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sinha's little "i can be here...?" just ripped my heart out of my chest thanks for asking
"i'm allowed to exist? i'm allowed to have family and be understood and cared for by them? i'm allowed to keep living despite everything i've done? despite everything i've endured? i'm allowed to live?"

YES YONA YES YES YES THAT IS THE SOLUTION THATS WHAT I JUST FUCKING SAID
this breakthrough is so beautifully done as an allegory for trauma and abandonment issues. sinha needs to accept the pain he's been put through and the pain that he is in turn capable of inflicting on others, cause if he keeps hiding it all away it's only going to overwhelm him and twist him into the monster he's convinced he already is

this arc has put me through the wringer but i fear my last straw is pu-kyu nuzzling against sinha's fingers when he's paralyzed. that's it, that fucking moment right there. kusanagi when i find you

i really haven't read much media involving dragons but isn't a core feature of their characterization usually greed? so as sinha is tapping into his power, he can't help but want more more more more. i wonder if that'll manifest in the other dragons at some point too.....we've seen it a bit already with jaeha saying that he physically cannot help himself from jumping for a long period of time. corruption arc tease?

i have more to gush about with this sinha sequence bc my heart BREAKS for this child who has been forced into the darkness since the moment he opened his eyes. OF COURSE the power is so enticing and hard to snap out of bc he can finally see!!!!! i hope moving forward the solution is for him to abandon the mask and learn how to better control the power. the all or nothing tactic is clearly dangerous for his psyche

oh.
my jaw is on the FLOOR at this sequence oh my god??????? seeing sinha's power from both his and the bandit's perspective is brilliant, and it makes sense why it might be cursed. his power allows him to embody the MINDSET of the dragon, while the others embody it in a physical sense (at least for now?). of course that comes with a price, and it might be his very humanity. this is INCREDIBLE

she literally just shot one of the men but as soon as they realize she's a girl, they start calling her "honey" and telling her to calm down
yona i think you should redirect your nonlethal shots to aim for the groin instead

i was starting to worry that sinha was being overshadowed by the other dragons bc he doesn't talk much and has stayed in the background to deliver on more comedic moments, but kusanagi flexes her writing skills yet again by highlighting him right when those fears started to manifest. i cannot WAIT to see what's in store for him in this arc and how he'll continue to come out of his shell and heal more and more

okay cool so i'm tearing up already this certainly bodes well
these characters are just so incredibly endearing and lovely and their chemistry together jumps off the page and SPARKLES. these in-between moments set the tone for the entire manga and really cement it as a comfort read for me

oh i'm already obsessed with whatever this arc is cause wdym we got sweet ik-su/yun AND found family hijinks and cuddling sinha's fur?????? is this heaven i think this is heaven
i cannot wait to see the group start to really make a difference in kohka and make a name for themselves as vigilantes of a sort. and starting with yun's village is so beautiful, my heart is so full already

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

rudo very genuinely trying his absolute best to put on a "normal" smile is as hilarious as it is devastatingly relatable!!!! when am i NOT hyperaware of how much or how little eye contact i'm making or how wide i'm smiling or if i'm just generally failing this unspoken social test of "normal" interaction
yet another reason why rudo is so beloved to me

look. i love denji from csm. he's my favorite shonen protagonist. HOWEVER rudo is quickly climbing the ranks and might just end up taking that spot. the specific flavor of his rage is so refreshingly honest and not at all off-putting, which is how teenage boy anger can feel to me a lot of the time. maybe it's bc i know a woman is writing him (and she's even said that he is her self-insert!!) but idk. i just adore him

decided to do yet another reread (i didn't note the other one but this is my second) and it's crazy how every time i come back to this story i enjoy it more and more. the art, the characters, the humor mixed with VERY brutal themes and violence, the overall ethos, it's all 10/10 for me even if i can objectively acknowledge that it isn't a perfectly crafted story. the messiness is part of the charm

ending this volume with the italicized "oh" moment feels like a targeted attack bc wdym i now have to wait several months if not an entire year for volume 4 to come out in english???? i mean i've read plenty of the upcoming chapters so at least i know what happens but having them in my hands, officially translated, is a whole other thing and my heart can't fucking take it. i need the kiss NOW. evil

prom being positioned as the "go" option of "should i stay or should i go" is really interesting too. like choosing prom (aya) is the riskier, more emotional choice, the one that is undoubtedly going to result in a massive shift in their relationship bc they NEED to talk it out at this point. it would be safer in every way to just avoid that hard convo and focus on securing potential career opportunities instead

"should i stay or should i go" on the pavement under mitsuki's feet as she's realizing that the industry party is to the left (stay) and prom is to the right (go) is so fucking good. i love how the music is embedded into the story beats like this bc it really mirrors how we tend to use songs as motivation or inspiration or signs to act one way or another

layering young kanna and joe under present day kanna and aya is BRILLIANT visual storytelling!!! both mitsuki/aya and kanna/joe are at a crossroads where they can either be bold and honest about the depth of their feelings or shove them down and create some real distance. i love kanna being an imperfect and biased mentor in that way. she's right in urging aya to value independence but also projecting for sure

i LOVE how much of a nonissue aya's queerness is with chizuru!! bare minimum i know but it's refreshing to get to skip over any dramatic convo whatsoever. even if it's ultimately a positive outcome it can still be exhausting and like it's more for the straight friend to show off their allyship than to ensure the queer main character's comfort. so for chizuru to only be shocked in that it's MITSUKI is a sigh of relief

mitsuki's artist name being "me to her" is so adorable oh my GOD. these songs really are all for aya, even the ones that aren't love songs, bc it was aya that gave her the self-confidence and inspiration to write and publish them at all. every lyric is in conversation with her

that expression on aya's face is BRUTAL. it portrays such stark betrayal to me, like she can't believe that mitsuki would be fine with inviting hime and the underclassmen to a place that is THEIRS. she hasn't gotten the chance to feel any embarrassment over the sense of ownership and possessiveness she feels for the space (and for mitsuki) yet, so the raw emotion shines through

and i am once again fighting back tears!!!! their relationship is so gorgeous and built on a foundation of pure, unbridled understanding and acceptance and it feels so revolutionary to see between two complex female characters. i keep feeling like eventually something will have to be compromised but the other shoe never drops!!! it's just that good and that important and that unabashedly and lovingly queer