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The Fall 2014 Anime Preview Guide - Akatsuki no Yona




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Maidenoftheredhand



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 2634
PostPosted: Tue Oct 07, 2014 9:11 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Akatsuki no Yona is not a bad show, but it's fairly unremarkable. It seems to mostly cater to viewers who already know they want to watch a show about collecting pretty boys who will protect their princess at All Costs, but on a bell curve of all shows that have written about this kind of thing, this show sits exactly on the mean.


I don't read the manga so I could be wrong but from watching the preview and seeing the main character with a bow and arrow (we also see her with this in the beginning of the episode). I am fairly certain that is not what the show is about (well maybe collecting pretty boys is true).

I expect the princess will start out naive and needing protecting but will eventually learn to protect herself.

Anyways I am interested in this show because of the potential character growth of the main heroine. Certainly there have been other shoujo fantasies that have done the same but I like that sort of shoujo fantasy. Bishounen are a bonus. But if I thought this show was just the "princess needs to be protected" I personally wouldn't be interested.
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KidaYuki



Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Posts: 129
Location: North America
PostPosted: Tue Oct 07, 2014 10:09 pm Reply with quote
There are days when it is hard to stop the out pouring of spoilers from this mouth.....

Reading the manga I will basically say this: It is Fushigi yuugi if Miaka were a competent, had a backbone, and all things considered she will not spoiler[spend as much time fawning and falling in love with Hak as I wish she would.]
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Crisha
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Joined: 21 Apr 2010
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 07, 2014 10:24 pm Reply with quote
Same as what Maidenoftheredhand said, if this were solely a "princess who needs to be protected" show, I wouldn't be interested. I had the same impression when I saw the PV that she'd be learning how to use that bow and arrow and would be taking an active role in taking her kingdom back. She doesn't need to the best fighter and she doesn't always need to be the rescuer. As long as she's taking an active role, growing and improving, then this series will have what I'm hoping for.

KidaYuki's words give me hope. spoiler[Though, yeah, a part of me is still rooting for that romance with Hak.]

I can understand the opinions about the first episode being unremarkable. And I also see the well-tread path this series will likely be traveling down. The difference is that I'm looking forward to it because it's been a while since I've watched a "princess reclaims her kingdom/becomes freedom fighter/etc." And I'm just a fan of fantasy in general, so this plays to my interests.
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Weazul-chan



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 625
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Tue Oct 07, 2014 10:53 pm Reply with quote
well, I've been reading the manga for this so I've actually been anticipating this so perhaps I'm a bit biased here, but this is a series that starts off okay and then starts to really draw you in as it moves on. I can say this because when I first checked out the manga I almost gave up on it, especially when it looked like Yona was going to be a rather passive character. I was pleased to see her pull herself together and start getting proactive, even INSISTING she learn how to protect herself.

yes, it's formulaic, but it's got a lot of little things in it that start to draw you into it and hook you. and I would say more, but I'd worry about spoiling some stuff.
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誤称



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 549
PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 12:39 am Reply with quote
This show is so heteronormative. Seriously, have Hak be a competent woman who Yona ends up crushing on instead of always having these crappy shows be the same old, same old 17th century garbage.

Can we please, just once, have a girl who has a strong female protector instead of a man? And, while we're at it, how about some gender equality in the supporting cast? 50% of humanity is female, why are all her "guardians" men?
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Felicity dash





PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 3:18 am Reply with quote
誤称 wrote:
why are all her "guardians" men?

Because this is what people would call a reverse harem. A show that caters to more females then males. Just keep in mind not everyone likes seeing "6 females and 1 male." At one point I actually got bored with watching just male-oriented harems....so to me right now reverse harems are actually entertaing.
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princess passa passa





PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 4:05 am Reply with quote
誤称 wrote:
Why are all her "guardians" men?


Oi, you must be new to this kinda party (reverse harem). Furthermore, most "mainstream" anime feature mostly hetero normative relationships. There are a few titles that have queer relationships but for the most part you either need to look in very specific genres like yuri or look for doujinshi to your liking.

As for the show, you can tell Hope and Bamboo have watched many a anime like this back in the early 2000s like every other young anime fangirl (including myself). So they are right on the money about it feeling dated. Everything about it was serviceable and fine but I still enjoyed it. I know where it's going but I suppose now and then I want some predictable shoujo.
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff


Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 3728
Location: SoCal
PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 4:33 am Reply with quote
Ragga Ragga wrote:
誤称 wrote:
Why are all her "guardians" men?


Oi, you must be new to this kinda party (reverse harem).


Ha ha, okay, this needs some context because this guy has posted this same thing twice now, the whole "ugh, what regressive reverse harem garbage" even though, yes, Akatsuki no Yona looks to be pretty inoffensive and in fact more positive than its progenitors if it really puts Yona in the wizened princess warrior role over time.

Sooooo this is the guy who relentlessly badgered everybody in the Cross Ange thread for saying its rape scene was gross, argued first that it wasn't rape, and then that it was in fact progressive, and has been trying to play himself up as Captain Feminism ever since. His views on "strong female characters" are the kind Kate Beaton famously satirized: "female characters with masculine traits whose sexuality is a weapon to match all the butch-ass guns they fire into the air," that kinda thing. Also he kept saying "Japan is a naturally sexist country and they're only ever going to produce sexist content so you should just get used to it and Cross Ange is one of the most progressive things they've pumped out in years because it's entirely about women and they're abusing each other in a way that's just as hardcore as if they were men." (Which ignores that the woman-on-woman violence is intensely sexualized for male pleasure and is heavily condemning feminine traits as bad and masculine ones as good in the way that most of these "woman scorned" revenge stories do, even using rape as a plot device.) Juuuuust so everyone's clear on that.

I wouldn't make a point of it except that he made this exact same post in the main preview guide and I thought it was pretty ironic there too, but nobody really cared, so whatever. In the show-specific thread of course, people are more likely to respond to him, already have, so I just wanted to make sure everyone knows where he's coming from before responding further. Feel free to ignore or respond however best you feel if he gets intensely Captain Feminism in here, thought the info might be useful.

EDIT: Somebody cared and wrote him an essay response in the main thread right when I posted this. Well, if it starts getting post-heavy in there past that, I'll just link 'em here. Oh the weird, weird forums we call home...
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Lavnovice9



Joined: 23 Oct 2012
Posts: 276
PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 4:56 am Reply with quote
誤称 wrote:
And, while we're at it, how about some gender equality in the supporting cast? 50% of humanity is female, why are all her "guardians" men?


Way to miss the entire point of the show. That's like saying Kuroko and Free need more female members on their team to promote appealing to female audiences.

Are people really so starved for this kind of debate they're now going after bishi shows aimed at women for improper gender representation? Laughing
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princess passa passa





PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 9:08 am Reply with quote
JesuOtaku wrote:
Ragga Ragga wrote:
誤称 wrote:
Why are all her "guardians" men?


Oi, you must be new to this kinda party (reverse harem).


Feel free to ignore or respond however best you feel if he gets intensely Captain Feminism in here, thought the info might be useful.

EDIT: Somebody cared and wrote him an essay response in the main thread right when I posted this. Well, if it starts getting post-heavy in there past that, I'll just link 'em here. Oh the weird, weird forums we call home...


*raises eyebrows*

Oh? Thanks for the info, because I have not and doubt I will visit the Cross Ange thread (or the anime). I suppose since being on the ANN forums I have been lulled into a false sense of security and forget about the trolls.
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Crisha
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Joined: 21 Apr 2010
Posts: 4290
PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 9:28 am Reply with quote
While I'd love more lesbian fantasy in general (it's lacking in the literature realm as well), making that out to be a specific complaint for this anime seems really nitpicky and missing-the-point. Not that I haven't had similar thoughts as well - wouldn't it be awesome if this one character was the opposite sex but the character traits and that person's interactions with the other characters remained the same? (Hell, I'd be up for Hak being female as well). The only problem is that more than just the sex would change, largely because the intended audience of the show would change. There'd be more male fanservice - not lesbian fanservice (not that lesbians can't enjoy that kind of fanservice) because (1) the audience wouldn't be large enough to market to, and (2) I highly doubt the creators would know how to market to such an audience in the first place. (Note: When I use the word fanservice here, I mean more than just the T&A aspect, though that is a big aspect to male fanservice in general. I just mean any specific way a show services its intended marketed fans). Additionally, the fact that they're two girls would create an additional complication in regards to progeny so something would need to change about the story. I think how such an issue would be resolved could be interesting in itself, but that's taking away from some of the focus of this show.

I think there's room for an interesting debate here on fanservice, intended audiences, and marketing, but that's not really the point of this thread. Akatsuki no Yona is a show marketed towards a mainly heternormative female adolescent audience - not that anyone else can't enjoy it - and as such you can expect fanservice aimed for that type of crowd (reverse harem filled with bunches of pretty boys).
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KidaYuki



Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Posts: 129
Location: North America
PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 10:16 pm Reply with quote
誤称 wrote:
This show is so heteronormative. Seriously, have Hak be a competent woman who Yona ends up crushing on instead of always having these crappy shows be the same old, same old 17th century garbage.


"Riddle story of devil" animenewsnetwork.com/review/riddle-story-of-devil/episodes-1-12/.75943n that maybe a little closer to what your looking for. There are more harem anime than reverse harem anime so let us enjoy our heteronomative show.

Though a girl (I would settle for a 'Noriko' ;p but that might cause law suit problems ;p) would be a great addiction to the core cast

@willag That was a very beautiful way to word the problems of lesbian based series.
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AnimeKnight2034



Joined: 07 Jan 2014
Posts: 46
PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 9:30 am Reply with quote
I kept wondering why that creepy chipmunk kept popping up and then it hit me...

spoiler[[/img]]

I'm pretty sure it's a statement about how feminism (and possibly shoujo in general) erodes society's masculinity. Will definitely have to keep an eye on this series moving forward.
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#830256



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 5:44 am Reply with quote
Personally, I enjoy the series. I may not be a seasonal expert on Manga/Anime but I prefer to watch anime that is similar to Akatsuki no Yona. I tend to find most contemporary anime that contain genres that I target are school themed (as I am no longer school age so its impossible to relate) or girls with large breasts with overly sexual ridiculous clothing.

Regardless if the anime has a historical theme surrounding it that to some may seem redundant, I still really enjoy the combination of humor, adventure and mystery that surrounds it. Not to mention the male characters who are diverse and comical. To that end, I think the execution thus far is great and enjoyable. I don't think all anime needs to be innovative to be great.
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