yona of the dawn: a 9/10 anime

here are my (spoiler free) impressions of yotd. it's about a princess who has to flee after her father, the king, is killed, and is determined to make a difference in the kingdom, meeting various characters along the way. 

i hope to make more posts like this in the future bc there's not enough anime content on this platform hehehe. all of this is my opinion ofc

vibes

yona of the dawn is objectively a beautiful anime. it features a balance of humor and emotion, a fantastic cast of characters, a pleasant artstyle, and a powerful (imo) story. it's a reverse harem anime, but the romance aspect is dialed down in such a way that the plot is elevated, not suffocated. 

music

something that struck me by surprise is that the opening has no words, just music. it's the only anime opening i know of that's like this. that doesn't keep it from going hard tho!

characters

the character development is exemplary. you get to see every one's motivations, struggles, strengths and weaknesses. the character designs are super nice too. and the dynamics between the characters are SO GOOD man i love this show

- yona

yona is one of the best, strongest female characters i've ever seen, no joke. in the face of realities she had never imagined possible, she questions herself, yet remains true to what she believes. the way that she enlists the help of others on her quest because she knows that alone, she is powerless, but with the right people, she can accomplish great things, is inspiring. she's lovable, relatable, and written in a deeply realistic way

- hak

hak is not my favorite character, but i like his relationship with yona a lot. he's not one-dimensional, which i appreciate, and he's funny at times.

from what i've seen, people ship him and yona pretty hard, which i don't really agree with, but i can see why

- gija 

def one of my favorite characters. he's funny, he's op, he's quite pretty too

- sinha

my absolute favorite character (i have a thing for tragic backstories). he's adorable and shy and sweet and i want to protect him at all costs. if i were to ship yona with someone, he would be my first pick

- jeha

i didn't like him at first but he grew on me fast. he's cool and strong, but also goofy. i like his character

- yun

i love how unexpectedly complex he is and how he's often the serious one while everyone else is goofing around, even though he's younger than them.

- sun-woo

on top of being the personification of pretty privilege, he's the exact kind of antagonist i love: namely, the kind that you can't really hate, since their actions have solid justifications. i like him as character a lot, and his personality is, dare i say, endearing. also he's literally so gorgeous! i def understand why yona had a crush on him, so do i haha

overall

i recommend this anime wholeheartedly. in my anime master list, i gave it a 9 out of 10. it's one of the only good anime in the reverse harem genre AND it's a great story on it's own

hope you enjoyed this post! now i gotta get back to the 3 anime that i'm watching at the same time for some reason (re:zero + mirai nikki + parasyte)