A rebellion is quashed and new conflict brews.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Mizuho Kusanagi
Translation: JN Productions
Adaptation: Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane
What They Say
Kang Su-jin, chief of the Fire Tribe, has been plotting to become the ruler of the Kingdom of Kohka—and now he’s started an uprising by attacking Su-won at Hiryuu Palace! As the armies clash on the battlefield, will Yona and her friends join the fray with so much on the line?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The battle between the fire tribe and Su-won’s personal forces is underway.
The actual battle is shown on a rather small scale, with diagrams of troop movements when necessary. This is a shoujo manga, and the author comments that she ended up putting a lot of work on her assistants. Despite the small scale the actual tactics are very engaging to watch play out. Su-won never gets his hands dirty as his generals do the work for him. They don’t want him anywhere near the actual battle anyway. He sits back and observes as he lays false information and controls the battlefield, relying on his reputation to poison Su-jin’s ideas of the young ruler. At some point, Su-won’s strategy of playing the fool will stop working, but this battle was not the day.
Su-jin can’t see the writing on the wall for his failed attack. He continues to push forward even after the Kai troops turn and retreat. He’s not content to stop pressing the attack and doesn’t care how many men he has to throw at the line to make it fall. He gets tunnel vision on claiming Su-won’s head and eventually is taken down by the one force he didn’t expect.
During the battle, Yona and the others intervene to stop the retreating Kai general from slaughtering and pillaging the villages on his way back out of enemy territory. They force him to leave empty-handed, and Su-won catches a heated stare from Yona in the midst of battle. That connection is momentary and full of determination and yet it’s also full of uncertainty.
Su-won is continually shown to be a man with good ideals, which makes his past actions against Yona and Hak more muddled. He was willing to spare the children of Kang Su-jin, yet he wasn’t willing to spare his two closest friends during the coup? If Su-jin had made his move against Su-won back then I doubt Tae-jun and Kyo-ga would have been spared. Su-won is also keeping secret the fact of Yona’s continued existence from his people, even though some have figured out she must still live. After all, she’s been sighted by them more than once.
In fact, now it’s painfully clear to both parties that the other is working toward protecting the kingdom. Neither wants to get in the other’s way, but the bad blood between them means that someday the two will have to confront each other directly.
Our time with Su-won comes to a close, once again. He piggy-backs on efforts Yona already set in motion and the fire tribe is put under new management. The road ahead is a long one for the north, but it’s no longer Yona’s fight.
This volume ends on a light-hearted note when Yona’s group descends on a market to earn some coin from selling medicinal herbs. It’s another excuse to explore the relationship between Yona and Hak. The next region to tackle is the water tribe’s territory, but it remains a mystery as to what the trouble facing that region is.
The last story in this volume is an extra side story which is a flashback to Hak and Geun-tae during a tournament six years prior. It shows the respect the two had for each other and the hopes Geun-tae had for the future.
In Summary
This volume of Yona has some good action and even better tactics. The conflict between the fire tribe’s forces and those of palace come to a close with an inevitable win for Su-won. Blood is not paid for in blood, showing a change of heart perhaps for Su-won. Yona works from the sidelines to protect the innocent in her own way before the momentary connection between usurper and usurped is broken once again. The events of the north have concluded with a victory for Su-won and the country at large. Yet more problems loom elsewhere and it’s time for Yona and her fated troop to hit the road once again.
Content Grade: B +
Art Grade: B +
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A –
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: August 7, 2018
MSRP: $9.99 US / $12.99 CN / £6.99 UK
