‘Yona of the Dawn’ deserves to be shojo anime’s next big reboot—here’s why
Yona of the Dawn was infamously put on ice after one season, leaving fans begging for more from the anime even years later. Other shojo favorites like Fruits Basket and Kimi ni Todoke suffered similar early fates but have since been revived with a recent reboot and a long-awaited third season, respectively. Still holding its own among these S-tier series a decade later, Yona has what it takes to be the next big shojo in line for a revival.
I know, I know; we’re so tired of reboots, remakes, and “requels” or whatever. I will never stop complaining about nostalgia-fueled cash grabs, I swear. With that being said, a lot of shojo anime series are uniquely deserving of a revisit. Kind of like how lesbians never get happy endings in LGBTQIA+ films, shojo series—which primarily target girls and women—often wind up canceled after their first season or are left to exist in limbo, never renewed for another. Yona of the Dawn falls into the second category, despite its fan-favorite status and demand for another season 11 years after its short-lived run.
Yona of the Dawn has the makings of a great shojo and more
Based on the ongoing Akatsuki no Yona manga written and illustrated by Mizuho Kusanagi, season 1 of Yona’s companion anime aired in 2014, covering roughly the first eight volumes. As far as anime goes, the adaptation from Studio Pierrot was pretty big at the time. Although the story is almost 20 years in the making and often borrows familiar fantasy tropes, Yona remains unmistakably fresh in its effort to subvert shojo traditions as they relate to the protagonist and plot.
The series follows Yona, a red-haired princess who’s just as spoiled and boy-crazy as you might assume. However, we quickly see this trope turned on its head when a familial betrayal involving her crush, Su-Won, uproots Yona’s life and pushes her to pick up a bow and become the disciplined and compassionate leader that the Kouka Kingdom needs, fully realized with the help of her childhood friend-turned-bodyguard-turned-spoiler Hak, her endlessly witty caretaker Yun (or Yoon, depending on where you’re watching or reading), and the fabled Dragon Warriors; Kija, Sinha (or Shin-ah), Jae-ha, and Zeno.
In line with a prophecy given to the estranged princess, a deep lore is established early on. This ambiguous foretelling looms like a dark cloud over Yona and the warriors as they work to repair Kouka’s trust, the weight of which is felt during intense fight scenes and never forgotten. Still, Yona maintains a lightheartedness throughout that you’d typically expect from the slice-of-life genre or shonen series like Inuyasha, Demon Slayer, and Black Clover.
There’s more than enough pain and laughter to go around, but like a true shojo, there’s a lot of pining, too. I think we can all agree that recent romance narratives lack a lot of the angst and yearning that once marked this genre years ago, but Yona delivers where it matters most, weaving the beginnings of a love story with the titular princess’ character development and the story’s progression. Somehow, it keeps love triangles interesting.
Although it only got one season, Yona is brimming with action, romance, humor, and storytelling that’s so well-paced it hurts to stop watching—so much so that I immediately Googled which manga volume to pick up first afterward. (You’ll want Volume 9, FYI.) Just imagine what the series could accomplish with another season or a complete reboot. The question is: How did Yona, an anime that has it all, wind up on the back burner in the first place?
Was Yona of the Dawn canceled, or what?
Technically, Yona was never canceled, but it might as well have been. Low Blu-ray and merch sales have been cited as the primary reason for the decade-long delay to its return, a shortcoming that’s been the nail in the coffin for countless shows. This was compounded by the effects of the Kumamoto earthquakes of 2016, which posed a major hurdle for the manga’s author to overcome at the time, according to Kusanagi herself. Now 44 volumes strong, Akatsuki no Yona entered its final arc in June 2024, rounding out the long-running series, with no foreseeable end to the anime’s hiatus.
Promo may be down, but it’s not like there’s no love for Yona. An official stage musical was announced just last year, following on the coattails of an exclusive 20th-anniversary art exhibition in Japan, where Kusanagi’s readers could pick up the coveted series art book as well as some of the most beloved panels ripped straight from the manga. You can find thirst edits of Hak and the Dragon Warriors floating around on TikTok, too.
It’s not much, but it’s enough for me to hope that Yona might still get the Fruits Basket reboot treatment, which gave Natsuki Takaya’s series a complete overhaul nearly two decades after its 2001 adaptation hit screens, with the author’s seal of approval AND most of the original English voice cast’s return.
Anytime there’s word on a new shojo reboot in the works, Yona fans are front and center, pleading with Pierrot for a continuation. If it pans out, I hope they keep the OST. It’s really grown on me. Until then, Yona of the Dawn is streaming on Hulu and Crunchyroll. You can also pick up where the anime left off starting at Volume 9 in the manga.
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