Same archetypes, different worlds — Yona of the Dawn x Berserk Parallels
Some random thoughts I had while thinking about Yona of the Dawn and Berserk 🤯
(image credit : Berserk tribute art by Kusanagi in the Yona of the dawn artbook)
I know this might sound like a stretch at first, but hear me out: the more I think about it, the more I see echoes between Hak/Guts, Su-Won/Griffith, and even Yona/Casca. And apparently, I’m not imagining it. Mizuho Kusanagi (the mangaka behind Yona) has drawn Berserk fanart and spoken about her admiration for Miura. So it’s not just vibes; there’s a real homage going on. Here’s what I noticed.
⚠️ Manga reader for both series so spoilers ahead !
Both are blond, charismatic, strategic, and deeply ambitious. They carry the weight of a dream (a kingdom, a utopia) and ultimately betray the people who loved them most. They’re magnetic and brilliant, but there’s also a disturbing coldness in how they choose ideals over relationships. And yet, there’s a key difference: in Yona, Su-Won’s betrayal affects her father (the king), not Yona directly — though he does attempt to kill her, she survives thanks to Hak. In Berserk, the betrayal is personal and brutal, aimed directly at Guts and Casca. It hits darker because the damage is so intimate, so irreparable.
Both are incredibly loyal, physically powerful, emotionally reserved, and constantly put their bodies on the line to protect others. They carry silent rage, but also deep tenderness. They’re the kind of characters who speak more with actions than words. But here’s the key difference: Hak manages to save Yona. He gets there in time. That changes everything. I think part of why Hak doesn’t spiral the way Guts does is because he’s able to protect the person he loves. And then, he finds a new purpose through the found family they build together with the Dragons. Guts, on the other hand, is forced to watch everything be taken from him. He couldn’t save Casca. If Yona had died (or worse, if Hak had witnessed what Griffith did to Casca) I don’t think he would’ve come out of it any different than Guts. It’s not that Hak is stronger emotionally, it’s that the circumstances allowed him a different path. Guts never got that chance.
This one’s more subtle. Both women experience shattering betrayal and have to rebuild themselves. But their portrayals are so different. Casca is introduced as a hardened warrior, kinda the typical girlboss with more “masculine” traits. She’s sharp, competent, a fighter and yet, her arc strips her of so much agency. Yona starts off as a soft, pampered princess, someone you wouldn’t expect to rise. But she becomes a leader not by dominating, but through empathy, quiet strength, and strategic intelligence. Her femininity is never framed as weakness and that feels so refreshing. You can tell Yona was written by a woman.
Of course, part of this difference comes from the nature of their trauma. Su-Won betrayed Yona by killing her father and trying to kill her too but she was saved. Casca, on the other hand, was violated in the deepest, most physical way. Her unborn child was killed. And the one person she once trusted to protect her is the one who did the worst thing imaginable to her. Their pain isn’t the same. It’s not meant to be. But it’s still fascinating to see how two stories take similar archetypes and take them in such radically different directions.
Another difference that really struck me is how the two stories treat the idea of forgiveness. In Berserk, the betrayal is so traumatic, so violent, that forgiveness is off the table. Guts is driven by rage and grief and honestly, how could he not be? In Yona, the betrayal leaves deep wounds, but there’s space for nuance. Both Yona and Hak struggle with what Su-Won did, and they never forget it. But they do live with it, and they move forward. There’s pain, but also the possibility of forgiveness, even if it’s complicated. That tonal difference says a lot about the core of each story.
In the end, I guess I’m just fascinated by how the same archetypes — the charsimatic leader, the loyal warrior, the betrayed heroine — can be explored in such radically different ways depending on the author’s vision. Berserk is all sharp edges and raw trauma. Yona lets things breathe. It doesn’t make one better than the other but it’s so interesting to see the parallels unfold.
That’s all. Just some parallels my brain made while rereading Yona and revisiting bits of Berserk.
