Akatsuki no Yona Season 2: Premiere Date, Characters, Plot

Yona of the Dawn (also known as Akatsuki no Yona in Japanese) is a fantasy anime television series which is based on a manga series of the same name. Written and illustrated by Mizuho Kusanagi, the manga was first published nearly a decade ago on August 5, 2009, and new volumes are being published to this day. Years after the initial publication of the series, Studio Pierrot announced plans to adapt it into an anime television series, and Season 1 of Yona of the Dawn made its way to viewers’ screens on October 7, 2014. It was an immediate hit among fans of the manga series and new viewers alike. Since then, fans have been eagerly waiting to hear news on a second season. Here’s everything we know about the prospects of Season 2 thus far.

Yona of the Dawn Season 2 Release Date: When will it premiere?

Yona of the Dawn season 1, consisting of 24 episodes, premiered on October 7, 2014 and ran till March 24, 2015. Months later, three original video animation (OVA) special episodes were released gradually between September 18, 2015 and December 20, 2016. However, since then, there has been little to no news on the future of the show.

Fans of the series received a major shock when Mizuho Kusanagi, the creator of the manga series, announced on Twitter that she had been badly affected by the Kumamoto earthquakes, which struck the Kyushu region in Japan in April 2016, killing at least 50 people and injuring 3,000 more. While Kusanagi did not suffer any injuries during the earthquakes, her work suffered a major setback. However, in the time that has elapsed since then, Kusanagi has managed to recover, and has returned to work, and the manga series is in good health with new volumes being published. Thus, there’s no dearth of source material for a second season, so that should come as a relief for fans.

Further, anime shows are sometimes renewed after a few years has passed, so there’s still a year left for a renewal to be announced and there’s no reason to panic right now. In case a renewal is not announced by the end of 2020, there could be some question marks about the future of the show. That being said, there’s a decent chance of the show getting renewed. Our best guess is that Yona of the Dawn season 2 release date could fall sometime in 2020 or 2021. We’re keeping our ears open for news on Season 2 of Yona of the Dawn, and we’ll update this section as soon as we hear something reliable.

Yona of the Dawn English Dub:

For those who like watching anime shows in English, the good news is that Yona of the Dawn has a great English dub which was made keeping the show’s international fans in mind. If you want to watch the show in English, you can find dubbed episodes on Funimation. You can also stream it on Crunchyroll with its original Japanese audio and English subtitles. 

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Yona of the Dawn Plot:

The show is set in a fictional land which appears to have a mixture of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean cultures. In this setting, the show follows the adventures of Yona, the sole princess to the Kingdom of Kouka, and is a tale of revenge and redemption.

When the show starts off, Yona is shown to be living a carefree and happy life in the Hiryuu Castle as a princess, sheltered from the outside world by her father, the King of Kouka, and her childhood friend and bodyguard, Hak. However, Yona’s life gets turned on its head during her sixteenth birthday party, when her childhood friend and love interest, Su-Won comes to pay tribute to her. Flattered at Su-Won’s arrival, Yona heads to her father’s chambers to tell him that she loves Su-Won. However, when she reaches the chamber, she is horrified to see Su-Won murdering her father for the throne. As Su-Won seizes power in Kouka, Hak intervenes and saves Yona from certain death, and they escape the castle and head to Hak’s birthplace, the Village of Wind.

At the Village of Wind, Yona meets Hak’s grandfather, Son Mundok, who advises them to search for a priest named Ik-Su. When they find the priest, he recounts the legend of the first king of Kouka, Hiryuu, and the Four Dragon Warriors who had once unified the Kingdom of Kouka. Inspired by the tale, Yona and Hak, accompanied by Ik-Su’s assistant Yun, embark on an epic quest to find the descendents of the Four Dragon Warriors so that they can survive Su-Won’s tyrannical reign and save the kingdom from ruin.

Yona of the Dawn Characters:

Yona of the Dawn has dozens of characters, and among them, four characters are central to the plot of the show. Below, we’ve provided you with a brief background on each of the main characters in the show.

[WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD]

Yona: The main female protagonist of the show, Yona is the princess of and only heir to the King of Kouka. When Yona is growing up, she leads an extremely sheltered life, and as a result, grows up to be a spoiled brat. However, after her father is murdered by Su-Won and she is forced to flee a life of luxury, she starts changing, and develops into an independent and strong young lady. Over the course of the show, Yona falls in love with Hak, but doesn’t express her feelings for fear getting teased by him.

With her strong will to defend and protect herself, Yona requests Hak to teach her archery and sword fighting. Hak teaches her to shoot, but not to use a sword. While hesitant to kill, she eventually overcomes her fears during the battle against Kum-Ji. She is said to be the reincarnation of Hiryuu, the first king of the Kingdom of Kouka, who also had red hair. Being the reincarnation of Hiryuu, the four legendary dragons’ blood will react the moment they lay their eyes upon her and they will hear the voices of the original four dragons’ oath to protect Hiryuu.

Hak Son: The main male protagonist of the show, Hak is Yona’s childhood friend and bodyguard, and the former chief and general of the Wind Tribe. Famously known as the Thunder Beast for this savage fighting style, Hak is regarded to be the fiercest warrior in the Kingdom of Kouka. In the show, it’s shown that Hak is in love with Yona, but he doesn’t express it.

Yun: Ik-Su’s assistant, Yun is the third person in Princess Yona’s group, and is shown to be genius. Born in a Fire Tribe, Yun was taken in by Ik-Su, and has healing abilities. While he can say mean things every now and then, he is shown to be an extremely caring person.

Su-Won: Yona’s first cousin, Su-Won grew up with Yona and Hak. While he promised Yona that he would always be by her side, he also became best friends with Hak during childhood. Su-Won was also Yona’s first love, up until the point he killed Yona’s father – the King of Kouka – for the throne. While Su-Won mostly maintains the facade of a clumsy and carefree man, he is shown to be extremely ruthless and cunning. Although he kills Yona’s father and usurps the throne, he still cares for Yona and Hak, and tries his best to not pay heed to the fact that they are alive and coming after him.

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