Mary Nov 05, 2014
Honest, intelligent news and reviews for manga romantics
Akatsuki no Yona, translated as Yona of the Dawn, is a shoujo manga by Mizuho Kusanagi currently running in Hana to Yume manga magazine. Studio Pierrot has adapted it into a 25/26 episode anime series that will premiere in Japan on October 7, 2014. Crunchyroll announced today that we will be getting this series simulcast. Yay, another shoujo anime!
Akatsuki no Yona is a fantasy historical anime starring sixteen year old Princess Yona and her harem of eclectic companions. When Yona’s father is murdered by her beloved cousin Son Woo in order to take over her country’s reign, she barely escapes with the help of her childhood friend Son Hak, a top ranked military commander. Through their encounters and travails Yona comes to realize how sheltered and pampered she was as a princess. As the two continue to evade capture, they continue on their journey where they encounter others from elemental tribes that assist Yona on her quest to overthrow her cousin and take back her throne.
This series is by Mizuho Kusanagi whose other works of Mugen Spiral, Game X Rush, and NG Life we’ve gotten in North America. As a fantasy romance it falls into the reverse harem category quite nicely, with Yona’s main love interest being her childhood friend Son Hak. The other pretty boys come from neighboring tribes and each has an ability to add to Yona’s repertoire of attractive male weapons. The story contains plenty of action sequences and beautiful character designs which should make for a rather entertaining anime.
Here are the PVs for the anime:
Character designs:
Cast and Crew:
Director – Kazuhiro Yaneda (Gekijo-ban Tiger & Bunny – The Rising-)
Series Scripts – Shinichi Inotsume (Hayate the Combat Butler)
Character Designs – Maho Yoshikawa (Amnesia)
Music Composition – Kunihiko Ryo (The Twelve Kingdoms, Emma)
Sound Direction – Yukio Nagasaki (Ao Haru Ride, Love Live!)
Seiyuu:
Yona – Chiwa Saito
Hak – Tomoaki Maeno
Soon-won – Yusuke Kobayashi
Kija – Masakazu Morita
Shin-Ah – Nobuhiko Okamoto
Jae-ha – Junichi Suwabe
Zeno – Hiro Shimono
Yoon – Junko Minagawa
Akatsuki no Yona premiers on Crunchyroll at 10:00am CDT on Tuesdays starting October 7, 2014.
I enjoyed the first 2 episodes so much I went ahead and purchased the first volume in Japanese.