Akatsuki no Yona
Yona of the Dawn

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Did I really just binge-read 255 chapters in two days?? Yes, yes I did.
Wow. This compelling story has made me laugh, squeal with excitement, and sob uncontrollably. I don't even care for reading manga- but I had to continue the story after watching the anime! The character development is so smooth and natural- it follows a realistic pace. The plot threw most my predictions out the window. There is little/no fan service, and the romance depicted is a healthy, heartwarming relationship.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy story with an equal balance of lighthearted and dark aspects. This manga is truly ... a gem worth your time and investment.

So overall, I really enjoy this manga. It has a lot of themes and tropes that work for me: (slightly immature and predictable) humour, adventure, found family and brotherhood, romance that’s cute but not the main focus, handsome men, self sacrifice etc etc. However as a fan of high fantasy, I can see some loose threads and holes in the world building.

The mangaka is pretty good at developing and portraying social/ political and interpersonal dynamics which are already established. However to get to this point of establishment, she uses some fairly contrived or not well fleshed out hand-wavy explanations just to so we can ... get to that point. An example in the context of social/ political dynamics is the history of the tribes. Given that they were founded two thousand years ago by the original dragon warriors, I would have expected them to have developed more unique cultures along the way. What makes a tribe a tribe? There’s no difference in language or ethnicity, and very little noticeable differences in attire, food or traditions. Also what was the point if them being named after the elements, and the dragons each having a corresponding colour, if the mangaka wasn’t going to somehow link them together? Personally I would have enjoyed the world building a lot more if each tribe worshipped a different dragon/ dragon warrior, hence creating more friction between the tribes. I find it slightly incredulous that the people of each tribe demonstrate loyalty towards their own tribe and chief and are indifferent to the others, yet there is no mention of any conflict between the tribes. If you make the distinction of separating the nation into tribes, surely there should be stakes and reasons as to why they’re separated like that?

Another example of poor build-up but this time in the context of character relationships is how quickly everyone became friends. Like I said, the friendships are very cute and endearing. You can see how different character pairs have different dynamics, and how they all fit together into one happy hungry bunch. However, I do think it would’ve been better if some mutual distrust or awkwardness was shown in the earlier stages. You’re putting a bunch of strangers together - I don’t think it’s realistic for them all to hit it off immediately. I know Hak and Kija argue when they first meet, but to be honest it was mostly friendly banter and nothing too serious. Given how deeply Hak was affected by Suwon’s betrayal, you’d think he’d be slightly more distrusting and wary of strangers going forward. One of my favourite scenes is when Hak hugs the other dragon warriors after the fort battle - this really solidified his friendship with the others in the group, without Yona being the one to bring them all together. I think it would’ve hit harder if the friendship grew more from a slightly rockier place to where it is now, instead of already starting out quite well if that makes sense.

There’re a few other examples I can think of but I won’t ramble any more. Despite all my frustrations, I still rate it pretty high just because when the story works for me, it really does work. I can still see all the glaring issues, but I’m willing to overlook them just because.

This is the manga that I dropped several times.

This manga got great potentials. It has nice plot story, nice character development, the tune is set to medieval era, has great romance possibilities, but all of them are wasted.

Story(4/10) : This manga is about a princess that got betrayed by the man she loved, got her dad(the king) killed, and then run away for her life. In the journey, she learned that her father is not a great king like she always imagine, and she wanted to do right, for her father. The plot itself is quite interesting, but the execution is horrible. The plot is ... toned to a serious and darker story, but the execution is set into a comedic style, with stupid plans and stubborn yona, putting herself in danger time and time again for little to no reason at all.

Art(5/10) : The art itself is not bad, it has nice shoujo artstyle, would give this a 8/10 if this is a fluffy shoujo manga. The problem is the art is not really compatible with the timeline. The time is set to medieval era, and the characters are sometimes in a serious problems, such as kidnapped, betrayed, etc. The situations can be expressed much, much better in other artstyle.

Character(2/10) : The characters, especially the four dragons, are drawn to yona, not because of yona's personality or strength, but because she is the one dragon king. Kija, a nobleman in his village, suddenly bowed to yona, because he felt the 'throb'. Before he met yona, he would throw out all the people that visited him. Jaeha cannot run from yona even if he wanted to, because of once again, the 'throb'. basically the characters are forced to stick with yona, because she is the one. I'll give this 1/10 for characters and dropped this long ago if not for Hak being there.

Enjoyment(2/10) : I can't bear to read this manga, it is so frustating. Every 2-3 chapters, I stopped reading this manga, and read another manga instead. I picked this manga, dropped this manga, read another manga and finished it, then picked this manga, and the cycle continues.

Akatsuki no Yona has great potentials, but most of them are wasted.