If it’s a fight they want, Yona’s gang is gonna bring it to them.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Mizuho Kusanagi
Translation: JN Productions
Adaptation: Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane
What They Say
Yona and Riri wind up in the nation of Sei after being betrayed by a trusted acquaintance! Forced to work as slaves, the two stubbornly refuse to be controlled, but their situation is dire. In order to save Yona and Riri, Hak and the Four Dragons split into two groups and sneak into enemy territory!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Captured and taken over geographic and political lines, Yona and Riri find themselves in enemy territory. Forced to build a fortress alongside other forced labor the women are given no water, only alcohol laced with nadai, the addictive drug that had flooded into the water tribe’s territory. Without water they struggle, trying to contain their anger and find a chance to escape.
I could argue that none of those slaves should be alive living on drug-laced alcohol. That would only make them more dehydrated at a swifter pace. Those slaves should have been dead in a day or two. It does put a time limit on their rescue. The clock is ticking for them to escape or be rescued.
It’s also a great opportunity to show Yona and Riri being completely badass. Yona rescues Riri, who in turn rescues Yona. Dehydrated and exhausted they make a break for it. Far from being in the clear, they are at the mercy of the elements and in danger of being captured by a marching Sei army.
Back over the border the gang realizes what happened and gather intel. They learn of two forts involved in human trafficking and realize that the girls are in one fort or the other. They split into two groups. Hak, Yun, Gija and Sinha go to one fort, while Jaeha, Ayura and Zeno head to the other. After they depart Tetra is left to explain Riri’s absence to her father. The truth comes out and the Water Tribe leader enlists his own help to recover his daughter.
Su-won and his retainers, alongside the leaders of two other tribes, head to the border to attack.
This leads to a pivotal moment in the series as Hak is forced to swallow his hatred and rage for Su-won. The two men don’t come face-to-face. If they had then it’s likely nothing would have stopped Hak from murdering Su-won. The wall that separates them is both literal and emotional. The tension is real. I don’t want to see Su-won easily forgiven for his crimes. I do like the fact that he claims he doesn’t actually care about the throne, it was just a means to an end to clean up the country.
The other huge moment in this volume is Gija and Sinha showing themselves to the leaders and presenting themselves as the dragons. The dragons are a myth to the general populace, and their claims are ridiculous. Yet you can’t deny the power of these young men, and Su-won believes them. Yet now he knows Yona is the reincarnation of the Red, and I wonder what he’ll do with that information.
Even with all of these momentous meetings and powerful scenes, there are still moments for humor. The reunion of Hak and his Wind Tribe friends and family in the middle of the war zone is perhaps the funniest moment in the series so far.
This volume has only one extra, a short comic from the author about her cat.
In Summary
This volume of Yona has some of the tensest, emotionally fraught moments in the series and also some of the funniest. What could have been another ‘rescue the princess’ plot takes a hard right turn which changes the rules of engagement drastically. It puts the protagonists and antagonists into a dance from which they’ll soon have to confront each other while attempting to protect and shore up the country. After volumes of meandering around this volume is certainly a strong highlight of the series overall.
Content Grade: A –
Art Grade: B +
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A –
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: October 1, 2019
MSRP: $9.99 US / $12.99 CN / £6.99 UK
