Akatsuki no Yona OVA

The main purpose of this review will be to prevent future viewers from dismissing the ova after the first episode. Despite being fully aware that the first episode is a bonus without any significant meaning to the original series, it disappointed me and lowered my expectation for the other two episodes. I'm glad I didn't drop it. The original 24 episode TV series did not fully appeal to me as it lacked to follow the dramatic scenario set in the first couple of episodes during the rest of the anime. What made me continue watching the anime was not the story, but the character development. The 2ndepisode extends that appeal by providing a backstory of the origins of the four dragons. The weakest point in the original TV series was the abrupt ending it imposed after meeting the yellow dragon. Unlike the other dragons, the yellow dragon seemingly came out of nowhere, with the anime ending without any sort of development in his character. The 3rd episode of the OVA appeased my disappointment, providing a level of story and character development greater than the entirety of the 24 episode series within the span of only one.

The ovas portrayed Zeno’s past and origin delivering a message about life , time, bonds, memories and love. With Zeno’s story the ova series explored more about the legend of the 4 dragons and brought forth to the viewer the image of king Hiryuu and his companions. The story is told from Zeno’s perspective and it portrays the sufferings and cruelty the 4 dragons gone through along their king Hiryuu to protect the kingdom of Kouka. From each experience that Zeno goes through he learns more about his power and how short and precious life is. He also learns about how cruel and unforgiventhe passing time is with humans. The ova also portrays aspects from the human drama like illness, death, hunger, through Zeno’s experiences. The ova puts a strong accent on memories on how precious are those memories for us humans. All is portrayed with the help of a golden necklace that Zeno received from his master Hiryuu. That necklace represents his identity , his bond to his past and his resolve to move on in this cruel world were he was destined by fate to be alone and witness the cruel pass of time.

TAKE NOTE: Do not judge this OVA with just the 1st episode. You might miss the most crucial part of it and it's even the crucial story for the 1st season. If you found Zeno a mystery dragon among the rest of the dragons, might as well finish the OVA until the 3rd episode. It is just a shame that we never get to have Zeno's backstory from the 1st season. His backstory is the most important one among the dragons. I should have given this a 10 but what disappointed me is that there's a part of the manga that was left out. How Iwish they just added that and Zeno's story in the 1st season. I was a bit disappointed that Zeno's story was only for OVA and this OVA ruined and spoiled the manga without showing the previous arcs. In the OVA, it seemed that the whole gang still did not have any idea about the real ability of Zeno, but in the manga, they learned it first before showing his backstory. IT'S SAD THAT THE REAL HAPPENINGS BEFORE SHOWING ZENO'S BACKSTORY (THE CHAPTERS WHERE YONA AND THE REST FOUND OUT WHO ZENO REALLY IS, CHAPTERS 99-105) WERE ONE OF THE MOST THRILLING CHAPTERS OF THE MANGA!!! >< I think they just made an OVA for Zeno's story because there would be no season 2 at all. This is the OVA that would literally answer the wonders of Zeno's identity so non-manga readers would not be left hanging. This OVA and the 1st season were just made to promote the manga (the manga has a rich plot, this really deserves a proper animation). If there will be season 2, I guess a Fruits Basket treatment type of reboot is what the viewers need (as if this is as easy as I thought).

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