OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOD
OH
MY
GOD
This episode made me so fucking happy and proud and great UNTIL THE VERY LAST FUCKING SECOND. THE LAST. FUCKING….Okay, I’ll get to that in a bit. I’ll calm down.
Most of the episode consists of fighting, so this can easily be summarized. Yona sets off the firework, and the men are about to kill her and Yun, until Jae-ha crashes in and beats them up. Shin-ah is also there. When seeing the firework, he pointed out that the ship was far. Jae-ha carries Shin-ah and flies to the ship, while Hak and Ki-ja stay behind and fight off the mercenaries. The fight is tough, mercenaries coming out from every corner, but the dragons and Hak are strong, so they easily sink almost all of the ships. Some of the other pirates are still fighting as well, with Captain Gigan helping out as well (yay!). The boys have been fighting all night, so they’re getting tired, but they still need to do one thing: find Kumji. Yun is the one able to deduce just where. Kumji would want to stay near the girls he’s trying to sell, so he’s either on the same ship where the girls are, or he’s in the ship right next to where they are.
One of the pirates enters that exact ship and hears Kumji and his men talking. The men are worried about the pirates, and tell him one of the girls was a part of them, and immediately he thinks of Yona, and that deadly stare she gave him. He can’t get his mind off of her, and know she is the one. Well, he won’t back down.
Oh wait yeah he does, little shit. Jae-ha enters the hidden room and finds it empty, but outside Shin-ah finds the small boat he and the captain of his are on, trying to escape. He can buy as many mercenaries as he wants, so he’s just going to retreat and fight again. But like hell. Jae-ha jumps from the ship and flies to him, but Kumji takes out a bow and arrow, ready to shoot him down. He uses his own captain as a shield, so Jae-ha would aim his knives away from him. The knives missing, Kumji shoots at him. And let me tell you how scared I was, because he was open and I thought the arrow would shoot his heart, but luckily it just hurt his shoulder. Kumji is ready to shoot down an injured Jae-ha, who would have trouble escaping the water, until he feels something. He feels someone watching him.
Fear
Bloodlust
Someone aiming for him.
Again, he remembers the shining red hair from his visit to the castle. Remembers how briefly he saw the red hair from Princess Yona. He comes to realize that yes she is the same person. And before he could even say it, the arrow shot through the air, pierced his heart, and his body fell into the ocean, and sank. Dead.
THIS. THIS IS WHAT I WANTED. THIS IS WHAT I WAS HOPING FOR. Yes, they did sort of show this in the opening. More like a hint, because we would only see a hand that Yona was aiming for. But holy shit. Yona was extremely far away from him. She was on a ship, and Kumji was feet away, just really far. She only shot one arrow, and it just so happened to hit his heart perfectly. Amazing. This is definitely the night history is made. After his 20-year long reign, Kumji has been taken down, and from a fallen princess.
Everyone on the ship was shocked, especially Hak. At that moment, he probably was just realizing how much Yona has grown. She did something he didn’t think she could do. Once taking up the bow and arrow, the first thing he asked her was if she was ready to kill someone. She can’t just take up a weapon and not consider that. Yona never really answered at that time, but she made her answer clear. And I try to understand Yona’s expression as the sun rises. Her face is calm. I don’t know if she’s realized that she’s actually killed someone, or is she calm because the fight is over and she can finally relax?
Well, the fight is over, that’s right. They all head back to Awa and the imprisoned girls return to their families. The girls and pirates get all the booze they can find, and drink drink drink. And honestly they deserve it. They deserve to have fun and party. Yona walks through town, thinking to herself. And it’s funny. She asks herself if she did enough to help the people of Awa. Um…hello. You killed the bastard in charge of the place? OF COURSE YOU DID. Yone, stop being modest, realize that you’re badass. Please.
She doesn’t want to worry everyone else by going far so she heads back, but when turning the corner she bumped into someone. She apologizes and so does the man, and…
NO. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
AND THE EPISODE ENDS HERE. I didn’t expect this at all! Everything was going fine and dandy when THIS happens! Yona shoots and kills Kumji and I’m like YOOOOOOOOOO, Soo-won and Yona bump into each other and I’m like NOOOOOOOOOO. I thought the person she bumped into would be the Yellow Dragon, because there’s only 2 episodes left, but Soo-won?! Really?! This is so so bad. One, Soo-won now knows that Yona is alive. She’s alive and well, and I won’t know how he’s going to react to that. And two, Yona is facing the person who killed her father. She hasn’t seen Soo-won ever since that night, so what kinds of emotions are going to arise? This episode was so exciting and the cliffhanger was such a shocker I almost passed out. I can’t take this anymore. Next week I’m probably going to die.
Well… that can’t be good.
I told you the cliff hanger for this week was going to be brutal LOL. I think its evident why Yona was so calm about killing Kumji is because she knew exactly what she was doing and did not regret it. The first person she thinks about is her father when she gazes up into the sky while on the ship. Its clear she knew she abandoned her father’s peaceful ideals and has taken up her weapons ready to kill anyone who are going to kill her comrades. In a way Hak’s eyes reflect what the audience and the characters are thinking about what Yona did in this episode. The pampered princess that Hak knew at the castle is now gone and the little girl he knew has now become a woman worthy of envy and awe.
I think its safe to say Jae-ah has more than enough reasons now to follow Yona who has become a worthy leader. Also fun fact the music that plays when Su-Won shows up is the intro of the full 2nd ending theme by Shikata Akiko ^_^ gosh her music is just so appropriate for this show. Also on Kusanagi twitter account in October all the voice actors will have an event so maybe there is hope for another season since Zeno voice actor(yellow dragon) is also confirmed to attend. check it out:https://twitter.com/KusanagiMizuho/status/573711215140073472
If anything what I love about this episode is that another reviewers have stated they will read the manga once the anime is over. Which makes me so happy because the current arc (talking about the Japanese release not the English release) is SOOO GOOOD AND HEART BREAKING!!!!!! Berry you totally have to read the manga!! its soo worth it!!!
Rightfully said. Yeah, she threw away her father’s peaceful ideals, but really this is what was going to make a change. If she were like her father and wanted to do things peacefully, well…obviously that wasn’t going to work because all of this happened because Yona’s father handled things peacefully. Sometimes you’ll just have to use force.
I LOVE THE SONG. Sadly the full version won’t come out until sometime next month. Her song is very appropriate, and I usually don’t like the ending songs of anime. But Yona had great ones, but the 2nd one is more appropriate. It’s just so beautiful. And thanks for sharing! Ooh, Hiro Shimono, huh? Well, I just hope they make the announcement, but usually the sales of the DVD/BDs are what determines another season as well.
I will! I’m actually not an avid manga reader, but I’ve been trying to read more, and Yona has stolen my attention.
Hahaha love your ending to this review. xD Aughh I completely forgot Soo Won was going to show up, until like 30 seconds before it happened! This is why Hak has such a hard time making progress with Yona TT___________TT (I won’t spoil anything though, of course!) Besides that, Yona’s epic moment was awesome! It’s my favorite Yona moment ever! I honestly think it could have been a little more dramatic, but even so, it was so great to see her actually kill someone! And based on the fact that there are only 2 episodes left in this season, I doubt we’ll meet the last dragon. D:
Oh nooooo, I really wanted to see him. I thought we would. Like I said I thought she bumped into him but it turned out to be Soo-won OTL. Just when Yona was happy…let her live!
Well I think its important to take into account Yona does not love Su-Won anymore, but she keeps the hairpin around because it reminds her of happier times and of course a reminder that Su-Won was not always the kind of person he is today. It has helped make Yona stronger but it is difficult for her to let go of it because really how do you reconcile your childhood memories with the current reality of the situation? That’s hard and I’m glad this series does not give us easy answer to these questions. Also don’t forget aside from the whole romance thing Hak was also really deeply hurt by Su-Won betrayal he considered Su-Won to be his best friend and loved him enough to step aside in order for Su-Won and Yona to get married while she continued to stand beside them. I mean that is a deep bromance right there to the point that Hak was willing set aside his own feelings for Yona so that they can be happy. I can only imagine all the things that went through his head when Su-Won told him he killed the King. The extent of that sorrow and pain is not evident until way later in the manga. The series has been hinting how deeply repressed Hak has been on that matter and based on the preview for the next episode it will be brought it light a little bit.
I think we are going to see Zeno in the end of episode 23 and more in episode 24. The sad reality is even if another season is announced I still wont be able to talk about him fully because the current japanese releases are now focusing on his past. Seriously Berry you wont regret reading the manga~~~
Hell I’m impressed with how much love Pierrot is putting into this show. If there is anything they have done is put me in my place in terms of quality.
Yona was amazing this episode and of course Ao was great as usual (seriously he needs his own show or special or something, I would seriously watch it #bestanimeanimalof2015) An gosh darn it Soo-won, thanks for killing the mood by showing up again, just go away no one likes you. I am interested in how Yona and Soo-won will react to this though, and if Hak and the others will discover his presence. I can’t believe there’s only two more episodes left though, I hope there will be a season 2! At least there’s the manga though (I need to start that soon)
Ao is the true MVP. None of this would have been possible if he didn’t chomp off the ropes.
Actually Ao is female… ^_^
The most powerful dragon is the Yellow one. But I think we will see Yellow Dragon action only at a Yona II…
I fear they will meet the Yellow Dragon at the end of last episode, then the first season ends at other cliffhanger: “Yona and Yellow Dragon meets and end… see us at the next Yona series…”