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all-i-do-is-read · 4 months

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Akatsuki No Yona Recap Chapters 1&2

First things first, this sword here, have we ever seen this referenced again anywhere else in the manga yet? I'm definitely keeping my eyes out for this on my re-read.

Before I start this, I am going to put a disclaimer that my recap and commentary will be based on official English translation from ShoujoBeat as they are the copies I own. A second disclaimer is that these are simply all my opinions and commentary from the way I read and consumed the manga. I would very much welcome it if you could also comment and share your opinions as these recaps progress. Also, these posts will be long, so apologies in advance.

Akatsuki No Yona Chapter 1: Princess Yona

Since this is a "pilot" chapter, the purpose is to quickly get to the point about who these people are and what their circumstances are in a glance. Now, I'll say this first: I think Kusanagi Mizuho, the mangaka, is a very talented storyteller and we will celebrate her through this work. Nonetheless, I also think that she is not perfect and has some misses in the way she handled some of the narratives.

This chapter has plenty of that in the employment of what I call her "storytelling shorthand." Basically, it just means infodump-y and trope-y expositions to get some points across that she would like to be dealt with immediately, so she can move to the next point of the story quickly.

(This technique does appear fewer and fewer as the story progresses, presumably as the mangaka improves in her storytelling craft, but there are still instances of them used in later chapters and I would point them out as they come)

To be honest, this is why most of the characters were kind of unappealing to me when I was only starting this manga, because of the very trope-y and, dare I say, exaggerated way they were presented to us. I think the biggest victim of this shorthand is Hak and we'll deal with that in later chapter discussions. But once I got over that, I was fine to continue with the story. Plus, again, this is chapter one, so the shorthand is useful for getting relevant context out of the way so we can quickly get to the inciting incident of this whole manga.

We begin with a narration about the Kingdom of Kohka, the Hiryuu Palace and the King who lavished all his love to his only daughter, Princess Yona. (Oh, look, it's the title of the chapter!)

This narration comes from Yona herself, but we can tell that she is reminiscing about her time in the palace, as opposed to her situation now--outside of the palace. We immediately understand that something must have happened.

Yona is imperious, spoiled and shallow, only caring about her looks. Hak is an irreverent and sarcastic general. He is also her exclusive bodyguard. He also deadpans a lot. We immediately understand that they have a close relationship dynamic in the way that Hak feels comfortable teasing the princess of his nation in front of his King (his masters, essentially) and the way Yona just immediately launches into countering his teasing.

I've seen some people put off by Yona, because she called Hak a servant here (she also called him this in a future chapter, we'll get to that), but to me, it is again one of those shorthands to inform us that Yona is simply ignorant. Plus, it clearly is not meant to insult or belittle Hak. She was just responding to Hak as he teases her. You never see her refer to other people in this way again in this manga, anyway.

Here, we also meet King Il, Yona's father who dotes on her... and the third essential pillar of the Akatsuki No Yona trio, Suwon.

Aside: Suwon looks like a princess here hahaha

We are told that Suwon is so kind and that Yona, very obviously, has a crush on him. We get into a flashback showing us that Suwon supported Yona when she lost her mother at such a young age. At this point in the manga, we were Yona, too, loving on such a gentle Suwon.

And then we are also shown and told that not only do Yona and Suwon have a pretty close relationship, Suwon and Hak are close friends, too.

With Suwon's arrival, we get the information that Yona's 16th birthday is coming up. We also learn, more or less, that Yona figures Suwon doesn't think of her romantically, King Il has a distaste for weapons (and thus a coward) and that King Il doesn't approve of Yona's feelings for Suwon. We get more shorthands here about the immediate royal family's who's who and that, at least, 2/5 of them is not among the living.

Here's another one of those shorthands (infodump exposition) pertaining to Yona's personality. Following this, Yona told her father certain information her father should already know, but for the sake of readers, is spelled out for us.

King Il tells Yona that the reason she doesn't approve of Suwon is because being married to her would put him in danger, just like how the Queen, Yona's mom, was killed by traitors.

Yona opposes, obvi, and goes to contemplate this information. But she gets stalked by an ominous presence, which more seriously brings the point about the danger of being married to her across. She runs and ends up getting into a room where Suwon is. Suwon sees her distress and comforts her. But Yona then has a thought, which to me is a glimpse of the real her buried underneath the spoiled princess surface.

Yona is someone who is able to think about the well-being of others.

Now, the next portion of this, I will skip for now and get back to later. But I'll say this: Yona being stalked in the castle even though Hak is supposedly her exclusive bodyguard is one of another "quirk" that usually happens in this manga.

Yeah, she ran away from that conversation with King Il and she was having a moment to herself, but as a bodyguard, Hak should have followed her from a respectful distance. But then if Hak did, the stalking scene and following scenes wouldn't have happened. So since there needs to be a plot beat here, some inconsistencies just have to happen, I guess. This is one instance where Hak's characterization is a victim of these "quirks," but we'll just overlook that and go straight to Yona's birthday party.

The first time I read this part, I really did believe the direction of this story is that Suwon is the one for Yona. There was also that sequence that I skipped for now that reinforced this idea to me.

So Suwon gives Yona an exquisite hairpin and praises her hair and they have that lovely moment above.

I will talk about this later: Suwon's gaze towards a smiling Yona.

Anyway, this moment is later interrupted by Hak telling Yona that King Il was looking for her. Left alone, Hak and Suwon has a conversation. Hak tells Suwon that he figures that Suwon and Yona will finally become a thing (again, based on the earlier scene with the hairpin, it does look like it, yeah? Hak is not simply projecting here, he is just saying what he has observed). He also says that he supports Suwon to be the future King. Suwon vaguely waves that away with an, "It's not what you think," and we get this little bit of Hak characterization here:

Hak is actually conscientious, as in he takes his role, place, job and status super seriously, even though he is usually irreverent (which was why it doesn't make sense that he wasn't with Yona during that earlier stalking incident, but fine, I'll let it go).

Hak and Suwon then has a serious conversation about things being a bit off in the palace. And Suwon advised Hak to take a closer look at how things are. This next bit is quite important: Hak felt confident about taking a look at things around the palace on Yona's birthday celebration that he wasn't exclusively hanging around Yona that day, because he believes he can leave her safety and protection over to Suwon.

Now as Yona's party quiets down, Yona decides she can't let go of her feelings for Suwon and goes to look for King Il to convince him, but when she gets there, she is greeted with this:

I mean, I know what the silhouette is trying to tell me, but when I was reading it, I was like There must have been an intruder or something! as foreshadowed by that earlier conversation between Hak and Suwon.

This couldn't be Suwon, right?

Yeah, no. It was him. It was Suwon.

And that's where that chapter ends.

Akatsuki No Yona Chapter 2: Shattered Bonds

Nothing for it, but to go directly to the second chapter. But we are treated to a cliff-hanging respite as we go to Hak this time. He is out on patrol through the palace grounds. He's approached by Minsu, King Il's attendant. Minsu offers him a drink and they chat for a bit. We don't know the laws of this Kingdom but we do know that Hak is 18, so it seems that at least he can have an alcoholic drink at his age.

Hak and Minsu talk about Yona and Suwon and we learn, what I think, is the core of Hak as a character in this story when he says this:

"I want them to be happy together."

Guy just wants the people he loves to be happy. How hard can that be to grant? Such a simple desire that, unfortunately for him, the mangaka (hereby referred to as Kusa) is about to shatter.

Now, I really like this narrative technique used here, because as Hak is confessing this desire to Minsu, we are reading it through this panel:

Hak gazing up, probably imagining the smiling faces of his two best friends in his head, and the the tip of the bloody sword that Suwon used to kill Il. I thought that was such a brilliant contrast. What a way to wring our hearts, you know. Kusa would employ this trick a few more times in the course of the story and she always picks the most devastating moments to use this.

Then we go back to Suwon and Yona.

Yona is devastated in more ways than one. Her father is dead and the man she loves is her father's killer. But Yona finds that hard to believe and so she tells Suwon that he is not someone who would do that. In response, Suwon tells Yona a secret about their families.

King Il killed Suwon's father, Yuhon. And so Suwon killed Il to avenge his father. And he has been planning to do it for a looooonggg time.

We also learn that Yuhon was, in all the ways that matter, the better choice to be the King of the kingdom. But for some reason, the former King, Suwon and Yona's grandfather, decided to choose Il as his successor. But now that Il is dead, Suwon is usurping his throne to be the ruler of Kohka.

Poor Yona cannot compute what is happening.

She thinks about multiple things. She thinks about the old Suwon who smiled at her warmly--the one who gifted her a beautiful hairpin just hours ago.

But I guess now that Suwon has finally let out the truth he had been holding on to for so long, he is a bit talkative. He tells Yona that he didn't expect her to be awake and asks her what brought her to the King's chambers that night.

I thought that Yona's response was devastating.

Even Suwon is taken aback by Yona's answer, but let's unpack that later. I promise I will get back to that.

At this point, they get interrupted by soldiers that are clearly on Suwon's side who congratulated him for finally taking his revenge. But then they notice Yona in the room and quickly realize that she saw everything and so they clamor to kill her as well. Suwon resolves to do just that, but fortunately for Yona, her survival instincts kicked in and she was able to run away.

Yona is very much shattered emotionally. While she was running away, she kept denying in her mind what she witnessed, what just happened. She wonders if Suwon actually hated her. She then gets caught by one of the soldiers.

But just as a soldier is about to strike Yona, a force of lightning appeared between her and her pursuers.

It's Hak.

And he's not happy. He considers the situation and demands an explanation from Suwon. (He even has a very good narrative excuse for not being with Yona this time [unlike that last time]: because she is supposed to be with Suwon, so he was making himself scarce).

He then turns to Yona and we see one of this manga's iconic panels: (iconic to me, at least. like when I think of ANY, this always immediately comes to mind)

Yona's response to him here is also very devastating.

"Hak, are you on my side?"

Poor Yona, she already thinks she has no one. Not surprising when the man you love commits regicide in front of your very eyes and soldiers of your kingdom wants to cut you down.

You can tell that Hak is taken aback by this question, too, because he pauses before answering her. Then he pledges his devotion and obedience to her.

Hak turns back to Suwon and Suwon gets him up to speed about the plot thus far, except Hak is not even given the grace of the full truth about the backstory of the royal family rift. So much for a best friend, really, Suwon. Instead, Hak was given a shortcut version of "King Il: Terrible, had to die. Suwon: Perfect Leader, taking over."

Hak then attacks Suwon, which, to his credit, he manages to dodge. The soldiers try to intervene, but they are warned away by Suwon by declaring that Hak is:

Hak is so remarkably strong as a fighter that he even has a famous nickname aside from being a general at his young age. The soldiers even sounded impressed at hearing his name. Now this is already the second time in two consecutive chapters where Hak's exceptional abilities in military arts or fighting arts or whatever you might call it is remarked upon. Bookmark that for now, because I will have some things to say about that in the future.

Anyway, back to the plot.

Because there are, obviously, many soldiers and just one Hak, he and Yona get cornered and all hope seem lost. Hak uses this opportunity to ask Suwon this:

"Suwon, was the man I knew just a facade?"

You get the feeling that the question was almost an imploration. Like Yona denying in her head what she is witnessing, Hak was also looking for his best friend in the face of this man in front of him through these questions.

Suwon, in fairness to him, does answer Hak, although I imagine that his answer actually pulvurized Hak's heart.

"The man you knew never existed. If anyone gets in my way, I will destroy them. No matter who it is."

I feel immense satisfaction knowing that Hak managed to wound Suwon, though. Suwon, you deserved worse.

Yona and Hak has no time to dwell on Suwon's declaration, however, as somebody fires an arrow that distracts the other soldiers. It was just enough distraction for Hak to snatch Yona and together they run away.

They are approached by Minsu and Hak remarks on his archery skills, saying it was a lousy shot (not the time, Hak). Minsu asks Yona if the king is really dead and Yona can only manage a nod.

They make a plan to escape the palace as more of the soldiers that are loyal to Suwon are gathering. Yona then despairs about leaving the palace where her father is. Hak comforts her with an embrace and gives her a reason for surviving for now.

As an act of loyalty, Minsu offers to draw the attention of the soldiers so that Hak and Yona can run away. His last words to Yona, "Please stay safe, your highness," is truly heart-wrenching to me, especially since the last page of this chapter ends with Minsu being shot in the back and with Yona, running away with Hak, taking one last glance at Minsu.

That ends chapter two.

Through all this, I have given very limited commentary about Suwon. And they are all related to the parts I said I will come back to. So here goes.

First, Suwon as the antagonist.

At the beginning, I didn't really see that, because I thought he is going to be the actual love interest for Yona. And I had that thought, because of that sequence in chapter one that I skipped, just right after the stalking incident.

Let's go back to that now.

Yona, overwhelmed by her emotions, tried to confess her feelings for Suwon, but Suwon shuts it down before she could even begin to say anything. However, Yona tries to keep pushing the subject of feelings without actually saying her feelings out loud. We get a few panels of Suwon looking like this and saying things like this:

Now, on my first read through, I thought that Suwon might have feelings for Yona. But (and spoilers for future chapters) it appears that Suwon is just truly awkward and clueless in matters about romance, hence his reaction.

But the really shitty thing about this is that when Yona says that it's enough for her that Suwon is a tiny, tiny bit aware of her, Suwon pats her head in a kind gesture, proceeds to give the hairpin to her on her birthday and then turns around and kills her father.

So given what we know now, that he kills Il and breaks the heart of his two best friends, all I can say about him is that he is a big piece of shit.

In these chapters, all we know about him is his kindness and yet his kindness turns out to be a lie. Kusa does give hints that there might be more to him on certain panels, but two particularly stands out to me.

The first one is his reaction after seeing Yona smile at the hairpin that he gave her.

Now at this point, he still had choices: turn back from his plans and choose Yona and Hak, or proceed as planned and turn his back on those two.

And he chose to be cruel.

Now notice that I am not attaching Kohka in his choices, because I truly believe it is an entirely different matter, even if the narrative and the characters keep insisting to us that killing Il and saving Kohka are one and the same. And I will get to that in later chapters. But like, way later. As in around hundreds of chapters later.

Going back, the second stand out Suwon panel to me is this:

This is him facing the consequence of that choice. Here he was, faced with the girl who, in many senses of the word, had no power. She's so powerless, she can't even choose who she can marry, but she was resolute to have a choice, to make it so that she can choose.

And she would have chosen Suwon.

You can tell from Yona's resolution before visiting King Il that she would have done all she can--all the cajoling, all the imploring, all the imperativeness in her spoiled body--just so she doesn't have to give up Suwon.

It's a choice that is impossible for Suwon to make. (Cause he's shitty)

Now, before you tell me that he had an impossible choice, because the choice was between Yona&Hak or Yuhon, all I can say is this: if Suwon wasn't a shitty person, he would have tried to make King Il answer for killing his father without having to resort to completely destroying the two people whose only crime was loving him wholeheartedly.

No, the choice was not between Yona&Hak or Yuhon, the choice was between justice and cruelty. He chose cruetly, because he is a shitty person, as I keep saying.

I will have more to say about Suwon, because I know his character gets expanded in later chapters, but my commentary on the core of his characterization will never change.

And that's it for my first Akatsuki No Yona Commentary Series. I'm sorry that it got so long, but I had to put chapters 1 and 2 together to make this make sense.

I'll be back with more chapter commentaries soon. Please let me know your commentary on these chapters if you love this manga. I would love to read more perspectives, more opinions. And thank you for reading until here. See you next time!

#akatsuki no yona #yona of the dawn #yona #hak #hakyona #suwon #analysis

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