Yona of the Dawn

Episode 14

Warning: this episode may do one of the following: melt your heart, make you feel sorry for Hak, or go all gooey and moe for the Blue Dragon. While not the best paced episode of Yona of the Dawn, it certainly is one of the more emotional, which seems fairly promising as the series swings into its second half.

When we last saw Yona, she, Yun, Gija, and the Blue Dragon were all trapped on one side of a cave in, with a hysterical Hak on the other. This becomes the moment for the Blue Dragon to decide whether or not he's going to help the princess, and naturally he does, helping Gija to break through the wall. Yona's not about to be left out, and swipes a villager's dagger to chip away at the rock. While I'm not sure that this is all that helpful, it does showcase her unwillingness to sit on the sidelines – and Gija's horror at her action. It's worth noting that of the people present, only Yun trusts her to make the decision for herself, even when she collapses and doesn't rest for nearly as long as Gija wants her to.

In some ways this is an episode about how her companions see Yona, from Yun being willing to let her work alongside everyone else to the wonderful moment when the Blue Dragon (he does get a name by the end of the episode) calls her by name, which totally floors everyone else. That leads to an interesting moment when Hak tries to do the same and she asks him to keep calling her “princess.” To Hak, it's clear that he feels he's just been put in his place; I'm not entirely certain that's what Yona's intention was. It could certainly be read that she just doesn't want to get so comfortable on this journey with people who see her for herself, and allow her to become herself, that she forgets why she's there in the first place: to save her kingdom. It's very much on her mind this episode, as she watches the Blue Dragon struggle with the decision to leave his (more or less) self-imposed prison, and I got the impression that despite the fact that she's finding the dragons for the purpose of unseating Su-won, she's been living in the moment rather than thinking about the reason. Poor Hak just seems to have been caught in her current inner turmoil, which really does nothing for his own self-esteem or romantic prospects. She may realize that in the end, so there's a chance she could change her mind.

For all of these good moments, as well as a decent amount of funny ones, such as when the Blue Dragon bundles Yona up after her collapse, or hides himself in his grass wig (?), this episode doesn't feel particularly well-paced. The first half is fine, as it gets the Blue Dragon to make his choice, but Gija's collapse afterwards feels like a convenient way to get everyone to sit down for a while, slowing the forward thrust of the story artificially. While it's worth it to get to know the Blue Dragon better (poor guy!), it just doesn't feel as smoothly executed as other episodes. Ao the squirrel also gets overused, and his cuteness wears off quickly as we watch him be cute for cuteness' sake. Besides, what kind of squirrel tries to eat a rock?

By the end Gija has picked up the trail of the Green Dragon, so we're back on track with one more handsome man added to the party. The preview promises us Su-won's return, and I'm eager to see what Prince Evil(ish) has been up to while Yona raises her dragon army. In any case, the second half of Yona's adventures is off to a good start, and it looks like the journey will continue to be one worth taking.

Rating: B+

Yona of the Dawn is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.com.

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.