The Girl Standing in the Blush of Dawn / Akatsuki no Yona

Hey guys! I'm back. One of the animes I'd like to talk to you about is called "Akatsuki no Yona" or "Yona of the Dawn" or " The Girl Standing in the Blush of Dawn", a manga series by Mizuho Kusanagi. It's full of comedy, action, drama, twists and turns, fantasy and a little romance. The story revolves around a 16 year old princess who lives the luxurious life with fancy clothes, food, ceremonies and parties, and of course, lives in a castle. She is an only child that knows the pain of losing her mother at a very young age. All she has, is her father, her cousin Soo-Won whom she has a crush on, and her childhood friend, Hak. All is well, until her father is unexpectedly murdered on the night of her birthday before her very eyes! The castle is being taken over and she escapes with the help of a servant and Hak, who is also a very strong warrior known as the "Blue Beast" (because he is considered to be as fast as lighting). The story takes place in what seems to be a fictional ancient China or something. I don't want to give too much detail because it will spoil everything. But this show/manga is one that demonstrates great character growth for our heroine, Yona as well as for other characters that get to know her.

*Note: If you don't want any spoilers, you should not read the paragraph below. But feel free to skip to the links and small paragraph in between if this manga/anime interests you.

What was once a week, naive, little girl who knew nothing of the world outside the castle, slowly and realistically becomes a strong, independent and mature woman. She becomes more aware of the people living in her country and as well as those outside of it. She observes of the corruption in surrounding countries as well as within her own, and experiences what it's like to be poor, hungry and to sleep outside on the ground. She becomes a great role model for women, doing her best to serve her country incognito, while fighting off bandits, freeing women from trafficking, and trying to stop a drug deal that's been going on in a neighbouring country, but that still affects her own. One of my favourite things about this show/manga is that she learns how to do archery, swordsmanship, how to ride a horse, and finally, some self taught martial arts! Can she get any cooler? It's no wonder every guy wants her. Tee-hee! ;)

A good site to read this manga is mangafox.me. Here's a link for your convenience: http://mangafox.me/manga/akatsuki_no_yona/

There are some episodes in dubbed, but personally, it's one of those animes that actually sound better in Japanese. However, there's only one season of 24 episodes. The story gets a whole lot more interesting if you continue to read through the manga, so please do read it if you get to the last episode. If you get that far you're probably so hooked, that you're dying to have more! So maybe you won't be needing my convincing after all.

Here's a link to the best playlist from YouTube. It has the best graphics, sound and subtitles available on that site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQCPv-GNCyc

Do You Hate Anime?

As the title question states, if you do, I think I would understand your reasons as to why. To be honest, I hate a lot of anime myself—in fact I'd say probably 90% of it. The reasons why? Probably the same as some of yours; I hate most animes because of  unnecessary things like the "accidental" I walked in on you while you were getting dressed or taking a shower scenes (is there not a lock?), or the "whoops! the perverted wind is blowing, and now everyone can see under my mini skirt" (hello?! Wear a longer skirt or shorts underneath or both) but I'll pretend to be embarrassed when really, that's what the character wants, is to get that kind of attention from boys because most anime girls are severely messed up. Another reason, would be how stupid, clumsy, weak, and blindly obedient they make most female characters. Not to mention their beyond fake, cute voices—I mean, no one sounds like that! And one of the things I hate the most, is when a bunch of girls compete for a guy for no apparent reason. Like, there's just nothing awesome about this guy—why are you people fighting over him?! Oh! And how they always sit so neatly and proper—they look so uptight and rigid. People just don't sit like that in real life. So I just listed a bunch of sexist reasons why I hate anime, but wait, there's more!

Most animes have very bad graphics. Sometimes it's so bad it hardly looks like they're moving when you know that the character is "moving". It looks more like a cheap picture by picture sort of thing. When they're standing or sitting and talking to someone at the same time, nothing will move except their mouth that drops up and down like a puppet and the occasional blink. In these crappy shows, the characters don't really seem alive However, that is not the case for all Japanese cartoons. Shows like Dragon Ball, Avatar: The Last Air Bender, Attack on Titan, One Piece, Psycho Pass, Black Butler and some movies like: 5 Centimeters Per Second and The Garden of Words, all have very good graphics. Speaking of graphics, most people don't like the gigantic eyes because "it makes them look like babies when they're really adults", and the impossible haircuts and hair colour bothers some people as well. (Note that the Japanese got the "big eyes" idea from Disney characters, which are American).

Regardless of all the reasons why Anime sucks, let me guide you to some of the best, most entertaining, funny, fantastic, adventurous, romantic, and most family appropriate ones there are out there. Through one post at a time, I hope to convince you, and direct you to some of the best animes with amazing story lines, ideas, concepts, and characters that you'll love. I plan to make a post for one specific show or movie at a time to give you all reasons why you should watch it, why you might not like it, and warn you of any unnecessary scenes or foul language so you can skip it those parts. Also, if I find the time, I'll take a specific episode of a series and tailor it to our liking so we can still enjoy a good show without any the yuckyness. But hopefully that won't be necessary. I'm looking forward to your comments and reviews! Please let me know what you think, and have a great day! :)