Nettruyen

Because Nettruyen operated outside the law, its life was a constant game of "whack-a-mole" with authorities.

Unlike slower forums or image-hosting sites, Nettruyen’s servers were optimized for Southeast Asian internet speeds. Even with 3G, pages loaded in seconds.

By 2020, Nettruyen was among the top 200 most-visited websites in Vietnam—a staggering feat for an unlicensed manga site.

Minh clicked on a thumbnail he’d never seen in a bookstore—a Korean webtoon about a "Regression" hunter. He pressed 'Chapter 1'. nettruyen

The scrolling began.

Unlike traditional comics that required page-turning, NetTruyen utilized the infinite scroll format optimized for mobile and desktop reading. It was seamless. He scrolled down, the speech bubbles popping, the art crisp.

He finished Chapter 1. He clicked 'Next'. Then 'Next' again. Because Nettruyen operated outside the law, its life

Before he knew it, the sun was peeking through his blinds. He was on Chapter 150. He had traveled through worlds, witnessed the protagonist rise from nothing to a god, and felt a phantom exhaustion in his own scrolling thumb.

NetTruyen wasn't just hosting content; it was curating an addiction. The "Hot" tab was dangerous. It was a democracy of popularity. If a story was there, it meant thousands of other people were reading it at the exact same moment. Minh felt a strange camaraderie knowing that somewhere across the country, someone else was cursing a cliffhanger ending just as he was.

In early 2024, the Vietnamese government launched a coordinated effort under Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, which strengthens digital copyright enforcement. ISPs were ordered to block not just domains but entire IP ranges associated with repeat infringers. Minh clicked on a thumbnail he’d never seen

Nettruyen’s latest main domain, nettruyen.vn, was hit in March 2024. This time, the admins seemed exhausted.

It started with a simple frustration. Minh was an avid fan of manga and manhwa, but the local bookstores only stocked the most popular titles—Doraemon, Dragon Ball, or the occasional One Piece. His tastes were niche. He wanted psychological thrillers, gritty cultivation manhwa, and the complex isekai stories popping out of Korea and China.

A friend in a coffee shop had leaned in conspiratorially and whispered the name: "Just search NetTruyen. Thank me later."

When Minh first typed the URL, the interface was utilitarian—almost stark. It wasn't polished like the corporate apps from big publishers. It was gray, functional, and crowded. But to Minh, it was a palace.

Of course, this success came at a cost. Manga publishers—Japanese kadokawa, Korean Kakao, and Vietnamese licensors like Kim Đồng Publishing House—saw Nettruyen as a massive drain on potential revenue.