It wouldn't be your usual series if you followed it no matter liking it or not at first. I say it out loud because of somewhat rare background, the story, and excellent improvement goes forward both outward and inward. So far ended on 24th eps by Studio Pierrot on Fall 2014 - Winter 2015, it's one of the masterpiece anime series ever. Cheers for Akatsuki no Yona [暁のヨナ / Yona of The Dawn], HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ニャ❣
【Download the theme songs here ♪♩♫♬】
T̶h̶e̶ ̶P̶i̶c̶ ̶P̶o̶s̶t̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶p̶o̶s̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶l̶a̶t̶e̶r̶
The son of General Yu-Hon (elder brother of King II), Su-Won, now have grown up into an early adulthood as well as Yona—the King's daughter, and Hak—the soldier of Hiryuu Castle. These three are childhood friends, so close, moreover Yona likes Su-Won. This peaceful life and happy-go-lucky relationship of young men then out of the blue ruined by gruesome tragedy that its impact changed the empire, and definitely the life of those three.
In order to repay Su-Won's deed who's the killer of her father, [somewhat SPOILER] Yona runs away from the castle as fugitive, and starts her journey with Hak. Firstly, it's just to avoid Su-Won's soldiers from killing them, then Yona's goal shifted as she meets the priest in a deserted forest, she is willing to find the 4 dragons. The myths that goes around but unbeknownst the truth becomes her first step. The journey begins to find one by one, the successor of the dragon.
I made a post before of the series and its character on " Favorite Anime Characters on 2014 of Mine ".
I described the charm of its characters, and now I will tell the whole series charm that will definitely grab you tightly. The story sounds so familiar with an old era, where the empire or dynasty is the ruler. No doubt that it would give social inequality to its people, the humanity is no longer the priority of the ruler on its throne. It's started as the suffering of single person alone, the daughter of murdered King, being eaten by her hatred and shock of her father death, moreover the murderer is her beloved. She is struggling to live her life out from the castle as a normal person, not hime-sama anymore. The facts in and out of the castle crushes her like a hurricane, come-and-go so fast 'til the fire inside her heart arise to the surface. From the weak Yona-hime, she is transformed beautifully 'til it's impossible to avert gaze from her. Beautifully indeed, psychologically. She is surely growing up to be a fine lady in an instant, a fragile girl, can be devastated by mere words openly, yet strong-willed and gold-hearted fine lady loved by many. (I'm SO ENVY *Q*)
I discuss the character development first because it's what drown me so deep, the character development of each characters deepen, even with many main characters (the Dragons and such) within 24 eps only, the series is a masterpiece to pump it all synchronically with the plot. The plot goes dokidoki, sometimes fast and slow in a right time and right place, how to tame *whoopsie* I mean how to befriend with the successor of Dragons, which aren't all of them willing to accompany Yona originally.
The animation is damn good, not a superb one but it's good, especially the view of ocean. I don't know why but I like it very much, when they are busying themselves to help townspeople of Awa. The fighting between them, without any futuristic weapons, is no need to be questioned. Awesome movements and all of the fighting means something. The character design is quite simple but remarkable enough once you watch the series.
The theme songs in total are four. The #1 OP theme is "Akatsuki no Yona (暁のヨナ)" by Kunihiko Ryo, it is a nice instrumental. The steady beat which pumps your heart. The #2 OP theme is my most favorite above all, "Akatsuki no Hana (暁の華)" by Cyntia. Altho' on the other side, people said the #1 is better, maybe because the tense feeling from the #1 theme song, I still recommend you to try listening the #2 theme song guys! The #1 ED theme is"Yoru (夜)" by vistlip and the #2 ED theme is "Akatsuki (暁)" by Akiko Shikata. Both ED theme are good enough to support other elements of this series.
You can agree for more if I give rate 9+ ( ˘ ³˘)❤ If you haven't watched it yet, you need to spare time for this awesome series.
Pros:
- Unimaginable progress, the story goes so awesome with full of meaning
- It can deliver the feeling of its characters damn well
- Not only the tense feeling of fights but also the reassuring feeling of each characters bond whether it's companionship/friendship or love
- Remarkable character development
- Nice insert songs
*) NB. Hiryuu Castle: The place where King II, Yona, and Hak lives.
*) NB. Dragons Myth: It happened long time ago, where a Red Dragon decided to live as a human in human world. . In this myth, a dragon who was so caring and trust human chose to life in a human world instead of accepting its true nature as dragon. Then something happened til this Red Dragon was threatened. Other dragons, White, Blue, Green, and Yellow Dragons decided to help the Red Dragon by gave their blood droplets to the chosen humans as their successors in human world to make sure the safety of Red Dragon. In this story, Yona appears to be inherited by Red Dragon's blood which makes the other Four Dragons she finds in her journey feel the tight bound between them and unevitable nature of dragon to feel passionate sense when meets Yona.
増原 紀花