Akatsuki no Yona
Yona of the Dawn

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I waited more than 10 years to read Akatsuki no Yona, because I didn`t want to wait for new chapters. I always read only finished mangas because of that. And after so many years of waiting, to read it all in only 5 days.....it is heartbreaking. Also this is my first time writing a review, but I think that this manga deserves all praise. Story is well written, growing of characters expertly done, art beautiful. I made so many pauses while reading, just because I didn`t want the story to end. It is really special when good manga or book do that to you. I ... am a really passionate manga and book reader, and not a lot of mangas and books can do that to me. To completely bewitch me and make it as if I am there, with characters. And it is as if I am experiencing everything that is happening to them, every emotion. This story is one of the best that I have read so far and I recommend it whit my whole heart. And while I am sad that it is over, I am glad that I could experience this wonderful story. This will definitely not be the last time that I will read this manga. I believe that I will come back to it many times.

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.

Akatsuki no Yona is beautiful, diligent and even realistic but it is shallow and very generic. 24 long long chapter filled with insipid feeling, identical males and zero progress - that was my limit. You may tell me, “It’s a shoujo, what did you expect?”. Well, I don’t know, I guess I expected some pleasant surprise. Shoujo authors tend to write genuine, down-to-earth pieces but here it evolves into nothing but the Nadeko level story about poor little girl surrounded by noble handsome boys. What even worse is that backbone of the narration is not the thrill of adventure in form of elaborate substories but ... a cliche theme of friendship where main heroine plays oh so typical role of selfless idol of goodness disguised by tons of phony self-reproach. Mizuho Kusanagi at least could have inserted these templets into some form of action, or anything else that grabs attention, but no, Yona’s recruitment of males are the most boring friend acquisition I have ever seen.

I would be glad to pick up Akatsuki no Yona again… just tell me where the story actually starts.