English Dub Review: Yona of the Dawn “Light”

You know you’ve been watching too much anime when you take pictures and put them in your articles knowing that they can be completely taken out of context. As such, welcome to my latest out of context picture. Yes, this looks really, REALLY gay, but this is less gay than it sounds. Kija just passed out, and the Blue Dragon Warrior offered help. Now that the picture is explained, let’s get on with the show!

This should have been titled “Boundaries,” because Yona places some well defined boundaries  with everyone. While the Blue Dragon and Yun can actually call her Yona, Hak gets to keep being the Princess’s protector. From the episode, it seems like she wants to keep some sort of connection to her former life. I can see why. If I were royalty, I would never want to list that. By the end of the episode, Yona finally gave the Blue Dragon a name, and it’s Shin-Ah. I guess it fits, because his name literally means new.

Unfortunately, “Light” still doesn’t do anything to make me feel wowed by Yona of the Dawn. I keep expecting a lot, especially when I am told that the show is amazing. The only thing that manages to happen is that Yona and the gang (with Shin-Ah) all leave the cave village, and they go in search of Dragon Warriors three and four. We still don’t really see much of Soo-won, but apparently that’s next episode. Just a slight check-in, telling us that Kouka hasn’t burnt to the ground in Yona’s exile would have been really swell.

I guess I am nit-picking the show. But if Yona of the Dawn doesn’t really impress, it won’t be influenced by different shows. People will start to see that it’s just mimicking the shows rather well. I said it last week, that there are heavy InuYasha influences, but Shin-Ah has a heavy Princess Mononoke influence with his mask. I am guessing it’s showing how he is still “in the wild,” so to speak. Again, Yona of the Dawn doesn’t wow me with new ideas. It takes what has been done previously, and does it well. That’s a charm, however, that will undoubtedly wane quickly.