Akatsuki No Yona: Raijuu

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I'm about to step on a lot of toes, please forgive me.

If Yona doesn't treat Hak as an equal partner, it's difficult for me to ship them. I am a hardcore fan - I absolutely love their interactions and feelings for one another, their chemistry and camaraderie, but a stable relationship requires a balance of power. Hak has to get his opinions heard, and Yona has to step back and let Hak handle the decision-making where he'd do better - in political and dangerous situations which he's been trained on and Yona clearly hasn't.

I don't like the way Hak is informed of decisions and mostly just follows around despite his counter viewpoint right now. Hak used to voice his objections, even though he would let Yona take her own decisions when she's adamant about - he did so since the starting. However, I never see Yona doing the same for him. These last few chapters have really, really changed them for the worse - where are the arguments about their safety that Hak made in beginning of the series?! Where is the teasing and the comfort? There is an understandable uneasiness ever since the confession - but with the recent developments... It's getting really bad. I greatly dislike it when it happens in male dominated relationships and I can't put up with the reverse either.

Hak and Yona are the end game, yes, but we need to see the relationship getting balanced some way or the other - this is not okay for both of them. At this point, Hak's dynamics with Ayame or Yona's dynamics with Yoon make more sense - trust, comfort, understanding and two way communication.

I can't blame Hak for this because he has been her servant/bodyguard regardless of his feelings for her, but Yona's situation has changed and she's not handling it well. She might be a 17-18 year old today, and I'm understanding of her immaturity but I can't root for her until she makes some major changes, until she puts Hak right beside her as a partner who can guide, admonish her and put her on the right track and let herself do the same, not as his madam princess or master, but as his lover, wife and queen. An equal partner. The better half.

I understand she was hanging on to Hak as her last thread when she asked him to call her "princess" and not Yona, but when she finally becomes the empress or the queen to everyone else, she has to be "Yona" to Hak. Heck, even Kuelbo & Yoo Lan in their utterly traditional marriage had better dynamics.

I, too, love the chemistry between Hak and Yona but chemistry alone isn’t going to cut it when we’re talking about an actual relationship.  It should grow into a mutual, equal partnership...not one where one person is usually commanding without much regard for feelings while the other half is simply doing as he/she’s being told to regardless of conflicts.  As you said, this type of relationship isn’t desirable at all no matter if it’s being done from a male character to a female or vice versa.  This is something that’s been a dynamic of their relationship from the start, and while I never liked it, it was only tolerable to me at one point because Hak’s feelings weren’t being reciprocated yet.  Since their feelings have become mutual, and if they are expected to end up together, then I would like to see it change as well.  It bothers me when I think about how, for the rest of his life, Hak may have to endure his feelings and opinions being neglected.  As a hardcore Hak fan, not gonna lie, I do not want that for him.  He deserves respect and proper treatment...the same that he has been giving to Yona since the beginning.  If their relationship remains this way then I wouldn’t ship it either and, like you, I think they would be better off remaining strictly master/servant.  

At this turn of events I agree with the angsty comments.

Yes, guys I switch flag.

Since it was the building introduction to the new Arc I was ok with the change of peace in order for Kusanagi to settle things and focus on the plot basement. Now chapter 180 makes clear that this transition was rushed, we got none of the explanations or confrontations that would have helped us understanding the characters’ motivations. What was supposed to be the manga climax is suffering, I wouldn’t say from “bad writing” because the story itself is still interesting and things are not irretrievable. Rather I would say it suffers from bad timing.

- First of all: lack of communication between the characters. HakYona and SooWonYona interactions have been handled poorly. 

Particularly in this moment SooYona deserved a true face-to-face. It was their first meeting on the crime scene and reading at the spoilers it looks like nothing important happened. My disappointement on this topic is immense. Yona should’ve morally slapped him.

- If SooYona deserves a face-to-face, HakYona needs a heart-to-heart. Hak obediently giving up his bodyguard role without utter a single word is beyond astonishing.

Lack of development

Arc of characters invalidated

Plot moving characters and not characters moving the plot.

Yona probably hasn’t analyzed the enemy’s scheme because it was never her intention to from the start.  She’s there because she willingly turned herself and her friends over to be enslaved.  If it sounds like I’m blaming Yona for just about everything then, yes, I guess I sort of am.  She’s the protagonist of the story.  She’s royalty.  She’s the Princess.  It was HER idea to go back to the castle.  If she doesn’t like the situations they’re in then she’s going to have to speak up/take some action.  Thinking that you don’t like something isn’t good enough.  And if she’s fine with prancing around in her dresses and being used as a puppet then so be it, I guess.

I’m sorry, but the relationship between Hak and Yona is still that of princess and servant.  They are not equals.  Just because Yona told Hak that she has feelings for him doesn’t mean the dynamics of the relationship has changed.  Until they talk about it and where they want the relationship to go(frankly, Yona is in a better role to be starting this conversation), it’s not going to suddenly just change on its own.  I’ve not read the chapter yet to truly gage Hak’s reaction to not being Yona’s bodyguard but, in general, Hak is not in position to tell his master/princess what or what not to do.  It’s up to Yona who she wants as her bodyguard.  Hak has protested more than once since ch.178 and it has gotten him nowhere because the decisions are ultimately, as I’ve mentioned, up to Yona.  If she’s not going to speak up against Kye-Sook and his lackeys then it’s a sign to Hak that she’s wiling to do whatever they want.  He’s supposed to be “behaving” so I don’t see that he would fight to continue to be her bodyguard.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAK! 💙💙💙

I love you so much, you deserve all happiness in your life 😘

I know I'm late but I really work hard! It take me two days xD

Pst! Somebody is taking a pic of him... Shhh!

I wanted to add a more detailed pic 💗

#ハク生誕祭2019

#ハク誕生祭

Art by Shampoo Neko 2019

@coolsapphire24

@ungatitoazul

[ a u g u s t 09 ] ↳ birthday of son hak

I LOVE HAK. He is hands down my favorite male lead; he even took down my original true love: Usui Takumi.

Hak is brave, kind, empathetic, generous, fierce, strong, loyal to a fault, respectful of each person's autonomy, and capable of unconditional love. His positive relationships throughout AkaYona are some of the best and healthiest that I've seen in a very long time (relationships with wind tribe, Mundok, HHB, King Il, Yona, etc.). He honors and protects people in the best way possible. I could seriously talk forever about why he is THE BEST boi and why he deserves all of the happiness in the world.

HOWEVER, based on Kusa's story this far, I have a hot take on Hak. Here it is: Hak needs to suffer, just a tad bit more, in order to further his character development. And I welcome this.

This is news to no one but this whole story has centered around three extremely close friends, their bond, and how it changed after one of them committed the ultimate act of betrayal. Like legit, our main characters experienced trauma since the very beginning and this whole story has centered on their emotional journey and their personal growth as they try to pick up the pieces and heal. I truly think that one of AkaYona's main themes is: healing after trauma (and the emotional process that goes along with this) because the story is heavily focused on this. Sure there are shenanigans, familial bonds, love, politics, and other themes intertwined but Kusa has made it a point to always go back to the theme of emotional development. Out of the 3, I think Yona has made the most growth. She has been able to reach a point where she can more or less compartmentalize her personal feelings from what is good for the country. (This doesn't mean that Yona is perfect or that she has finished healing but that is a topic for another post). Hak, however, is a different story.

Time and time again, Kusa has foreshadowed and hinted at the following: if Hak doesn't come out of this darkness, he WILL die. It will literally consume him and get him killed. And this is some serious darkness.

Just in this scene alone, Hak became so blinded by his darkness that he was going to stop at nothing to kill Soo-won. He ended up seriously hurting Joo-doh and SW's other guard (so much so that Joo-doh has been terrified of him ever since). This is something that I think Hak would never have done unless they were actively threatening Yona's or the HHB's life. Hak had also just taken a knife to the forearm, pulled it out, and was bleeding out but he continued regardless. Even big brother Jae-ha noticed that this was an issue:

This is just one example of the many times in which Hak has endangered his life due to the darkness. Some people may say something to the effect of, "of course Hak is hurt and did what he did. Can you blame him after the betrayal he had to endure?" And to you I say: no, I do not blame him. His actions and his hurt make sense. And I am not here to pass judgement on him and say that he is a bad person or anything like that.

But he is a person who has been deeply hurt. And this hurt has caused him to be irrational and reckless to a point where he risks his life. And my boi needs to STAHP. Hak is also aware of this darkness and how much it consumes him.

He has acknowledged it and has even wondered what he can do to get out of it.

He has made a lot of progress but he still has a ways to go. If he doesn not, he will die. Kusa has made this abundantly clear. She gave us a pretty obvious reminder in 178.

This was a heartbreaking scene but I think that it was included to remind us of where we are in the story after taking a break with all the lovey dovey stuff. And yes, it does suck that Hak is still in this place because my boi has suffered enough. But my boi has not healed enough... so this is just where he is in the process.

Back to my original "thesis" of this post: Hak needs to suffer just a tad bit more. I don't mean that he has to go through more traumatic stuff. God knows my boi doesn't need more of that.

I mean that my boi has to be put in uncomfortable situations and he has to process some painful stuff before some of that darkness can start to lift. My boi is stuck right now. He needs to get this process moving, otherwise it will kill him to stay stuck. Unfortunately, this part of the process is not the easiest - and it will definitely cause him a ton of heartache until he is finally able to resolve it / obtain closure. So as much as it sucks for him to be at the castle close to Soo-won and the site of the betrayal. He HAS to be there. (And he has his support system with him so I trust that he will be okay. It would be an ENTIRELY different story if he was there on his own.)

Because what is the alternative? There are no mental health clinics in Kouka that Hak can just pop into. There are no support groups that help deal with grief or that help process those emotions in a healthy way. There are only friends and loved ones who support and love him.

But at the end of the day, the process is all his. No one else can provide healing for him. No one else can get him out of the darkness but himself. Yona and Co love him, they try to protect him as much as they can, and they can support him through the process. But Hak is the only one who can complete the process of his own healing. If Kusa were to make Yona and the HHB solely responsible, it would be negligent and not reflective of what someone has to go through in real life in order to be okay.

So the idea is that he’s being irrational and reckless to the point where he’s risking his life...and, not gonna lie, we saw how his anger consumed him back in ch.91.  But I’m not sure I’ve seen that since then.  We have seen Hak go about doing his job(even collaborating with SW at one point to save Lili) despite his anger.  We have seen him standing in front of SW and being angry but still controlling himself and following through with what must be done.

I get that the phrase “stuck in the dark” is often attached to Hak but I wonder if Kusa’s message is truly going to be that it is wrong to be angry about injustices when nothing has been resolved.  I cannot blame Hak because SW and Kye-Sook continue to be a threat to the lives of the people he loves.  The threat of what they did from before continues to persist for the near future.  It’s not as if it is merely a thing of the past or that SW has changed/is apologizing and Hak is unwilling to accept.  

As for 178, I personally cannot fault Hak for being upset with Yona’s decision anyway because her reasonings honestly made no sense to me either.  And Hak merely said that he couldn’t forgive SW, which, we all know Yona also made clear she has no intention of doing.  He said that they should leave, that he would protect his family and Yona to the death...which, again, I’m not seeing how that is irrational or reckless since it is what a person does for the people they love.  Even if he wasn’t angry at SW, it is something he would still be doing regardless.  It is what he has been doing from the start for others.  What Hak said actually made more sense to me.

I don’t find Yona out of character in this chapter. Try being somewhere you really don’t want to.

I agree it is a bit fast I wanted some break too but meh… I don’t care.

I think that it would have been more stupid if they had started a battle over a completely understandable request.

The only request that is likely not Keishuk´s idea but rather the demand of Ju doh, since he was the one who told Keishuk about Hak nearly killing Soo Won.

Keishuk wouldn´t have been able to know it otherwise. It is true that the HHB can tell them their demands, but a person that is likely to be a danger for their king won´t get to meet him.