| Let's Play | |
|---|---|
 Let's Play banner art | |
| Author | Mongie (Leeanne M. Krecic) |
| Website | tapas WebToon (formerly; comic removed) |
| Launch date | 2016 |
| Publishers |
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| Genre | Romance |
| Ratings |
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| Let's Play | |
| Let's Play クエストだらけのマイライフ (Retsu Purē Kuesuto-darake no Mai Raifu) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Romantic comedy |
| Created by | Mongie (Leeanne M. Krecic) |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Daiki Tomiyasu |
| Written by | Aya Matsui |
| Music by | Conisch |
| Studio | OLM Division 1 |
| Licensed by | Crunchyroll |
| Original network | Fuji TV (+Ultra) |
| Original run | October 2, 2025 – present |
| Episodes | 5 |
Let's Play is aromantic comedy comic series by Leeanne M. Krecic, also known as Mongie, which is published by Rocketship Entertainment.[1]Let's Play was published digitally onWebtoon from 2016 to 2022. It follows the romantic and professional life of Sam Young, who is discovering romance as she works on her video game development career.
Let's Play has over 7.5 million subscribers globally on Webtoon and was nominated for anEisner Award in 2019. In May 2021, it was announced that the comic would be adapted into a live-action television series by Allnighter.[2] In November 2022, Krecic announced that the comic would be moving away from Webtoon, citing ongoing difficulties with the platform, and that the series will continue with season four elsewhere.[3][4] Ananime television series adaptation produced byOLM premiered in October 2025.
Let's Play is a romantic comedy. It follows Sam Young, a 22-year-old femalesoftware developer looking to get into video games, a passion she developed while sick in hospital. Sam's passion project, Ruminate, gets heavily criticized by a game reviewer going by "Marshall Law", and his many fansreview-bomb it. After this, Marshall Law becomes Sam's new next-door neighbor.[5][6]
Sam's father is the CEO of software company Young Technologies; he is overprotective of Sam and wants her to take over the company some day, but Sam would rather make video games. At the same time, Sam, who has never had a romantic relationship, starts to feel attraction. She considers dating an old friend, Link, though the two remain friends instead. She has romantic tension with Marshall Law, and becomes flirty with her manager at Young Technologies, Charles, who is teaching her to be more confident and business savvy. Charles also falls for Sam, despite her being his boss's daughter. Season two of the comic ended with Sam drunkenly trying to seduce Charles at his apartment.[6][7]
Let's Play explores and satirizes gaming culture and the male-dominated gaming industry.[5][8] Storylines cover depression, anxiety, and family.[9]
Let’s Play is created by Leeanne M. Krecic, who writes and illustrates the comic under the pen name Mongie.[5][6][9][14] Krecic has said that she created the comic "because I was looking for characters like me – die-hard gamers, heartfelt romantics, and young women with dreams of success on their own terms – but couldn't find them represented anywhere in the pop culture of the moment."[5]
The comic debuted onWebtoon in 2016.[5][15] It finished season two in August 2020[9] and finished season three in September 2022.[15] Krecic said in a tweet that the start of season three was delayed by contractual negotiations.[16]
Let's Play volume one was kickstarted for publication in 2019 by Rocketship Entertainment[17] and volume two was kickstarted in 2020.[18]
In November 2022, Krecic announced that season four ofLet's Play would not be published through Webtoon. Krecic cited age gates, a lack of marketing, and racial pay disparities among the reasons. Krecic said that they would, "when the time is right" announce when and how season four would be published.[19]
Forbes describedLet's Play as "megapopular"; according toWebtoon it had 3.6 million subscribers as of May 2021,[5] and had received 145 million views by the end of 2019.[20] The comic has had twoKickstarter campaigns through publisher Rocketship Entertainment that in total raised nearly $1 million USD.[5] It has been one of the most popular series published byWebtoon.[9][20]
Forbes said thatLet's Play was in a genre not well-served by "the traditional comics industry", and that works likeLet's Play are "finding [their] way directly to a new generation of readers [through internet platforms], and [readers] are feeling seen and validated by those stories."[5]
A writer forForbes said thatLet's Play "takes a light but thoughtful touch on a hot-button issue, playing up the romantic comedy elements in the manner of a Friends or New Girl aimed at the generation raised on YouTube and Twitch."[5] A writer for ComicBook.com said thatLet's Play "deftly mixes Internet and gaming humor".[9] A writer forBleeding Cool said, "Krecic's engaging story, which is both romantic and funny, works in tandem with her anime-inspired art style to make readers all for her cast of dynamic characters."[14]
In a review forWomen Write About Comics, columnist Claire Napier calledLet's Play "a responsible comic, and a compassionate one", noting the creator's personal experience in tech and on YouTube, and saying, "None of the characters exist to be hated or looked down on, and the founding premise, that joining a hate mob is being part of a harmful effect, is a necessary part of today's discourse." However, Napier felt that the comic lacked structural tension, saying that it "introduces itself as tightly-reined enemies-to-lovers with a strong #online flavour, but quickly relaxes into a three, four, or five-pronged friendship-group/colleague soap loosely centred upon one floppy character." Napier called the art "basically frictionless –Questionable Content meets seasonalanime", adding that "every gamer in this comic either has aMen's Fitness cover body or a huge, buoyant rack on a tall thin frame". She said that the dialog was often "quite explainer-text, but this does allow for absolute clarity of theme." She concluded that it was not a comic she loved, but said it had "some clever jokes and visual gags and it is agreeably bawdy at times", and recommended it for those who like soap operas or have "ever stanned a real life let's player".[7]
Let's Play was nominated for anEisner Award in 2019 for Best Webcomic.[9][21][22]
In May 2021, studio Allnighter announced a development deal to adaptLet's Play into a live-action television series, with Krecic, Amanda Kruse, Dinesh Shamdasani, Hunter Gorinson, and Tom Akel serving as executive producers.[23][5] A columnist forForbes said that this was "another sign that the serialized GenZ-friendly comics published on mobile platforms such as Webtoon are a rising force in the media industry".[5]
In October 2023, atNew York Comic Con, Mongie announced thatOLM will be producing ananime television series adaptation of the comic.[24] It is directed by Daiki Tomiyasu, with series composition handled by Aya Matsui, Ebimo as the original character designer, Saki Ebisawa as the animation character designer, and music composed byConisch.[10] The series premiered on October 2, 2025 onFuji TV's+Ultra programming block.[12][a] The opening theme song is "1,2, Play", while the ending theme song is "Left & Right", both performed byToshinobu Kubota.[13]Crunchyroll is streaming the series.[25]
| No. | Title [26][27] | Directed by [26] | Storyboarded by [26] | Original release date [28][a] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Life is S-Rank" | Ayumi Moriyama | Daiki Tomiyasu | October 2, 2025 (2025-10-02) | |
Samara "Sam" Young successfully completes a quest with her guild Rare Spawns in the game World of Warquest. The next day, Sam starts her day visiting her favorite coffee shop, The Daily Grind, and discusses about how popular Ruminate, an indie puzzle adventure game that she worked on since college, is on the game review site Indigineer. Sam heads to work at Young Technologies, a technology company run by her father Samuel Young. After her lunch break, a delivery man conversing with the company receptionist Lucy Wright accidentally causes Sam to spill coffee on her sweater. Sam's boss Charles Jones calls her in to lend her a shirt, while talking about the need to take a tough stance against those making mistakes as Samuel's eventual successor, meaning firing Lucy for her mistake, but Sam defends her and demands that she be fired along with Lucy, which impresses Charles. After work, Sam watches Marshall Law's livestream and Marshall heavily criticizes Ruminate after playing it the wrong way, while his viewers bombard her game with scathing reviews. Afterwards, Sam steps out and sees that Marshall is moving into the apartment next door. | |||||
| 2 | "I am N00b" | Ayae Shinkai | Daiki Tomiyasu | October 9, 2025 (2025-10-09)[b] | |
Despite wanting to let Marshall know that he played Ruminate the wrong way, Sam opts not to speak her mind and politely greets him instead. The next day, Sam talks with her gaming friends at The Daily Grind about how her gaming career is being jeopardized by Marshall's livestream with her Indigineer account suspended. At work, Sam asks her co-worker Umed Patel for advice and Umed plans to look into the matter, while expressing his criticism of the ratings system. That night, Sam is informed by her landlord Whipple about Marshall moving in and has her greeting him in his apartment. As Sam continues to work on her next indie game, Evermake, despite her suspended account Marshall causes lots of noise during his livestream. Sam writes a note about the noise, and Marshall responds promising to soundproof his apartment. The next day, while Sam walks her dog Bowser, she runs into Marshall, and a couple of his fans continuing to act friendly without bringing up the livestream. That night, Sam decides to tell the truth to Marshall, but when he goes over to his apartment, she is greeted by his girlfriend instead. | |||||
| 3 | "Unity of the Guild" | Akihiko Ota | Ayumi Moriyama | October 16, 2025 (2025-10-16) | |
| 4 | "Witch, Wizard, Sword Master and The King of Beasts" | Masato Satō | Masato Satō | October 23, 2025 (2025-10-23) | |
| 5 | "Peel" | Michita Shiraishi | Katsuhito Akiyama | October 30, 2025 (2025-10-30) | |
| 6 | "ADS -Aim Down Sights-" | Michihiro Satō | Ayumi Moriyama | November 6, 2025 (2025-11-06) | |
| 7 | "Good Game" | Ayae Shinkai | Ayae Shinkai | November 13, 2025 (2025-11-13) | |
Ayres Andrea, from The Comics Beat, interviewed Leeanne M. Krecic, discussing her inspirations for making the story.[29] Leeanne revealed that the concept of Let's Play was inspired by her watching a lot of YouTubers. More specifically, a video of a let's player playing an amateur fan game. The let's player was having a difficult time and shared his frustration. Leeanne stated that if the let's player and the game creator were to meet, what would happen? This gave Leeanne the idea to create a comic based on this thought. In addition, she wanted the main character to be a female gamer to promote representation as she is a female gamer herself. When Leeanne started developing her web comic on the Discover section of Webtoon, she used Twitter[30] and Tumblr to help advertise it. Later on, the comic would become featured on Webtoon.
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