Akatsuki no Yona

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Yona: The Girl Standing in the Blush of Dawn

Japanese: 暁のヨナ

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 48

Chapters: 292

Status: Finished

Published: Aug 5, 2009 to Dec 19, 2025

Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance

Demographic: Shoujo

Serialization: Hana to Yume

Authors: Kusanagi, Mizuho (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.83¹ (scored by 52,748 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #34²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #87

Members: 151,359

Favorites: 15,177

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8.83

Ranked #34Popularity #87Members 151,359

MangaHana to YumeKusanagi, Mizuho (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /48

Chapters: /292

Yona of the Dawn

Vol. 1
$6.99

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Synopsis

Once upon a time, the kingdom of Kouka was ruled by a red dragon in human form. By his side, four warriors imbued with dragon blood helped him lead the kingdom to prosperity. Time passed, and this tale became a legend to tell children.

As the sole princess of Kouka, Yona lives a life of lavish ease. In love with her cousin, Su-won, and protected by her bodyguard, Son Hak, she wants for nothing and remains sheltered from the harrowing reality outside the castle walls. Contrary to this peaceful illusion, Kouka is about to undergo a political upheaval. After her beloved Su-won stages a bloody coup and murders her father, Yona is forced to flee with only Hak by her side.

Though surrounded by enemies on all sides, the banished princess still yearns to save her kingdom. Her solution comes from an exiled priest, who tells her that her only hope is to find the four legendary dragon warriors. Guided by this seemingly fictitious myth, Yona sets out to find these warriors, determined to restore her kingdom.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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BackgroundAkatsuki no Yona has been published in English as Yona of the Dawn by VIZ Media under the Shojo Beat imprint since August 2, 2016. It has been licensed in Spanish by Norma Editorial.

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Characters

Son, Hak

Main

Yona

Main

Shin-ah

Main

Zeno

Main

Jae-ha

Main

Ki-ja

Main

Su-won

Main

Yun

Main

Supporting

Reviews

Dec 26, 2025

Valkyrie_

Recommended

I waited more than 10 years to read Akatsuki no Yona, because I didn`t want to wait for new chapters. I always read only finished mangas because of that. And after so many years of waiting, to read it all in only 5 days.....it is heartbreaking. Also this is my first time writing a review, but I think that this manga deserves all praise. Story is well written, growing of characters expertly done, art beautiful. I made so many pauses while reading, just because I didn`t want the story to end. It is really special when good manga or book do that to you. I ...

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Mar 19, 2024

LaoZiChiHuoGuo

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (255/292 eps)

So overall, I really enjoy this manga. It has a lot of themes and tropes that work for me: (slightly immature and predictable) humour, adventure, found family and brotherhood, romance that’s cute but not the main focus, handsome men, self sacrifice etc etc. However as a fan of high fantasy, I can see some loose threads and holes in the world building.

The mangaka is pretty good at developing and portraying social/ political and interpersonal dynamics which are already established. However to get to this point of establishment, she uses some fairly contrived or not well fleshed out hand-wavy explanations just to so we can ... get to that point. An example in the context of social/ political dynamics is the history of the tribes. Given that they were founded two thousand years ago by the original dragon warriors, I would have expected them to have developed more unique cultures along the way. What makes a tribe a tribe? There’s no difference in language or ethnicity, and very little noticeable differences in attire, food or traditions. Also what was the point if them being named after the elements, and the dragons each having a corresponding colour, if the mangaka wasn’t going to somehow link them together? Personally I would have enjoyed the world building a lot more if each tribe worshipped a different dragon/ dragon warrior, hence creating more friction between the tribes. I find it slightly incredulous that the people of each tribe demonstrate loyalty towards their own tribe and chief and are indifferent to the others, yet there is no mention of any conflict between the tribes. If you make the distinction of separating the nation into tribes, surely there should be stakes and reasons as to why they’re separated like that?

Another example of poor build-up but this time in the context of character relationships is how quickly everyone became friends. Like I said, the friendships are very cute and endearing. You can see how different character pairs have different dynamics, and how they all fit together into one happy hungry bunch. However, I do think it would’ve been better if some mutual distrust or awkwardness was shown in the earlier stages. You’re putting a bunch of strangers together - I don’t think it’s realistic for them all to hit it off immediately. I know Hak and Kija argue when they first meet, but to be honest it was mostly friendly banter and nothing too serious. Given how deeply Hak was affected by Suwon’s betrayal, you’d think he’d be slightly more distrusting and wary of strangers going forward. One of my favourite scenes is when Hak hugs the other dragon warriors after the fort battle - this really solidified his friendship with the others in the group, without Yona being the one to bring them all together. I think it would’ve hit harder if the friendship grew more from a slightly rockier place to where it is now, instead of already starting out quite well if that makes sense.

There’re a few other examples I can think of but I won’t ramble any more. Despite all my frustrations, I still rate it pretty high just because when the story works for me, it really does work. I can still see all the glaring issues, but I’m willing to overlook them just because.

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Apr 3, 2019

sufflaminandus

Not Recommended

Preliminary (24/292 eps)

Akatsuki no Yona is beautiful, diligent and even realistic but it is shallow and very generic. 24 long long chapter filled with insipid feeling, identical males and zero progress - that was my limit. You may tell me, “It’s a shoujo, what did you expect?”. Well, I don’t know, I guess I expected some pleasant surprise. Shoujo authors tend to write genuine, down-to-earth pieces but here it evolves into nothing but the Nadeko level story about poor little girl surrounded by noble handsome boys. What even worse is that backbone of the narration is not the thrill of adventure in form of elaborate substories but ...

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'Akatsuki no Yona' Manga Ends, Anime Sequel in Production

Mizuho Kusanagi's Akatsuki no Yona (Yona of the Dawn) manga ended its 16-year run in the second 2026 issue of Hana to Yume on Friday. The issue also announced t...read more

Dec 18, 2025 8:28 AM by Aiimee | Discuss (42 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for December

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for December. Week 1: December 2 - 8 Anime Releases Azumanga Daiou The Animation (Azumanga Daioh: ...read more

Dec 1, 2025 9:50 AM by Aiimee | Discuss (2 comments)

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Poll: Akatsuki no Yona Chapter 276 Discussion ARK-13 - Dec 17, 2025	26 replies	by pranss0_0 »» Jan 6, 9:32 AM
Poll: Akatsuki no Yona Chapter 273 Discussion ARK-13 - Oct 19, 2025	7 replies	by landofthekwt »» Dec 18, 2025 9:28 PM
Poll: Akatsuki no Yona Chapter 275 Discussion ARK-13 - Dec 5, 2025	9 replies	by DebiPS »» Dec 18, 2025 3:47 PM
Poll: Akatsuki no Yona Chapter 257 Discussion crocodileman94 - Apr 19, 2024	10 replies	by removed-user »» Dec 6, 2025 8:44 AM
Poll: Akatsuki no Yona Chapter 252 Discussion Luiere - Jan 3, 2024	16 replies	by removed-user »» Dec 1, 2025 11:33 PM

Akatsuki no Yona
Yona of the Dawn
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