I decided to rewatch one of my favorite Josei Animes lately – Akatsuki No Yona. I had seen it way back in 2015 and I remember it being a treat. I wanted to know if there was a follow up season. Sadly – though the manga has progressed ( and I read upto chapter 200 ) there is no more seasons. I found that unfair. Was it because it was a Josei anime, I wondered. But it was quite popular.. oh well. I resorted to just reading the manga and hoping they release a new season in the future. I mean they made a new inuyasha season and a new geass movie to tie up loose ends, 10 years later – so there is hope!
Akatsuki No Yona
At its core – it’s a story of betrayal. And a banished princess who must seek vengeance and reclaim what is hers. The antagonist – also happens to be Yona’s first love/childhood crush. In a struggle for power to the throne, he betrays her and her family and sends people to kill her if needed. All this is episode 1. So that, in my opinion is quite different a start to a Josei anime. We don’t get many Josei animes with a revenge plotline. Much less when hime sama herself has to train in weaponry to gain skills of combat ( instead of relying on her harem of handsome men ). So I quite liked this new age Josei and was rooting for the show to keep up the awesome.
And it did not disappoint. Because if the warrior princess protagonist was not enough – let’s talk about her harem of yandere bodyguards – who are not only all extremely handsome ( except yellow – who is the shota ) but are also ancient Dragon spirits who have been incarnated through generations to be eventually found by Yona – the Crimson Dragon spirit herself and rallied to her cause to protect the empire originally founded by the Red Dragon. Princess out to find warriors – Ninja Senshi Tobikage with Princess Romina feels. The whole experience of locating the Silver, the Emerald, the Sapphire and the Gold Dragon itself was a rewarding journey to watch, specially the remarkably stark contrast in the life stories of the White and the Blue Dragon. I am pretty sure you cannot watch the Blue Dragon arc without crying. And I am glad they made one of the dragon symbolize that part of society which would not necessarily treat something different to be something holy and would only ostracize the different. The Green Dragon is my favorite though – since he is the bad boy who gets tamed and becomes the direct rival – in jest – to Hak.
Which of course brings us to Hak – our male protagonist – and boy oh boy is he good. Dark haired, tall, silent, strong Tsundere Hak – but sometimes a yandere – to a clueless Yona. Reliable, faithful, loyal and someone who will protect her with his life. Hak makes the whole show better. Love watching his one sided display of attention – the usually strong silent protector who lets his guard down to woo his princess – something that was missing in shows like Blood+ – where the silent guardian was just a glorified butler with an invisible class wall separating them from their ward. I am glad this is not the pattern in this show – and Hak is not tormented to suffer in a one sided unrequited love. Because yona will never realize his feelings otherwise given how dense she is and how hopelessly in love and simultaneously in pain she is over losing Soo-won.
Fushigi Yugi
Speaking of dragon warriors of the past – we cannot not mention the original isekai manga/anime – Fushigi yuugi or Curious Play, the second anime I ever watched. Back then it was a 19+ anime happily being shown to kids – with a heavy focus on romance. I saw that it had a bunch of hot dudes, ( it is once again a reverse harem after all ) and some hot sultry women with colorful hair and an aura of danger and seduction. Many more women than Ninja Senshi had. But what I didn’t know – is that it had actual sex scenes in it as well. Several of them in fact – and it suggests that the female protagonist Miaka slept with more than one male lead, Takashi and the Hotohori other than Tamahome, and even one of the antagonists. My favorite however was when Nakago’s gf tried to seduce and sleep with Tamahome, the male protagonist – that scene was so hot and heavy it stayed in my memory for a long time despite not depicting anything explicit at all. Other than her own celestial warriors, warriors from the opposing faction have also at some point tried to seduce Miaka on more than one occasion. That’s a lot of action if you ask me. I mean the number of love triangles in this show is countless. everyone is included in at least one maybe two and for Miaka is probably 10. 0_0 But I digress. Let me try that again! 😛
Watching Yona, reminded me of ancient dragons, who established or protected kindgoms in ancient history and a chosen woman, a priestess in this case who has to go and gather all the celestial warriors she needs to rally to her cause. In this case, the priestess Miaka is a girl from the modern world, who gets ‘isekai’d into the story of the book she has never read. Along with her, her BFF gets transported as well but she gets picked up as the savior of the rival kindgom. Now Miaka is revered as the legendary priestess foretold – who shall appear and gather all the legendary celestial warriors and save the kingdom from destruction by summoning the Grand Guardian – The Crimson Phoenix. Meanwhile Yui, her friend is to save the other kingdom by summoning the Blue Dragon after she gathers all her celestial warriors. Now, animes these days do not always pit women against each other. So this plot seems a bit dated, not to mention they both crush over the male protagonist – the Star Warrior – Tamahome.
Since I brought up Tamahome, can I just say he is probably my most favorite anime hero of all time. And I don’t just mean the looks, the voice, the personality but the character he actually is. I mean, he has the aura, charisma of a bad boy – Alladin like street urchin vibes who can always be relied upon to appear and beat up the bad guys and rescue Miaka. Not to mention, kind hearted enough to rescue her friend and treat her well just because she is Miaka’s friend. But as if that was not enough, he had to be someone who respected miaka;s choice when it came to become one with him. He was okay to wait and asked her to take her time despite looking forward to it so much. Not just that, but when Miaka was violated by Nakago he asked her to forgive herself and told her she was still beautiful to you. And if even That was not enough to secure his place as the best male hero ever – towards the end of the series, he realizes he is but just a character of a story. Quite the meta moment that causes him to lose his mind momentarily and have an existential crisis quite literally. But he comes back from that, in the same episode, with the realization – that he was created purely to love and protect Miaka. And he was okay with it, he said, if that is his truth – he can make peace with that. I mean, if that does not win your heart I don’t what will. The scene was quite emotional as well, elevated by the music.
The music of the show is just on another level as well. I mean, I only remember watching the opening and the ending here and there when I was at my cousin’s who used to subscribe to the TV channel that aired the anime at that time. I remember how shocked she was to find out it showed naked people in the openings. I could never watch the whole thing because there was always a sex scene or two or so it seemed. Nevertheless the music of the show is on another level altogether. It drives home those feelings so beautifully, friendship, longing, youth, adventure and most importantly pure undiluted fated love. I so wish love like that could be found. its all possible and its all real. It does not have to be a hero – the loyalty and devotion that Tamahome shows at every way every turn – he should be a Disney hero and known to all children around the world. Miaka on the other hand is a disgrace. A ditzy clumsy clueless girl who seems to be overflowing with lack of common sense and a misplaced sense of doing good for everyone, putting herself at risk every-time. she is not the example of a clever female lead. Is she lovable? yes.
Monogatari 