Status Updates From Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 8

leave it to hak to once again flip the outdated misogynistic tropes on their head!!! that's why he's the best!!!!! his protection of yona never comes from a place of seeing her as fragile or incompetent, he is truly just terrified of losing her and that gets in the way of fostering her potential sometimes. but just like with the bow, i'm positive he'll come around and teach her in the end

all this talk about yona wanting to use a sword and not wanting to use hak as her shield after we were just reminded of the second half of the prophecy is.....suspicious to say the least. "the sword and shield that protect the monarch shall awaken". is hak truly the shield, despite yona's reservations? but once she learns how to fight, i'm sure she'll feel less guilty about him protecting her

"if you start carrying a sword, you'll seriously never land a husband" uh huh sure babe that's fucking rich coming from the man who swoons every time he sees yona fight or even get a dangerous glint in her eyes
their banter continues to be such a highlight in this series bc they have the foundation of true friendship and devotion to back it up, ESPECIALLY on hak's side

so he is the hawk okay okay that symbolism from the awa arc makes a bit more sense now. i wonder if we'll see yona shoot down a hawk at some point.....or just how that imagery will continue to evolve throughout the story. i was thinking he was more like a fox but whatever

....that's hot
su-won being a mixture of il and yu-hon makes so much sense, and i LOVE how it's slowly being revealed to geun-tae (and us) here. he revered his father for his combat skills, and he trained with THE hak, but he also watched il and absorbed the best of his leadership style too. the result is this dangerous blend of brute strength lurking beneath a soft demeanor

SEE THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!!!!!! zeno is such a mystery in a completely different way than the other dragons were when we first met them. sinha and gija are both pretty straightforward, and even though jaeha often hides behind sexuality, we quickly see it for what it is. but zeno? why does he suddenly have this older-than-his-age intensity to him at times? it's not a coping mechanism like jaeha's is

god bless mangaka who clearly list the ages of their characters bc i'm so anal about that stuff too
and i was right about zeno being about yona's age!! he's 17, so the youngest dragon, and it SHOWS

OUCH yona saying that zeno is like a little sun??? and then him saying that the moon looks particularly beautiful that night????? i am SO interested in zeno and why he is the way he is. and i feel like he's been lonelier than he's letting on, which is why he thanked the heavens for the day that brought him to the other dragons

jaeha is definitely right about gija's "unfortunate tendency" to project onto others and think that everyone should share his beliefs but god i just love him. he's so EARNEST and passionate and just wants to fulfill his destiny!!! i wonder if he'll come to value the found family even more than the duty at some point

that's so funny that this encounter completely turns the formula on its head cause as different as the dragons' introductions have been so far, the ONE constant was the moment when they feel yona's presence and their blood boils. so for them to directly call out how strange the absence of that moment is for zeno is so meta i love it. i wonder why he seems so immune to it all. is it a side effect of his invincibility?

WELL i'm not sure what kind of introduction i expected from the yellow dragon but it certainly wasn't that! did he sense them first and come looking? has he been all alone just wandering? how old is he? he seems like he could be yona's age maybe and the way he speaks about himself in third person is giving feral. a little bit

i'm hopeful that at some point we'll get jaeha's real backstory from him, but i love the character work in how he CONSTANTLY exaggerates and sexualizes himself in order to avoid the ugly truth of things. all of the dragons are so distinct so far (without feeling gimmicky thank god) and jaeha really stands out as being the most guarded and mysterious. i'm excited to see how he changes and grows over time

Another season of Yona of the Dawn means I’m back to reading the manga again.

So he does want what's good for the people and he has the wits fot it, too. But he's also preparing for possible warfare.

Intriguing...

What exactly is Soowon's deal?? His love for Yona and Hak is very real, his desire for his father's approval trumps everything, he does things as he thinks his father would've wanted but he is burdened by his choices. Okay, cool. But what does he want now??

What is his real purpose??

Blunt but to the point. Guen Tae would probably get along well with Yona but if swears true fealty to SooWon then that's a lost battle.

Wondering if it's the Earth Tribe way or a fluke because who talks to their king like that??

Oooooooh, side character establishment!! Let's go~~~~

I knew Hak was listening... Finding out in this way is just paniful.



But I guess for now Yona IS going to travel and solve the issues of the common folk as she goes. Amass support, maybe even an army. It will give her time to come to terms with her feelings for SooWon and if/when she needs to take him down.

NOW, we're getting into the juicy bits. The cause, the reason, and where to go from here. Asking the difficult questions of whether Yona can take on the burden of the country at such a young age.

And dear JaeHa being astute as ever when it comes to reasding Hak, regarding his betrayed feelings about SooWon.

Yeah, Yona. You want to survive and you want to do more but what does that "more" entail for you?? Are you going to lug these legendary warriors around to... what? Fix one village at a time without any real power or authority?? All while SooWon does whatever he wants??

THANK YOU!!! Zeno, for asking the right questions.