Akatsuki no Yona Episode 1 [First impression]

I knew this show was going to be a shoujo, and I’m fine with that because I enjoy shoujo. But looking at the PV, it looked like a really serious and action-packed show. So the comedy actually threw me off a bit. Then again, shoujo usually has comedy so this isn’t a big deal.

We have our main princess, Yona. She’s about to turn 16 and everyone’s going to prepare for her banquet. While her father is outside giving a speech to the kingdom’s people, Yona is busy inside trying to look her prettiest for the man who’s going to visit for her birthday. Her cousin, and the man she’s in love with, Soo-Won. Ever since her mother died when she was young, Soo-won always viewed Yona as his little sister and looked out for her, and comforted her like her mother would have. Yona and Soo-Won have been close ever since their childhood.

Another character worth mentioning is Son Hak. Hak is Yona’s bodyguard, but he’s also her childhood friend. For most of this episode, he was there just patrolling the castle and making quips at Yona, which was the main form of the comedy. He’s also close to Soo-Won, so the three of them have known each other for very long.

The gut of the problem is that Yona is going to be at the age where she can marry, and EVERYONE knows she’s in love with Soo-Won, except Soo-Won. But her father doesn’t want her to marry him. Yona pleads over and over that he’s a wonderful man and that everyone likes him, but her father refuses. He’s given her everything she’s ever wanted, but for once, he says he wants to pick her suitor. This makes Yona upset, blah blah blah. This is my problem with Yona right now. She’s a spoiled brat. I guess I can understand her feelings for wanting to marry Soo-Won, but her attitude is like a child (which Hak even says). But she’s spoiled and rude to her father. Her father seriously got her anything she wanted like jewelery, perfumes, a freaking flower garden. When meeting up with Soo-Won and getting treated like a child, she was like “I put on the most expensive makeup and fragrances how could he not see that kjsgkgfsghklfjdhg”. Oh, and she won’t shut up about her hair being too red and unruly. It isn’t until Soo-Won says that her hair is beautiful that she starts liking her hair too. Girl is thirsty as fuck.

Soo-Won may seem like a sweet bishonen, but when you read the synopsis to this show you know that he isn’t. The night after her banquet ended, Yona goes to her father’s room to talk about marrying Soo-Won and hoping to change his mind when DUN DUN DUUNNNNN. We see a sword through her father, wielded by our not-so-sweetie, Soo-Won. Yona goes to her father’s side and like an idiot tells Soo-Won to call for a doctor WHEN HE’S THE ONE WIELDING THE SWORD THAT KILLED HER FATHER. But yeah, her father’s dead. Guards have taken Yona outside and are about to kill her when Hak rushes to the rescue. We saw earlier that a man was after Yona, but she ran away from him and ended up in Soo-Won’s room. So they were gonna kill her this time. Hak takes out the men that were going to kill Yona, and that’s where the episode ends.

I already knew this stuff was going to happen because of the summary, so nothing was new to me. I had no idea there was going to be comedy in this show, so that threw me off. I think the episode was pretty okay. It wasn’t anything spectacular. The animation was nice, it was the typical shoujo artwork so Yona was pretty and the guys were hot. The one action scene at the end was good. We had nice oriental music that really fit the show. I can’t say much about the characters except that I don’t really like Yona. She’s a bratty kid princess BUT…in the opening and ending we see that she’ll have short hair, and she seemed more mature in the beginning which would be future events we’ll see soon. I know after this, Yona is going to have to grow up because she’ll be on the run, and she can’t keep the nice things she’s had her whole life anymore. Hak is pretty cool, and Soo-Won is the typical nice guy that turned bad. Sigh It’s always the long-haired guys.

After this, it looks like the show will be taking that more serious route that I was expecting. The premise isn’t too amazing, but it works. I’ll probably get to like Yona sooner or later…I hope. This episode was kinda generic, but it wasn’t bad. I’ll keep watching this because it still has my attention, and I’ll be up for covering it in hopes that’ll it be more exciting.