Hello darkness my old friend…
What They Say:
Episode 14: “Light”
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
How do you escape a cave in? First, you get your dragon-blooded friends to dig your way out, then have your love interest smash his way in from the outside. At least, that’s how Yona and the others escape. Hak is able to get the villagers to show him the best place to dig in while the Blue Dragon shows the best place to dig out.
After the two previous episodes of Yona brought all the emotion to the table I can’t help but feel the payoff comes off as less impactful. It was a forgone conclusion that the Blue Dragon would eventually accept Yona’s proposal and go with her, and the speeches had all been made. It’s a bit odd the villagers just watch him leave in silence. I guess they figure that they got off easy.
The majority of the interesting content in this episode arrives after the commercial break. Kija works himself into a frenzy before passing out, the effort of trying to dig his way out of the cave taking it’s toll. The Blue Dragon has lived such a sheltered life that he barely speaks. Everything social is new to him in much the same way that everything out in the wild was new to Kija. He shocks the other boys when he refers to Yona by her given name, although Yona seems to enjoy being referred to informally. Worse, the poor boy doesn’t have a given name of his own to be addressed by.
Yun takes time that night to apologize for his behavior toward Yona when they first met. He admits that she’s not like the royals he proclaims to hate, and would like to call her Yona as well. When Hak follows Yona to the pond he starts to address her as Yona as well but she stops him. She wants her loyal general to call her princess still, because he’s the only one of the group to remember her as one. The decision, or perhaps the memory of her past, drives Yona to tears… but Hak seems moved for an entirely different reason.
Meanwhile the Blue Dragon is off gathering herbs under the moonlight. He pauses to take in the light and a returning Yona and Hak happen upon him. It’s then that Yona decides his name should be the word for moonlight, Sinha. (Well, that’s how Crunchyroll writes it, but it’s pronounced Shinah.) The Blue Dragon isn’t displeased with his new name, after all, he never had the honor of having one before.
In Summary:
After a slow start, we close out the Blue Dragon’s introduction. We get to see him interact with the group, becoming the strong and silent member of the troop. Not to be left out of the developments we get some closure to Yun’s thoughts on traveling with Yona and the wall of duty placed around Yona and Hak’s relationship. Not the flashiest episode by far, but it’s sweet, and our group is on the move once more heading for the Green Dragon. It looks like the next episode will check back in on what’s been going on back in the palace.
Episode Grade: B +
Streamed by: Crunchyroll & Funimation
Review Equipment: 27” iMac running OS 10.10.1, via Safari 8.0.2, FIOS 15/5 Mbps connection. Your milage may vary.
