Anime Review: Yona of the Dawn

How has my life become waking up, remembering whether I have to go to work or not, slave away at work if the previous answer is yes, and repeatedly checking Nintendo's twitter feed seeing if they have announced the standard New 3DS for North America. Oh well, at least I still have anime. This week is Yona of the Dawn.

Six guys, one girl? If it was the other way around this would be a harem.

Princess Yona has lived a peaceful life within the walls Hiryuu Castle. Doted on by her kind father, loved by her cousin Soo-won, and protected by her childhood friend Hak, there was nothing Yona could have wanted more than those happy days to continue. But on her 16th birthday, her entire world collapsed when Soo-won murdered her father right before her eyes. Fleeing the castle with Hak, Yona discovers not only is the world outside her castle not as peaceful as she had hoped, with corruption and disease spreading far and wide,  but also that she is the reincarnation of the fire dragon who founded their kingdom long, long ago. Now, in order to survive in the outside world and avenge the death of her father, Yona must find the four descendents of the Dragons to reclaim her kingdom once more. But what is Soo-won's true aim? And can Yona bare the responsibility of her kingdom?

"Wait! You hair can be CUT!?"

To start off, the entire series is a fantasy series heavily inspired by Korea's feudal period, this gives the series a much different look and feel from other fantasy anime which are usually inspired by Japanese, Chinese, or European feudal periods. And while the basic story is very simple and cliche when you get down to it, what really drives this series is the characters. Yona goes on a long transformation period that lasts pretty much the entire series, turning her from a weak and helpless princess to some one who can scare the living crap out of some one just by looking at them, and Hak is a badass at the start of the series and a badass at the end, but has to deal with his childhood friend's trials and how they have changed her. The rest of heros are each unique with personality quirks that play off of each other so amazingly well that it adds the strong comedic moments of the series. But BY FAR the most fascinating character is Soo-won who is the clear villain of the series due to his horrendous act at the beginning of the series, but is a character who acts for the good of the kingdom. This makes the dynamic between him, Yona, and Hak so powerful that you can't help but want to know how it will all resolve.

My reaction to the ending.

Which is what is the most FRUSTRATING part of this series all the more infuriating: The Ending. From episode 1-23 the series progressed at a very calm even pace, if a little slow. Which gave me the feeling that I was in for a 36 or even 52 episode series. But then episode 24 hit and then suddenly the series is over. Nothing is resolved, nothing is explained, and it just leaves on a very "Well what happened next?" note. Right now, I'm dying to know if there is going to be a second season or not. If there is then happy times. If there isn't then there is going to be hell to pay. The only other problem with the series is some sudden moments of comic relief during otherwise tense encounters with the series antagonists. I mean, how am I suppose to take these guys seriously when the characters in the series don't.

Yona of the Dawn is a very good action fantasy series with fantastic comedic moments throughout. I would give this series a MUST WATCH, but the lack of an actual ENDING makes it kind of hard to justify. If a second season does come to pass, than that will change. As is however, it comes Highly Recommended.

Until Next Time.

-CRES, one of these is a trap.