Yona is about a girl named Yona. She is the princess of the Kingdom of Kouka, a nation that appears to be based off various feudal Asian cultures. Her father the king gives her nearly everything she wants, she never has to do any work herself, and her cousin, Soo-Won, also happens to be The Boy She Likes. The only things wrong with her life is she thinks her hair, a vibrant red mess of wavy strands, is ugly, and that her assigned bodyguard, Son Hak, is sooooo annoying!
But on the eve of her sixteenth birthday, she bears witness to Soo-Won killing her father, with plans to usurp the throne. Yona must flee for her life, and manages to escape with Son Hak. They are now targets of Soo-Won’s violent coup. While on the run, Yona resolves to not only take back the kingdom, but to not be useless anymore. She wants to become a worthy leader in her own right. To do this, she must learn to fight, learn to think for herself, learn how the world works. Her eyes will be open to many harsh truths of Kouka, its neighbors, what the subjects think of her father, and what they make of the coup.
Even as things look hopeless for Yona, she learns of a legend that gives her hope. In ancient times, an ancient dragon known as Hiryuu, described as having vibrant red hair, worked together with four other dragon warriors, establishing the kingdom of Kouka, and that one day, Hiryuu and his followers would be reborn. Yona and her party seek out the four dragons, hoping to enlist their aid in her quest.
Yona is about change. Not just the change of the nation’s ruler, but also how Yona changes. She grows from a helpless, sheltered crybaby into a mighty warrior, and believably so. At first glance, her companions appear to be typical members of a reverse harem: tall muscular young men guaranteed to make teen girls write, “OMG HAWT GAIZ!” They are not shallow either. They too have their own distinct quirks and personalities, and their own reasons to be travelling with Yona. Gi-ja and Shin-ah, in particular, are fantastic characters in their own right. Even the pet squirrel, Ao, serves a purpose beyond “cute animal mascot”.
And that’s what’s so great about Yona; not only are the characters not two-dimensional cutouts, the setting is more complex than it appears too. The world of Yona is not a bright and cheery place beyond the palace walls; there is widespread poverty and corruption, and neighboring countries threatening to overtake Kouka. There is a good deal of politics involved whenever Soo-Won and his followers show up, and the lives of the Four Dragons are not an easy life. Yona learns what her subjects think of her father the previous king, and how she must win their trust back. It shows the world is a large and sometimes confusing place, one wherein victory seems nearly impossible, yet Yona presses on, knowing that anything else would feel like a betrayal for her.
The anime of Yona catches your attention fairly quickly, for its first OP song is not a licensed JPOP song, but an instrumental orchestra that is sometimes used in the show itself. It is an adventurous piece, filled with Asian instrumentation, and it sets the tone for the journey that Yona undertakes. The first ED is less memorable, but is made up by the second ED song, an enka performed by Akiko Shikata, a beautiful and heartfelt way to close an episode of Yona’s tale. The music in the show is not among the best background music I’ve heard, but it gets the job done, as does the voice acting. Chiwa Saitou does a voice for Yona that is neither cutesy nor sexy, a rarity in today’s anime, and always manages to sound right no matter the occasion. The Japanese voice cast doesn’t fail overall, with particular shout outs to Masakazu Morita and Junichi Suwabe for their parts.
In terms of visuals, Yona is not among the best. Kusanagi’s manga art translates well into animated format, but Pierrot, Naruto films aside, was never one for high-end animation. There are gaffes and shortcuts here and there, and the crowd scenes look uninspired. The OP sequence looks nice, and some of the action scenes are well-animated, but don’t expect the visual quality of a show by Bones or ufotable while watching this.
If there are any faults of Yona beyond a few animation shortcuts, it’s that the show takes its time. Like a detailed novel, it takes a while for anything to happen. The pacing is not sluggish, mind you, but Yona devotes a lot of time in fleshing out its setting, giving characters a chance to breathe (so to speak), never rushing itself from one action scene to another. I personally like this approach (for the most part), but I have seen others complain of the show taking too long for something to happen, and I can see why they might think that. If it’s any consolidation, Yona manages to move along without any filler material, for everything is important.
The only other major fault is it’s based off an ongoing manga. Because of this, the anime stops at a certain point. Since the 2-cour tv series ended, exactly one OVA episode has come out since. It’s a great episode, with another great ED song, but if you aren’t reading the manga, it will leave you wanting for more. Yona’s journey is far from finished, and while there is always the possibility of the anime coming back, that may take a while. Even if there is no more animated content beyond this, what we do currently have is something to be cherished.
Yona of the Dawn appears to many people to be “another typical shoujo adventure”. Critics say Yona is a “Mary Sue”, (she’s not) that it’s just a ripoff of Inuyasha and Fushigi Yugi, (Yona is superior in execution compared to both of those) that the “face faulting” makes it look too much like a “cartoon” at times. (What a wild thing to say! A series of drawings looking like a cartoon!? Absurd!) From my observations, Yona is a deep character, with many flaws and virtues, and can’t be pegged down with a single-word description like “moe”, Yona is what I wanted Inuyasha to be like so many years ago, and yes, Yona does have comic relief that oftentimes involve the characters looking silly, but some of the humor is funny, and is less forced than what Fullmetal Alchemist had in that regard. While slow at times, I saw the beginning of what could become a masterpiece in this show. If there is a second season, or if the manga comes to a conclusion, I am -immediately- jumping back into this world. This is a series that combines action, adventure, drama, romance, and comedy into one splendid package, and you would be remiss to not check it out.
