The main topic of today is about kings. And while there are two sides to this issue, one side is the main side as they all agree on one thing: King Il wasn’t a great king.
From our point of view, King Il was a great man. He cared deeply about Yona, he was kind towards everyone, and he was fair. Hak didn’t think him a coward and admired him. So we think, hey, he was a pretty good guy, right? Well, yeah, he was. But when you’re too kind, that can actually cause some problems. It’s been said before again and again that King Il hated weapons, and he actually banned war. There was no fighting during his reign, which is actually amazing. But it still caused tension between the tribes and kingdoms. Two people were verbal about this:
Yona and the boys wander into a run-down disease-ridden village ignored by the king. The place is terrible to say the least. Yona and the others tend to a man coughing near them, and he talks about how terrible King Il was (turning the kingdom to shambles, not saving poor weak commoners like him), and hopes the new king will be better. Right in front of Yona too. And what hurt me was that Yona smiled the whole time, even with some tears in her eyes. Once they walked away, Yona faked having to go to the bathroom and hid behind a building to cry. Which killed me. It must be so hard for her to hear people talk about her father like that. He was the only flesh and blood she had. But because of the way he ruled, it really hurt the kingdom, and most people probably didn’t like him for that. But this is why the conversation Yona and Hak had before this episode was so important. Yona doesn’t want to be forgotten for who she really is, a princess. She still sees herself as a princess, as the daughter of the late King Il. While others may speak ill of him, her connection to him is what makes her whole and makes her who she is. I like what Hak said about Yona.
That’s her pride. It’s who she is. While of course she’ll never forget it, she wants someone else to remember her and her father for who they are. Telling Hak to call her “Princess” instead of her first name could be taken as sad and a lack of intimacy, but I think it’s the opposite. No one in the kingdom is going to care about her, the princess, except for herself. Really. They thought King Il was terrible. “Oh, you’re the late King’s daughter? Who cares!” I mean really. Having Hak still see her that way, I think that makes them more intimate than the rest of the group. They have something together, a history together, that the other boys don’t have and probably won’t be close to having with her. They have a special connection with each other, and I think they’re closer. And I just think it’s really important.
ANYWAY, ENOUGH WITH ME CRYING OVER YONA.
Soo-won. He’s traveled to the capital of the Earth Tribe for some sightseeing. Lord Geun-tea isn’t amazed with him. He’s acting like the Soo-won we saw in episode one. Cute, smiling all the time, and laid back. And Geun-tea is taken aback at the “sightseeing”. The kingdom is in trouble and the new King is taking time to sightsee? Not making a good impression there.
Geun-tea compares Soo-won with King Il, such as being gentle, nice, and…way too laidback. Too laidback for his liking. And he wonders over and over whether he’ll actually do the kingdom good. Basically this portion of the episode is comparing Soo-won to his father and King Il, and Geun-tea not liking him. Geun-tea is dying to get back to war, and Soo-won notes how his servant glows whenever he talks about him and admires him (even having the same ponytail as him).
And so Soo-won has an idea. He calls everyone over because he says he’s gonna go into “war”. Well…create a war games. Actually meaning, a festival. Geun-tea is really disappointed and even less convinced of Soo-won, but the festival is going to commence in a week, and the war games is basically going to be sparring matches between the generals. This may seem like a waste of time, but I think this might be some good for Soo-won. I think he knows some people aren’t convinced by him, so he’s going to hold this war games as a way to show who he really is, since we’ve seen him fight before, and he’s pretty skilled. Also, it’s good to have a king who is charismatic and actually cares about the people to actually be close around them.
Like that. Actually caring about people and visiting them. He’s being personal. He kind of sounds like the President. That’ll be one way to get people on his side. And again…this makes me really conflicted with Soo-won. He’s done terrible things that no one knows, but it looks like he’s actually going to do great things. So…ugh. Shit. He still makes me angry. Anyway, next week will be the festival, so we’ll see what’ll happen then.
Also, what’d you guys feel about the new opening and ending? I really like the opening song, and I liked some of the new visuals, but I feel like the song doesn’t fit with the old visuals, and I kinda feel it doesn’t fit the show. But it was cool. The ending was very nice, but I like the other one better….just saying.
Being a kind person by no means makes one a good king…poor King Il, and poor Yona. I think the previous king gave the role to Il because he wasn’t a potential warmonger like his brother, but not being aggressive enough to defend what you already have isn’t good either. Soo-won just might strike a good balance between the two, as much as it pains me to say it. I know he’s not evil…he really seems to be acting smartly with the country’s well-being in mind. He’s just…hurt everyone too much to forgive so soon TT^TT
As for the Earth Tribe, I’m interested in seeing where this new plotline goes. Mock battles are a great way of showcasing fighting ability and boosting morale, so I’m sure next week’s ‘festival’ will be a success one way or another. I like Geun-tea quite a lot. Asides from the fact that he’s totally my type (bare in mind I have many ‘types’ lol), he really seems to be a cool guy, talking casually with his men and serving up his wife’s tea to the king even if he doesn’t like it personally. Sure he only feels useful on the battlefield, but lots of people have this kind of complex when they spend their entire life honing specific skills. I can’t help but root for his people to prosper, even if it’s by Soo-won’s hand…*grumblegrumble*
And I loooove the new OP, although it jarred a little with the old visuals a little, I get more and more into it with each viewing! I think the old OP (which I liked just as much for different reasons) represented Yona’s more constrained, traditional princess self, while the new OP is much more wild and passionate like the badass warrior princess she’s becoming. I think they might’ve overdone it with all the bow & arrow imagery though, it kinda makes me go “I get it, she becomes an awesome archer, GAWD!!” haha. I adore the new ED! I never really felt much for the old ED save for the Yellow Dragon scene, which I always skip to right away =P
Yeah, I think we’re all in the middle when it comes to Soo-won. He’s not completely EVIL, just…WHY DID HE HAVE TO DO THAT. He could have handled things better. And seeing just how kind he is towards the Earth Tribe, it just confuses me. *sigh*
Ooh, I like your views on the OP. I agree!
I adore the new ending theme. it just fits with the series ^_^ I like the opening theme too but my heart is always towards instrumentation ^_^
yeah Su-Won is definitely in the grey area he has done terrible things to the people close to him, but how does Yona take it once she realizes that maybe it was a good thing since her father was not a good king? That is harsh because its essentially saying he deserved to die despite the fact that he was a nice man. But here is the thing was King IL everything he seemed to be? The few flashbacks we get of him is that there was more to him then meets the eye. I’m especially curious about his relationship with his brother. This is probably Yona toughest hour because she now must accept that her father was not loved by everyone, which means they could care less that he is dead. I mean look at how all the generals react to his death with the exception of Mun-dook(Wind Tribe). Almost none of them care.
Kusanagi sensei (the creator of this series) has said on her twitter this series will only be 24 episodes which is a damn shame because that means we wont spend too much time with the final dragon zeno (he is super interesting) plus they seem to be having fun animating this series so I assumed they might go over 24 episodes but alas that wont happen. I highly recommend you read the manga once the anime is over. Currently the manga is 101 chapters and so far 67 chapters have been translated.
I’m lazy when it comes to reading manga, but I probably will because I’ve become so invested in this series. I saw the third PV that was just released, and it showed plenty of Green Dragon but not Yellow so…I have a feeling we won’t even get to him? I certainly hope they make another season, because they have way more story to go through, and to not show the last of the dragons will be disappointing. If the series sells well enough, we might just get another. If other crappy anime can get multiple seasons, then Yona should because it deserves it.
I doubt it since the Studio Deen has not given word that they will do more than 24 episodes. According the the Orion charts the manga sales went up a bit but not enough to warrant another season. Oh we will get to Zeno lol I won’t spoil him at all for you lol. But what I mean is too bad we wont get to explore him some more because he is the enigmatic dragon of the group. I think its important to note as well this episode and the next with Su-Won happens after the green dragon arc so its interesting that they switched those arcs up so we can get more screen time with him. Trust me the manga is well worth the read and plus in the recent arcs there has been far more exploration on a lot of characters i won’t spoil. ^_^
sorry its studio pierrot not studio deen