Jun 10, 2022
--Overview--
Mushoku Tensei, Magi, Avatar the Last Airbender and Hunter x Hunter. These are stories that I personally loved. This is partially do to the dynamic they executed so perfectly.
Action-packed adventure stories in a rich fantastical world followed by a spirited, charming cast of well-developed and fun characters. This is the dynamic that Akatsuki no Yona has to offer.
From what I see in the reviews, many are 10s who sing praises to no end for Akatsuki no Yona. This makes sense being that they were passionate enough to write a review, however I find this to be somewhat damaging as many others are leaving the series
...
with disappointment. I am not here to install faulty or glorified expectations, and to be honest Akatsuki no Yona, like any other piece of literature, is not without its flaws. Still, (for what it's worth) it stands strong as my single-most-favorite manga.
------ Characters ------
This is kind of a weird way to go abt things but I'm gonna focus on the characters as that's where I see some of the manga's biggest strengths and weaknesses.
Su-won, is in my opinion, an amazing antagonist. Askeladd vibes from this man. What was originally a target of revenge for me, who sympathized with Yona and couldn't forgive one who would betray of a friend to such a degree- became a character I couldn't help but at times root for. Su-Won has dimensions. He who is cool, calm and collected but can be shaken at times, and we see this time and time again.
He is not unaffected by harming his childhood friends, and their bond was by no means artificial. Su-Won is not untouchable yet does his very best to portray just that. Slowly but surely the reader gets entranced by his charisma and sympathizes with his motives and following actions.
I will also address Jae-ha as I believe he has one of the more interesting introductions.
All of the members of Yona's "party" seem to worship the very ground she walks on. For Ki-Ja this is because he carries on the wishes of his predecessors. Hak is her bodyguard, childhood friend and carries on the will of the deceased king Il. And Shin-Ah has really nowhere else to go. For him, Yona and company are the ones who saved him from his lowest point, and the only people he really knows- let alone can depend on. Jae-ha is the only one who questions their "unyielding loyalty". This makes complete logical sense. Who says that they must live and die for Yona? Simply because she is king hiryuu's reincarnation? She isn't King Hiryuu and they aren't the original dragons, and Yona is aware of this. That is why she doesn't force Jae-ha to join them after originally facing rejection.
Despite him joining in the end, I am glad that this issue was at the very least addressed.
I don't wanna stretch this out too much so I will paraphrase but as for Hak Son and Zeno: they are by far some of- if not the strongest characters in this series.
Now in terms of character flaws:
Yona develops for sure, but the biggest flaw in this series lies within Yona herself. This is addressed by many other reviews but she is a lot of talk and not much to show for it. The story insists on her being "strong" yet it saddens me that I don't get to see this strength that is so often advertised. Sure we see her pull out her bow now and then but what about all the times she stubbornly insists on following along only to be a burden, a damsel in distress saved by one of the boys. This leaves a really sour aftertaste as Yona shows so much obvious potential and yet we fail to get that fleshed out on the page. It's a shame really.
This last piece isn't so much a flaw as it is just personal preference, but I would also love to see another female in the main cast, a dragon would have been cool for sure. That could have made up for the strong female lead I wanted in Yona. The other females receive sparse amounts of screen time and development.
(Other than Lili, who feels somewhat forced and suffers from the same burdensome stubbornness as Yona.)
As a protagonist I'd give Yona a 6 or 7 out of 10. She's not so bad as she is disappointing due to the wasted potential. But overall she is pretty decent and has her moments for sure.
Su-Won, Hak, Zeno and Jae-ha are solid 9s and 10s. I believe Shin-ah and Ki-ja need more development for sure. I also think the author should revisit Yun. Like Jae-ha, he isn't there to live and die for Yona. I think they should explore his character a little more rather than him remaining the housewife of the gang. As much as I like Yun, his refreshing character is diluting into a 1-dimensional plot device simply to keep the crew in good health.
I tried to put both sides out there but overall, the characters are an absolute delight, flawed as they may be at times.
(I honestly have more to say but this is already pretty long so lets quickly gloss over everything else and get this over with lol)
------ Art ------
Extremely consistent but goes hard when it needs to, not much to say here tbh. It's great.
------ Story ------
Politics, Romance, Action, Adventure. Akatsuki no Yona has all of these down. Politics and Adventure are probably the dominant genres however as the romance is pretty slow and takes the backseat for quite a bit. The action is hype, its smooth, and it doesn't overstay its welcome. Most of the arcs are great. The only slight flaw I can spot could be the pacing? Its not the worst by any means but I found myself losing attention and speeding past a few boxes in the late 100s chapters.
I really just rambled on and on didn't I (¬‿¬)
This is my first time writing a review so it's prolly pretty messy and kinda shitty- sorry for the essay and have a nice day o:
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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