Manga Review - Akatsuki no Yona by Mizuho Kusanagi

I haven't been able to do a manga review before. So this is something new although it has been done by thousands of people around the globe.

Will introduce one of my recently favored mangas, Akatsuki no Yona or roughly translated to Yona of the Dawn (I never had even the slightest background on Japanese language I'm just purely depending on the translation entries from Google).

picture credits to owners, linked the images used through out this post directly from source

At first, I though it was a manhwa, considering the names of the characters which are kind of Korean sounding if you let it roll on your tongue. I do have background on the Korean language (took it up until level 3) but hey, I'm no expert so it's up to you to decide.

Anyway, the story revolves around a princess (yes, it started off in a typical shoujo character development) named Princess Yona, the daughter of King Il of the Kouka Kingdom. She's described as a spoiled princess given anything she's ever wanted: a garden, expensive clothes and hair ornaments. But she was not given two things no matter how she wanted them. Lessons in weapon handling and her love interest, Soo-won.

Soo-won is actually her first cousin by her Uncle hon Yoo-Il who was King's older brother. Of course, as is the case with traditional stories like Akatsuki, siblings or even cousins ​​are made ​​to marry each other to keep the bloodline. W e will not see any of that happening in this manga though, at least not yet since the manga is not yet complete. It may look like a typical traditional shoujo story but it really is not. The author is bent on veering away from the conventional damsel in distress storyline and made ​​it obvious  from the very first chapter.

To start off, let's give a brief summary of how the story has been in the last 19 volumes:

Princess Yona was to celebrate her birthday and all she could care about is how her striking red hair is stubbornly sticking up her head. Soo-won is said to attend the celebration and of course she wants to look pretty for her life long crush. King Il, Yona's father has been known as the gentle king, too gentle that many regard him as weak and cowardly. Son-Hak , the youngest general to ever been assigned to lead the imperial army is Yona and Soo-won's childhood friend and is also a very loyal servant of the royal family. Not to mention he may have the 'slightest' crush on Yona and is very good friends with Soo-won.

The night of her birthday, after the celebration, Yona had a heated discussion with her ​​father the king about wanting to marry Soo-won. King refuses her request saying Il Soo-won can not be the next king since whoever marries will Yona be one. Beside with her ​​grief at not being able to get what she wanted, the spoiled Yona did not accept her father's decision and decided to talk to him once more by going to his room only to find out Il King was killed by the very person she wanted to talk to him about, Soo- won. Turns out Soo-won has been wanting revenge for his father's death, which he believes was perpetrated by his uncle, King Il.

Needless to say Yona was shocked to know this as well as denying the very idea of her father wanting to kill anybody when he dislikes the use of any kind of weapon, a result of having his wife killed by bandits. Soo-won and his loyal Yona soldiers tried to kill but she fled to be saved by Son-hak, also known as Hak the Thunder Beast of Kouka. Hak can not believe Soo-won killed the king and got into a brief fight with his friend as well as the guards who betrayed King Il. Hak and Yona were saved by one of the king's loyal subordinates, Min-soo, though he also died in the end after leading the guards away from the two refugees.

Yona and Hak traveled towards Fuuga, the Wind Tribe of Kouka and also Hak's hometown where he is chief. Fuuga is one of the five tribes of Kouka, the other four lead by different chiefs as well. Hak's adoptive grandfather, Mundok, found them alive residing within the tribe and insisted on keeping them there until they can give evidence of Soo-won's betrayal of the king. The Fire Tribe then started harassing Fuuga as instructed by Soo-won to force Mundok who is then acting chief to give his consent to make Soo-won king. One can not be king without the consent of the five tribes' chiefs.

To stop the harassment, Hak ordered Mundok to give his consent while he goes away as a refugee, only Yona is not having any of it and decided to go with Hak as well. Mundok then tells them to look for the famed dragons of legend as he believes Yona is destined to find them and instructed the two to first find the high priest who will lead their search. Mundok gave his consent, Soo-won became king and Yona and Hak set on to their journey.

While on the road though, Hak and Yona where discovered by Taejun, the Fire Tribe's chief's second son and Yona's beau. They were almost ambushed if Yona had not stood up to Taejun's soldiers and accidentally fell off the cliff with Hak where they were found by Yoon, the smart, pretty boy in the care of a man named Ik Soo. Yona and Hak were taken care of and they discovered that Ik-soo was the high priest Mundok was telling them to find in order to lead them to the dragons of legend. Ik-soo then told them a prophecy to guide them in finding the dragons and convinces Yoon Yona to take with them as he will be helpful in their search as well as Yoon he wants to know more about the world. Albeit reluctant, Yoon Ik-soo did as told him and went with Yona and Hak to find the dragons. 

They first found Hakuryuu who goes by the name of Kija inside a village hidden with mist (thought of Naruto, anyone else who did?). They then found Seiryuu next and a village located on a rocky hill Yona who gave the name Shin Ah. They then found Ryokuryuu who's name is Jae-ha and a port side city where Yona also had a chance to encounter Soo-won again with the former surprised beyond belief to find Yona alive as he was informed that she was killed in an accident by Taejun's soldiers. They then found Ooryuu, who's name is Zeno, by chance while traveling further inside Kouka's lands.

As it turns out, Zeno is one of the original dragons who served the legendary King Hiryuu as his powers are of an invincible body which means he does not get affected by diseases and his wounds heal fast making him immortal. Zeno has then told them that He has been waiting for since Yona to be born a thousand years ago and has only observed from the sidelines as to assess if Yona is worthy of the dragons' powers. Of course, while all of these are going on our little character has developed from a spoiled princess to a bad-ass refugees able to use the bow and arrow to protect herself and Hak.

So there, a bit lengthy for a summary but if you compare that to all that happened in 19 volumes you'd be happy to read what I made specially if you're one lazy reader.

You may think that Akatsuki no Yona is just your typical historical fantasy manga much like Gundam or Twelve Kingdoms but to be fair, we see how the characters developed in to so much more than a typical shoujo fantasy storyline. As common in the shoujo world , the main character would be a damsel in distress saved by a handful of handsome men who will fall for her in many different ways one can not help but get annoyed sometimes because there really is not anything to fell for aside from the fact the main character is usually cute or of some great beauty.

In this case though, Yona is indeed a lovely person as well as a spoiled brat but what I really liked is how she willingly stripped herself of luxury to save her and Hak's life as needed. In reality, a spoiled person would be too absorbed in lamenting her misfortune to even lift a hand to help the other lead characters but the author did not make Yona as such. She was a princess in restrospect but only for chapters. She did not lose the dignity of a princess even though after learning to use the bow and arrow as well as the dagger. If I may say so, she grew to be even more princess like after learning such skills though she could be described as one bad-ass princess.

Alright enough about Yona and let's go to the other characters. Hak is your typical genius best friend who is forever friendzoned (yes, I went there). Let's admit it, no matter how hot or bad-ass Hak is, the author still opted to put him in the most difficult position ever loving your child hood friend from the sidelines while she's in love with your best friend turned enemy. Yes, very typical story line for Hak but what I like about this though is that it did not make him a fool as commonly seen in other characters in the same position. He wants his separates easily from the things he must do to keep both him and Yona alive. Although there are times when he lets his guard down, he always prioritizes Yona's safety among other things.

Let's talk about the dragons next. Kija, the Hakuryuu dragon is such a cute character. He's dignified and loyal though he knows for a fact that Yona only sought the dragons to help her and Hak survive. His sense of duty towards being a dragon is so much that one can not help but be annoyed at him sometimes but that's actually the most endearing part of his personality. Shin Ah, the Seiryuu dragon, on the other hand is totally lost like a child albeit a cute one. And he is indeed like one given the fact that he's been ostracized by his own village since he was born. His characters may need more developing though since I do not see him doing anything else in the coming chapters but what Yona or the other characters tell him to do so . 

Jae-ha is one of the funniest characters in this series. He's mature and knows more than he lets on. He may act tough, but he cares for the group the most. It may stem from the fact that like Shin Ah, he's suffered much through his child hood but instead of being meek ​​like the latter, he's turn out to be a fighter to protect those he love. Zeno, the Ooryuu dragon, was a bit confusing at first and I knew from the get go that he'll turn out to be one of the most interesting characters in the story. And I was right. Not only was he one of the original dragons but he's also known all that would happen even before Yona and the others knew of them. And he's the one who has suffered a lot having lived for more than thousands of years, but he still kept that sunny demeanor that even King Hiryuu loved. The thought of living forever may not be everybody's secret wish but once you see everyone you love die one by one leaving you behind then you may think twice about it (I literally cried on all the Zeno chapters because he's suffered through so much and was so desperate to be with the ones he love he just broke my heart>. <).

Next on my list is Yoon fave character. He's the super smart and dependable pretty boy whom Ik-soo has treated as his own son. I really believe that Yona and Hak has not been able to find the dragons if it were not for Yoon and his brains. He's the perfect support for the lead characters as without him, the others would have fallen apart. He's a unifying force for the group. And I really adore his brat-but-still-loves-you approach to the other characters specially the dragons because he's trying so hard not to be seen as someone soft or weak although his mother-like instinct tells him otherwise.

In any case, I love every character in this story because each contributes to the story line but what I really do not get is Soo-won. I'm just so annoyed that I can not read his (or the author's) mind and what his true intentions are. Does he know about the prophecy foretold by Ik-soo? Did he know that Yona will one day gather the dragons and use that fact for his personal gains? Did he really intend to kill King Il or was it one of the many untold secrets of the deceased king?

However Soo-won turns out the story, I'm quite sure readers like me would be mind-blown not to mention crying our hearts out. He's sacrificed so many things important to him just to be able to fulfill his plans, however good or bad they may be.

All in all, this story is cliche in so many ways but I still find it distinctively unique and fascinating. It brings a new twist every chapter and though the recent chapters have almost revolved around Zeno, the links are necessary to understand his background and the story's more.

So this post has gone for a rather long first blog entry. Check out Akatsuki no Yona and Mangafox through this link .

Sadly, I can not find the previous YT playlist saved with the English subbed videos but I did find another one though the videos are downsized. If you are not picky like me, then click to watch below.

That's it for my very first blog post. I'll probably post a book review next time depending on my mood. Thanks for sticking with me out on this one. :)