Princess Yona (皇女ヨナ Ōjo Yona?) is the first chapter of Kusanagi Mizuho's Akatsuki no Yona.
Summary[]
At dawn (sometime unknown in the future), Yona gazes beyond the mountains with an unknown companion, a jade-hilted sword, and hair entirely grown back. Her companion urges her for to get moving, she obliges. Along the way, she comments on the frigidness of the mountains and thinks back on the nostalgic days she used to live in Hiryuu Castle with her father.
A week before her sixteenth birthday, Yona complains about her hair. Her father attempts to appease her while Hak, her childhood friend and personal guard teases her. The two bicker while Emperor Il attempts to placate them. Upon learning that Soo-Won, her cousin, other childhood friend, and unrequited love, has arrived at the palace, Yona scurries out of her room to greet him.
In her haste, she accidentally runs into Soo-Won. The two engage in a short conversation until Soo-Won immediately decides to leave and greet the king, while Yona is left feeling frustrated and disappointed, for Soo-Won is still treating her like a child despite her efforts to impress him.
Yona flashbacks to the past when her mother had died and Soo-Won came to check up on her. She initially rebuffed him, but after he hugged her and covered her with his robes so that she could cry without anyone watching, she let out her emotions and wailed that she could not sleep without her mother by her side. Soo-Won replied that he would be her mother, and gave her a pear that his teacher gave him to eat. When she couldn't sleep, he promised to hold her hand and wipe her tears so no one could see them, so that she would smile the next day. Because of his kind and gentle nature, Yona fell in love with him.
On the following morning, Yona intends to invite Soo-Won for snacks. She barges into his room and announces her intention to dine with him but was cut off when she notices that Min-Soo, the palace servant, is the only person present in the room. Knowing that Yona was looking for Soo-Won, Min-Soo immediately informs her of Soo-Won's whereabouts and that he is with Hak.
Seeing both Soo-Won and Hak practice archery on horseback, Yona watches from afar with her father. When Yona exclaims that she wants to practice archery with Soo-Won too, Il does not allow it. He does not like weapons, and Yona chastizes him for being a coward. Soo-Won calls Yona down to ride the horse with him. Hak and Soo-Won help Yona up the horse.
While riding with Soo-Won, Yona comments that he seems used to dealing with women, as if he has invited several to his house. Soo-Won awkwardly reacts, and Yona questions him further. Soo-Won tells her that she has misunderstood, and that he has attended some engagement talks, but nothing has been decided yet. Yona is shocked. Soo-Won asks if they can change the subject, since there's no point in telling Yona about it. Realizing that he is still treating her as a child, Yona fabricates that she has attended engagement talks. When Soo-Won asks with who, Yona answers with the name of the only other male friend she knows, Hak. To Yona's dismay, her plan to make Soo-Won notice her as a woman backfires, with Soo-Won simply wishing her congratulations.
The same evening in the castle, Yona complains over Soo-Won's obliviousness, and Hak deems her a nuisance for getting him involved. Il tells her that it may in fact be time for her to get engaged. Yona makes it clear to her father that she wants to be with Soo-Won. However, Il is having none of it. He goes on to say that her mother was killed by bandits, and that is why he never remarried. Everyone in the royal family faces these dangers, and by marrying Soo-Won, Yona will only burden him with the task of being King. Ultimately Il will be the one deciding who his successor will be, and for all that he does for his daughter, he hopes she will comply with that. Yona doesn't think it's fair to have her love chosen for her.
When Yona is thinking about her fate alone, a mysterious dark figure creeps closer and begins chasing her. She recalls her mother being murdered and fears the same situation befalling her. She hides in what turns out to be Soo-Won's room, and is found out by Soo-Won. When she explains that she was being chased, he checks to see what is outside, but apparently, there is no one.
Despite that, Yona knows that she was targeted. Soo-Won calls out her name, but Yona is still paralyzed with fear. Soo-Won covers Yona with his robes and tells her that it is alright because he is with her. But Yona, remembering what Il said, says that she can't be with him. Soo-Won misunderstands that she wants to be with Hak as he is her betrothed, and offers to take her to his room.
Not wanting him to misunderstand, Yona finally gathers the courage to tell Soo-Won her feelings, but she is cut off by him. He bashfully admits that he thinks he's misunderstood her, but Yona assures him he isn't misunderstanding anything. He apologizes for not noticing her feelings, as he is unfamiliar with romantic affairs. He admits that he had only seen her as a little sister, but after her confession, he is now suddenly conscious of her as a woman, and feels overwhelmed and a bit embarrassed around her. Yona is glad that he understands how she feels even a little bit now.
The day of the party arrives, and Soo-Won gives Yona a hairpin to complement her hair. All this time Yona has thought of her hair as weird, but he tells her he loves her hair, that it is like the color of the dawning sky. Yona is touched by his compliment and tearfully smiles. Hak interrupts the two and tells Yona that Il has been looking for her. Yona leaves the scene. Hak uses formal speech and wishes Soo-Won the best of luck in convincing Il to marry Yona. Soo-Won tells Hak that he has misunderstood, and asks him to not be so formal and call him "Soo-Won" like he did in the past. Hak replies with a smile that it is to differentiate their social status.
Hak asks Soo-Won if he has sensed an intruder's presence in the castle grounds. Soo-Won replies that Yona had also said the same thing earlier and that it would be good to investigate who entered and exited the castle.
That night, Yona decides to talk to Il once more about her feelings for Soo-Won. She comes to his room, only to find him being stabbed by Soo-Won.
Characters In Order Of Appearance[]
- Characters in bold denote a character's first appearance
- Characters in italics denote a character was only mentioned or shown in a flashback
Abilities, Weapons and Items Used[]
- Bow and Arrows
- Sword
- Hsu Quandao
Trivia[]
- In the earlier stages of the series, its title was "Kakan no Yona" (Yona of the corolla).
- After NG Life ended, Mizuho vowed never to use screentones again on the main characters' hair, but she had no other choice than resort to it to represent Yona's red hair accurately.
- The story is set in a fantasy world. Even though the names and places seem Korean, the mangaka said she had tried to come up with "international" names.
- One chapter takes about 14 days to be completed 7 days for the storyline & storyboard, 7 days for the drawings.
[]
| Chapters | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Volume 1 | 01 • 02 • 03 • 04 • 05 | Volume 2 | 06 • 07 • 08 • 09 • 10 • 11 |
| Volume 3 | 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 | Volume 4 | 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 |
| Volume 5 | 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 | Volume 6 | 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 |
| Volume 7 | 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 | Volume 8 | 42 • 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 |
| Volume 9 | 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 | Volume 10 | 54 • 55 • 56 • 57 • 58 • 59 |
| Volume 11 | 60 • 61 • 62 • 63 • 64 • 65 | Volume 12 | 66 • 67 • 68 • 69 • 70 • 70.1 • 70.2 |
| Volume 13 | 71 • 72 • 73 • 74 • 75 • 76 • 76.1 | Volume 14 | 77 • 78 • 79 • 80 • 81 • 82 |
| Volume 15 | 83 • 84 • 85 • 86 • 87 • 88 | Volume 16 | 89 • 90 • 91 • 92 • 93 • 94 |
| Volume 17 | 95 • 96 • 97 • 98 • 99 • 99.1 | Volume 18 | 100 • 101 • 102 • 103 • 104 • 105 • 105.1 |
| Volume 19 | 106 • 107 • 108 • 109 • 110 • 111 • 111.1 | Volume 20 | 112 • 113 • 114 • 115 • 116• 117 |
| Volume 21 | 118 • 119 • 120 • 121 • 122 • 123 | Volume 22 | 124 • 125 • 126 • 127 • 128 • 129 |
| Volume 23 | 130 • 131 • 132 • 133 • 134 • 134.5 | Volume 24 | 135 • 136 • 137 • 138 • 139 • 140 |
| Volume 25 | 141 • 142 • 143 • 144 • 145 • 146 | Volume 26 | 147 • 148 • 149 • 150 • 151 • 152 |
| Volume 27 | 153 • 154 • 155 • 156 • 157 • 157.5 | Volume 28 | 158 • 159 • 160 • 161 • 162 • 163 |
| Volume 29 | 164 • 165 • 166 • 167 • 168 • 169 | Volume 30 | 170 • 171 • 172 • 173 • 174 • 175 |
| Volume 31 | 176 • 177 • 178 • 179 • 180 • 181 | Volume 32 | 182 • 183 • 184 • 185 • 186 • 187 |
| Volume 33 | 188 • 189 • 190 • 191 • 192 • 193 | Volume 34 | 194 • 195 • 196 • 197 • 198 • 199 |
| Volume 35 | 200 • 201 • 202 • 203 • 204 | Volume 36 | 205 |