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*Mild spoilers ahead*

I actually read the akatsuki no yona manga twice, once before the anime and once after. That's how much i expected from this series. But sad to say, Kusanagi Mizuho didn't fully utilize this manga's potential.


Story
The plot is definitely the strongest point of this manga. Not exactly your typical shoujo story, it's set in a historical korean culture. The first few chapters definitely reel you and set up a very intriguing premise. However, that's where the downfall starts. Now, idk if the mangaka is just confused or its her editors forcing her to be, but she continues to spoil the fun out of ... this story every way she can. The rushed character arcs in the start just to get on with the story, the romance that really doesn't make you go "kyuuu" and cliched shoujo tactics that you don't wanna see in such a well off story. Nonetheless, there are surprises here and then and it does keep you reading on.

Art
The art isn't really eye catching for the most part. You have a few well drawn pages here and there but it's mostly just fine.

Characters
Personally i love the characters. Not because they're all well written but it's easy to grow attached to them. The protagonist, Yona, could be one of the best female characters of all time.. if it weren't for the mangaka making Yona cry every arc and ruin her "strong" shoujo with forced doki dokis. And then you have Hak, who at some point just gets annoying with his forced romance. Infact, i fear Soo Won is the most thought out character in this manga. I'll still give the characters a 7 for their amusing dialogues and supring tactics time to time.

Overall, it is a good manga to get hooked on. It has its bad points but the strong points do exist, often overshadowing the bad. There are pages you can't read enough, arcs that keep at the edge of your seat and surprising moments that do make you go "woa". But i feel Akatsuki no yona could be so much more if it let go of the notion of being "just a shoujo".