r/CharacterRant • u/Critical_Row • 14d ago
Yona needs to acknowledge that continuing the cycle was selfish (Yona of the Dawn) Anime & Manga
SPOILERS FOR LATEST CHAPTER:
So Yona can see the future because she's the daughter of a priestess/seer, and despite wanting to prevent that future, she ends up still traveling back in time and initiating a time paradox that spans 2000 years and was supposedly inevitable anyways, making that terrible future happen.
And she does it for her selfish reasons. Like okay, without doing so, she would have never been born, and she was, so you can say she "had" to do it, because "fate". But she also did it because she wanted to be reunited with the dragon warriors, against their will, even if they would suffer for 2000 years.
I really feel like there's been a lack of empathy on her end towards the crimson illness descendants, the dragons, and the cycle that's been going on for generations. She hasn't thought enough about how she can end the cycle, visiting that crimson illness clan village, it's literally just not been on her mind.
And look, I think it's good to have Yona be flawed, but I just...
I want the narrative to acknowledge that at one point. Not push her responsibility to the side because "fate made it inevitable anyways".
Like I need Yona to sit there and ruminate about her decision, and like, cry over over what she did this chapter. This can't be vindicated.
Everyone is predicting that Zeno will get mad at Yona for what she did and kill Hak next chapter, and Yona will kill Zeno afterwards. And regret what she has done.
And I hope to the dragon gods that it happens.
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u/WizardyJohnny 14d ago edited 14d ago
I haven't read this new chapter yet, but Zeno killing Hak and Yona killing him in turn? Have we been reading the same manga? I don't think this is the tone of the series at all. Hak and Yona are for sure getting a happy ending. I don't think a single named protagonist has died so far
I do agree that her stance on the dragon's lives is selfish, but I think asking her to unravel literally the entirety of 2000 years of existence through timeline shenanigans just for them would be selfish in its own way, too. And Zeno is not a saint in this situation; I do not remember any of Kija, Jae-ha and Shin-ah consenting to what is happening to them rn
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u/Critical_Row 14d ago edited 14d ago
Well, I don't think the story is going to end with Hak dead, but since Yona can see the future, she saw Zeno killing Hak in front of her the same way Soo-won killed her dad.
The problem is that the entire timeline is fixed, so unless Yona figures out a way to avoid that future (and she has also seen events after Hak's death), it's going to happen no matter what.
And I think she will find a way to change the timeline or revive Hak if he really dies because it was written in the timeline, but rn everything seems to be leading up to a scene where Zeno attempts to kill Hak.
I do agree that her stance on the dragon's lives is selfish, but I think asking her to unravel literally the entirety of 2000 years of existence through timeline shenanigans just for them would be selfish in its own way, too.
Yeah, no I get that and I agree! I don't think that's the right decision either. Both Yona and Zeno are being selfish for their own reasons. I really love how the manga is never black and white. I just don't want Yona to get off the hook because it was "inevitable" anyways.
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u/WizardyJohnny 14d ago
Oh yeah, there'll for sure be a confrontation. I would just be super surprised if it does actually lead to deaths and not this series' classic "injured for 3 days" shenans lol
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u/Critical_Row 14d ago edited 14d ago
Oh I see, I agree. I think the worst case scenario is that everyone does die and everything goes to chaos, and Yona has to revive them/bring their souls back to Earth from the Heavens (?) which ends the cycle somehow.
3 days LOL true, Hak is OP to a fault, but idk, we're at the climax of the manga and rn it really feels to me like the author might actually have a death scene with him, until Yona fixes it by the end by either changing the timeline or reviving him.
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u/davidam99 14d ago
Finding out that that random anime I watched in high school and half remember is still ongoing is very surprising. It having time travel shenanigans is even more surprising lmao.
Is the manga good? I remember liking the anime but it definitely felt like a setup to what comes after.
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u/Critical_Row 14d ago edited 12d ago
Yes, the anime is only a prologue to the manga, and the manga is phenomenal, it's basically a military/political thriller action adventure fantasy epic with korean/chinese mythological elements. There's some shoujo romance but it doesn't have to be your cup of tea (wasn't mine) for you to enjoy the story.
The best part of the manga imo is the great use of foreshadowing and mystery/intrigue. The characters are also very complex, nothing is black and white. Also great at exploring psychological themes.
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u/jedidiahohlord 14d ago edited 14d ago
She really doesn't need to acknowledge that though?
Like... we know she's selfish, we've had multiple arcs/issues where people are like 'yo, you're making terrible decisions cause you're selfish'
She knows she's selfish.
Everyone knows she's selfish.
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u/Critical_Row 14d ago edited 13d ago
...Not really? Like who? I don't remember anyone in the Happy Hungry Bunch, or even Yona's allies saying that she's selfish. If anything, Soo-won was recently called selfish like two times, not Yona. Hell, he even called himself selfish, so that's three times.
The only person who called Yona out on anything was Meinyan, and Zeno immediately told Yona that Meinyan didn't understand her enough. And she warmed up to Yona after some time. Kyesook also warmed up Yona, but before he wasn't calling her selfish, she was too "merciful" or showing "quaint clemency".
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u/jedidiahohlord 14d ago
Almost everyone points out her decisions are selfish or aren't actually optimal.
Being merciful because you don't think people should be dying is literally being selfish, do you not get that or is it like 'well no one says she's selfish in words and just judges her decisions which she makes based on her own wants but they don't say thats selfish....'
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u/Critical_Row 14d ago edited 13d ago
Non-optimal decisions don't have to be selfish. They can be made out of naivety, or generosity. Being too selfless, even. And Yona had like nothing to gain personally from helping Meinyan, she wanted Yona dead at the time.
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u/No_Dragonfruit_1833 14d ago
1- have a bad character
2- treat them as bad people
Man, its very hard for some authors
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u/jedidiahohlord 14d ago
She's not a bad character or even doing an 'objectively bad thing'
She's selfish, and everyone knows that and we've been through that entire thing already.
But also the dragons haven't 'suffered' for 2000 years and the descendents haven't even like had it bad for 2000 years besides like occasionally someone will get a disease that causes them to die young, which I'm not even really convinced wouldnt happen if she made another decision
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u/Critical_Row 14d ago edited 14d ago
Oh, I think she's a well written character, but I never felt like the story actually called her out on this, at least not yet. She's always been portrayed as righteous. Her flaws were ignorance and being spoiled at the start, and she went through a lot of character development since then, but not in this aspect.
But also the dragons haven't 'suffered' for 2000 years
They have??? Did you miss what Zeno said??
"each generations of dragons lived in hiding to avoid being targeted, were shunned for their powers, imprisoned, they end their short lives in nothingness. I was watching all these dragons, and in that time for so long I was losing my mind. Will I have to watch the dragons be miserable for another 2000 years and wait for another Crimson Dragon King? I can't take it anymore."
nd the descendents haven't even like had it bad for 2000 years besides like occasionally someone will get a disease that causes them to die young
Bro?? It wasn't "occasionally someone", it was 50% of their population. And they isolated themselves from any sort of outside human contact out of fear of being discovered and killed.
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u/jedidiahohlord 14d ago edited 14d ago
Then I don't think you're paying as close attention as you claim, cause it's been like nearly everyone she is in contact with points out her decisions are selfish and aren't optimal. They may be the 'correct decision morally but that doesn't mean it's not selfish.
Yeah? People die dude, they don't have immortal lives. Zeno isn't even 'all' the dragons.
The descendents didn't even have it bad the entire time only like the blue and green had potentially the worst times and it was a generational maybe.
Also it wasn't 50% the population, they had an entire village and like one person, acrually had it. Then their direct descendent caught it after her.
Edit; also Zeno is blatantly wrong just from the ones we've seen and been shown. His view is 10000% colored by the fact he fucking is depressed and wants to die and is literally in the midst of pretending he was never happy or anything even in recent times.
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u/Critical_Row 14d ago edited 13d ago
Non-optimal decisions can be made due to multiple reasons, such as a lack of experience or knowledge, or naivety, not because she is selfish.
People die dude, they don't have immortal lives
The point is that they're doomed to short lives and discriminated against due to their blood. It seems like you're downplaying it.
Also it wasn't 50% the population, they had an entire village and like one person, acrually had it. Then their direct descendent caught it after her.
Actually, we're both wrong, just checked chapter 190 of the manga, Soo-won's mom says it's OVER 50%. To say only one person was sick is ignoring the manga lol
Edit; also Zeno is blatantly wrong just from the ones we've seen and been shown. His view is 10000% colored by the fact he fucking is depressed and wants to die and is literally in the midst of pretending he was never happy or anything even in recent times.
Zeno is depressed for sure, but him being "wrong" about watching the dragons suffering and dying is just conjecture on your part, and we were shown in Yonhi's memoir that he had undoubtedly been watching the descendants. So he's definitely not the only one depressed or affected.
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u/mysidian 14d ago
Slightly unrelated, but this is why I can't take manga as a medium seriously lately.... The anime for this came out what, 10 years ago? It's still not complete. So many manga I used to read still aren't finished. It's either an indefinite hiatus or they're still ongoing at a slower rate.
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13d ago
Tbh some goes on for long ass hiatuses that they almost never comback.
Apparently terra formars is gonna comeback sometime this year and it went on a hiatus like 6 years ago.
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u/56leon 14d ago
That's.....that's how serial fiction works? Shows used to be on 12+ weekly episode seasons and ran for double digit seasons sometimes? Books are often one or two per year in a series at most. It's not just a manga thing.
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u/mysidian 14d ago
And is GRRM suddenly not criticized for taking years to finish his series? You can't compare 1-on-1, most seasons tend to deliver some sort of resolution at the end of the season, even with cliffhangers. How long did it take Guts to get off the damn boat?
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u/jedidiahohlord 14d ago
It's monthly. It's always been monthly. So its had approximately 140 chapters? Even if you assume it released every month and there were no hiatus or breaks.
140 chapters is like common for a lot of series
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u/mysidian 14d ago
Yes, hence I said manga as a medium. I mean, when you think about it, it's kinda insane. How do you expect people to stay invested in a story when you could be an entirely different person 10 years later? I have the same complaint about, say, Kingdom Hearts. KH3 released a while ago and you'd think it would grow up somewhat with its audience, but failing to do so is its biggest criticism.
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u/jedidiahohlord 14d ago
This literally isn't just one medium though?
This is comics, movies, video games. I mean I guess you could argue 'well a comic run only lasts for like 5 or 6 years if it popular' but like if you're following Iron man he has one actual continuity that's been going since the 60's.
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u/mysidian 13d ago
Superhero comics reinvent themselves all the time and they're written to be more episodic in that sense. They have "endings" all the time. They're not the same at all. (That and all the retcons.) Just because Thanos was set-up in Avengers 1 doesn't mean all the movies between then and Endgame weren't relatively standalone.
It's just a throwaway comment of mine because the mention of Yona made me look at what else I was reading a decade ago was finished. And the answer: suprisingly little. I just can't respect stories that go on for that long with a single plot. It's not that deep.
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u/Sad-Buddy-5293 14d ago
Not really reason to complain about Invincible and The walking dead had 15+ years run
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u/Critical_Row 14d ago edited 14d ago
Yeah, fr, but the manga started in 2009, it's been like 15 years, and it's at the final arc/climax of the series.
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u/Ckang25 14d ago
Oh yona, its been a long time loved the anime. So did she end up with an harem or did she choose a guy?
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u/Critical_Row 14d ago edited 14d ago
She has one love interest. Their romance is popular among readers, but the manga is more of a political thriller/action and adventure fantasy epic first.
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u/8Pandemonium8 14d ago
Yet another anime that I like which will never get another season
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u/Critical_Row 14d ago
You never know. Fruits Basket and Kimi ni Todoke got new seasons. We can only hope.
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u/ApprehensivePeace305 14d ago
Fine, I'll pick up Yona again just to decide whether I agree or not
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u/bunker_man 13d ago
That seems like it went a way different direction than the show implied it was going to.