Akatsuki has to prove her worth to the Captain, and since she can’t fight, she has to help out in other ways. Well, there are plenty of things she can do–… oh, you want her to foolishly prove her bravery by fetching a rare medicinal flower from some steep cliff? What other fetch quest do you have for us, Miss Pirate? Five bear asses to move the plot along?
This guy, though.
Anyway, you know how it goes. Against all odds — with Jaeha confident that Yona would fail — our brave, “badass” princess will persevere and fetch that RPG key item. This mini-arc plays out predictably, too. Jaeha will at first comment that there’s nothing particularly special about Yona. She’s not an inspiring leader, she can’t fight, she’s not particularly smart, she can’t… I don’t know, balance the books? I mean, at least do something, right? What does she offer other than her lineage? What does she actually do? After nineteen episodes, you’d think that the narrative would’ve shaped Yona into someone worth following. But here she is, still trucking along with her harem of bishies for no particular reason other than that Hak loves her and the rest can’t help but follow their destiny.
And sadly, despite asking all the right questions, Jaeha be compelled to follow Yona in the end anyway. He’ll blame this compulsion all on his dragon’s blood, but he’ll be impressed by her anyway. But I’m not convinced. I don’t know about the rest of the audience. I figure most of the show’s detractors have already moved onto other things by now. It would seem that others would like me to do the same. But I continue to blog the show because I can, and I must say that the show has done a poor job convincing me that I should find myself all too inspired by Yona and her antics.
A rich girl lost her rich dad, and now, she’s on a quest to get her money back. But she can’t do anything… but be brave, I guess. And this entire time, the characters will offer up weak protestations — “You’re just a girl” — but she’ll steel her resolve. You go, girl! Is that what I’m supposed to do? Meh.
The thing is, it’s not even good bravery. It’s just foolish bravery. Bravery is great… to a certain point. I’d rather have some ingenuity. Fuck that. We don’t even need to go that far. I’d rather just have some common sense. Like how she’s going to navigate that steep cliff without even tying one end of a rope to her waist, and the other end to some sturdy structure up above. C’mon, it’s just common sense. Like how she doesn’t even wear gloves for the job, so she ends up cutting her hands on both the cliff and picking the mystical herbs themselves. C’mon, it’s just common sense.
Yeah, it’s pretty exasperating.
And even though Jaeha is convinced by Yona’s honesty — she confesses to the captain that he had rescued her when a wave had threatened to wash out to sea — I’m not. Sure, honesty is great and everything, but I’d rather be assured that I can help my friends rather than throwing myself at some stupid challenge just to fulfill a promise.
Anyway, standard “this story is so slow, where is it going, we’re still on this arc???” complaints…
Near the end of the episode, Hak bites off more than he can chew or something.
Yona predictably runs off like some innocent anime female character. That’s so boring. We don’t need to turn this into 50 Shades of Grey or anything. We don’t need Hak to hook his damn thumbs into her panties and pull them off for the billionth time. But c’mon, how can any young adult spend so much time with the opposite sex and never even once entertain romantic thoughts? I would. Wouldn’t you? But ever since Yona questioned her love for her cousin, the show has been pretty absent of any sort of romantic development. Like not even one iota of romantic desire from the princess to any of her bishies. C’mon. Not once throughout this entire journey has the princess paused to entertain the idea of even liking any of these guys, much less love them. I would. The people watching this show would. So why make the protagonist, the person we’re all supposed to be watching, so goddamn inert? Anime’s just gotta anime, I guess.
Next week, our heroes will tango with some human traffickers, I guess. Goodie. And oh yeah, the pirates will eventually disband, so someone will have to take Jaeha in. Well, isn’t that convenient?
Moe Sucks 
“How can you keep moving forward when you’re trembling and crying?” I rolled my eyes when I read that during the episode. Ya know I guess it’s just more amazing when a cute girl can cry and manage to move forward. The pace is way too slow like wow, and I like most people I don’t feel as if anything has been accomplished.
“But c’mon, how can any young adult spend so much time with the opposite sex and never even once entertain romantic thoughts? I would. Wouldn’t you”
They’re all good looking and cool too. I guess the hand licking would be weird at least for me it would be, but I mean she’s surrounded by all these guys who care for her and we have no romance.
Welcome back btw, I thought you decided to take a break from blogging until I saw the note at the side.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Yona is a good protagonist because despite of being in one of the worst situations in the complete cast (father murdered by the person she loved, lack of abilities for survive, loss of everything she knew except Hak) she doesn’t sink into depression, she does her best to improve and help in anyway she can. She is not an overpowered fighting machine without a trace of feelings or personality but she isn’t a damsel in distress dragged along by the plot and her men either.
Why do they follow around? Each one of them has his reason. Hak is obvious, Yoon wanted to see the world and is a natural mom, Ki Ja is loyal to the legend and Shin Ah considers her one of the most important people in his live because, you know, she accepted him and give him a name. And all of them see how courageous she is and are inspired by that. Jae Ha saw she was so weak but worked so hard and he admired it.
Everything in your first paragraph just sounds like what every average person can and is currently achieving. Certainly nothing I’d consider impressive.
This post summed up my feelings on the series as a whole and Yona herself.
I don’t understand why so many fans think she is a “badass” I just don’t see it, just because her eyes glow red and she has “resolve” (which is the generic answer you always see or hear) doesn’t mean she is as “epic” as people make her out to be. It’s kind of like in that other anime airing this season with the bland heroine where fans are only enamored with her because she is normal as if it’s something new that was just created.
My guess is that in the next few episode Yona will fire of one arrow (just one) and then the anime will bombard us with how amazing she and the characters and fans will lose thier collective minds at how “awesome” she supposedly is.
So…Yona’s kinda like your average harem lead, I take it?
You know which manga did the whole “I’m a princess and someone close to me killed my dad, and now I have to struggle to survive and to (potentially) take revenge”? Chang Ge Xing (Song of the Long March). Unlike Yona, she didn’t change into a complete different person because the plot needed her to suddenly be ‘benevolent, wise, charitable and badass’ and not ‘spoiled, weak minded and weak bodied’; unlike Yona, she didn’t just forget the hate and anger she felt towards her family’s murderer. But most of all, her motivations made sense and the world of CGX did not bend backwards to suit Li ChangGe’s purposes. Spoilers ahead man.
She starts the story by swearing revenge on her uncle, the current emperor (who usurped the position from ChangGe’s father). She does many morally dubious things because she was blinded by rage and because the world she lives in is brutal and realistic (unlike Yona’s sugary world where problems exist only so that she can solve it and then get worshipped for it). That being said, she never does outright evil things, because she is still a kind person when she can be.
In the course of the series, ChangGe experiences events that change her little by little. She learns to direct an army, she learns to wield a sword, and she learns how to be peaceful with herself. She does not give up her goal, but, later, she realizes that her uncle is actually a fucking great emperor, and is probably doing a better job than her father would. And that’s when she gives up on revenge. She decides to give up because she cannot put the empire and its citizens into turmoil only for her selfish goals. She went from a rage filled princess who lost everything to a wise general who fights for her country. Her ending will never be known because the manga was discontinued, but she is definitely much better than Yona