Anime Show Review: Yona of the Dawn

So...yes, I'm bad at sticking with things. It's been several months since I've written but I have not forgotten! I'm working hard to get my blogging schedule in order but life's been a hectic mess lately and I haven't had the time. Anyways, as an apology of sorts, here's an early post and you'll all (hopefully) get another one on the 28th as well.

Princess Yona lives a life of luxury and ease, completely sheltered from the problems of the seemingly peaceful Kingdom of Kouka; however, the sudden murder of the king and betrayal of her beloved cousin Su-won places Yona's life in mortal peril. Forced to escape only with Son Hak, who is both her childhood friend and bodyguard, the naïve princess soon discovers that Kouka is not the idyllic place she envisioned it to be. Poverty, strife, and corruption run rampant, making reclaiming the throne nothing more than a wishful fantasy given the kingdom's current state. 
     Based on the popular manga of the same name by Mizuho Kusanagi, Akatsuki no Yona follows Princess Yona on a coming-of-age adventure as she faces the harsh realities of her kingdom. With only a mysterious legend to guide her, Yona must discover a way to restore Kouka to its former glory while being pursued relentlessly by the forces of the new King of Kouka.
              [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Thoughts:One of these days I'll review something I didn't like but, for now, here's another one of my favorites! I rarely actually go read an anime's manga after finishing the anime but Yona was so good I had to keep going with the story. You can read all about that over here. 
 First off, some terminology: This anime is considered a Shojo (shoujo) a term that refers to animes targeting a female audience and often have romance as their sole plot (think chik-flics). 
  Next comes Reverse Harem which is when a girl is surrounded by many guys instead the opposite. This originally comes off as really bad sounding and don''t get me wrong there are a lot of animes with this term that need to be avoided, but it's not always a bad thing. It can simply be used for the only girl in a workplace, a love triangle that has more than two guys after the girl, or even a bunch of friends where only of them is a girl. Several of these settings don't actually include anything romantic. 
  All that to cover some basics. Yona is a shoujo, so yes, it targets girls. But it also breaks all the rules. Yona is a strong female lead. She starts off as a weak, spoiled little girl but she's dealt some pretty tough blows in her life and comes out fighting. Even so she retains a cute, girly, innocence that you can't help but love her for!

  The show is also considered a reverse harem but it's one of the few that doesn't include romance into the equation. While Yona is surrounded by guys only one of them is actually in love with her. Everyone else just wants to protect her and the bonds between the group become more like family the farther you get into the story. 
It's got a surprising amount of action and is absolutely hilarious. Despite carrying a deeper plot to it, Yona of the Dawn retains a lighthearted feeling that keeps things fun and entertaining. 
  The art is really good and carries the action scenes well. 

 The music is good, though the first opening song can get a bit boring the second is really exciting! It's also surprisingly clean. Without romance as the focus of the story we don't see a lot of the awkward or inappropriate things that can easily pop up in a show like this. Yona is treated respectfully and carefully but without restricting her freedom. 
 And I haven't forgotten the rest of the cast, everyone who enters is unique but the characters who stay are the best! The different (and often clashing) personalities of the main group alone are wonderful but the side characters are fantastic too. It'd take too long if I tried to talk about all of them but, take it from me, their all loads of fun!

Content: In the beginning of the show (episode 2, I think) Yona is seen coming out of a lake where she had been bathing, naked. This is to show that she has leeches on her but that, in turn, causes her to scream and her only companion, her male bodyguard, is required to come and get them off of her. The bodyguard did his best to remain composed and respectful in this scene and nothing more happened than the removal of the leeches but it was still inappropriate. The scene only lasts a couple of minutes. There is a character who enters towards the middle of the show who flirts often and is occasionally seen in the company of harlots or poorly dressed women. A male character is often seen sleeping with a female character but these are non-sexual and are usually either for protection or due to lack of room.
   Yona is also shown to be in love with her cousin which, in the ancient setting that this is placed in, was actually considered a proper choice of marriage for a princess (this happened in England and China and...just about anywhere there was a monarchy for a long time. They liked to keep the crown in the family) so it was meant more a historical reference rather than something inappropriate.
  There are mentions of woman being kidnapped and sold into slavery and a few other mature topics. 
  There is fighting, violence, and blood with some rather excessive gore later on in the series. There are certain characters that are given 'special abilities' and these could be seen as a magical addition to the story, otherwise there is no magic. 
 The language contains a few mentions of D***, C***, H***, and B*****d (these are the common translations for the Japanese words used here and are not meant to be as offensive as they come off as in the English language). 
 There's also a priest in here though a specific religion is not described. 

There's a lot to be cautious about but most of these are small scenes with fun adventure in between. Therefore, Yona of the Dawn get 7 out 10 Castles in the Sky. 

It's worth a shot if you're looking for some fun adventure with a good story and great characters that'll keep you laughing the whole time!