Long time no see! Well, I figured that since my highest high in a fandom has been for Akatsuki no Yona on Tumblr, I should close the circle and do one final (okay, there's an epilogue and we might be back but still) manga reaction post! Plus, it's the easiest stupid website to write long posts on with pictures. Never change, beloved trashcan full of raccoons.
I have been reading the manga as it came out, but since I'm not as hyped anymore and the story went too slow and then too fast, I didn't have much to say beyond some memes or thoughts I just shared to mutuals on Discord since it was faster/less controversial.
Without further ado, spoilers ahead. I'll be spitting everything in the same post as I go, and maybe later I might do individual jokes for the tags to find.
Preface: I have low expectations for this since I haven't been enjoying the plot as much (I don't hate it, but I think it's too rushed and weird with the yandere dragon gods.) I have either the "it's an ending" Simpsons meme and "our expectations were low but holy fuck" meme at the ready. Let's see if I get to use either. LET'S GO
Oh I said a lot of shit but I'm getting chills
It's ending
I personally love that this conversation with Zeno happens with Yoon, who not only is the most external to the paranormal in the HHB, but also the most emotionally mature and nurturing one. And by nurturing I also include yelling at him and lovingly hitting him with the chancla like a mother
I love you Yoon!
I missed these two interacting too
Soo-won be like "you know what, a malfunctioning arm is better than dying from a painful chronic disease so I'll take it."
Still, I don't like that he wants to bounce after doing all this shit and going to war to the point of a political and social mess. No bro, stay and solve the fucking problems you started. You might've been a usurper but you caused stuff and there are consequences to your actions, so you should be the face of the throne until it's fixed. And if you stay there visibly as the counselor, that's gonna make Yona look like a puppet ruler. If she doesn't end up one. But let's get there later.
I also never liked the idea of Yona being the queen, at least not until a timeskip of several years. Let her travel around, learn more, enjoy her youth, grow wise. She's still a kid, barely a bit younger than SW and Hak.
At least he's aware now!
I actually don't dislike SW, mind you. I certainly like him less than before after the Sky Tribe family flashbacks (an arc I personally hated) and how much like his dad he ended up being at times, but I do think he's fascinating in how flawed he is, and how the not-threesome is just accepting that despite the betrayal, they still love and respect each other so much. Relationships are complicated.
The sillies
Thank you for coming, gramps. You look exhausted
"Nani the fuck"
Aaaaaaah baby son 😭
Jae-ha, I'm all for you going back to your mother, but your village? They're going to fucking drill you with arrows and you can't jump away to dodge?
Man, the Hakuryuu Village is gonna be in shambles now that the white dragons won't exist anymore. But I think they'll be happy that they finally fulfilled their destiny in this generation. Plus, they can always live off whatever technology they have for making pristine white clothes
Give me that spinoff, Kusanagi
LMAO, he's just saying what 75% of the fandom is thinking
hakyona shippers: rabbitwithclock.jpg
Good for you guys. Although it still feels like breadcrumbs there was so little pages of making out after 276 chapters, and I say it as someone who doesn't ship it lol
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!! Thank fucking god the GOAT is staying with her too!!
Tribe rollcall!
AAAAA POOKIES. The parallel to Zeno's flashback, but here they're all smiling and leaving the castle in a clear sunny day with blue skies instead of snowy and gloomy
I still dislike that Yona's the queen so soon, and I would've liked more HHB jolly adventures on the road without political/divine horrors and less stakes, but sigh... it is what it is.
This is a GREAT final picture nonetheless
So anyway... I'll need to read the extra chapter in February to see if there's more to this ending. As it is, it feels incomplete and rushed to me, so I hope the epilogue gives us more clarity on how their lives go on, how Kouka fares later after that mess, how Zeno fucking dies, if Hak is allowed to marry Yona (I think she'll take her bow and sword out if Kye-sook says no), what the secondary characters will do... Even the coronation feels empty without her found dragon boy family or international friends attending, like she had to do it like this because of page constrains.
So in short, I do like parts of it and it being open lets you play with it fanworks wise. I don't doubt they'll see each other again but it's bittersweet that the boys all collectively decide to break apart and go back to the start (except gigachad Yoon following his dream) as soon as the dragon bond dies. But anyway, the promised meme:
Goodbye, Akayona. You've given me so much, and I still wanted to get more of it.
Here we go, the Spanish translation for Happy Hungry Bunch!
This is peak accidental early Zeno humor. The correct translation would be the Happy Starving (People). But "muerto de hambre" is literally "dead/dying of hunger". That’s very Zeno trolling, and the Spanish translator did this without knowing in advance because she reads as she works on it. Beautiful. A+
Also, the Fire soldiers keep saying it wrong every time, and one of the variations is “el Dragón Oscuro y su hambrienta familia” (the Dark Dragon and his hungry family) and that’s adorable because they ARE becoming a family.
“You’ll catch a cold if...”, featuting Hakuryuu Kija and random old people he just met. AKA “am I grasping at straws with the amount of foreshadowing parallels I think Pierrot has put into the OADs?”
