Episode 23 of Yona of the Dawn, titled “Morning of Promise,” is currently streaming on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and FUNimation for paid subscribers. Free subscribers can watch the same episode six days from now on March 24th.
Yona’s victory against Kumji is short-lived when she runs into Soo-Won, her beloved cousin, by chance. It is a major bomb because Soo-Won had plans to overthrow Kumji from power because of the illegal human trafficking, which Yona had already beaten him to the punch.
I was shocked that Soo-Won quickly hid Yona when General Ju-Do came to check on him.
It becomes apparent that the situation is not black and white as Yona wanted to believe. Soo-Won is a good person deep down, but had to do what was necessary to protect and strengthen the kingdom. Yona’s father, King Il, has proven to be a weak leader that allowed corruption to spread throughout the country.
The corruption of Yan Kumji is one of those prime examples.
Soo-Won surprised me by showing no ill-will towards Yona and understands her intention to kill him. It is apparent that Soo-Won is willing to pay for the crime of killing King Il, but wants to accomplish some serious things first.
I feel bad that Yona lost her father, but King Il had to pay for his weak policies.
The unexpected reunion between the two obviously gets to Yona because she starts acting unnaturally helpful and cheerful. It is obvious that something is up with Yona, but everybody else is completely clueless to what is going on.
Hak is the only person who suspects something is up when Yona decides to change clothes in front of everybody after getting food stains on them. I laughed when Jae-ha was about to make some perverted remark only to be “corrected” by Hak.
I also laughed at the other scene where Jae-Ha plans to say his goodbyes, but accidentally insults Gigan by mentioning her old age.
It was saddening to watch Yona leave Awa, but she has to go on her own adventure to search for the final Dragon. Yona can find comfort in the fact that she has friends and allies in Awa. This was a pretty enjoyable episode to watch, but the story gets more intense since Yona “reunited” with Soo-Won.
