Honestly this Akatsuki no Yona last arc ended up being a huge dissapointment for me. I've been folowing it for almost 10 years, I watched the anime back in 2015 and I really liked it and loved the Happy Hungry Bunch dynamics and Yona's epic hero's journey of taking up the bow like an Artemis figure and protecting the country. Since she escaped the castle she has been growing in trial after trial, the stakes and danger incrementing. But since they arrived at the castle I haven't seen much growth with Yona or a macro plot point that ties everything perfectly. Yeah, the dragon gods attacked So-Woon and wanted to take Yona with them and there was a climatic cataclysm erupting in the kingdom, but I just never saw the supreme apotheosis or abyss moment of Yona's macro hero's journey from Joseph Campbell monomyth. I waited 10 years for this moment and it never happened? Maybe it did but I wasn't paying much attention because since the castle arc, the manga bored me and I've just skimmed many chapters. It's puzzling. Maybe my expectations didn't matched Kusanagi's manga but I feel like this final arc missed something HUGE and EPIC.
Yona now annoys since this last arcs, everything is so meh to me. Honestly I was expecting Yona to complete her hero's journey and then for her to transition into a queen arc taking the Kouka throne and becoming a leader for the nation, but I just don't see it. Or maybe she completed the hero's journey but I didn't realized? I'm so confused.
But what's interesting is that So-Woon looks to be in the king arc and we even saw the archetypal antagonist of the "Cataclysm" in the form of the natural disasters and earthquakes and the dragon gods, but ??? Did it got acomplished? Sadly when I lost interest in something my brain doesn't pay attention or seeks patterns or symbolism. My brain randomly detect things that may have meaning but doesn't go further 🥱
Hero's Journey:
What's Yona's ultimate boon anyway?
The boon of the hero is what the hero set out to accomplish when she initiated her quest. The ultimate goal or elixir that will restore society or the kingdom in general terms. In the awa arc when Yona had to retrieve the sensouju plant from the precipice cave, she seized a Holy Grail or an elixir, because the plant brings life and heals people. Also, the holy grail doesn't have to be a physical magical object like a magic ring or grail, it can be an internal reward in which the hero changes his persepective and sees the world through new eyes or overcomes a trauma or fear that holds him back. An internal healing of the soul. But In AnY I don't see this moment happening. I don´t know tbh.
We have the supernatural aid in the form of Hak, the ultra strong superhuman bodyguard, and the 4 dragons with inhuman abilites, helping and supporting Yona every step of the way.
The road of trials started when Yona decided to search the dragons to get stronger and protect the kingdom, although having Kija and Shin-Ah resulted in an easy task with no high stakes. Her first real epic and dangerous trial was the Awa arc. It was a mini hero's journey, even the sensouju test was a mini mini hero's journey within the arc.
Then we have the other trials or arcs: fire tribe conflict, nadai trial, Sei arc, Xing, etc. Then within the castle we had inner conflicts and the conflict of southern Kai when Mei appeared and I don't remember what else.
Now in this final arc Yona and the plot seems stunted to me, of course relevant events happened but for me it lacks something significant.
