Akatsuki no Yona

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/25013/Akatsuki_no_Yona

Name: Yona of the Dawn 暁のヨナ Akatsuki no Yona

Status: Completed

Episode: 24

Release Date (for eng subs): Every Wednesday

Summary:

Akatsuki no Yona centers around the princess of the Kingdom of Kouka, Yona. Despite her father’s disapproval, she’s in love with and plans to marry her cousin, Soo-won. However, her world gets turned upside down on her 16th birthday, and she is forced to flee from the palace. Now, with her friend and bodyguard Hak, Yona must set out on a journey to find out and fulfill her destiny.

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/25013/Akatsuki_no_Yona

Summary Source: Crunchyroll

Personal Ratings: 3

I know that this anime has a manga, but I have not read it, so I wouldn't actually know how close is this anime in comparison to the manga, but I think it should be quite close.

Idea: 2 / 5

I've actually seen quite a lot of this type of anime since young. It's been the popular kind of adventure anime since the later times. Usually it would also be set in a fantasy land, and with the olden kind of feel to it. There would also be some "mythical" and "magical" part to the anime and the characters.

On the other hand, there are only a handful of anime where the kingdom gets overthrown and the spoiled princes is forced to live in the outside lands.

Unique use of Cliche ideas: 3 / 5

I think that it is save to say that close to none of the similar anime I've seen so far actually focuses on the enemy who overthrow the kingdom. And for this anime, it's actually good to see that there are no distinct black and white area, but mostly gray. Usually for this type of anime, the person who overthrow the peaceful kingdom is always thought to be evil, and would misuse the kingdom's riches, and that the only remaining family member of the previous bloodline, would usually bring back that sucess to the country.

It's good to see that the previous king was not all good - in that sense that he did't actually do good for the people in the rural areas, and didn't prosper the country (mostly about not treating diseases and help fight against the rich who are misusing their powers). The only good which he probably did was probably to avoid war.
It's also good to see that Suwho, the person who overthrew the kingdom was the one actually making all the right changes to the kingdom, and not making things worst.

Execution

Development: 4 / 5

I can usually count on adventure type of anime to have that proper development (with the exception of some anime which lose their motive halfway). The motive for this anime would obviously be to gain back control of the kingdom. Although they have only come halfway down the story, I think that it's actually really developed and you can see the process - how far this anime has come, and also how would the anime continue and end (to a certain extend).

Of course I did minus mark because it's a very cliche and predictable plot, and also, because of the last episode.

In the last part about the yellow dragon, I honestly thought that there would be another nice development for the yellow dragon's character just like all the other dragons and people whom Yona met, so I was actually caught off guard by the simplicity. I didn't actually like how it went. It just felt like that last one happened that way because the author couldn't come up with anymore ideas or that they wanted to just cut short everything and most on to the next stage of the story.

However, I did give the anime some credit for actually developing the other side of the story - the story from Suwon's point of view. Usually animes like this would be too concentrated on the main plot to actually bother about the enemy's side. Either that, or they would usually just show an episode or two just for the sake of it. But this anime has that perfect balance between the two.

Emotions: 2 / 5

I don't think that there was really any much emotions felt during the whole anime other then the first part and some other parts.

The first part was kinda of like the mixture of fear, sadness and devastation. I did think that they did a good job with it. They pioritized fear first in the first half, and then went to concentrate on the sadness of Yona's father's death. Smart choice, because when there are two strong emotions, it's actually very hard to get it through to the audience at the same time.
Other than that, I didn't think there was much. I'm sure that they tried to go with the sad kind of theme in certain mini arcs, but I don't think they did a good job, because I wasn't really feeling it. Of course they tried to use things like the differentiation between the treatments of the dragons to actually bring out the emotions, but it just wasn't really enough. I think that if they actually had done things a little differently for Shin-ah (blue dragon) it would have turned out more beautiful, especially since they already had that beautiful past laid down.

Planning: 3 / 5

I think that this kind of anime doesn't need to have that kind of planning right from the start of the anime. Usually it's plan as per arc, which in this case is for every dragon or people they meet. There really isn't much to say for this, because there isn't really anything outstanding or wrong about it.

Main Character Development: 3 / 5

For this section, I'm only going to be talking about Yona. Yes, I did somewhat see the development in her character, although a little cliche. Her character only drastically changed once in the whole anime, not gradually. I thought that having that slower process would have made her change more acceptable.

The drastic change came about when she finally got up on her feet and got herself together after he father's death. Honestly I think that it's too sudden a change, and it lacked that gradual process of changing one's self.
I honestly didn't really liked how her personality changed to that cliche main character-type of personality, and after her change, she suddenly became the most perfect person there is out there.

I also didn't really like how they just kept their focus on her so much that they pretty much neglected the side characters. You can see the huge difference in treatment for the different characters.

Side Character Development: 3 / 5

I did think they did quite a good job for the side character developments during the different small arcs, but I think that after they are done with their arc, they are usually just left there, and there isn't really much development after that.

For the blue dragon, I really thought that his story line was the prettiest. The flashback and the whole mystery suspense part was really good. But after he decided that he would go together with Yona, the development stops there. Sure there they did some comedy with the his personality and stuff, but I did feel that there was this change in personality that was quite sudden when he decided to follow Yona.

Like I said before, I really didn't like how everything was in this format where every dragon had their own story line, and then suddenly when it came to the yellow dragon, they just drop the bomb and the end. It really disrupts the whole flow of the anime.

Seiyuu: 4 / 5

There is kind of like that mixture of seiyuu in this anime. Most of them are pretty popular, but there are also those that didn't make an appearence for quite sometime, and also some newer seiyuus. I'm not very sure about choosing Nobuhiko for the role of the blue dragon. Even though the blue dragon doesn't have many things to say, and it's usually mostly sound effects, I thought that a person with a lower voice would have been better.

Compliments going to Kobayashi Yuusuke (Su-won's voice actor), Yamamoto Kazumotmi (Min-soo's voice actor) and Morita Masakazu (Ki-ja's voice actor). I thought that their voices really complimented the characters, especially Kobayashi-san. I was quite shocked to see that he didn't do a lot of roles, because I thought he was the most outstanding one in this anime (even in the midst of quite a number of popular seiyuus). I see that they did pick another seiyuu to voice act the character's voices when they were kids. Honestly I didn't think it was necessary because the scenes were not a lot, and could have done without it.

Art Ratings: 3.5

It's an okay art. I did feel that certain way they draw the hair was a little out of place, but nothing too major. I really like the way they actually draw the eyes. They kind of remind me of Hakkenden's art. 

Similar Animes:

Arslan Senki

It's similar in the sense that the princess (in this case it's the prince) gets betrayed by an insider, forcing him the flee his country, and set on a journey to retrieve back his kingdom. The setting is a little different, since Akatsuki no Yona has that touch of Chinese-Korean style to it, while this one it more towards the European style. 

Scrapped Princess

Pampered Princess running away from people who are trying to kill her with only a few trusted and caring people with her. 

Nanatsu no Taizai

Princess sets out on the journey to find 'knights' to bring back her lost kingdom back. It's very similar to the 'dragons' that Yona sets out to find. The setting is also similar; a more European war styled setting and the whole story also takes place in a fantasy land. 

Utawarerumono

I kind of forgot how this anime went, but the setting is kind of similar to Akatsuki no Yona.

Recommended for:

Gender: Female & Male

Age: 13 and above

My Ratings: PG-13