Part one of this post: My Thoughts on Akatsuki no Yona
Warning! This post contains SPOILERS! You have been warned.
Hello, sup, it's me, your author again, LOL.
Today I wanna do an appreciation to the Shiryuu (four dragons)'s characters in the series Akatsuki no Yona particularly Zeno's Character Appreciation.
But I think every lovely dragons are worth mentioning cuz they all have amazing stories to tell us. So I will describe them one by one and do my best to appreciate them.
First, let start off with the most chase man, Kija or Gi-Ja. Kija is not my husbando, but I know he's one for some of the fans. Kija's backstory involve around his will to serve the king, that being Yona. Apparently, all Hakuryuus are very loyal to the king and they lived the life for the purpose of serving the king, turning it into a curse. Now, my man Kija is not excluded from this curse. He received a huge claw mark on his back from his father in order to kill him out of desperation for serving the king. Now because our Kija right here is so pure, he took it all. He took all of the previous Hakuryuus' will and carries it own as his will and he did not let the curse get into his head. He's just naive basically. Because his father tried to kill him, he's not allowed to see his father let alone has a conversation with him cause his worshipers, that being his villagers, did not allowed that to happen. But when he turned 4 years old, he went to see his father in secret and witnessed his father's death and his father said his real name once.
What kind of development does my man Kija went through?
He has learned that not all dragons live the same life as him, when he went to search for Shin Ah. So, he became less naive and open his eyes more.
He has some issues with Jaeha the ryoukuryuu, because both of them came from different backgrounds. Jaeha called him a puppet, because Kija was very excited about serving their master, but Jaeha was rebel back then so he didn't know the truth. What I remember was, all Kija did is that he slapped his face and tell himself "pull yourself together" and he succeed.
However, when Jaeha know the truth about the Hakuryuu's curse, he finally understand why Kija was so excited about grouping with Yona. And he acknowledged Kija as a worthy Hakuryuu. because he carries such a heavy burdern on his back.
My thoughts, it was meaningful. But the problem is it's not that strong backstory. It is painful to be attempted killed by your own father, and not being able to see him because of that. Not to mention carrying a huge burdern and determination. But we didn't get to see much of how he overcame that. That's really sucks. Cuz we enjoy seeing a flawed character trying to overcome their problems. Kija however, is too perfect. He's wealthy, good-looking, strong, except he's a fool. I guess that's just a part of his character that I gotta appreciate. But he's a mature dude, and I really like that side of him.
Moving on, everyone's boyfriend Seiryuu Shin Ah. How do I even begin to describe our precious cinnamon roll? For starters, Shin Ah is the purest, most naive guy I've ever met on anime. For Shin Ah character appreciation, I gotta do a disclaimer; because I haven't watch the anime for so long and read the manga where it was I forgot all of his development were all about.
So his story based of as Seiryuu was never treated nicely as a hakuryuu. It all went past to the first generation of Seiryuu where he was being kidnapped due to his eyes and people wants it. Apparently, their villagers didn't take this nicely as they believe that Seiryuu's eyes were a curse and it brings misfortune such as looking into the eyes will turn people into stone. Now, this is just a hypothesis, but I believe because of how overpowered Seiryuu's eyes are even the villagers are starting to be scared by it. Apparently since many people has been coming to the village to steal the eyes. The villagers believe that protecting the power of the Seiryuu is a burdern as they are not fighters and they're treating their Seiryuus as killing machines, leaving them to die alone and let the next Seiryuu lives a lonely life. Man, that sucks.
What kind of development did my boy, Shin Ah went through?
He was a kind, quiet boy. Because he never receive any proper educations aside from sword fighting, he became completely naive but he's aware of it. So he's not an idiot. He also had a problem expressing himself due to his Seiryuu nature as Seiryuu's eyes has the ability to paralyze people when you look into it. It's an insta-kill weapon. But, as the series progresses, he became much more open to people as Zeno, the Ouryuu takes such good care of him. He is so open to the point where, he's willing to use the power for the group. And that's really something. And he seems to be mastered it as well. As he doesn't use it to murder people but he's using it for the right purposes, like paralyzing people at the right time.
Now let's talk my big bro, Jaeha. Jaeha's backstory seems kinda rushed, because it is written in one chapter. But as you dive deeper into his character, you get to understand him more. Now, what is Jaeha's backstory?
Jaeha was first introduced in Akatsuki no Yona as a rebelious dragon. He has no interest in serving the king. But once he learns who king Hiryuu is, he was surprised to see a young girl. Due to his flirty nature, he treats Yona kindly as his principle, you know; he loves beautiful people. People who is beautiful, gives a good impression on him. Because of that, he started to get attached to Yona more and more, especially after he joined the group. He has started to think of them as his family, even though he kept denying it over and over. Later on, we found out about his past. Being the ryoukuryuu, he was chained in an underground chamber to prevent him from escape. Each villager has a responsibility of protecting their dragon and ryoukuryuu's village is no exception to it. I don't know why, but for some reasons, his villagers think of him as a burdern. Maybe because it is just an example of people being ungrateful to their God or whatsoever. And it pains Jaeha, to the point where he hold a grudge against king Hiryuu himself. He was pissed-off because he couldn't shape his own destiny. But he was proud by his own power. So he don't suffer as much as Shin Ah. When Zeno explains who Ryoukuryuu is, you finally understand him. He's just a rebel because he was too pure.
What kind of character development did my big bro, Jaeha gets?
He doesn't really needs a character development as he is the oldest in the group. The only character development that he gets is the family bond between him and the shiryuu. He's finally accepting that he loves his shiryuu brothers and Hak also Yona, to the point where he consider himself the big bro of the group. Leading them and protecting them as well, even though Zeno doesn't need any protection. And he's still struggling with his dragon blood. But even Kija is struggling with it too, so we can say that it's a part of their character and I appreciate that about him. Maybe we will see more development in the future.
Finally we've come to our favourite dragon, Ouryuu Zeno. Zeno by far has the most emotional backstory, ever. Zeno was first introduced into the last episode of the anime, as a cloud-headed boy. But he is the deepest character that I've ever seen. He's different in his own way, particularly his words and his facial expressions. His smile doesn't seem to be genuinely happy but more of a kind-loving gesture. In most of his arts on the manga, he shows pain, wisdom and love. His words are sharp too. Like when he calls-out Hak for having a bloodthirst. And when he bluntly ask Yona if she wants to take revenge on Soo Won. His backstory later revealed in the OVA or manga chapter 100.
The family later know that Zeno's power is immortality, meaning he won't die. Especially after seeing him being brutally cut by the soldiers. And everyone just feel sad because imagine being brutally cut multiple times and not dying. It must've hurt a lot. When they all confront him, Zeno reveals himself to be the first dragon, the one who served king Hiryuu. And they learned that he was alone his whole life and was married.
But when we know his backstory then we will understand his pain. He gained that power with a pure intention, to make everyone happy. And he was known for the useless dragon, the one who has no power. And he's the youngest. He was 17 when he became the Ouryuu. But deep down, he was struggling, being unable to grow up, and has no pain and a very healthy body. Like extremely abnormal healthy. He served king Hiryuu even after the king die. Protecting the country as a priest. Cleaning the whole mess as a one-man soldier. When he learned that Guen died, instead of feeling the physical pain, he wept because everyone left him.
Being an immortal, he has to live his life watching people around him die. And experience the pain of being alone. He even pleaded to the dragon God to grant his wife one day worth of life so that he can be with her, but the dragon God just didn't accept it. He soon comes to accept that powers like the shiryuu are dangerous and should not be wielded by normal humans. I mean, it is understandable. Look at what humans did. We excessively poach the animals illegally for our own satisfaction. Live our life with luxury and develop God complex because of it. As Iroh once said, pride is the source of shame. True humility is the source of shame. Hence why he never talked about his powers. Never show it off. Only use it when it is necessary. As he understands how a human's heart can be engulfed with ugliness when they learn about his power or the shiryuu's power. He knew it is pointless to talk about it. His power is not important. Not to mention, it only brings pain, as his grief for king Hiryuu and the four dragons that he once be with, he can't do anything to help them. He's basically atoning it by protecting this generations of Shiryuu, and the reincarnation of the Hiryuu himself. While grieving for his loved ones. He has to swallow the fact that he has to be the servant of Ouryuu forever, those who left him are unable to return and he can't return to them as well.
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| Zeno has the best design in the series. Love his headband and his clothes. |
Why do I like Zeno? It's simple. Because of his character. He's the kind of character that doesn't need any development in the story. He's already developed himself even before he met Yona. He's a wise person, the strongest and the most underestimated. People see him as a child but he's a grandpa. He experienced lost, physical pain and loneliness. He has no purpose in life rather than serving king Hiryuu but king Hiryuu is gone. But when he learns that king Hiryuu will return to life, he dedicated his life to wait for Hiryuu. He loves the shiryuu despite their treatments towards him. And he's mature, due to his wisdom. He doesn't gets angry at anyone, instead, he was cold to his enemy and has no ill intent towards them. He hates fighting but he does it anyway to protect people whom he loves. He's equivalent to Iroh except people just doesn't take his love seriously. Which is why this series is being underrated. Really, old people are really amazing.
Alright! This wraps up all of my Shiryuu's character opinions (I guess). I hope this convince you to watch the series and give it a chance. If you think that the anime doesn't do it justice then I suggest you to read the manga. The manga has some of the best art styles, especially the character clothing. Really highlight the East-Asian culture. It also has some amazing details on the clothes that didn't get animated, like Kija's design, or Jaeha's Kai Empire clothing. I'm sorry if I didn't do a good job, or because I didn't include Yona, Yoon and Hak. But I'll assure you, that everyone in this series, for example, Kan Taejun, Lili, Lady Kouren, General Geun Tae, Water Tribe General and most importantly Hak and Yona. All of them have their own character development. Maybe it's not much, but it'll develop to the point where we started to take a liking in them. That's how the mangaka got you invested in the story.
Last but not least, you can watch the anime on 9anime.ru and read the manga at mangaowl, or at least those are the websites that I'm using. Feel free to use any possible methods to get access to the series. For those of you who are a new manga readers, if you want to catch up, you start from the chapter 48. Okay, I'll see you soon. Thanks for stopping by. Have a safe, healthy and a nice day.
