Kaira - She/Her - Italian - Angry young lady who hates joy - Crack ships for breakfast - Reading on going: DGM / VNC / Akayona / Ichi the Witch/ WITCHRIV
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Release 159 // [02.05.26]
Reminder that since Batoto has been taken down, our old translated chapters are still available on Cubari! Be sure to check out the translation notes at the end of the chapter, as well.
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"WITCHRIV" manga series Vol 1 cover by "One Room of Happiness" creator Hakuri
Dark Fantasy set in a world where magic exists but only a few people can use it. They are hunted down by an oppressive government and have to hide their powers to survive. One of them is a young girl who lives a quiet life with her witch mom but one tragic day their secret is revealed and has cruel consequences.
Last chapter thoughts (short - long version will come later)
Mixed feelings. I still feel like it's pretty rushed and underwhelming. I need time to process.
I am glad that Yona and Su-Won finally had their conversation, but it was also still very rushed. There are some glaring aspects about it that confused me.
Why is he deciding everything? Why she should rule, when she will rule... and why is Yona just accepting it without a word?
You know, the thing is, the first time she heard of this, Yona called him selfish for "deciding" to make her the ruler. Why can't she have the courage to say that to his face? Why she just accepting of it all?
Where is her will in any of this? Was it that she wanted to be the queen all along? We never got her thought process on this.
I can understand if he decides to be her councillor though, and helps with the political side; it makes sense that he wants to give her a king's education... this was one of the ends that I was predicting. That said, there's just... so many unresolved plot points to this I feel like... well, I don't know. Underwhelmed.
That aside, Su-Won calling himself an usurper, telling Yona that he realized had killed Il out of revenge and basically apologizing to her for ruining her life was.... partly good.
But even so, I was hoping that he'd get into what the hell he meant by "original owner".
It would have been great if Yona and Su-Won could have actually talked about their fathers, and what Il was thinking the entire time. I mean, in a way, Il is the one who convinced Junam to give him the throne. Would that not also be usurping the title from Yu-Hon?
Does Su-Won really believe Il was right?? Why did Il do what he did then, and not properly raise her if she was going to be the heir this whole time?? I needed more depth.
But yeah. I don't really know if Yona becoming the queen was necessarily... the right choice for this, especially because we ourselves never got any sort of inkling prior that she was willing to accept Su-Won's "selfish" decision.
Also unrelated, but like... what even happened to the hairpin subplot? Like I would think why Su-Won gave the hairpin is a big unanswered question. Where the hell did that plot point go?
I don’t know what to say about any of this nonsense and if anything is even needed to be said.
Yona gives the impression of a limp ragdoll dummy that is simply told what to do. Since when becoming queen was Yona’s plan? Why did she dare call Soo-won selfish if the throne was her aim all along? Why would she put herself in a situation where her future with Hak is at risk? She’s even discussing her being married to someone else since she’s queen what the fuck are you on about girl. They didn’t even get married in the end wow.
Out of the crowd only Lili was smiling at her coronation, even Mundok and Tae-woo were grim.
The only highlight of this finale for me is that the dragons left the castle and each went their way to live their lives. This was great imo, that’s what they needed. Zeno was pretty grim though too, empty-eyed, I wouldn’t call him happy. What is he even going to do? He doesn’t know himself and we’ll be left wondering?
For Soo-won I’m still crying, what the fuck was done to him. I will never forgive this manga for making me cry this much, this is the most unsettling, unfair nonsense of an end I’ve ever witnessed. All his suffering and loneliness were only meant for a lifetime of suffering and loneliness. He is left crippled, alone and regretful, I can’t with this.
I cried too hard, is he even Yona’s counselor now? I forgot. If he is, how on earth is he going to be one if he still has this beef with Hak? Fucking Hak who got Yona back only thanks to Soo-won didn’t even want to enter the room and talk to him? They didn’t even talk goddammit!
Oh and yes, Lili did eat the hairpin it seems, it never reappeared.
[NEW ILLUSTRATION] ALLEN AND TYKI 2025 BIRTHDAY ART BY HOSHINO KATSURA
Merry Christmas! And happy birthday, Allen and Tyki !
Hoshino sensei has just posted a new art:
Translation ""I didn't make it in time but I've drawn something so I kinda made it...?"
(The reason why she says this is because she has posted the art on the 26th in Japan, around 00:30 AM)
Also, from her Threads account:
やる気スイッチOFFだったけど主人公だからと無理して(言うなそれは)描いたやい！眠かったやい！
Translation: "I was not in the mood at all, to be honest. But since he is the main character, I kinda pushed myself (don’t say that...) and drew something ! I am so sleepy."
It has been a long ride of many years. I still remember mistaking AnY for one of those third rate reverse harem stories and thinking - 'I'll stay with this story just until the reverse harem bullshit kicks in.'
Akatsuki no Yona was truly good. It was a great story and while I am disappointed with how the later arcs were handled, I am not going to say that it doesn't deserve praise for the characters that Kusanagi created or the vision that she had.
I just feel that somewhere down the line that vision changed and the story changed to cater differently. Suddenly, it was taboo for Yona to make mistakes and learn from it, it was taboo for Su-won to be right (Well that one was always taboo), it was boring for Yona to be curious about things that deserved more curiosity than she gave it, there were only two sides, either you were on Yona's side or you were evil. No one could have a different opinion from her and be right. If she said something, then it was right. No investigation required. If they had a different opinion there were wrong, and unrighteous, and well the final nail in that coffin - no one could be the monarch of Kouka other than her. (Because she was the legitimate heir)
There you go Kusanagi has ticked off all your boxes. Oh wait, did I forget something?
Oh, dear, yeah right!
Su-won has to say 'Yup, I was wrong the whole time for trying to save this shitty kingdom that your father wrecked for a decade. That's right, everything was personal resentment. I am an usurper and I deserve death for putting the people of Kouka above the two of you.
I felt like Su-won's struggles, all of Su-won's effort was trivialized in just one chapter. Everything fell into her lap by the virtue of plot armour.
"Oh, there you go, you're king now. You were legitimate heir after all. Go ahead and kill me as well."
"Oh, dear no, how could I do that, you nearly got mauled, stabbed, crushed to death, almost ascended to heaven, trying to clean up the mess I made about 25 chapters ago- you're forgiven!"
And did Kusa really have to be stingy with the panels? Where was Su-won during the coronation?
I wouldn't have been this mad if at least, they he could have just left behind the whole thing entirely for awhile. Yona hand holding till the end and he has still be in the middle as an advisor. That pisses me off on an entirely different level.
However, if we have to talk about certain good aspects of the finale its that the dragon warriors are finally free and I am thrilled that they are moving on with their own lives and at least they are not stuck around Yona anymore.
So you want to tell me Soowon didn't give a damn about this country and killed King Il s i m p l y because of personal resentment?Are you serious, Kusanagi? You just washed the beauty of complexity of Soowon's decision down the drain?
I genuinely don't even have any words. I don't know what to think, but I know I will never be able to take AkaYona seriously again.
origamiaround
germansingergirl
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