As always, major thanks to @theyseemewhalin and @pandaflavouredcookies for supplying the Akayona fandom with the drug that is the AnY chapter. You guys rock. <3
This chapter was INCREDIBLE on so many levels. I don’t generally write up reaction posts but I had to this time.
- Joo-doh, why are you starting shit? *facepalm* The only thing I will say here is that Joo-doh only wants to kill Hak and he is still ok with letting Yona live. (Going back to what he told her in the Nadai/Water Tribe arc that he never wished for her to die.)
- The panel which shows Guen-tae, Yona, and Hak!! Geun-tae looks like he has sized up the situation quite well. He sees Hak protecting Yona. He also knows how powerful Hak is. From the death glare on Hak’s face, Geun-tae knows Joo-doh is not coming out of that encounter alive. I suspect that Geun-tae has put together the pieces of what happened to King IL but Soo-won is a good king to the kingdom and I don’t see Geun-tae rebelling against him just for the sake of loyalty to Yona (as the King’s daughter). But still, this panel is interesting because Yona is sandwiched between the two men and I wonder if this is eventual set-up for a time when Geun-tae will join Hak in protecting her. (I do want to see more badass Yona but I will let the doe-eyed Yona in this panel pass for now. I think the doe-eyed, vulnerable Yona is how Geun-tae sees her at this point.)
- Soo-won, you logic-ed yourself out of this situation but I am wondering whether Joo-doh will push his hand again in the future at a moment when Soo-won *will* have to make a decision about his attachment to Hak.
- The Wind Tribe, oh the Wind Tribe!! The dark looks on their faces when Joo-doh threatens Hak. And the panel in which they bow to Yona because *she* is the one they recognize as the true ruler of Kouka. And she bows back to greet them, and acknowledge them, and thank them for saving Lili. Wahhhhhhhhh I love humble Yona. It is also significant that the Wind Tribe stands alone in that panel because they are only ones who currently support Yona.
- And the panel in which the dragons cluster around Hak protectively (while he is relatively unguarded without his weapon). Can this chapter get any better? This scene takes me back to the very reason Yona wanted to gather the dragon warriors: not to take back the kingdom, not to kill Soo-won, but to protect her and Hak. While Hak himself is a formidable foe, the sight of the three dragons around him is enough to stop anyone in a cold sweat. And that the dragons jump around Hak without a second thought!! They’ve all come to care for each other beyond the ties of the dragon blood.
- And yes, Yun, I see you there trying to protect Hak too. <3
- And the panel where Yona is holding onto Hak reverses the dialogue the two had after Hak’s outburst at the end of the Nadai/Water Tribe arc. At that point, Yona was the one who tells Hak that she is ok, and he can stop attacking Soo-won. And this time, Hak is the one who tells her that and reassures her that he won’t attack Soo-won like he did that time.
- WHERE DOES ZENO POP UP FROM??? I am convinced that Zeno was perched atop a wall or a tree and suppressing his presence to watch what the ‘youngsters’ do. Soo-won’s eyes in this Zeno encounter are pretty interesting. He never has that cold calculating look but just seems shocked and surprised in general. And then he watches Zeno rush to rejoin his dragon family and Yona and Yun and Hak, and I can’t help but feel that his eyes have a hint of longing in them. Is it that Soo-won longs for the kind of camaraderie that the extended dragon family has?
- Is it Hak hugs people day? Hak, the fangirls are waiting. :P
- Jae-ha feels. Ughhhhh
- Um, Yona’s nightmare is already making me nervous. Even if we barely saw anything, there was something ominous about it. Is this nightmare connected to the last one she had when she was in the palace and she sees herself and Hak chased out of the palace and Hak dying? I know the fandom hasn’t conclusively decided what that last nightmare was about. But still her nightmares seem to have *some* prescient qualities and this might mean Kusanagi is setting up for something momentous again. I am also wondering whether the sky in this nightmare is the dawn sky or moonlight sky? (Probably a moonlight sky.) The two nightmares also have similar follow-up scenes as Yona seeks out Hak to comfort her.
- AND THOSE LAST PANELS!!! I can’t help but feel that Yona looks older in these panels? And Hak! Poor Hak has a blank look on his face with just a touch of being flabbergasted. (Also, I am cracking up at @pandaflavouredcookies trying to translate Yona’s words here so they are not erotic. Panda, I am not sure your attempts are working but I know what you mean. hahahaha)
