Akatsuki no Yona - Vol. 34 Ch. 197 - Unsteady Handwriting

[Sayorii-chii]

The important backstory arc is done, and yeah this whole situation was a tradgedy riddled in poor communication, misunderstandings and rash decisions.

Yu-hon is right in that they should not 100% blindly follow in a religion that does not benefit the people, as we see how the Crimson King's own decendants are cursed to be ill and die young but the excessive violence he uses is just not befitting someone to rule over the masses who won't always follw him or his beliefs.

Il may have acknowledged that no matter how hard he tried he wouldn't be a good king, it doesn't excuse the fact that his people have been suffering under his rule and expects his daughter to clean this mess up simply because Kashi told him his future was to die by Soo-won's hand because he was an awful king. Like was there really nothing he could do to at the very least alleviate the suffering of his people for real? The way he just leaves everthing up to fate is just No you chose to make sure your brother was never king but you can't even put more effort to being a decent king?

Soo-won is in fact like his father, ready to conquer the shit out of the continent and go to war. But unlike his father he's not torturing war prisoners as far as I can see unless I forgot something. But I feel like Soo-won is doing what he's doing for the sake of the people. We've seen him hang out with the common folk a lot as a child, so I'd like to believe its why he does what he does for the sake of his father's beliefs and the people. Since he's got the crimson illness he's definitely gonna die, but he's gonna have to payfor the shit he's done.

I appreciate the series for making all the characters morally grey and human. No one is completely right or wrong. I am eager to see what Yona will do now that she knows the circumstances of her Father's death. Will she become Queen like she is destined? Yes she will because this is a shoujo but hey maybe she'll be radical and try out democracy idk. I honestly love Yona going around helping folks as a mythical rag tag team of wierdos rather than her becoming a queen on the throne, revered as a goddess that she kinda is but I don't think thats what she really wants.

The contrast between Yona on the road and Yona on the throne is very distinct. If she continued her life on the run she would be in constant danger but close to her loved ones, one the throne she would be revered but distant to the ones she loves due to their stations.

Let's see how Yona will stop Soo-won's plans of classic war and conquest of the entire continent.

 

[bi7r]

my eyes

 

[riflow]

So he was paralysed by all these bad experiences, unable to trust anyone but the old general and hak with Yona, and being unable to say the truth to kashi or to his own brother it both resulted in tragedy and was unable to escape the fate that was predicted.

I understand why he didn't want Yu hon on the throne bc even apart from the religious aspect of what he did to the temples occupants, his methods were overly cruel and that image of him standing in front of them while they burn alive is horrifying. What else would he possibly do to anyone he deems an enemy? Would he justify it all to himself as protecting the people he cares about while committing acts akin to a murderous tyrant? I've been listening to a history podcast recently and one thing they noted is it was unusual to have people be indiscriminately slaughtered and this feels like that same kind of spine tingling brutality.

We definitely seen the seeds of it with that other nation, and how he traumatised their now Queen. Il certainly was right to prevent him from becoming king and I guess Yu hon couldn't stem his rage when it came to the priests and so he killed kashi, even tho he surely on some level must have known Il would not have married her just bc of who she could give birth to.

And he feels regret for killing Yu hon so he's... Refusing to be anything more than the peaceful bad ruler who has failed to connect with his subordinates and make close connections with the other clans. I guess he felt he couldn't escape what Su won would do to him, as he just couldn't trust anyone and would bear the brunt of all this hatred and resentment so Yona wouldn't need to, so she can learn from every mistake he has made whether in his personal life or in his life as a ruler.

Well at least one successful thing he did was trusting Hak. Hak will never leave her.

Agreed with hoping this series is near its end as well, this feels like it should be maybe one or two arcs until the end.

 

[altaica]

@Sayorii-chii, well said. I feel this chapter gave a lot of depth to various characters and it is simply amazing. Cant wait for the next one!

Btw. this translation was stimulating and appealing a lot to my brain. Im extremely happy and glad to see vocabulary that goes beyond typical shoujo "list of necessary words". Thank you!

 

[cocoajoy]

I feel like it still was inexcusable for him to ignore the kingdom like that though, because a lot of people were suffering and he didn’t do anything.

 

[ifarisu]

Damn feels. This is so deep Kusunagi Mizuho! we all are enjoying it )
Thank you for translations, I hope my country's translation is good so I want to buy it

 

[Ingra]

@cocoajoy

he himself said, he's not up to the task.
He was a paper tiger, place holder, nothing more than a decirative ruler.

 

[diego]

I mean, fuck this dude. So woon was gonna die anyways and Yona would had be Queen either way. He's a fucking idiot no wonder everyone in the kingdom was happy he got killed.

 

[kami_chan]

Now this was a fast update and for that, thank you so much!
It hurts me seeing Yona suffering so much, but she is the one who will break this cycle of death and hate. And finally we are back to the main story, I missed our girl.

 

[raineight]

"Hearing all this backstory makes it hard to hate any of the characters. I still dont like Soo-won, I still don't understand his decision to cast Yona aside. "

What's not to get? She was tangential to his main goal. If she hadn't seen him kill Il, probably he would have made himself king, with or without marrying her. No casting aside. But she did see him, so he had to regretfully have killed. If you're going to usurp a throne you can't be half-assed about it.

"This arc really illustrates that neither Il nor his brother was really a good fit to be king, They both had such deep flaws and I LOVE IT because OF COURSE they did, they're human. Just really excellent character writing"

Monarchy is a shitty form of government.

"The font is very unpleasant to read. Too bad."

I assume it was chose to illustrate Yon-hi's deteriorating state. It's still pretty readable.

Il: he may be all accepting of his fate but I'm not sure that's a virtue. What would happen if he did try to defy prophecy? Anyway, he was still a shitty king, and didn't raise Yona well to be a good queen. She was a spoiled and ignorant princess when we meet her, saved only by having a good heart.

Better government: I see no groundwork for jumping to democracy. Given the resources, the best outcome would be to put Zeno in charge. I would bet money that won't be the ending, though.

 

[greatninja3]

@cocoajoy to be fair not like the ruler of the other kingdom besides the wind(well technically another person is managing when hak was the general lol) that know anything about managing the land they were placed there most likely due to their war efforts both the fire and earth generals like war the water general is also pretty incompetent.

And considering those guys ain’t gunna listen to him it’s like when a left wing president has a bunch of right wing senators or congressmen you pretty much expect nothing will happen not like he can actually do anything.

Weirdly enough the wind gen was the only one neutral with all of the in fighting

In addition the only “peaceful” solution soo won made was with the earth tribe for the problems for fire and water he wanted war which yona and gang manage to avoid

Yona and gang were also the one who solved the food shortage in the fire tribe with the help of the younger prince thanks to a new grain local to the north

They were also the one who solved the drug problem with the help of the daughter of the water general and said general was just sitting on his ass doing nothing.

 

[D4N43]

"Soo-won said he will not put Yona's box up" what does that mean?

 

[Kendama]

@raineight

Il: he may be all accepting of his fate but I'm not sure that's a virtue. What would happen if he did try to defy prophecy? Anyway, he was still a shitty king, and didn't raise Yona well to be a good queen. She was a spoiled and ignorant princess when we meet her, saved only by having a good heart.

How do you defy a prophecy?

I mean, it's a legitimate question, no?

Il wasn't a Seer like his wife. He had no way of knowing how to defy a prophecy. Suppose you know a certain outcome in the future has been prophesied. How do you know which of your actions go against or towards the prophecy? The Greeks already knew about this problem when they had Oedipus kill his father and fuck his mother while trying to avoid precisely that by running away from the prophecy that said he would do it.

I think Il became king under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. No support from the Tribes, no prior training to be king, a prophecy saying you're toast, and surrounded by countries who are wary of Kouka due to previous belligerence by your psychopath brother. Then said brother kills your wife, and you gain the enmity of all his supporters when you kill him.

I think he did the best he could: he signed peace treaties with the surrounding countries and let the Tribes rule themselves. I don't know how many times I've said it, but the Generals are at least as much to blame for the states their tribes were in because of Il's hands-off approach as Il was. Probably more, because we see no sign that the Wind or Sky Tribes were suffering. All the suffering so far was in Tribes whose generals were incompetent or power-crazy. Can there be a greater illustration of that than Lee Geun-tae whining about the lack of wars in his castle while Awa is tyrannised by Kum-ji and the rest of his Tribe goes to the dogs?

Il became paranoic about protecting Yona and avoiding being backstabbed after his own brother betrayed him. Who wouldn't? True, Yona was spoiled and ignorant, and only had a good heart to go by, but that good heart is exactly what Soo-won is lacking, and we all know where that is taking Kouka, right? If Yona is his single accomplishment as a person, I'd say Il wins this round.

What he did was buy ten years - ten years of peace - for Yona. In a world where the gods do exist and prophecies are a thing, acting according to what the gods declare isn't a bad strategy. Ironically, Soo-won is irrational because he refuses to accept the gods.

 

[mfrancis5]

😭😭😭

 

[readerofmanga]

Frrrrr. I was bout to tear up suwon is a legit psycho who’s been planning this coup for years literally. I can’t look at him that same. I also just assumed he really cared for yona and stuff but he was planning that for so long that I just can’t believe it. Wtf

 

[copperhead]

so yeah for now Suwon is shown as a psychopath who only wanted revenge. But throughout the story we have seen many sides of him, making the kingdom great again, showing true leadership and genious skills to unite and improve his people. About Yona, we've never learnt hçs real feelings yet. In my opinion I believe he's not a psycho with murderous intents

 

[afofafaj]

I'm not crying, you are crying

 

[Saelihn]

That was just heartbreaking.
I wonde what happens now.
Thank you so much.

 

[itmeu]

😭😭😭😭

 

[uruchan2009]

I don't think Soo Won is someone who merely planning for revenge, like a lot of comment said.

If we take his personality and thoughts from the past chapters. I think the planning is all about "make everything as it should be"
And it means, her father (or he as he is the first son of his father) as the King and make the Kouka Kingdom great again.

I think he did have feeling for Yona (not necessary the romantic one) and Hak. But, he is trying to straighten the bend fate and leave out his emotion of from his plan.
And if he has read the memoirs and the letter like Yona, then everything just make more sense. Because all the past tragedy happened because they involved the emotion too much.

And now I'm really curious about the next chapters.
Ah, I hope the author will always be well and healthy, since I got a little trauma with the manga got an abrupt ending because of the mangaka.