Akatsuki no Yona

Man, Hak was pissed.

yoon is so precious..

Where is chapter 147?

You missed chapter 141, I take it.

If you're waiting for Soo-Won to be dethroned, that's going to come at the end. Be patient.

I didn't. That's what I had in mind when I mentioned situations in which Yona determined the outcome in face of adverse odds. And when I referred to the last encounter when only Lily intervention saved Yona.

What I want is a situation when Soo-Won truly has to do what Yona wants because he has no choice, not because he chose to do so. I want him to be humbled by her, even if he isn't dethroned. (Although that's my final ideal scenario, and not only dethroned, I want him to become fertiliser.)

You know what gets on my nerves in this series?
 
It's that Yona always meets Soo-Won in a position of relative weakness.

You know what gets on my nerves in this series?
 
It's that Yona always meets Soo-Won in a position of relative weakness. The author always injures Hak, or removes the dragons from the scene, or severely weakens them, or seeds dissent among them (like when Jae-ha refused to let Hak attack Soo-Won because he thought of him as an ally) or something of the kind.
 
There's never a situation when the whole bunch, at the height of their powers and fully armed, faces Soo-Won directly. It's like the author is saying that they would simply kill him and end the story there.
 
Now it's going to happen again. Hak and the dragons are a bloody mess, so Soo-Won will have the high ground again. I admit it's amazing how Yona can still determine the outcome in face of adversity, but I'd like to see that her male escorts are mature enough to hold back if she tells them to. Otherwise it seems that the only thing protecting Soo-Won is plot armour. It also gives me a bad aftertaste, as if the only reason Yona accomplishes anything is because he has graciously allowed it to play out. The only situation in which Soo-Won truly was cornered was by sheer coincidence, because Lily arrived on time to prevent her being arrested.
 
This reminds me of my English Lit teacher telling us that the only way Miss Brontë had to make Jane Eyre acceptable to Victorian readers (a married man having an affair with a servant and leading to a second marriage) was to emasculate Mr Rochester by destroying his assets, depriving him of his hand and temporarily blinding him.

but I'd like to see that her male escorts are mature enough to hold back if she tells them to

I don't think any of them would struggle to hold back. Aside from Hak, the only one who has ever suggested hurting Soo-won is Zeno. I don't think anything has been implied with Shinah, but I've been given the impression that Jaeha and Kija would rather not. When they put aside what he did to Yona their emotions and reactions towards Soo-won have been pretty positive.

You know what gets on my nerves in this series?

It's that Yona always meets Soo-Won in a position of relative weakness. The author always injures Hak, or removes the dragons from the scene, or severely weakens them, or seeds dissent among them (like when Jae-ha refused to let Hak attack Soo-Won because he thought of him as an ally) or something of the kind.

There's never a situation when the whole bunch, at the height of their powers and fully armed, faces Soo-Won directly. It's like the author is saying that they would simply kill him and end the story there.

Now it's going to happen again. Hak and the dragons are a bloody mess, so Soo-Won will have the high ground again. I admit it's amazing how Yona can still determine the outcome in face of adversity, but I'd like to see that her male escorts are mature enough to hold back if she tells them to. Otherwise it seems that the only thing protecting Soo-Won is plot armour. It also gives me a bad aftertaste, as if the only reason Yona accomplishes anything is because he has graciously allowed it to play out. The only situation in which Soo-Won truly was cornered was by sheer coincidence, because Lily arrived on time to prevent her being arrested.

This reminds me of my English Lit teacher telling us that the only way Miss Brontë had to make Jane Eyre acceptable to Victorian readers (a married man having an affair with a servant and leading to a second marriage) was to emasculate Mr Rochester by destroying his assets, depriving him of his hand and temporarily blinding him.

Well that was an amazing chapter. O. O

Spoiler

I was expecting her to do the "shield x with my body" trope but the author really threw me off. Never expected their dragon er.. Souls? Would manifest to destroy the arrows before they could kill her. That's some next level shit right there.

Can't say I dislike it, it has been shown time and time again despite how long yona has travelled with her boys there's still a lot she doesn't know about their powers (and barring zeno, they probably don't either).

It at least makes some hope for me that maybe they will break the lifespan curses on the dragons somehow and be able to live their full natural life spans. Or longer natural life spans, lord knows after generations of them dying at 20-40 they'd damn well deserve it.

Least in the end yona is learning first hand how to be a good leader/woman of the people. I don't know that she'll kill him in the end but it does seem as though it's building up to her returning to the throne when he screws shit up in a similar way to his father. Smart or good for the kingdom, he clearly has a bloodthirsty streak with how he killed yonas dad.

Its definitely similar to these two princesses now vying for two different types of rule, they're a perfect parallel to yonas dad and uncle. It's just too bad it had to get to a near full on war with this.

The sort of fanaticism bred by the antiwar faction scared me when its been shown throughout this arc (the pro war fanaticism too, stabby boy proved that pretty terrifying) but I really hope these three princesses can thoroughly dress down that awful man. Give em a verbal beating and have the wind tribe babbies come charging in to show the army/civilians why this guy is just using their feelings to manipulate them into doing his bidding.

.... He's a real hate sink character, that priest. Just hope no one else dies. :c

I would also add that mediaeval wars were comparatively less bloody. They were mostly aristocratic affairs. If I remember right, William the Conqueror took about a thousand soldiers to the Battle of Hastings.

Going off topic here for a tiny bit of medieval-geekery, Hastings was an odd battle.  First, it was a conflict between what was becoming the true feudal model, on William's side, and the dark ages Saxon/Viking model. Second, William lucked out sooo much he must have been crapping horseshoes.

Seem like Dragons kind of left they body to protect Yona.

No, it's the red shield....  It was mentioned at the beginning.  The Dragon Gods are far stronger than the human vessels they are being held on.  But I really dislike that "gouda" guy... the priest....  Tao needs to grow a pair and put him in his place, after all he's been SO confident he can manipulate Tao that he has made her a really strong spokesperson.

Something like:  "I am princess Tao and I know that this Gouda shit character wants to sacrifice your women adn children to kouka.  Princess Kouren and I have been negotiating with Kouka to put a stop to his antics" or something

Why I get bad flags from Hak? Like really bad flags?

*DJ voice*  D A M N son, where did you find this heat 

Seem like Dragons kind of left they body to protect Yona.

...well, Kusanagi really dropped a bomb on us in this arc. Just when I was starting to wonder what was the main point of all this development.

legit got goosebumps at the second to last page

HOLY SHIT

Dayum.

what

@JCVocke

@kendama: Time for another round of "Everyone's insistence on fitting characters into a Binary Good/Evil matrix is a disservice to the Manga, misses its central theme, and completely Ruin's all of Yona's Character Development as she studies all of the available philosophies and ideas and puts together her own ethical framework taking bits from each and becoming a stronger whole."

 
Moral philosophies are by nature contradictory and based on fundamental principles that do not lend themselves to "taking bits of each." And if you're looking for meaningful exploration of ethics in the first place, you're in the wrong genre.
 

@kendama: Time for another round of "Everyone's insistence on fitting characters into a Binary Good/Evil matrix is a disservice to the Manga, misses its central theme, and completely Ruin's all of Yona's Character Development as she studies all of the available philosophies and ideas and puts together her own ethical framework taking bits from each and becoming a stronger whole."

Spoiler

First off, Sorry, but you're outright wrong that King Il was truly Preserving the Peace and wrong that he kept Kouka Secure. We know this for a fact because the Kai Empire Did Actually Invade. He just rolled over without a fight and gave them everything they wanted, in this case, the province that Soo-Won has now retaken, but they did without a doubt either Invade, or make a Demand with their army on the border fully ready to Invade.We also know that this lead to King Il's Kouka Kingdom was basically a Laughing Stock in the Kai Empire, given how the governor of Sen Province was so Cavalier about invading. The Kai Empire never avoided invading because they were worried about Koaka fighting back, they avoided Invading because they knew they could take whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, but currently had Bigger Fish to Fry in the form of the Fantasy-Mongols they're dealing with.I mean if people in Kai were actually worried about Kouka being able to fight them off then why would Just a bunch of Fat Merchants actually organize and perform a Naval Invasion of the Water Tribe? And we're not talking like Venice Merchants where they actually Rule a Sizeable and extremely Rich Country in their own right, we're talking Ancient Fantasy-China Merchants who never really had much territorial or military power. Despite that, they were still Fully Confident in being able to just roll over any defence the Water Tribe would put up, and were completely confident that the Kouka Central Government would abandon the Water Tribe to its fate, because that was Exactly what King Il Had done with the Earth Tribe. And Given that they were only defeated by combining the talents of Yona and the Dragons, the Water Tribe, and Soo-Won's diplomatic prowess which gathered the support of the local merchants, They were Right.And then there's Sei. Again, so disparaging of Kouka's Power after the failings of King Il that they were planning to Invade Kouka As If It Were a Contest, A Game, to resolve their Succession Dispute. King Il not being killed won't change the health of the old King of Sei, so that Succession Crisis will still happen.Appeasement Does Not Work. And also neither does having a bunch of reasonably evenly matched states work to prevent war. As Evidence, just look at basically All of Post-Roman European History; which is the story of a bunch of reasonably equivalent states constantly Beating the Shit out of each other. You say South America is proof that evenly balanced states won't go to war, but you deliberately point to this only being true beginning around 1930. If you look before this, you see South America has had Plenty of Wars between roughly balanced countries. Y'know what's far more likely to have been the cause of the Post 1930 Stop to External Wars (South America still has plenty of Civil Wars)? The Rise of the United States of America into the Global Super-Power who quickly declared all of the Western Hemisphere as its Sphere of Influence.But I Digress.Despite these Failings, King Il's heart was in the right place. He was simply too committed to Pacifism. A Commitment which, by the way, Yona Does Not Share. I mean its not just some random fluke that when Yona performed her dance in the Fire Festival she traded out the Fan she studied with for a Sword. It's not just a throw-away scene because it looks cool, its a Demonstration of Yona's commitment to Defending both Herself and Others. You can tell that King Il was wrong, as far as the Manga is concerned, because Yona has examined his Extreme Pacifism And Already Rejected It.And then there's Soo-Won, who, yes, is in many ways Self-Serving. That's True. Soo-Won is Flawed, just like King Il was, and just like Yona is Developing to NOT Be, by virtue of her being able to see both of their philosophies and pick and choose to find what's best.It's also what Kouka Needed at the time.When Soo-Won took the throne, the Fire Dude was Already Planning his Coup. I'm pretty sure he explicitly states that he's been planning it for years, but even if not he had to have been, not only because it happens pretty quickly, but also because he had been Stewing in his Resentment towards not being the King of Kouka for basically his entire life. What would King Il have done when he actually Rebelled? Based on his past history, he would have rolled over and let it happen, at which point Kouka Shatters because Fire Dude is not Nearly as Talented as Soo-Won is, nor was he as Tactically Brilliant.There's also the Nadai Problem. In a hypothetical where the Manga Plot doesn't happen, what do you think happens when Lily Investigates on her own and winds up either enslaved or dead? Does the Water Tribe Head actually do something? When he Knows he doesn't have Support? So he fights back and gets his ass handed to him, or Rolls Over like King Il would. Either way now the Water Tribe is either de-facto or even de-jure ceded to Kai.And with Sei a quick military strike was enough to avert their invasion, end Nadai Slave Trafficking, and avert a larger war. Though, to be fair, it has now fed into a different Larger War with Xing. That's True. It's also something that Soo-Won is willing to negotiate on. But Still, I'll give you that, Soo-Won's antagonism is leading to a war with Xing.Does Soo-Won have his failings? Yes. He very Clearly Wants to imagine that he is the Enlightened Ruler leading his people with Wisdom and Compassion, self-sacrificing, and doing everything for their sake. To a Degree, He Is. He has put thought and effort into resolving issues affecting the people of his Kingdom, however many of his efforts have also been Self-Serving.You can see this rather clearly in his seizing that Province back from the Kai Empire. On One Hand, he justifies it as showing that Kouka is not to be flexed with, but there's clear undercurrents of "I'm makin' my dad Proud" and "Revengeance Time" going on. He wants power For Himself, and he wants glory For Himself, and this is without a doubt his biggest flaw, this Human Selfishness.But only some of these are the case. When he goes to try to squash the Slave Traders he does so in secret. It won't bring him Glory, but he does it anyways. And when it turns out that the problem has been already solved by someone who he, were he concerned Purely for Power, should have killed on the spot, and yet he doesn't, because despite his Cynicism he still on some level does think of others, and wants Yona to be happy.Which is, Ironically, also an example, simultaneously, of both his Legitimate Selflessness and of his Selfishness. In Particular, its probably the last vestiges of what Soo-Won's Original Plan looked like.His ideal Situation probably looked like Soo-Won's Assassination Attempt going off without a hitch, leaving King Il Dead, with no evidence pointing to Soo-Won having performed it. Then Yona takes the throne, and Soo-Won Marries her, becoming King Consort, but with Yona turning most if not all power over to Him. This gets him everything he wants. He has Glory and Power, Hak is still on his Side even if he's now a little bitter for reasons Yona doesn't ever get, and Yona gets to keep living in the Pristine Bubble of the Palace, insulated from the Horrors of the World.To Some Degree, Yona is experiencing the Exact Same Thing. She also wants to go back to the life she lived. It's actually one of the major points of the Manga that Yona is getting this desire Beaten Out of her.That's the point of the Manga. That Yona is Developing her own beliefs, her own systems, drawing inspiration from those around her, because all of those people have Strengths, and Weaknesses. She is currently in the process of Embracing those Strengths, and Abandoning those Weaknesses. She has already examined her Father's Beliefs that Conflicts should not be sought out, but Rejected his Pacifism. She's Examined and is Embracing Soo-Won's Determination, but she is rapidly in the process of having this lust for Revenge Beaten out of her, because it is a Purely Selfish Goal not fit for one who intends to be a Ruler.And with this Arc it's most Blatantly Showing this out with Princess Kouran, who is almost literally a Dark Counterpart to Yona. She's Strong and Determined, she's willing to sacrifice herself for her goals and her people, She even has a group of Super-Strong Fighters who are Fanatically Loyal to Her who have a cool Group Name!However she has also spent her life Festering in her desire for Revenge. I mean, she fuckin' carried around a Severed Head. That's not the sign of someone who is Mentally Sound.In Fact, I've said this before and I'll say it again, in the event that Yona and Soo-Won wind up facing each other in a Military Engagement, here's how it's going to go;Soo-Won is going to put himself in some extremely vulnerable position that's removed from Yona's Strategic Objective, with someone else waiting to sweep in with a Flanking Strike. I say this because that's exactly what he did with Fire Dude. Yona will see this, and whether she realizes it's a Trap or not, she's going to ignore Soo-Won and pursue her actual Strategic Object (Assuming Hak, who explicitly has NOT Learned this lesson, doesn't ruin everything). I say this because this is Exactly what has Already Happened. Compare how Yona reacted to meeting Soo-Won in the town where she fought the Slavers, vs how she reacted to meeting him in the Water Tribe.For all of the times people hope for it, if Yona does actually kill Soo-Won, she will not Revel in it, nor will she gain any Satisfaction. Because Yona has pushed forward past that.  That's Kinda the Point of the Story.

TL-DR: Soo-Won and King Il and Princess Kouran and literally every other character in the Manga is Flawed with Strengths and Weakness which Yona is absorbing to become a Stronger Whole and everyone who is calling so relentlessly for Yona to murder the shit out of Soo-Won as an act of Revenge has Completely Failed to Understand the Central Theme of the Story which is currently being Explicitly Stated Outright in the Current Arc.

Chapters 1-48? are they missing or in some other series?

They were probably removed on batoto because reasons, but you can read them somewhere else.

Chapters 1-48? are they missing or in some other series?

Why can't they just don't have wars so Yona and Hak and the dragons can live in peace. Damn all these wars and fights ;n; All my babies be getting hurt.