Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 1 in She-Geeks

Sep 16, 2017 Mary rated it really liked it

I often complain that good epic fantasy anime/manga no longer are being made. Now all that comes out is fanservice and overpowered dull MC's trapped in video games. Yona is a call back to the series that focused on building epic stories like The Vision of Escaflowne, Monster, Wolf's Rain, Beserk, The 12 Kingdoms, and etc. Yona is going back to the good days of anime where the characters, the world, and the story sucked you in and never let you go. And is one that can be enjoyed by both men and w

I often complain that good epic fantasy anime/manga no longer are being made. Now all that comes out is fanservice and overpowered dull MC's trapped in video games. Yona is a call back to the series that focused on building epic stories like The Vision of Escaflowne, Monster, Wolf's Rain, Beserk, The 12 Kingdoms, and etc. Yona is going back to the good days of anime where the characters, the world, and the story sucked you in and never let you go. And is one that can be enjoyed by both men and women regardless of the shojo label-there's lots of violence, gore, politics, horror, rampant disease, human trafficking, death, and even the romance isn't in your face. It's developed gradually and realistically, and I sincerely appreciate it.

Yona is one of my favorite series because it has the best character development I've seen for the main character, who starts off a starry-eyed, naive, spoiled princess whose father is killed by the man she love, Su-won. She goes on the run after her father's assassination and must gather the dragons to help her secure her rightful place. Her body guard, Hak, is one of the Son Generals and is feared and admired around the kingdom. Both of them grew up with Su-won and both of them struggle to decide what to do with him when the time comes.

The problem not only begins with how she can't defend herself, but that even with the help of the dragons, she still must end it on her own. And that even her enemies aren't pure evil. They have their reasons and good ones at that. All of the villains serve as foils to Yona and as different facets of what her rule can become when she takes back the throne, and it's bleak.

This is one of my favorite fantasy anime and I'm so glad the manga was licensed in English. Due to it's shojo label it's sorely overlooked which is such a shame. This is not shojo. This is a damn good story.

If you want to see a review done by a dude who really digs this show since I do have a bias for it, here you are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCpM6... ...more

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Dec 05, 2016 Holly Letson rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebooks, edelweiss, library-books, mangas, anime-related, manga-challenge-2016, series-books, love-triangle, mangas-gns-vgs-challenge-2016, princesses-and-queens

There's a fine line between love and hate. Sometimes, that line gets crossed. Only then do you see someone for who they truly are. And, that's when things start to get interesting. ...more

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