Summary: Upon her sixteenth birthday, the cheerful Princess Yona intended to tell her doting father of her love for Soo-won, but her life was turned upside down after witnessing the man she loves cruelly assassinating her father. Heartbroken by this painful betrayal, Princess Yona fled the palace with her loyal servant Hak. Now, she will take up the sword and the bow on a quest to gain new allies and protect her beloved people.
Story
On summary alone you might pass Akatsuki no Yona as a normal revenge story. However, with the stark contrast of Yona in beginning -- that being of a expert archer -- and a few minutes later that of a naive princess, I almost immediately was curious of how she would make that dramatic transformation. That curious is what makes the journey much more interesting than the destination and of course the character progression that will inevitably happen.
I really do like that the focus of the anime, like most adventures, is the journey. Considering we know where Yona, Hak, and crew will get skill wise, it frees up "intrigue space" and allows the focus to be on the here and now -- which is getting stronger to get revenge on Soo-won for killing her father. Not only is their growth shown in the opening, we also know the importance of both Yona and Hak's shared purpose. This central motive feels believable, allowing viewers to be invested in a common goal.
Probably the best thing, that not a lot of fantasies do, was the fact that Akatsuki no Yona didn't demonize Soo-won anymore than killing the previous king, in order to make him the nebulous "big bad evil guy". This makes our villain more human and the act of killing him, even for revenge, a bit less clear where this is canonically a "good" deed. We can only see the result of this journey through the lens of Yona and that is something that make the story feel fresher than the normal, "something bad happened to me and now I will kill that people no mater what" trope.
Art
The one word that would describe the art of Akatsuki no Yona is intense. There are a lot of character with wide ranges of emotes in a world that can be pretty unforgiving. As a result, the faces on character and the atmosphere they give off with this art style is expressed very well. The character that benefit the most from this art style is Yona. With all of the scenes that depict her doing something difficult, through pure determination she powers though despite the fear.
Of course, this anime isn't only about the fights and can be peaceful or comical at time. The art has a way that makes a majority of the characters seem both dangerous and beautiful. It's an odd thing to explain, but since we do have a female lead, there is almost a need to make the character seem strong but not to the point of her appearing like just a "dude in dress". So a lot of victories that Yona takes from powerful enemies who are more skilled than her at the moment are from them hesitating from her overwhelming presence and willpower. So the way those scene gets conveyed thought the art is affective and also compelling.
Characters
This is where Akatsuki no Yona shines the most. It's quite obvious that the focus is on Yona, but they don't skim on development of Hak since he is the one sticking with her. However, as far as Yona goes, this anime does a really good job of showing the journey of her going from the ignorant princess from the start to someone who, at the very least, is competent with a bow. Through shear determination after being kick down a fair amount of times. And that makes you invested in a character that built her way up from the bottom and is just following what she believes despite the trouble she may get into on the way.
As for Son Hak, he felt more like this battle hardened bodyguard who could mow down dozens of guy in one swing -- toward the start. Getting more involved with Yona have softened his manly front and we actually see a bit of his personality through the journey. Since these two are close, it feels like they were destine to fight together. Of course there is an added complication that makes Hak very protective of Yona, which is pretty obvious but I'm not going to spoil it. Regardless, the relationship of these two is something that I like seeing in all of the ranges whether that is during battle or in the down time.
Overall
| Good | Bad |
|---|---|
| fresh look at a revenge story | bad reasoning for defeat some enemies |
| characters have clear goals | |
| art conveys emotions well | |
| antagonist isn't demonized |
I don't have much to complain about Akatsuki no Yona because this is a very well done anime. The only thing I have to say is how ridiculous the way Yona is able to defeat or cause hesitation in her enemies. There are two instances where she causes people to stop and just focus only on her because of her intense desire to accomplish something. It felt too cheesy to be believable, but other than that this anime is great.
From the story being focused on the actual adventure, to an antagonist not being this pure evil sub-human. Akatsuki no Yona felt like an incredible bundle of emotions that built up every episode until the final resolution that felt satisfying. This is one of those anime that I hope to have a second season because there is so much left but I can see that this end of the season was a good stopping place. This one is for those who dig fantasy adventure and want to watch something that has a newer spin on such a saturated genre.
