How? How can every page be so... so... wonderful?! It's a definite must-read for everyone, regardless of age or genre preferences.

My Synopsis
Akatsuki no Yona tells the story of young Princess Yona of Kouka Kingdom, the worldbuilding being inspired by a nice blend of Korean, Japanese and Chinese culture, who suddenly finds herself expelled out of the palace after her father, King Il, is murdered by her most beloved and trusted cousin -- Soo Won. Instilling himself as King and framing Yona and her bodyguard Son Hak as the ones who assassinated the King, Soo Won decided to rebuild Kouka and gather all 5 Tribes of the kingdom together once again, as it was under the previous monarch's rule.

Meanwhile, Hak and Yona are now leaving outside the palace grounds, and decides to visit the Wind Tribe, one of the 5 Tribes, whereby Hak has close ties with. Mun Dok of the Wind Tribe and Hak's adoptive grandfather urges them to visit the High Priest, Ik Soo, who tells them the story of the Four Dragons of Kouka.

Yona, Hak and Yoon, the young guardian of Ik Soo, thus set off on a journey to find the Four Dragons and borrow their power.

My thoughts
What an INCREDIBLE journey! Yona changes from a naive, innocent and easily persuaded princess to a fierce, loyal and compassionate warrior. She doesn't need to bring change -- she is the change

Also, the characters and the plot! Both are solid and splendid, and I only have praises. Even the antagonist Soo Won isn't your typical "bad guy", with his complexity and own struggles. I hate him, but I don't. I love him, but I don't. *shrugs*

Hak is so cool and supportive of Yona. I understand why he disagrees with Yona's decision to learn how to wield weapons at first, since that's going against the wishes of King Il, but he thus gives way to her. Watching them bicker and grow is adorable. Also, our Four Dragons! Each brings their own special traits to create our beloved Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch 🙂 Yoon as the "mother" of the group is a running gag despite him being the youngest, but he is adorable... as Zeno will say it =D

If you haven't read this yet... WHY HAVEN'T YOU? HEAR THAT? THAT'S ME KNOCKING AT YOUR DOOR DEMANDING AN ANSWER.

*Ahem*

I'll be sad when the series ends </3

TLDR: Intense, whirlwind beginning that leads to great characters and a slow burn romance.

Long Version: I really do love Yona of the Dawn, it’s one of the few manga I read even though it’s not completed. One of the biggest delights of the story, besides Hak (that beautiful man), is Yona’s growth. Her growth from a weak willed, sheltered princess to a strong woman is so amazing and believable that you’re enraptured and rooting for her the entire time. If you love seeing a strong hero, Yona won’t let you down.
But let’s not forget the romance, it is a shoujo after all~. Yona has no shortage of kingka around her and the romance she slowly warms up to has you rolling around shrieking, it’s so good.
If there’s any complaint I’ve heard about Yona of the Dawn it’s that it’s long... but even that I think is more of a positive than a negative. It’s more time for me to enjoy reading these character’s worlds.

This manga is sooo good! I finished reading the entire thing in around 2 days. The plot is extremely well developed and there is a lot of character development. All of the characters change some way or another throughout the story, and even the antagonists are well thought out. Although Soo-won may seem super evil in the beginning, the author gradually shows the reader his motivations and reasons for doing what he did and even if you don't like him very much, you can't completely blame him for his actions. The art style and humor in this manga are also very good. Anyways, I definitely recommend checking this manga out! 🙂

Honestly, it flows beautifully and has so much material. It's done so well

I started the manga simply because I thought the art was nice. I don't usually read a manga with similar setting such as this one and at the beginning I thought the story telling was a bit clumsy. The action scenes weren't great in the first few chapters either. I mean they weren't great compared to the shounen standard but certainly were much better than most shoujo. I'm glad I kept reading because every aspects of the manga kept getting better, both the art and the story. I love the author's sense of humour and the character development too. What I like the most is probably the balance between plot and romance. The romance is there and does progress well but it isn't the main focus of the series. It is also refreshing to read a story that put focus on the people's experience, not just that of the heroes.

This is TRULY one of the best manga out there. I fell in love with the characters, plot, fantasy elements, and most importantly, THE ARTWORK! I am always thrilled and get goosebumps every time they stare intensely and it's almost as if they're alive! It's been years since the last time I read manga again (back then I really like it when I was still in junior high) but during high school and until now (I'm currently in college) I haven't touch the mangas. I remember Akatsuki no Yona as one of the best, and the most memorable manga, but I've left out a lot of chapters since last time so I read it again from the very first chapter. I'd say that this manga can stir up your feelings like a roller coaster. One time you'd laugh yo ass off because it's hilarious and at one time you can cry a lot because it's very heart-breaking. I admire Yona and every character in it. I suggest you to read this if you like a bunch of handsome men and a cute girl, but none of them are shallow. They are deep, and lovable. This ain't giving you the stigma of reverse harem.

I rate this manga as high as Joou no Hana even if many people might think differently. Like Joou no Hana, this has a compelling storyline, great artwork and some adorable romantic moments. That being said, it does fall into some of the shoujo traps
- all important male characters are Handsome
- Yona is able to make (most) of the main male characters fall in love with her (or at least they have this insta-loyalty thing)
- Big eyes on Yona, her cutesy smile etc etc

Yet some other things different from regular shoujo historical
- Characters have depth (Su-Won is shown to have killed Yona's father and yet he is a wise and just ruler, Yona is depressed by her father's death and just like in real life, does not get over it in 1 chapter. She also does not become a skilled fighter and diplomatic negotiator in a small amount of time)
- the back-stories of the 4 dragons is compelling. The manga shows the pitfalls of believing in some abstract form of power rather than in your own strength.
- Lastly, excellent comedic undertones interspaced by brutal (well fairly brutal for Shoujo standards) war, famine, disease and poverty associated moments.
All in all, worth the read!

I really love this manga it's not like any of the ones that i have read. While it is still not finish and i would go back to the first chapter cause i really get into it. I don't even remember how many times i re-read it and also re-watch the anime cause i really love it. Can't wait for its update cause it really get exciting

Super good, the art is amazing and detailed, its definitely not the basic shoujo art. The story and character development is impeccable. there is humor and i personally think its the best historical romance manga out there, the romance is a little slow but the amazing story makes up for it 100%

I am in love with this series. I'll try to hold myself back from going on an endless rant, but here are a few of my favorite elements of this series.

1. Beautiful character growth and relationships. Kusanagi does a wonderful job with making her characters believable, distinctive and charming in their own right. I find all most all the characters in this series to be interesting and enjoyable, even the antagonists. But the way these characters interact with one another really drives it home. The relationships build over time and you gradually come to learn more about each character's history and personality in a very natural way. The same goes for the romance. Disclaimer: I am a fan of slow romances because you can generally see their feelings grow and change over time and this is indeed a slow romance. Kusanagi does this very well. Hak and Yona have this bond that just cannot broken; you can tell that they have the utmost trust in one another and would do anything for the other. It's so freakin' cute. And watching them go from childhood friends to kindred spirits to <spoiler> Yona kissing him </spoiler> makes you feel like you really know them.

2. Plot. AnY is technically a shoujo, but it is just as much a fantasy, historical, comedy and action. It's got all the elements of shoujo that I like (heart-pounding moments, bishies, etc.) without making them contrived or predictable. It's a nice blend of everything. Thanks to this, the plot doesn't fall to the wayside to make room for more shoujo-esque moments. In my opinion, the plot reads more like an epic instead of "there's one bad guy we need to defeat and we'll face his minions on the way", which is more common in the fantasy/romance genre. Instead, Yona's goal changes several times over the course of the story, each time growing more ambitious in scale. At the same time, there is the overarching prophecy plot line concerning King Hiryuu and the Dragons that readers still no little about (hopefully that'll change soon). As a quick aside, this manga has some great laugh out loud moments. Sometimes the comedy is subtle, but man, it has made me laugh quite a few times!

3. Art. I love Kusanagi's art style. I read her previous work NG Life and liked it there, but it's only gotten better with Akatsuki no Yona. Her attention to costume detail is exceptional and the art is always very clean and lovely.

4. Lack of annoying shoujo tropes or stereotypes. This point kind of speaks for itself, but what I mean is characters aren't made to do dumb or unreasonable things just for the sake of drama/romance/angst or whatever. No ex-girlfriends/boyfriends or silly love triangles to stir the pot, Yona does not remain a weak lead, Hak is not a possesive or jerk-ish love interest (quite the opposite), and despite the harem tag I'd say there are only 2 people that are actually in love with the female MC, which is refreshing.

Anyways, I could go on and on but the main point of my review is this: I would highly recommend this series to just about anyone because I really think that it's got aspects that could appeal to the vast majority of people. It's a great series with a solid plot and art and I'm so happy that it's finally being released in English.