Akatsuki no Yona
 

http://blog-imgs-64.fc2.com/y/a/r/ya...ge-copy-10.jpg

Original creator (manga): Mizuho Kusanagi
Director: Kazuhiro Yoneda
Series Composition: Shinichi Inotsume
Character Design: Maho Yoshikawa
Music: Kunihiko Ryo
Animation Production: Studio Pierrot
Synopsis: The "epic fantasy romance set in a country in ruins" story follows Yona, the only princess of a grand kingdom. She has been raised with great care by her doting father and protected by her childhood friend/guard Hak and others. However, her fate changes on her 16th birthday, when her beloved cousin Soo-won murders her father to claim the throne. She flees the castle to Hak's hometown and begins her new life.

The anime will reunite the cast from the earlier drama CD adaptation, with new cast members:

Chiwa Saito as Yona
Tomoaki Maeno as Soon Hak
Yūsuke Kobayashi as Soo-won
Masakazu Morita as Kija
Nobuhiko Okamoto as Shin-a
Junichi Suwabe as Jeha
Hiro Shimono as Zeno
Junko Minagawa as Yun

The story had some potential. When I looked at the announcement, it reminds me of The World is Still Beautiful. It's not surprising that both comes from the same publisher and studio with a similar genre so I'll still give it a shot nonetheless.

Some character designs:

More character designs:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-new...igns-previewed

Someone posted a new PV in YT

Akatsuki no Yona PV#2

Kinda spoilerish
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The HanaYume event confirmed its going to be 2-cour!! :D It's been awhile since a shoujo manga adaptation was half a year long.

I heard Yona's music composer is Korean. But the credits list a Kunihiko Ryo. There'a a discrepancy here.

Nope, according to ANN:

"The anime will reunite the cast from the earlier drama CD adaptation, with new cast members:

Chiwa Saito as Yona
Tomoaki Maeno as Soon Hak
Yūsuke Kobayashi as Soo-won
Masakazu Morita as Kija
Nobuhiko Okamoto as Shin-a
Junichi Suwabe as Jeha
Hiro Shimono as Zeno
Junko Minagawa as Yun

Kazuhiro Yoneda (technical director on Gekijō-ban Tiger & Bunny -The Rising-, Aquarion Evol) is directing the anime at Studio Pierrot (The World Is Still Beautiful). Shinichi Inotsume (Hayate the Combat Butler, Zettai Karen Children) is in charge of the series scripts, and Maho Yoshikawa (Amnesia) is designing the characters. Kunihiko Ryo (The Twelve Kingdoms, Emma) is composing the music with sound director Yukio Nagasaki (Ao Haru Ride, Love Live!)."

So it's coming out on Oct. 7.

Official Website.

Dang, Hak has such beautiful bright blue eyes in the anime! :love:

Zeno looks younger in the anime than I expected from the manga images.

(Too bad Soredemo didn't get the 2-cour treatment. :( )

Another trailer! Really liking the music direction here so far

Crunchyroll will stream the series.

Time:
Territories:

Good first episode overall especially with the way it established the main premise and characters so far. Well at this rate, Yona is going to have to get stronger if she wants to live in this world.

I don't like Soo-won much though.

Yona's music composer, Kunihiko Ryo, is a ethnic Korean raised in Japan. Under his Korean name Yang Bang-ean, he's done quite a few music contributions for Korea's music.

One of his composing acheivements is his rendition of Korean folk song Arirang, performed at the inauguration ceremony of South Korean President Park Geun-Hye in 2013.
He also performed his rendition at the handover segment of this year's Winter Olympics closing ceremony in Sochi, Russia, to mark Pyeongchang as the 2018 hosts.
(Kunihiko's playing the piano. The singers are jazz singer Na Yoon Sun(in red) and soprano Jo Soo Mi(in white)).
http://static.news.zumst.com/images/...0001300_P2.jpg

Move to 00.55 for performance start:

Good first epi but I kinda wish I hadnt read the summary as I'd been a lot more shocked by the ending if I hadnt already known Soo-won intentions. Judging the by the OP which I was surprised was instrumental looks like Hak and Yona will be joined by some interesting people. Hello reverse harem :D

Ep 01

Excellent. A very good beginning to the series - beautiful visuals, stunning audio, excellent VA work, and a balanced story telling pace (in comparison with the source material, I mean). The ED did not do much for me, but the OP was very, very nice - an instrumental piece; the look and feel reminded me of "The Twelve Kingdoms" a bit, which is a good thing in my book. Insta followed!

Huh? It's out already...?

I've been busy with my handheld that I didn't realize so many things had started airings :heh: Can't wait to watch it

This anime has an entertaining side too.
Princess is a brat, but wants be taken seriously do badly..
I like the male characters.
Flashback to childhood was so sweet ^^
First time in her life she didn't get what she wanted.
The betrayal part was interesting.
Might give it one more episode.

Is the original manga based on a korean story/folklore? I ask that because the first "weird" thing I noticed was that every characters have Korean first names, so it threw me a bit off when I learned the source material wasn't a manwha.

Since I didn't read the synopsis, the shoujo-ish tropes were a bit too much until shit hits the fan. The pace was alright, and the ending was a good hooking point. Let's see if the plot thickens next week.

lol exactly what I was thinking.

Anyway, the show seems decent. Not crazy about shows set in this time period but it could be an interesting shoujo. Different from standard stuff.

well I really liked the manga and this will be first shoujo anime I will ever watch as new season anime. normally I don't watch them and in the past I just watch some old shujo animes. this one will be definitely good, I am looking forward to next episode