Akatsuki no Yona, by Kusanagi Mizuho.
http://kissmanga.com/Manga/Akatsuki-no- ... ?id=283202
Summary wrote:
Yona is the sole princess of the kingdom, living the luxurious and carefree life as a princess should. She has it all: the finest clothes and cosmetics, the most divine sweets, a loving emperor as a father, and the hottest cousin crush, Soo-wong, anyone could ever hope to have. Now, if only her bodyguard, Son Hak, wasn't so annoying to her and her hair wasn't so red.
But her nearly perfect world quickly shatters as the man she loves, Soo-wong, murders her father and the path to his ascension to the throne is assured. Son Hak escapes with Yona, and they lead a life on the run from that point on.
Wow. Just
wooow. This is
so good.
The summary did a really good job of setting up the premise so I'm just going to focus on what I love about this manga: the characters. Are you sick of the typical shounen manga that has practically zero character depth or growth? The kind of story that just putters on, maintaining the same status quo in order to retell the same old tired jokes and recycle the same old plot lines? Akatsuki No Yona is the antithesis of that.
First of all, it's not actually a shounen manga, it's a shoujo (primarily aimed at women), which means it has a more mature outlook on the relationships between characters, and that's really where this story shines. I absolutely adore the main cast of Akatsuki no Yona. They're all so different and the way they interact with each other is so beautiful, really accentuating their relationships in all sorts of ways.
You've got Yona, the naive, spoiled princess who gradually grows into something so much more when faced with the harsh realities of the real world. You've got Hak, the stoic, but well-meaning bodyguard. Shin-Ah, the quiet one with the pet squirrel. Zeno, always happy and carefree, but hiding a troubled past. Yoon, the self-proclaimed genius pretty boy who constantly gets annoyed by everyone's shenanigans, yet acts as a mother hen for the entire group. Jae-Ha, the one with the dirty sense of humour who just loves to tease. And my personal favourite, Kija, the guy who is arguably the best fighter in the entire group, the one who can practically level an entire castle with one hand, but is terrified of bugs and hates sleeping outside and is very picky about his food and aaargh they're all just so likable! x3
You'd think the story would get cluttered with so many characters all together in one group like that, but it really doesn't. All of the characters get ample opportunity to shine, and none of them ever fall by the wayside. Hell, even Shin-Ah's pet squirrel, Ao, is bursting with personality and can often be seen doing all kinds of cute, funny things in the background, peeking out from behind Yona's shoulder, stuffing bugs into her mouth (much to Kija's disgust) or offering acorns from her cheek pouches to anyone who's feeling sad or hurt.
All of the things I've said thus far only relates to how the characters pall around with each other, and doesn't even come close to everything this story has to offer. There's action, political intrigue, humour, and romance! Oh my word the romance! Yes, real romance with actual development and growth!
I simply cannot recommend this manga enough. It had me laughing and crying and everything in between. Every chapter was a joy to read.
PS: For some reason the chapters often won't load for me. I'm not sure if anyone else will have this problem, but I've found that having the main page of kissmanga open in a different tab and then refreshing them both at the same time usually fixes it. No idea why, though...
PPS: Akatsuki No Yona has an anime, too, but it only goes up to the point where the main cast gets fully assembled. I haven't watched it yet, but if it stays true to the anime it should be amazing.