, Won Sooyeon can truly emphasizes the pain of sincere forbidden love experienced by Jaehee and Dai. It is such an unexplainable emotion and I personally think Won Sooyeon captured this emotion flawlessly. This series can really get you going on your personal emotions. Whenever Jaehee and Dai finally have a happy moment, you just KNOW that everything will crash and break. And as the story progresses, the falls are harder. Ah, it's so painful to read them. Even though I know I should feel happy for Jaehee and Dai when they can finally be together, I get so anxious just knowing that something troublesome will come up in the next few pages. Their love for each other is so sincere! -- although I believe Dai can not always express it so. It's impossible for him to just so quickly jump from his gang-leader self to a tender loving man. And that totally kills Jaehee, I think. Gah, the tragedy here kills me.
Now, another thing I absolutely love about this series is that it's not entirely focused upon Jaehee and Dai's tragic love story. It thoroughly expresses family bonds and the relationships within the family. It even touches a bit upon political corruption with the story on Dai's father. Let Dai exposes the reality between the weak and the strong (I'm not just talking about physically, but mentally also). Won Sooyeon tells that in life, the strong live on while the weak will ultimately wither away (or simply break, crash, and fall). I love the contrast between Eunhyung's mother and Naru's mother. Not to mention, Jaehee's mother's reaction to the fact that her son is homosexual was so realistic. Buried in all the crap that happens in this manhwa, the moment that she tells Dai's father she is going to support Jaehee is one of the happiest moments in here.
I'm also content that the author is not afraid to use death in her story. I admit, the death of Eunhyung really surprised me, although I did see it coming (with all the crap she was experiencing). I started out disliking Eunhyung's character, but the reality of her emotions and mental mindset after being gang raped just made me fall in love with her character. She is a tragic character, probably the most tragic character in this series if it's not Jaehee and Dai. Honestly, her change in attitude and appearance after enduring an "unforgivable act" is relate-able. It's so real. And her tragedy just continues with Naru. Gah, this entire series is full of tragedy.
Amazingly, I like all the characters that Won Sooyeon created. All, except for Yooneun. I completely understand her feelings, but I just cannot stand her. I don't know, I just didn't like her since... well, since the first time I saw her on page... 2? 3? I don't know. Maybe I'm just being biased.
Anyway, this is an amazing read. There were several parts of the story where I just wanted to cry... but, I didn't because it was just too depressing. Is that even possible? Let Dai touches upon many subjects such as the importance of acceptance, support, family ties, friendship, revenge, hate, and love. It's amazing, but the emotions just spiral out of control.
I read up until Volume 15, Chapter 1 in two sittings, which took about 7+ hours. Ugh, I can't express how amazing this tale is.
I just hope Jaehee and Dai get their happy ending, although I feel as if though that will not happen. For some strange reason, something keeps on telling me that Jaehee will probably get killed off. I'm probably being stereotypical since I've watched a million Korean dramas (I'm exaggerating) and *most*/*a lot* of them have one of the main characters (or both) get killed off by the end. But, then again, my intuition sucks. I believe there's about 4 more chapters left.
Anyway, forgive me if there's any grammar issues/spelling mistakes/etc. I never really reread/reedit what I write, so... yeah. Anyway, for those of you who like shounen-ai/yaoi, read this! And, even if you are not a fan of shounen-ai/yaoi, STILL read this! It is totally underrated, if you ask me.
"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."
Hell, it's one hell of an emotional rollercoaster ride. It's the most dramatic, complicated, darkest, violent, heartbreaking, yet most beautiful BL/romance series I have ever read. The writing is amazingly poetic - I felt as if I were reading some poetry book when Jaehee narrates the story... or, whenever there are sidetexts. It's stunningly captivating; more so or less than the story itself. And yes! This BL series actually had a plot! A good one, too, that is. And although this is categorized as a BL series, you won't be finding any random hardcore yaoi sex scenes in here. Heck, there's not even random kissing! The main characters kiss at the best moments.
[Spoilers from hereon out]
I admit, the art definitely was not my cup of tea... but, damn, you can see the improvement in Won Sooyeon's art gradually as the story unfolds itself. And, god, the emotions are so real (which, in my opinion, is best portrayed in Eunhyung's story). The rape, the rumors, the complications, the jealousy, the confusion, the misunderstood love... all jumbled up together can definitely force a broken girl into a corner and to ultimate suicide.
What I love about this BL series is that the entire universe is not homosexual. With this set, Won Sooyeon can truly emphasizes the pain of sincere forbidden love experienced by Jaehee and Dai. It is such an unexplainable emotion and I personally think Won Sooyeon captured this emotion flawlessly. This series can really get you going on your personal emotions. Whenever Jaehee and Dai finally have a happy moment, you just KNOW that everything will crash and break. And as the story progresses, the falls are harder. Ah, it's so painful to read them. Even though I know I should feel happy for Jaehee and Dai when they can finally be together, I get so anxious just knowing that something troublesome will come up in the next few pages. Their love for each other is so sincere! -- although I believe Dai can not always express it so. It's impossible for him to just so quickly jump from his gang-leader self to a tender loving man. And that totally kills Jaehee, I think. Gah, the tragedy here kills me.
Now, another thing I absolutely love about this series is that it's not entirely focused upon Jaehee and Dai's tragic love story. It thoroughly expresses family bonds and the relationships within the family. It even touches a bit upon political corruption with the story on Dai's father. Let Dai exposes the reality between the weak and the strong (I'm not just talking about physically, but mentally also). Won Sooyeon tells that in life, the strong live on while the weak will ultimately wither away (or simply break, crash, and fall). I love the contrast between Eunhyung's mother and Naru's mother. Not to mention, Jaehee's mother's reaction to the fact that her son is homosexual was so realistic. Buried in all the crap that happens in this manhwa, the moment that she tells Dai's father she is going to support Jaehee is one of the happiest moments in here.
I'm also content that the author is not afraid to use death in her story. I admit, the death of Eunhyung really surprised me, although I did see it coming (with all the crap she was experiencing). I started out disliking Eunhyung's character, but the reality of her emotions and mental mindset after being gang raped just made me fall in love with her character. She is a tragic character, probably the most tragic character in this series if it's not Jaehee and Dai. Honestly, her change in attitude and appearance after enduring an "unforgivable act" is relate-able. It's so real. And her tragedy just continues with Naru. Gah, this entire series is full of tragedy.
Amazingly, I like all the characters that Won Sooyeon created. All, except for Yooneun. I completely understand her feelings, but I just cannot stand her. I don't know, I just didn't like her since... well, since the first time I saw her on page... 2? 3? I don't know. Maybe I'm just being biased.
Anyway, this is an amazing read. There were several parts of the story where I just wanted to cry... but, I didn't because it was just too depressing. Is that even possible? Let Dai touches upon many subjects such as the importance of acceptance, support, family ties, friendship, revenge, hate, and love. It's amazing, but the emotions just spiral out of control.
I read up until Volume 15, Chapter 1 in two sittings, which took about 7+ hours. Ugh, I can't express how amazing this tale is.
I just hope Jaehee and Dai get their happy ending, although I feel as if though that will not happen. For some strange reason, something keeps on telling me that Jaehee will probably get killed off. I'm probably being stereotypical since I've watched a million Korean dramas (I'm exaggerating) and *most*/*a lot* of them have one of the main characters (or both) get killed off by the end. But, then again, my intuition sucks. I believe there's about 4 more chapters left.
Anyway, forgive me if there's any grammar issues/spelling mistakes/etc. I never really reread/reedit what I write, so... yeah. Anyway, for those of you who like shounen-ai/yaoi, read this! And, even if you are not a fan of shounen-ai/yaoi, STILL read this! It is totally underrated, if you ask me.
Current Mood: 
sleepy
sleepyCurrent Music: Romeo and Juliet - Moon Hee Jun
okay