Yona of the Dawn

Episode 9

If there's one thing you can definitively say about Yona, it's that she knows her limits – and tries her damnedest to surpass them. While much of this episode is a travel montage, showing Yona, Hak, and Yun trekking through the mountains to reach the White Dragon's village, it is also a time for Yona to really think about who she is, who she was, and who she wants to become. Early on she is shaken by hearing that Su-won has, in fact, been crowned king. While she says she's glad because now the Wind Tribe will be safe, her body language tells a different story – all of a sudden, her cousin's betrayal has become really real. I would say that this is a major motivating factor in her telling Hak that she wants to learn to use a sword – if Su-won as ascended the throne, there really is no going back for her. The princess in the tower has to stop thinking that she could ever go back to her former life and must move relentlessly forward. Arguably she's been moving towards this anti-tower princess future since the battle with the Fire Tribe on the cliff, when she first cut her hair. Long hair in folklore traditionally (and fairly universally) symbolizes helplessness and feminine frailty, so the decreasing length of Yona's shows her move into a more traditionally masculine sphere, in this case the role of warrior queen. Although Hak won't let her have a sword, he does agree to teach her to use a bow, and Yona is relentless in her practice. Her major issue is one that is understandable – she's afraid of actually killing. How Hak helps her to get beyond this is pretty telling, but more interesting is his reluctance to let her become someone who can defend herself. After all, if she doesn't need him as a bodyguard, what excuse could he possibly have to stay with her? Especially since she has exactly no clue about his romantic feelings – the blank look on her face when he mentions desire is kind of funny, particularly since he's getting more and more obvious about his feelings. (See: Yona in bag at the beginning of the episode. Where is your hand, sir?!)

We do see Su-won again after a several episode absence, and his brief appearance before the opening credits is oddly telling. I, at least, had been assuming that his stance about King Il's lack of skill as a ruler was in part dictated by the former king's fondness for peace, which didn't sit well with his more warlike brother, Su-won's father. But the show opens with the discovery of corruption in the tax system, with the definite implication that this is not the only place with such issues in King Il's government. Su-won may have more of a leg to stand on that initially assumed: it looks like Yona's father was far too passive and allowed things to get out of hand in lieu of having to confront people. While his methods are still fairly execrable, clearly there was more method to Su-won's madness than it at first appeared.

The end of the episode does bring us at last to the White Dragon's territory and village, although we don't really meet him. What's interesting here is that, while King Il forbade the reading of the original legend in the capital, it has clearly been kept alive in the village, because the minute the villagers see Yona's hair, they know what's going on. They don't seem to know that she is Princess Yona; it is her red hair that sends them into a frenzy of excitement. This is probably a good thing in a couple of ways, because while Hak and Yona were having a moment (with arrows), Yun went and got himself captured by the townsfolk, and from the preview it looks like his accommodations aren't quite up to the self-professed bishounen's standards... as always, it will be a long week while we wait for the next episode, but this show has proven itself to be worth waiting for – and probably worth watching again when it's all done and no waiting is required.

Rating: A-

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

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.