A New Dawn In Anime – Akatsuki no Yona
It begins with Yona, the young princess of Kouka, with long flowing locks similar to the red found in the sky when the sun awakens from it’s slumber. Living the pampered life with her father, she only has two friends among the sea of servants. On her sixteeth birthday, the kingdom throws her a party during which her childhood friend and love interest Soo-won comes to pay tribute to her despite her father’s wishes. Later that night she runs to her father’s bedroom, wanting to tell him that she wants to marry him despite her father’s wishes, only to witness him taking his last breath with Soo-Won standing over him and covered in his blood. Becoming a loose thread Soo-Won needs to get rid of, she barely escapes at the last moment due to her bodyguard, and now her only other childhood friend, Hak. He takes her back to his birthplace and meets his grandfather who tells them to start their journey by seeking the oracle name Ik-su. Ik-su began to weave an ancient tale of the first king, donned with the same red hair as Yona, leading the four dragons that helped him unite the kingdom. After begging the two to bring his assistant Yun with them, Yona and Hak, begin the long journey to find the four reincarnated legendary dragons in order to survive and save the Kingdom from the clutches of Soo-Won.
This simulcast grips you from the first episode, and makes you long for it while in between seasons. I will tell you, I haven’t felt this way about an anime in a long time. You’re on the edge of your seat, lost in Yona’s story as she travels to build her small army against her cousin. Your eyes stay wide open as she practices her fighting skills into the darkest part of night and gasp once you realize the episode is over as you struggle to find the controller. This is a princess story, which I normally don’t do too often, because the shows I watch never dig deeper than a small problem that gets resolved with true love’s kiss. Yona’s story can often be a struggle to watch as she conquers Soo-Won’s ambition with her own, earning her right to the throne instead of just claiming it because she was born to rule. The Yona in the first episode is nothing like the Yona we see in the 24th, and even saying that she still has a journey ahead of her. Every time she earns a callus from practicing to the point of exhaustion, to where she is used as bait to lure the enemy into their clutches to save innocent bystanders, we as an audience are there and hopelessly watching to see what happens next, without a clue as to what exactly is going to happen good or bad. That is what I like to see in my anime, and Yona of the Red Dawn is one of those that I eagerly await for season two.
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