Status Updates From Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 1

i know it was probably just the most realistic and practical choice, but having yona get attacked by a snake of all things when she's thinking back on su-won's betrayal????? FANTASTIC symbolism. especially the panel that has the snake coiling around her ankle with the words "the man you knew never existed"

seeing a memory from hak's pov (focused on how he became yona's bodyguard) and then seeing one from yona's pov (focused on the friendship between the main trio and her relationship with her father, and also interestingly before yu-hon's death!!! so the "real", un-jaded su-won) is SO brilliant. and i love how we see all 3 of them looking up at the sky to show how they're still connected and reminiscing simultaneously

okay i refuse to look at any of the tags for fear of spoilers cause there is SO much of this story that i haven't read yet but i'm calling it now that the hak/su-won tag is RIFE with content. so far i genuinely don't see any real romantic interest from su-won to yona (just a deep platonic love that he's trying to push down to avenge his father) but i do see it in his interactions with hak!!! bi hak supremacy

OBSESSED with how it was hak's idea to act all lovey-dovey in front of kang tae-jun to try to get him to back off, but as soon as yona says that she loves hak to play along with the scheme he's immediately flustered and blushing like a fool. what a loser i adore him

i really appreciate that hak is never legitimately MEAN to yona, even when he teases her or gets snippy cause he's jealous of how much she likes su-won. it all reads as very believable for a 15 year old, and it's clear that yona gives as much as she gets too which is helpful. they really are such a lovely example of childhood best friends to lovers with great banter and i can't wait to see how it continues to develop

min-su's incredibly sudden and unremarkable death is such a great way to end this second chapter after the first ends with il's death, which is the exact opposite in scale and consequence. i presume it foreshadows the deaths to come, many of which will not be as bold or as mourned as il's. but all of them will weigh on yona. min-su directly sacrificed himself for her, and yet he gets no hero's death

hak keeping his cool until su-won says that yona witnessed her father's death is DELICIOUS. god i love him
also love how after that, hak stops calling him "lord". they had that brief convo before where su-won had asked him to stop using such formal titles, but hak didn't listen then. he "knew his place". but now? he has no respect left for su-won and he wants him to KNOW it

okay. big questions to keep in mind:
why did il kill yu-hon? i'm SURE there's more to the story than him killing him out of fear that he'd usurp him or just in cold blood. it was probably about protecting kohka
how does su-won even know about the murder?? when did he find out? he keeps talking about everything happening 10 years ago so that implies that it was all in pretty quick succession. did he witness it????

"i want them to be happy together" over the image of su-won's sword covered in il's blood??????? what a succinctly tragic panel. if yona's cute little shojo bubble wasn't busted already, that'll do it

i'm only 5 volumes in but going back to the beginning and seeing how much yona has grown up and changed even just in that short time is ASTOUNDING. i love that her infatuation with su-won is very clearly tied to her naivety and desire to lean on someone else for strength rather than finding it within herself. that affection and everything it represents forcibly being severed is the perfect catalyst for her growth

i've been craving something epic and fantastical that requires less brain power than captive prince so what better time to get back into yona of the dawn
i should not put this in writing but i'm hoping i can catch up before the final volume gets its english release in july......we'll see how that goes (and if the series even stays good enough to make me want to read that many volumes)

Voy a volver a leerlo ahora que han terminado la historia ❤️

Hak 🫦