Is this desire for freedom the very thing that entrapped us.
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.
DAI
Dai's very existence proves that evil
is real. With his unpredictable and unreasonable violent behavior
and madness, Dai shows the Devil himself. He shows his dry and
empty inside through his encounter with Jaehee.
JAEHEE
Jaehee is just a normal high school
kid who buys a rose for his girlfriend on Valentine's Day until
he meets Dai. In the midst of pain and suffering Dai inflicts
on him, Jaehee is drawn to Dai through doubts and love.
YOONEUN
Yooneun is Eunhyung's older sister
who gets involved with Dai when she gets in trouble with the
Furies and saved by Jaehee. Having fallen in love with Jaehee,
Yooneun tries to bring Jaehee, who is drawn to Dai, back to
his innocent days.
EUNHYUNG
Eunhyung is Jaehee's girlfriend and
Yooneun's younger sister. She has a bright and cute personality,
but an assault by the Furies changes her life forever.
Sooyeon Won
D.O.B.: January 12 Constellation: Aquarius
Blood type: A 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. She's currently serially publishing Full House 2: Ally & Ryder's Second Story.
Sooyeon's Bookshelf
2005 Full House Part II
2005 Let Dai: vol. 15: Final
2004 AZUR: Illustrations
2003 Elio & Yvette: Collector's Edition,
Want You vol. 1
2002~2003 Banana vol. 1~4
1995 Let Dai vol. 1,
Full House Vol. 1
1992 Humanoid E.O.
1990 A Beautiful Hunt
1988~1992 Have You Ever Seen The Rain,
Hammer Picnic,
A Man Too Good For You
1988 Dances of Time
1987 Against The Shadow One Afternoon
- Boys Next Door: Five-starred review
For all of my love of smut, Let Dai is the series that I most look forward to getting the next volume of. There's something about the characterization and the art that sucks you in and does not let you go.
The relationship between Dai and Jaehee starts to grow as Dai rents out a room in an exclusive hotel so he and Jaehee can have a private birthday dinner. There's something quite sad about Dai and his lonely birthday. Even Jaehee didn't know what was going on until Dai clued him in.
There's a slow simmer as the boys reveal the depth of their feelings for each other. Things are going well until an interloper crashes the party, shattering the perfect moment that the boys have found.
We've also got Eunhyung finally finding acceptance and the courage to face Dai, but her strength of will is shaken when Dai doesn't remember her, or what happened to her. There's also Dai's father working behind the scenes to find out more about Jaehee and making sure that none of this is going to effect his upcoming election.
I don't have enough words to describe the love I have for this series. If you haven't already fallen under its spell, it should definitely be on your must-buy list.
DAI is the leader of a gang called The Furies in neo-Seoul. A
schoolboy, Jaehee, happens on them taunting a girl and he steps
in to stop them. What happen next changes not only his life but
that of the girl and her sister as well as the devilishly
beautiful Dai. Naturally the gang turns on Jaehee for his
interference and he manages to escape their wrath, but only for
that day. Soon they catch him alone and proceed to beat and
torture him. And then a strange thing happens. The leader, Dai,
stops their activity and proceeds to surprise them by cutting
himself in the chest and forcing Jaehee to lick it. He then
kisses Jaehee and declares, "You are mine." Sort of vampiric,
don't you think?
The plot thickens as the lives are intertwined. The girl, Yooneun,
is enamored with Jaehee and her sister, she finds out later,
considers herself his boyfriend. Meanwhile, the bizarre ritual
and others that follow are slowly dragging Jaehee into Dai's
orbit. He is beginning to feel love for another boy and is
confused and intrigued. Nothing is black and white in this story.
Dai is not just a good looking bad boy. We learn about some of
the things that have harden him and why he demands much of
Jaehee.
This is a study in relations and perhaps will lead some to a
better understanding why one might turn to a homosexual
relationship, whether or not they even had considered it before.
We have yet to learn how deep the relationship will go but it has
hurt some and by the end of this chapter leads to betrayal.
The art is special in that it conveys the emotions very clearly.
The characters are distinct and special care is made to show Dai
as the enchanting person apart from the others. It is a very
serious story with some touch of humor to break the mood but
never distracts too much. It is a story you can immerse yourself
into very easily.
"Let Dai" is the best series that I have ever read. It left me crying for days. I just couldn't get over it. I agree with Wave8633. Sooyeon Won deals with adolescence in a way that really makes you remember being there yourself. She takes the time to flesh out her characters, and to feel as strongly as you would for a real, living person. You may love them or hate them, but you will feel something. There's no way to get away from it. "Let Dai" drags you in and forces you to come along on a journey of love, loss, beauty and cruelty. You'll watch one person become more human while another loses everything, even herself. You may feel like some of the characters got cheated, or that others had good fortune when they may not have deserved it. I cried so hard for Eunhyung. What happened to her wasn't fair, and no one and everyone paid the price. That's life, though. That's real. Bad things happen to good people, but bad people can change for the better.
The ending was fitting, and anything more would have broken the spell for me. Even so, I still want to hear that Jaehee and Dai got to see each other again. Even if it was just for a second, I want to know that they were able to meet again. One panel, one picture of them looking across a crowded street and seeing one another would be enough. Their story got to me that much.
this is the best series i have ever read, regardless of genre. the reflection of the writing at the very end allows for readers interpretation, but gives the feel of Jaehee, later in life, recounting this entire tale of how he and Dai met, fell in love and over came the hypocrisy of the Neo-Seoul they grew up in by creating their own world elsewhere as well as internally.
This is the most sensitive book about adolescence I have read!
The plot will pull you in more and more as the story progresses. It reminds me of my adolescence and how I built my gender identity and the self-discovery I experienced during that time.
Sooyeon Won treats the sensitive feelings of the characters very carefully as well, so I'm sure it will make you think of your teenage years too. I recommend this book for teenagers or someone who is finding him or herself.
Sooyeon's Bookshelf
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