Akatsuki no Yona

At some point in the show, Yona mentioned something about escaping from her bubble of a spoiled princess, learning about the difficulties of life and such. Ironically, this show never managed to escape from its bubble of a shoujo-pandering, unbearably sappy, politically shallow, purposeless mess of tropes and forced superficial development.

Beware of spoilers used as discussion points

Featuring a middle ages Korea kingdom apparently in turmoil; Yona stars as a completely clueless princess with already 2 incredibly hot young men who can’t resist to “protect” her. A coup occurred, for reasons still unclear after 24 episodes, killing the king and forcing Yona to take flight ... with her Boyfriend #1 (Hak) after finding out the identity of the perpetrator being Boyfriend #2.Thus ensues a long winded journey as Yona travels and develops as a person and a benevolent, charismatic ruler, reaching for that ultimate goal with also a lot opportunities for romantic development, or so you’d think.


The premise of this series is definitely very promising and allows room for political intrigues, epic battles exploring the qualities of an ideal ruler, discussing the problems with a lenient ruler and how discipline is integral to order. Unfortunately a meager 2 episodes is spent on these issues, making it a huge waste of potential. It’s mentioned many times that the previous reign wasn’t effective, but it’s hardly shown through the show; in fact the blame is all placed onto generic one-dimensional bad guys for doing bad things. The people perspective is nowhere to be found, their “suffering” is hardly discussed, there are no exact problems to be fixed; this makes the show’s whole foundation completely empty and so does Yona’s claim on learning about suffering. In comparison, Rose of Versailles beautifully portrays an oppressed society with plenty of civilian perspectives to display the problems with incompetent governance. On a wider scale, it’s also mentioned that the kingdom is at risk of impending attack in an attempt to give the show some kind of direction; but it’s so diluted and underpresented it’s difficult to appreciate as world building. Furthermore, it doesn’t really help that the show utilizes silly slapstick comedy; much like Shitgatsu Kimi ga Uso, these kills off any tension and make the show somehow even more bubbly than it already is.


On an episode to episode basis, the show doesn’t fare too well either. Most episodes focus on Yona’s journey to find the “4 dragons” based on a prophecy told by a random drunk priest lying half dead on the side of the road. As if that isn’t silly fantasy enough, these dragons are bound to her by DESTINY, meaning the moment she caught their eyesight, they become a harem member. Yep, she doesn’t even need to convince them. Most of the arcs dont have much depth and doesn’t contribute to the big picture. Additionally, they also try to get the audience to sympathise to the autistic, utterly stereotypical and forgettable dragons that become irrelevant the moment they join the harem.Boyfriend #5 (Blue dragon) arc in particular had a lot of issues that should really have been touched on like why are soldiers attacking the villagers? Why do the little kids keep dying? Why do they fear something that saves them? Instead it focused on the superficial “suffering” of the hot boy. And of course, Yona saves the day in the most stupid way possible “because his hands are gentle, so I’ll trust him”, right. The Boyfriend #6 (green dragon) arc got a bit closer to what the show should have been but collapsed when it became yet another generic beat the big fat evil guy who oppress people out of his greedy desires (and really want to put his hands on Yona), joining awkwardly righteous pirates too nonetheless.


It’s funny how the show realizes the complete lack of purpose in trying to gather up these bishounen on the last episode due to Yona still being completely clueless and a failure in story writing discussed earlier. In attempt to correct this she is given a “purpose” but it’s clear the author still have no idea how to advance the plot and neither does the show become any less superficial.


Character wise, the show features a very generic cast of forgettable characters to poorly developed ones. Yona is often said to have developed greatly, which is nothing short of phony. Physical strength is not the equivalent of mental fortitude; and her excessive plot armor only further depreciates any signs of growth she has. There was only one instance in which she actually realizes she did not want to lose anything else, which was real development. All other instances are just the plot forcing her to take action in an attempt to fool the audience of any real substantial development. For example, when she shot said big fat evil guy, there was hardly any real change in her character or way of thinking, in fact she did it just to get patted on the head. The show tries to make it sounds fancy it but in reality it is exactly just that. And with this much “growth” as a human she has gathered in 24 long episodes, her development as a ruler is completely pointless to discuss.
Boyfriends #1-7 suffers heavily from being bogged down to tropes, wish fulfillment and shoujo pandering. They aren’t really allowed to have any thoughts other than about Yona (and protect her because DESTINY). Boyfriend #2 (Su-won) is a potentially interesting character as a young mastermind of a coup but completely butchered by facetious “naïve boy” behavior towards important head figures for reasons I can’t think of besides pandering. His lack of screentime completely denies any chance of development, adding to long list of disappointment in this show.


On the positive side, the production value of the show doesn’t suffer very badly from being animated by Studio Pierrot infamous for low budget and conservative animation. Art is generally acceptable without noticeable problems. The chibi slapstick art hurts my eyes but other than that it’s pretty average. The instrumental first opening sounds like something from a cheap Chinese MMO and the second is an okay jpop.


In conclusion, Akatsuki no Yona is yet another generic shoujo story masked by a deceptive exterior. Potential interesting plot development and political discussion are replaced by a pointless journey to find hot boys. Every character is inexplicably obsessed about Yona because she’s the designated main character and tropes take up more time than character development. It’s not necessarily the worst thing; in fact it’s just overly mediocre rather than outright horrible. However, it is highly disappointing considering what it could possibly have been, making it excruciating to watch. If you had to watch this series it’s best to keep your expectations low.

Akatsuki no Yona Ramble Review

Like all pieces of media that we use to distract ourselves before the inevitable, there are always some genres you try to steer clear of, like you would social responsibility or German scat porn. One genre that gets this abusive treatment from me is the shoujo genre. But before we continue, the shoujo genre is kinda garbage. Hopefully my negative propensity towards the genre isn’t showing. But in all seriousness, it’s a genre targeted towards teenage girls. The real reason I hold such distaste to this particular genre is due to it consisting of characters that are written by people that ... haven’t had sex in a very long time. Meaning, the heroin is apparently so perfect and attractive that the entire male cast gets on their hands and knees and starts to fawn over her (and also the fact most of them are rom coms, but that is for a different time).

So when my friend through her gags and burbles of her mentally damaged brain would suggest a show for me, I would always reply with “is it one of horrible shoujo anime, that whenever I try to watch it I feels like I’m shitting out a hedgehog that has barbed wires instead of spines?”, which would just lead to more gags and burbles as she rolls on the carpet, trying to improve her noodle impression. But I finally took pity on my poor, retarded, idiot, stupid (maybe I should stop being friends with them) friend and listened to her suggestion and began to watch Akatsuki no Yona. And I will say I was mildly surprised.

Akastsuki no Yona is an anime about a princess Yona, who has the ability of being genetically superior to everyone because she has red hair, and she has the emperor dragons blood. But like every princess story, a great tragedy strikes. The king is killed by her crush, the original “boy toy”, Soo Won. So she escapes with her trusty side “boy toy”, Hak. These two companions have great chemistry and travel the land to collect four more “boy toys”( I’m going to keep calling them boy toys until I get a laugh, you bastard), to build her harem and fill her empty heart. and other orifices. Opps, I mean to take back her kingdom. But these four “boy toys” aren’t just anyone, no no no, they are special with dragon blood running through their veins with amazing abilities, and just so happen to be a list of character tropes and fetishes for the fujoshi community to argue which would make for the best “husbandu”.

The series seems to be set in an “ancient” China inspired kingdom. Sadly I can’t be certain if it is actually china because it is never clearly stated, probably because the producers were having a little giggle to see how many racists they can catch by calling it Chinese. But in all seriousness, this simple fact was its biggest pull for me towards the series. In the world of anime, with its overabundant high school slice of life and the countless generic light novel adaptation that gets hacked every year by the uncoordinated hands of a butcher who just stopped giving a fuck, uniqueness is a quality hard to find. So for a shoujo to not have a highschool setting certainly did make me raise an eyebrow and investigate. And regardless of what you think, that is certainly a plus.

But after my eyebrow reached the top my un-arguably handsome face, my senses slammed on the breaks and came back to me, which lead to the thought “Is it a horrible reverse harem that is so bad it’ll make my throat want to fill out divorce proceedings with my stomach as I vomit a litre of stomach acid?" "Um...Kinda."

I’ve seen many reviews on people’s thoughts on Akatsuki’s characters, and every god damn single one of the cum gurgling twats that praises this series all seem to say the exact same thing, “The characters are amazing with intricate back stories and amazing development through the series”. This statement I whole heartedly agree to… Oh wait scratch that last part. The characters do have an interesting and unique back story, and Yona’s transformation from a scared, timid princess to a strong female heroin is interesting. But as soon as the “boy toys” have joined the harem bandwagon, they devolve into body pillow number 6745 and just become another member of the reverse harem bullshit. This is what I hate and loath about this series and the shoujo genre as a whole. Develop apparently means a character becoming infatuated with the main heroin, until there are enough handsome men to perform their very own bukkake shoot.

What the writer of the series should have done was throw out the love hexagon and make entire series focus on Hak and Yona, and make the rest of the cast just loyal to Yona. But that isn’t going to happen because like I said in my introduction, the characters are written by people that haven’t had sex since they played doctor with Uncle Tom. When I think about it, the characters as a whole, excluding best boy blonde, aren’t that great either. And the other villains the company faces aren't great either. It's like the script writer binged watched a bunch of Disney movies, then she hastily began to write a villain, until I don't know an ice cream truck passed.

To add to that, the tone of the series swings like a convulsive Gibbon on crack. One minute the heroes will be fighting kidnappers who sell woman and children as slaves, and the next minute it'll change art style to adorable chibi characters, as they tell a joke that falls flat so hard it tunnels into the earth and burns up in its core. It’s just so bad it made me want to pull my teeth out and jam them in my eye sockets so I don’t see that shit ever again. Who thought that was a good idea to implement comedy with murder, other then Punch and Judy? No matter how hard you try it’s like me and relationships, they just don’t seem to work out.

I have other complaints about the series such as the music, animation,the ending and Yona’s sun glare, but this is already getting to long, so I’m will wrap this up. As I wrote this review I realised the mountains of problems the leaked out of the shows pores, like yellow puss from a wound. And every single one them stem from the Shoujo heritage, from the reverse harem, the lack of character development of the male characters, the erratic tonal shifts, and many other complaints and nitpicks I have. But I still found the show mildly entertaining (even if it was for the wrong reasons), from the unique setting, Yona’s development as a character, or just pointing out everything bad about the series. This “enabled” me to claw through the story, in the same way someone “enables” a crippling drug habit. So in conclusion, Akatsuki no Yona turned out to be a slightly above average Shoujo series that surprised me. But keep in mind, for me personally an average Shoujo is about as good as putrefied shit left on black tarmac to cook. So you can gauge my opinion of the series from there. But for a Shoujo fan sure go watch it. But for everyone else, just go watch Arslan Senki.

Score: 4.4

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This Ramble Review was a new idea that I wanted to take a shot at to challenge myself. Hope you enjoyed.

And also, I am doing a blog so head on over there for more stuff, including just my thoughts and opinions on anime related stuff.

And please, any and all feedback for this review is appreciated. So shoot me a message and tell me any problems you had with the review and ways to fix it.

Being the lonely mf that I am, one day I had an urge to watch a good romance that would make me feel even worse. A quick Google search turned up a top 50 MAL list that promised Yona of the Dawn was a “must watch” shoujo masterpiece. I suppose in that sense, they were right. In the realm of shoujo, Yona of the Dawn is decent, but that is ignoring what it truly is: a bundled up collection of overused tropes.

Yona of the Dawn follows its titular pretty spoiled princess on her journey to becoming a fierce warrior… and that premise is good ... until you realize you actually never get what you were promised. Yona is supposed to be growing and becoming independent, but all she’s doing is collecting servants. Yona is surrounded by all these capable people that she basically forced into servitude, and not once does she think to try to learn their skills. What kind of progress is Yona making if she’s ousted from her cushy palace life, but then gets five bishonen bodyguards that worry themselves to death if even a single hair on her head is out of place? The plot is basically a reverse harem with extra steps. You’ve got all manner of boyfriends: the childhood friend, the princely goofball, the introvert with trauma, etc. All of them are bound to Yona by the legacy of her hair. Again, they have no choice in it either, so there goes any interesting subversion. Her new friends are actually just lifelong servants who listen to everything she says because it’s destined.

Halfway through the series, the main conflict of the show isn’t explained or even mentioned apart from the opening sequence. The supposed villain can’t even figure out his own motivations, much less the audience. It just happens, and then we get a double narrative situation (Yona and the villain contrasting their lives) that is completely irrelevant. Now, the double narrative could have been cool if Yona’s development brought her into direct conflict with the villain. However, her reason for collecting her boyfriends is very simply, “to live”. That’s all. At this point in the plot, Yona’s goal cannot be only “to live”. That’s everyone’s goal. What is she going to do with her life when she finishes her collection? We don’t know. Granted, I haven’t gotten to the part where she gathers everyone, but she shows no sign of thinking beyond present. At the very least, Yona isn’t even thinking of the state of her country (up until this point).

And of course, Yona herself is the most useless one of the lot. At around the 40% mark in the series, we are shown Yona trying to learn a skill, and putting all of her effort into it. The show really pushes that this is huge character development for Yona, but it’s kinda just a nothing burger. Yona cannot possibly believe that mastering one skill will allow her to be independent. That’s like thinking your perfect sunny side up guarantees you can live for a year in the woods. But then, Yona has five capable boyfriends, so maybe it’s more realistic that she doesn’t think she needs to learn much.

Yona of the Dawn has a whole host of other issues. However, its main problem is that it relies too much on the opening sequence (where the main conflict happens) to carry all of its exposition and setup. Everything Yona does is in reaction to this main conflict, but with a bit of critical thinking we can see there is nothing of substance. Yona of the Dawn wants to have a central cast with cute quirks like Ouran High School Host Club, but in a story meant to be about personal growth, it just doesn’t work.

And I still ended up not satisfying my romance anime urge. Maybe I’ll go watch A Silent Voice or something.

Final Rating: 5

Are you one of those people that never understood how someone could completely forget 100% of a show they watched, especially if it was only a few years ago? Well, I was one of those people, up until recently when (I thought) I was watching this series for the first time.

With, shamelessly, over hundreds of completed anime series under my belt, I decided to give 'Akatsuki no Yona' a shot. But something kept bothering me during the whole first episode and I could not quite put my finger on it. Then, as the very predictable 1st episode came to a close, it hit me. ... You know those typical shounen fight sequences where character A throws a dozen punches, and after a brief delay, character B receives those dozen punches all at once? I felt like character B after realizing that I, in fact, watched this series about three years ago.

Why then, would one ask, did I not know this before replaying the show? One word; unremarkable. This show left no impression on me whatsoever, and I do not think any other anime I have ever watched has done that to me.

To be honest, I do not even know how to fairly score this anime. I feel like I can't given it a one, considering there is a vast ocean of unremarkable animes that are worse than Yona and fly under everyone's radar, never to be seen. Yet, how can I give any mark for something that was completely forgettable?

SHORT ANSWER: THIS ANIME IS JUST NOT WORTH YOUR TIME.

As a male in my 30s it's definitely possible I'm simply the wrong audience for this, period, but this anime didn't do it for me.

As far as I'm concerned there is nothing remotely original here. I found the characters familiar and forgettable, I found the story not unlike things I've seen many times before and I found the pacing to be off the mark more often than not. I feel this whole anime, which didn't even reach a proper conclusion, could have been done in 16 to 18 episodes. With 24 it consistently drags. In many episodes it feels like not a whole lot of ... anything happens. The characters aren't overly developed but there's not always action either, so, I'm not sure what exactly we're watching or what the point is sometimes.

The opening and ending songs were both solid but not mind-blowing and beyond that the music didn't stand out to me at all. It, like the rest of this anime, just felt really generic and forgettable.

The voice acting was solid as you'd expect when the leads are voiced by established industry veterans but good voice acting can only take you so far when the substance just isn't there. Many of the lines aren't particularly believable or realistic and many others are super bare-bones.

The animation is probably the strongest point of the show. Action scenes are crisp and smooth, backgrounds are sometimes vibrant and detailed and each of the main characters are distinct looking and colorful. The show is nice to look at, but that doesn't make it entertaining as a whole.

I don't know that this show is bad, but it most definitely isn't particularly good either. For me I just couldn't find that one X factor that makes this memorable or worth recommending. There simply isn't anything here an experienced anime watcher hasn't already seen. Perhaps a teenage girl would get more out of this than I did but for me I'll remember this with lukewarm feelings if I even remember it at all...

OBJECTIVE RATING- 6.5-7
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 6

If I had to describe this seies in few words, it would be: A power fantasy by proxy and a shojo reverse harem.

If you are into that, this series might be for you. Sadly, the first episodes of the series give a different impresion than it might be a deep political drama mixed with a coming of age story, a hot spice of romantic triangle and 3D characters; but that comes off the table around episode 6.

Quickly, the series devolves into a shallow "go gather, one by one, 4 ultrapowerful bishounen that will be your aid" and Yona does because she was told to, not ... because she has expressed to overtake once more kingdom. Once she finds the bishounens, they follow her without much trouble in the way and even some big wasted potential.
When they find the second bishounen, there is big emotional baggage and great mystery surrounding his story in his village, but it doesn't get explored, nor his powers or why he really got shunned; it had the pieces to make a great arc but just fell flat.
There is also many call offs than the last king was a pretty crappy one, but also isn't explored in depth or is made aside pretty quickly even when it comes into question latter in the series.
Also, the series is full of "comedy moments" or "chibi faces" than dull out even more the dramatic moment. For me it had way to more of what I was willing to digest, but there is a also some opinion in the forums than there weren't enough of those moments to make it more palettable.

I began this series because CBR repeatedly promoted it in top series because of its drama and else; but it doesn't deliver. And even if I found it entertaining to watch, it didn't doubled down on what I had expected from it.

In conclusion: watch if you are into shoujo, and like watching a girl be saved or help multiple times by a bishounen cast, with no real romance in-between.
Don't watch if you are expecting a drama and political thrills.

!! POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING !!

Alright. Here we go. Let’s talk about this train wreck. Thank you Perriot for terribly adapting a rather well written manga that one can enjoy thoroughly.

Story: 3
Holy crap. What was this? This was pointless. If there were two seasons, the ending might pass but what is this? Pierrot clearly ruined a story that would have been an enticing adventure. There isn’t even a real reason for Yona to be gathering all the dragons. We are never told an actual reason. I suppose it is to take back the kingdom from Su-won, but what the hell? What is she going to do ... if she ever fights him? Kill him? Now what? Is Yona going to rule now? Her whole journey seems pointless. The story isn’t even consistent all the way through. Plus, the whole unfolding of events is stupid and we can especially see this when Pierrot rushes the meeting of Zeno (the yellow dragon) because they ran out of episodes. There is clearly meant to be a season 2. We can easily tell this because of the cliffhangers and such that we are left on. We can see that Zeno has more to him than he is letting on. There is so much that was introduced that would have been pointless without a season 2. Way to go Pierrot. You guys really did a great job ruining this adaptation.

Sound: 7
Eh. Sound isn’t terrible and they have a rather all-star voice actor lineup for the sub, in my opinion. I personally really liked the dub in general. But that can probably be acquitted to the fact that it is in my native language. But besides that, to me, the sub voice actors are really good and I personally like subbed Yona more than the dubbed one. Yona’s dubbed VA annoyed the HELL out of me. The OP’s and ED’s are pretty good. I personally like them more than quite a bit of other shows. But, sometimes the insert songs seemed out of place. Other times they were done well and really added to scenes but sometimes I also felt myself distracted by the OST. I think that good insert songs shouldn’t interrupt you watching a show but just add to the scene without you realizing it much.

Art: 8
The art in this was pretty good. I really liked the characters for the most part and the way they looked. The character designs were great. Each characters attire drew me in and suited them. They did a good job here. They didn’t have a ton of detail like a Kyoani, but it wasn’t terrible. The OP and ED’s looked good too, as they should. They were all done well and made me enjoy watching them to an extent.

Characters: 2
Well. It really sucks to give this a 2. I really don’t know if I can give it anything above this. The character development is a joke. No one has any real story. Shin-ha, Hak, Yun, and Su-won, are the only 4 characters that ever get any development. Yona and Jae-ha go under a bit of development but not enough. Most characters turn out exactly how we suspected when introduced to them, and no one really goes anywhere. They all are the same way mostly when we are introduced to them as they are at the end of the show. Most of them suck too. Hak is the only character worth watching in this show. His self-sacrifice makes him admirable and Yona, even after brought up by Yun, never thanks him for all he does. Maybe she does thank him once or twice and I am just forgetting about it, but I guarantee she never does it more than that. She doesn’t change besides the fact that she gets angry when other people get hurt. She is the stereotypical, “I care about everyone but can’t do anything about it,” MC. Hak and Shin-ha are the only two characters I ever gave a flying frick about. Everyone else pretty much sucks.

Enjoyment: 3
Well, I did enjoy it for a time but the more I watched it, the less I enjoyed it. I really feel like giving it a 3 in the enjoyment category is even a stretch.

Overall: 4.6
Well, this is it. It wasn’t great overall and the art and sound are the only things that I don’t hate, besides Hak and Shin-ha. I'm going to go ahead and round this down to a 4 because of the atrocity it is. Forget this show and Pierrot. I can’t believe people gave this show above a 6.

Yona of the Dawn – A Butch Princess Using Everyone Around Her

(Yona of the Dawn)
is one of those overrated anime shows that people seem to praise for no good reason. I decided to watch this show because it’s labeled as a romance, but let me tell you, it was a huge mistake. The so-called "heroine," Yona, starts as a spoiled brat and then turns into a total butch with zero likable qualities.

After being betrayed by Su-Won, who she had a crush on (talk about poor judgment), she suddenly decides she’s going to be all tough and badass. But let’s be real here, she ... doesn’t do any of the heavy lifting herself. Instead, she leans on Hak like he’s her personal crutch. And let's be honest, Hak is nothing more than her backup for Su-Won. She only keeps him around because she can’t have the guy she actually wanted.
It’s pathetic how she uses Hak’s feelings for her to keep him around, treating him like a glorified bodyguard instead of an actual person with his own emotions.

And let's not forget how conveniently she switches from being the helpless princess to the strong-willed leader whenever it suits her. However deep down she remains the same ignorant girl who relies on others to fight her battles. Her so called "growth" is just a cover for the fact that she manipulates those around her to get what she wants.

The story itself is nothing special either. It’s a dragged-out revenge plot where Yona’s motivations are as flimsy as her character development. The pacing is slow, the villains are forgettable, and the supposed "romance" is just Yona stringing Hak along while she sorts out her own issues. It’s hard to care about a protagonist who treats her closest ally like a disposable pawn.

In short, (Yona of the Dawn) is a prime example of why not every show deserves the hype. Yona’s transformation is fake, her reliance on Hak is pathetic, and the story is a boring mess. If you are looking for a real romance or a strong female lead, look elsewhere. This anime isn’t worth your time.

riddled with clichés like i genuinely couldn’t take anything seriously. the entire romance felt so artificial and tropey, and it was so unconvincing. the dialogue, in particular, was so bad; so much of it had the opposite of its intended effect on me, and some of it was genuinely so unbearably cringe. “it stirs my desire.” what did i do to deserve this 🙁 “‘let him out.’ ‘but...’ ‘our guest has red hair.’ ‘excuse me!’” clearly great dialogue. these two quotes were in consecutive episodes btw like i was so tired. “‘they intend to eliminate us, to keep the blue dragon hidden.’ ‘eliminate us? why?’” ... girl he JUST SAID

this has such weak writing, and not many of the characters have much depth to them. this, combined with the fact that not much time is spent on developing the relationships, makes the supposed deep connection that these characters share feel unconvincing. in the middle of the show, it felt so undefined; the show literally just does not say what yona's plan is, making the overall experience less engaging. i also just think it’s so stupid (unreasonable) if yona is trying to reclaim her throne because, based on what was shown in earlier episodes, it doesn’t seem feasible at all, and who is even going to accept that a spoiled teenage princess can rule an entire kingdom? literally no one besides her stupid, mindless harem. so perfectly fitting how there was a useless ending to match this.

some positives. i thought the dragon storylines were quite well done, although they could've been developed a bit more. i also thought the animation and character designs were good, and the vibes were immaculate. and despite her annoying naivety, i do adore yona, and i think it's easy to like her character; she’s the sweetest ever, although it did become a bit sickly after a while. but also, it is so annoying how her greatest strength is her “burning eyes,” where the sheer willpower radiating from them paralyzed six guards and allowed her to run through them unobstructed and snag a firework from yun who literally had a guard standing on top of his head. and the constant emphasis on how she’s a girl and how weak she was made me want to slam my head against a wall repeatedly since yona was depicted to be a fairly strong character in her own right multiple times, making this just such a weird contrast that made me annoyed with the people around her. like there is this scene where yona is walking on this tiny pathway on a cliff face where it’s super windy and there are huge waves crashing against the cliff below her, and as she’s doing this, there’s some idiotic guy behind her just continually going “i can’t believe she’s actually doing this when she’s so weak”. i think jae-ha straight-up calls her a "powerless girl", which is true, but it's just not the moment for it at all. it's genuinely the strangest way ever to write this scene, and it comes across like poor writing, creating a dissonance that detracts from the overall experience. it also contributes to the show's overall impression as a "damsel in distress" narrative, which i wasn't a fan of.

it was disappointing to see this show consistently neglect the shounen elements, to its own detriment—every conflict was resolved so quickly and easily, almost unreasonably so, and the shoujo aspects were continually prioritized to the point where the entire show could be effectively summarized as an adventure to collect pretty boys who are completely devoted to yona. nothing of real depth was ever expanded upon; instead, a majority of the screen time was allocated to supposedly cute moments between yona and her harem, which often felt forced. something that really irked me was how everyone (literally everyone) just wanted to help yona. half the people practically begged to. because of this, there was hardly ever any conflict like what am i watching this for then?? this is a bit nitpicky, but the country was not nearly as politically turbulent as it should've been like the king was literally murdered and you're telling me there were zero repercussions and conflicts over this? even the central antagonist, whom i'm assuming is soo-won, has no conflict with yona after the first few episodes—not only does he spare her life multiple times, but their ambitions actually don’t even overlap at all. it’s a bit hard to tell since the show just completely forgoes telling the audience what yona’s motivations are (and i think she doesn’t even know what she wants either), but if she’s trying to regain her throne (yes sorry i'm talking about this again because it boggles my mind how an entire show can get produced without any substantial conflict or solid story structure), then her method is a totally roundabout way of accomplishing it. her collecting all these physically capable dragons implies that she'll retake her throne by force, but this seems inconsistent with her character, making it feel a bit contradictory. this contributes to the weak writing, leaving the show feeling unfocused and failing to engage the audience effectively, as there’s no clear overarching goal for viewers to root for yona to achieve.

overall, this was a weak and annoying watch, and at times, felt more like fanfiction rather than a well-constructed story designed for a broader audience since this was so inconceivably fanciful that it actually detracted from my enjoyment level. this had all the right elements, but the execution was so awfully handled that i couldn’t help but be irritated the entire time watching this. the weak writing, underdeveloped relationships, slow pacing, and lack of stakes made it difficult for me to be emotionally invested in the journey, and i was left wanting more, especially since the shoujo elements monopolized the screen time, but were still somehow hardly developed. and by hardly, i actually mean not at all because genuinely nothing happened between yona and hak, who i'm assuming is the main couple, and i have to assume, because literally nothing happened.

tl;dr: completely useless watch

Note: Some spoilers, this review is more designed to be read after finishing the series.

Yona of the Yawn (gottem) is a hot trash anime about a sheltered princess named Yona who enjoys her pampered life, living with her father (the King), best friend Hak (who is one of the strongest fighters in the kingdom), and her cousin Soo Won, whom she loves. One day Soo Won basically launches a coup with the Fire tribe (there are like 4 or 5 tribes in the show) against the king and kills him. Hak defends Yona from the attackers and the two escape. The rest of the anime ... basically consists of Yona trying to find 4 dragon warriors because of some prophecy.

Over 24 episodes, the show can be divided into several mini arcs. The first 8 episodes deal with Yona leaving the castle and finding about her destiny. The rest of the episodes basically consist of each of the Dragon’s arcs with the Yellow dragon having 1 episode at the end (and who was obviously rushed in), and the white dragon having only about 2-3 episodes. The anime uses flash backs semi-frequently to develop characters and give reasons for certain motivations.

The thing about Yona of the Dawn is that everyone in the anime wants to help her. Hak wants to help her, the wind tribe wants to help her, the priest wants to help her, Hoon wants to help her, the White and Blue dragons want to help her, even Soo Won, the main villain, wants to help her. Which is why the Green Dragon arc, at first, seems to be the most interesting. Jae Ha (the green dragon), is against following Yona and following the destiny of the dragons. Even after facing the genetic desire of the dragon to follow Yona, he initially rejects following her. But the anime is called Yona of the Dawn for a reason and he abandons his own desires to help her just because she shows some courage. So, the most interesting interpersonal conflict between the any of dragons and Yona is solved over basically an episode.

The only other interesting plot point in the anime is between the perception Yona has of her father, the realities of life outside the castle, and the influence of Soo Won’s rule over the kingdom. Yet this is ridiculously undercooked over the 24 episodes. There is one episode dedicated to Soo Won to show his ability, cunning, and desire, and there are one or two moments showing Yona realizing her father’s rule wasn’t as great as she thought. But there is barely any introspective on her side. She continues without questioning why people are living in poverty, and what her father lacked in fixing the kingdom. The anime is simply preoccupied with developing Yona and the dragon sub plots, and that just makes it generic.

I think one of the biggest issues with Yona of the Dawn is that is lacks all the charms of a decent battle/adventure manga. Firstly, the fights are atrocious. The animation falls off during any battles, the all consist of mobs fighting Hak with or without the other dragons. Furthermore, there is no suspense at all as Hak and the Dragon’s have no weaknesses in the show. While most battle manga would deal with each character facing their weakness and overcoming them to become a stronger, better version of themselves, or at least facing an enemy that is a foil to their abilities, there is no such character development here for any character outside Yona. She is the only one who needs to learn how to fight, something she seldom does throughout the 24 episodes as most battles have her in the distance with Hoon while Hak + Dragons deal with everything. Whenever Yona must fight, she has no issues. She never fails on the battlefield, the first time she kills she does it without hesitation and under an unreal circumstance that her training and experience would not have accounted for, but the anime is called Yona of the Dawn after all. And, to add on top of all that, there is no well-defined enemy character for Yona’s crew to fight. They simply beat on generic fire tribe and mercenaries throughout the whole series. Even the one enemy they hype up during the Green Dragon arc, they never have a real battle with. A lack of suspense, a lack of skill development, a lack of real challenge for the characters, and a lack of noticeable or skilled enemies make the battle/adventure aspects of the anime extremely weak.

But Yona of the Dawn is also supposed to be a romance… what a farce that is. The only legitimate romantic action in the anime occurs between Hak and Yona, and that is very rarely and most times when it occurs is played for laughs. There are one or two actual moments of Hak displaying his romantic interest in Yona upfront, and she just runs away, and the anime continues as if it did not happen. Yona never reflects on her relationship with Hak as anything more than platonic. She never considers if her feelings for Hak are similar to her feelings for Soo Won. So, the romance is unbearably slow, and the outcome is negligible.

The comedy in the anime is semi-persistent and unfunny. However, the biggest sin is that the anime uses comedy to undercut several serious/dramatic moments. When a character is seriously hurt, you can expect a joke. Or if Yona is having a serious conversation you can expect the squirrel character to be acting a fool in the background. Just another factor that reduces the minimal suspense and tension in the story.

A few words about Yona, the character. I like her character design a lot, she’s cute and her hair looks good both long and short. I also like that she is starts of very weak and must develop skills over the course of the show. However, the show surrounds her with such overpowered characters that her weakness in never a hindrance. There is always someone ready to save her, and the only times she is ever at risk is when she chooses to put herself in those positions. And even then, she is always accompanied by someone to protect her. Also, to make up for her weakness is that whenever she is in a bad position versus an enemy, the anime decides to giver her basically the equivalent of the mangekyou sharingan to scare of enemies or to stop them and give enough time for some deus ex machina to occur (she literally stares at people and they will say something generic like “she has fire in her eyes” and they will leave alone). Finally, my biggest gripe against her character, and the show in general, is that she has no real purpose. The show has no real purpose. She spends the whole show finding the dragons for some vague reason. By the end of the show we still don’t know what she wants. She doesn’t want revenge against Soo Won, she doesn’t want to return to the castle, she doesn’t want to live a peaceful life, and the end she decides the just wants to travel and vanquish evil. What kind of generic result is that? It’s to the point where the flash forward scene at the beginning of the show is changed at the end of the anime, because Yona’s motivations don’t match up with the scene! Yona of the Dawn started out decently enough, but progressively got worse other than the slight reprieve with the first couple of green dragon episodes. After that it fell off a cliff again. Yona of the Dawn is a “journey is more important than the destination” anime that doesn’t deliver on either part.

"Akatsuki no Yona" is a rehash of the story of the rightful king: a deposed ruler is cast out of the kingdom by some evil despot, only to return leading a group of elite warriors. A similar adventure tale of camaraderie and heroism can be found in many adventure animes, especially those in the fantasy genre. Akatsuki comes out with an absolutely pitiful rendition of this story, and I would highly recommend avoiding it! If you've seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, there is no reason to watch this anime (and if you haven't, then you should see it instead). Also, as of writing this, the ... story remains unfinished without a second season in sight.

Story [3/10]: As stated above, the plot is predictable and, since with so much stuffed in the short span of one season, it is winnowed down to the bare minimum. I deducted points for how reliant it is on clichés no matter how forced they are, simply to draw out an emotional response from the audience.

Pacing [4/10]: The pace of Akatsuki feels jerky. A lot has to happen within the relatively low episode count, yet the show still tries to work in comedy, tragic backstories, and random supporting characters. This ambition backfires, making the main plot lurch along while we get monologues and filler material.

Art [4/10]: Considering it is an action-adventure series, the artwork in Akatsuki was a disappointment. I was looking forward to intensely animated fight scenes, but what we get are: single-frame drawings of enemies flying through the air, the hero doing poses, and mid-fight monologues. Most of the humor is accentuated with some comedic effect (e.g. "glare" with lightening between two characters).

Sound [6/10]: While the music was nice, the sound effects were somewhat offputting. I found the humor decidedly awkward because they kept emphasizing lame jokes with these effects - especially when the music and tone right before was serious.

Character [4/10]: A major driving force in this anime is the fact that the heroine Princess Yona blithely attracts everyone to her (through a combination of personality and magic). She is surrounded by her harem of loyal fighters without any thought of caution or betrayal, even though they are literally strangers. Akatsuki constantly builds sexual tension between her and the men, but in classic anime style ruins every moment with some random coincidence and Yona's complete obliviousness. The resulting relationships are feeble.

Besides Yona, the main characters remain more or less caricatures defined by their primary attribute. True, the show is careful to provide tragic backstories - but this is not enough to give a character a full personality.

Enjoyment [3/10]: Akatsuki takes a workable plot and makes a heap of mistakes in execution. From its still-life fight scenes and endless monologues to awkward humor and underdeveloped characters, the show is a letdown.

Overall: [3/10]

This show starts off pretty strong and seems to be set up for success from the first 5 episodes only to somehow manage to trip, attempt to catch itself, break it's arm and impale itself on the bones of said broken arm.

Art and sound are the only real strong points to the show. It is also, generally, somewhat enjoyable...at first. The enjoyment really started to taper off half-way through and by the last 5 episodes, I found myself wanting to fast forward through a lot of things just to get to where they were going and finish this mess.

The story could have been borderline on ... a masterpiece. The groundwork was all laid out, they were set up to address multiple fronts of conflict and points of interest; They had political policies at the ready, foreign relations, internal conflicts, deception and misdirection, so many avenues of possibility...and delivered on nothing. In the end, you could cut down the MAL synopsis to
"Princess Yona lives a life of luxury and ease...however, the sudden murder of the king and betrayal of her beloved cousin Su-won places Yona's life in mortal peril. Forced to escape only with Son Hak, who is both her childhood friend and bodyguard, the naïve princess soon discovers that Kouka is not the idyllic place she envisioned it to be."
because nothing else is ever really addressed. Heck, you can just take that, add 'She goes on a journey to see the country and finds the 4 dragons of legend, who are not all one would think them to be", and and you have literally the entire relevant story that this anime bothers to tell.
The synopsis would imply that she has some intent to take back the throne, but that is a misdirection as she never expresses any actual interest in doing so.

The characters themselves are another point of issue though they add to some enjoyment in the latter parts of the show. Hak is a badass and we have no real idea why, it's just accepted that he is and not really to be questioned. Yona is hinted at being special and has the strength of determination, but what makes her special in particular is really not addressed either. Everyone else is the show pretty much just fills some anime trope or another and fills out the reverse harem that Yona needs to acquire for some reason. I don't really have anything else to say of the characters because Yona is the deepest one there and she is about as deep and complicated as a glass of strawberry milk (made with syrup [added after the milk]).


It would be easy to tear the entire show apart, but that would be a waste of time since the show itself does a good enough job of it. Suffice it to say that all major good points come from the beginning of the show and that you should really only watch this as a reference for how to set up a good story (so like 12 episodes tops) or just because you like reverse harems and anime tropes.

I had been looking forward to this show for a long time, but it's been a major let down.

AceLe is spot on with that review

To me, it seemed like it was going to be good at first because a lot happens in the first few episodes that would allow for a really interesting plot to develop. The characters seemed to have potential. The setting seemed neat.

But after that its...vapid. and it makes you cringe.

The anime presents itself as some elaborate story line of these "legendary" dragons, and insinuates that Yona has hidden depths and powers.

But all the the story turns out to be is a tedious and shrill voiced girl collecting different coloured dragon boyfriends. Like, she walks to the next village ... with her bodyguard and finds the white dragon boy and he just goes with her. Then, next episode: the "Blue" dragon...then, the "GREEN" dragon, who have equally tedious backstories that emerge all at once melodramatically in a single episode each time.

It doesnt get much better after that.

Cancel. Next Please.

This is a beautiful anime. I also hate it.

The most striking aspect is the art, which is just gorgeous. The colors are rich, the palette is broad, and even sad scenes are packed with nuance. The music is great and above all is perfectly suited to the content (ie, no weird guitars or synths for no reason). The Japanese cast is wonderful and acted to perfection. Not even bit-part characters have repeated or annoying voices, which was super surprising.

The characters are full and exciting. The MC follows the typical anime/fantasy arc of powerless naive princess growing into herself, but I always value execution over ... originality and Akatsuki pulls right through to the end. My only genuine dislike for her came at the overabundance of tears, mainly because a good deal of the crying scenes would have been just as emotional without the waterworks. The MC's companions are--with the obvious exception of the Yellow Dragon--fully incorporated with multi-episode arcs including flashbacks and extensive building of their stories.

Akatsuki's created world is also crammed with life. The cities and villages are stereotypically Asian, but they all have slightly different aesthetics and none of them are rushed or tossed off as pointless backdrops. The landscape is varied and interesting, the fighting scenes are choreographed exquisitely, and with just a few tiny exceptions there's no filler at all.

But...

It was around episode 16 that it hit me square in the brain: this series will be incomplete. I double checked that there was no sequel. I frantically looked at its release year, scanned the wiki, Googled....and then I knew. This was going to be another Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu. It will go great all the way up until it ends before anything substantial happens. I struggled to pull through. By episode 20 I knew that the "final battle" was going to be an utter waste of my life with an 11th hour antagonist. By the time the Yellow Dragon literally waltzed into the picture in Episode 24 I knew I'd been bamboozled.

There's not going to be any more Akatsuki no Yona. The series ended five years ago. I spent twenty-four episodes of my time watching the glorious growth of a great main character only to be shit on in the end. This is clearly just the first in a multi-arc epic tale, but for some godforsaken reason the producers chose to waste time and money on the prologue. I don't even have the mental fortitude to check the state of its source material. All I know is it was just another waste of time.

Story
+ Setting is nice and interesting - Rural Japan, kind of warring-kingdoms vibe with heroes but not much magic (or at all)
- Plot is shallow, predictable and viewer loose interest very fast at what is happening nor why (since not much makes sense).
There is no inner depth, logic nor meaning in actions (as of 8th EP).

Characters
+ Characters are quite funny and interesting(at least superficially)
- There are many unwanted come-ons. Good romance is ok, but Yona offers only cringe and immature interactions which results in many sights and eye-rolls.
- Yona character development is rushed, and ill-logic.

... Graphics
+ It's nice, 2010-15-ish style of art, which is quite ok and pleasant to watch.
- Many animations are kind of copied (as of ep 8) - like Javelin attacks of Hak.

Verdict
It's ok to try, but if no time is to be wasted, Juuni Kokuki is to go - heroine is much more awkward at beginning, drawing is not as spectacular - but character development and plot is few leagues above Yona.

"Nanatsu no Taizai for women"

Akatsuki no Yona is one of those stories where a group of characters has to travel the world in search of something and end up meeting other allies along the way, similar to One Piece and Avatar: The Last Airbender. However, those succeed in worldbuilding, a very important concept in this kind of story, and that is not the case of this anime.

The country is suffering from Yona's father's lack of rulering skills, but it doesn't tell us what exactly happened and how. There are five main tribes (Sky, Water, Earth, Fire, Air), presented as important to the kingdom, but their ... part in the story is insignificant. There was only one episode where this was brought up, that was the one about a tournament with Suwon and the Earth leader. Leadership was supposed to be Yona's field and her way of developing as the character the story wants her to be, yet she is isolated from those people.

Well, aside from the times the Fire clan came up to serve as minor villains in the story, or when the Air clan appeared to help her, the same "Air Good, Fire Bad" trope we see in a lot of animations.
Oh yeah, they also mention "foreign wars" outside the kingdom, but nothing about them.

The story itself is mainly a harem, with the "journey to retake the throne" thing in the background. Besides claiming to be an anime with a strong female lead, the representation of women is ridiculous. There is only one girl in the main group of seven people, and she plays little role in her own story.

Since the beginning, Yona suffers from poor development. It takes more than a third of the season for her to start training, and in 90% of the fights she is ordered to get away and stay safe, so her strong, alpha male husbandos can shine. It is said that she is stronger in mind and leadership, but then, all of the hard decisions and care of the group are made by Hak, and mostly, Yoon. She is a secondary character.

And yeah, the main problem with this anime are the characters, the harem plot and how everything revolves around it. Yoon is the most well-written character in the story, not only because he is likeable, but also for his backstory and reasons for following Yona. Shin-ah's (Blue Dragon) arc is dark and gives the show a more serious tone, and Ki-Ja (White) is sometimes understandable. As for the rest, Jae-ha (Green) is an over-the-top perv, Hak is a rapist and Suwon is a walking contradiction.

The main motivation of these three seems to be fucking Yona. Jae-ha's personality is too forced and it's hard to find any reasoning to it. And Hak, a main character since the beginning, is obsessed with the princess and sexually harasses her all the time. The lowest point of this show for me was the scene where he licks Yona's hands, both unnecessary and disgusting. I mean, it may be fiction but all of those scenes are just telling that you can keep touching a girl like this and even if she doesn't like she will act like it never happened soon afterwards.

Suwon, the main villain/ Yona's evil husbando is the least understandable. He killed Yona's father (which was actually reasonable), then sent people to get Yona, tried to kill her and her friends multiple times, but somehow he cares about her. And when they finally met in the final episodes he just let her go, knowing that her existence and continuous gathering of strong allies is a threat to his reign. Besides, he was her childhood friend, but they never had a real talk this whole time about the things that happened.

Most arcs are filler, like the whole pirates thing, and we never have a proper conclusion after 24 episodes. The yellow dragon may be one of the worst, since he was stated since the beginning as important to the group and appeared in both OPs and EDs, but he never actually shows up until the final episode, when the story rushes so he could join the group, without any conflict.

The first OP's music is totally instrumental and sounds like a free OST you could borrow from an old chinese war movie. The second one actually has a good song, but the op recycled the static animation from the first one.

Overall, even if you like this kind of story despite all the flaws, you would be forever waiting for season 2. I read about it and seems that the manga already had content for a new season some years ago. Still, it's been 6 years and there is no interest in animating season 2.

I honestly wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

I noticed an overwhelmingly positive response to this anime and I simply do not understand why.

This review will contain vague explanations used as argumentative points that will not directly spoil anything but can still be considered a spoiler by someone who is brand new to the anime. And without further ado :

---Story

At first glance the story appears to have an incredible amount of potential. A princess who leaves her romantic lifestyle and sees what the real world is like. Unfortunately a lot of this potential is wasted.

The "plot twist" in the first few moments , if you can even call it that, is seen from ... a mile away for anyone who has watched a good amount of anime. The princess is barely shocked by the outside world (which in a world without internet , should be quite the experience since the princess lifestyle is all she knows). A good amount of the time she gets saved by her bodyguard Hak , and I got a lot to say about him as well.

This is just another "searching for strong warriors for retribution" anime and as such is extremely predictable in most moments. In fact the only moment that actually surprised me was when the main character did something useful , and that's not good.

The ending was insultingly bad , introducing us to the final character in a brief moment ... followed by showing us that the ending had already been shown to us in the first few moments of the anime.

---Characters

In Akatsuki No Yona the characters are both is strong point and weakest link. Some of the characters like Sinha are very well done with detailed backstories and flaws (you know , like a human).

Yona had a lot of missing potential likely to make her more relatable to the female viewers of the anime. While it will seem great to the younger members of the audience it just makes Yona seem bland.

Hak is the deuteragonist and a Gary Stu character , in other words he is perfect with zero flaws. Remember before how I mentioned that Yona was good for the younger female viewers? Here we see this again. The "Black Butler" syndrome where an anime is vastly overrated because of a perfect , attractive male character. Hak seems to be proficient in everything he does , from becoming a general at a young age , from fighting hundreds of soldiers to jumping insane heights while carrying a person. The one time he takes damage in the series is when he uses his body as a shield defending Yona , and he manages to fight for a good amount of time despite being poisoned.

Unfortunately the other dragons aren't as well-made as Sinha but the green dragon does have something going for him.

---Animation and Sound

The animation isn't bad but it isn't anything to get excited about. Slightly above average I'd say.

The opening music is fully instrumental and is beautiful , unfortunately that's it as far as the music goes. The opening music is even recycled for key moments.

The first opening is insultingly bad when not considering the music though. The animation is fine , whats unforgivable is that the opening shows you pretty much all that the entire series has to offer.

---Enjoyment

I consider myself somewhat of an anime veteran with around 300 animes under my belt. That being said this anime was extremely predictable. If you are moderately experienced with anime and after looking at the reviews and expecting a masterpiece like FMAB or Hunter X Hunter look elsewhere.

---Conclusion

Overall Akatsuki no Yona is a series with an incredible amount of wasted potential. A great idea with poor execution. A unique idea that somehow became the most cliche storyline possible with poorly written characters.

If you are a younger female viewer you might enjoy this , and you also might enjoy this if you are brand-new to anime. Otherwise I highly doubt you will get any entertainment value out of this.

I generally don't bother to write reviews for anime I watched on MAL, but this was so painful that I had to drop it even before the halfway mark. While the art and music are impeccable, the story is very cliched what with the rightful heir being ousted and all that. Maybe shoujo just doesn't sit well with me, but I felt that all of the male characters were too androgynous to be dashing. Besides, the flashbacks with the three of them playing around seem too sexual for pre-teen children. It goes without saying that you ought to avoid this like the plague unless you ... really dig stupid manchildren fighting over crap.

As the episodes go by it becomes clear that the focus of the story is not the battles between the kingdoms and political intrigues. This is a background story to show the protagonist that she was a rich and unuseless princess, that the world is much more complex and cruel than she thinks, thus focusing mainly on her whole evolution as a person. She needs to learn to survive outside the palace, to become independent and strong!

However I found all this development extremely forced, the unfolding of the story is even interesting but very boring. The action scenes did not work for me, it does ... not give excitement, emotion or anything. The development of the protagonist is (obviously) totally foreseeable, and this business of what is cool is to see how it reaches its apex of evolution is bullshit. Besides all the reasons that justify the actions of each of the characters are extremely shallow and forced that make you question while watching things like "there are thousands of ways to solve this situation but insist on choosing the most difficult and totally illogical ... so why???".

The soundtrack is not bad but there is nothing much.

This show had potential which was wasted by not developing the antagonist enough. Then it becomes a boy scavenger hunt. All the arcs for Yona to gather her harem were pretty bland or convoluted. The only redeeming factor was seeing how the relationship between Hak and Yona developed over time. I'll probably slog through the last few episodes at a later time.

Story: 5/10

Good premise, but boring over time.

Art: 6/10

Nothing amazing, not too bad either considering when it was released.

... Sound: 5/10

Pleasantly surprised by the electro op halfway through but nothing too memorable.

Character: 3/10

Only found Hak to be likable, others were boring or annoying.

Enjoyment: 3/10

Found myself skipping huge chunks of episodes near the end.

Overall: 4/10

Dropped the show at episode 22 but ill probably watch the end just to see how Yona and Hak's relationship ends.