Sofie > Recent Status Updates

yona being so fixated on hak smiling all wide and carefree like he did when he saw her get that bullseye is SO fucking sweet oh my god????? their love is so pure, i’m obsessed with how it’s progressing for yona especially. they just want each other to be safe and happy OUCH

genuinely didn’t think this volume could get better but that ending was ELECTRIC. i’m tearing up again at the image of yona inspiring riri with her determination and courage

i haven't been stopping to comment on anything bc i've just been so immersed in this arc so far but i couldn't NOT scream about BAD BITCH YONA!!!!!!!!! this outfit is cunt, she really just kicked a man in the face to save a woman with no hesitation bc she got there before any of the guys could, and yes riri is correct for immediately falling in love (she did she told me). i love this fucking manga

jaeha i JUST decided that you're not a creep after all do not make me rethink that stance!!!!! for now i'm choosing to read these "feelings" as yona making him want to be more genuine and open with everyone, not romantic feelings. just general connection, nothing deeper than that, which confuses him even more bc he's used to making everything sexual to deflect. he keeps calling her a kid please kusanagi PLEASE

giggling and kicking my damn feet what the FUCK!!!!!!! this is crack cocaine!!!!!!!!! jaeha having a genuinely tender moment reassuring yona that hak is already hers???? and then them going on a little market date together????? hak fully believing in her archery skills and calling her HIS GIRL AS HE LAUGHS AT THE PIGS WHO DOUBTED HER???????????? and yona admiring his rare wide joyful smile i need to run a marathon

oh my god finally we get falcon lore i’ve been wondering why tf su-won just has a pet bird now
and of course hak and su-won raised it together of fucking COURSE they did. kusanagi i hope you’re aware of how deeply in love those boys are cause that’s exactly how it’s coming off. meanwhile yona and su-won have gotten NOTHING but a one-sided naive crush. hak and su-won RAISED A FALCON TOGETHER

this fucking volume keeps blowing me away at every turn i’m legit shaking from the adrenaline like it IS that serious!!!!!!! the split panel as geun-tae and ju-do come up behind su-won????? bc su-won is cut in half by his love for his country and his love for hak and yona?????? his expression is completely erased too like he’s JUST a figurehead. what a moment this is oh my god this changes everything

they’re finally seeing each other for the first time in this moment. su-won finally sees yona as the fighter she has built herself to be, and yona finally understands why su-won felt compelled to take the throne and unite the country. and i love how it contrasts with the last time they crossed paths. su-won had all the power there and he saw yona alone and caught off guard. but now? she’s all power

“this nation needs a leader. someone with the tremendous strength to unite everyone” this being yona’s thought laid over the image of su-won seeing the crew fighting the fire tribe????????? brilliant delicious 10/10 no notes my heart is POUNDING

i legitimately gasped when i turned the page oh my god????? this manga has certainly been violent but i didn’t think we’d see a beheading on the page like that OKAY. su-jin has just been made to look like a fool and there’s truly nothing more volatile than a man humiliated

i'm kind of speechless at that bonus chapter WOW that gave me everything i didn't even know i needed. reluctant oldest brother jaeha and surprisingly wise (but still afraid of spiders) second oldest brother gija having a heart to heart at the hot springs, ft ridiculous antics from the rest of their found family sign me the fuck up. this is some of the best of this manga

goddamnit i love jaeha. i was literally just complaining about him and saying that he was on thin ice but it's like kusanagi heard me and really stepped up his internal dialogue. he really thinks so deeply about everyone else and genuinely wants to understand them, but you'd never know it from his spoken dialogue alone. i hope his inner thoughts keep bleeding outwards so he can be the true big brother of the family

gagged.

ah i can't wait for the dark haired angry one to slowly allow himself to be seen and understood (and loved) by the light haired stubbornly optimistic one via their positions as setter and spiker. tale as old as time

well shit that might've been one of the most effective first chapters i've ever read. i immediately understand why this is one of the ultimate comfort watches/reads for so many people
genuinely how does this go on for 45 volumes though (i will be finding out at some point that's for sure)

i'm so charmed immediately i hate it here
the only other sports animanga i've consumed is sk8, and this is already such a different use of the sports as queerness metaphor. skateboarding is a sport you CAN do alone (which plays into the whole toxic love/obsession and grief metaphors that are also present), but volleyball NECESSITATES teamwork. i see all the pieces being laid out on the board, what a great 1st chapter

this means nothing this literally means nothing i'm not committing to anything i haven't signed shit
we just got a copy at the library and so i am innocently browsing!!!! that's all!!! hard cut to me watching professional volleyball
totally unrelated but did y'all see that pwhl game last night

.....kyo-ga is giving major zuko season 1 energy rn
he believes so deeply that he's destined for this divine role but his father is pulling the strings and scheming with the enemy to make all of this happen in the first place. and for what??? to prove a point???? kyo-ga just looks like a naive fool, a pawn being moved into place by his own father

wow that single match cut just did so much to humanize kyo-ga. all that childlike wonder has been replaced with a superiority complex and, with it, a deep sense of loneliness and entitlement. at least that's what i'm reading into that expression change, and it's got me feeling emo for yet another character i never thought i'd care about

i am SO curious to learn more about the crimson dragon king and how yona is related to him (if she even is??? maybe it's just destiny rather than bloodline??). i wonder what is myth and what is truth
i also appreciate how even though the fire tribe is the evil one (as always), we've spent a lot of time with its citizens and it's really just the leaders who are the problem bc they believe this superiority myth

"sinha usually sleeps with his back toward everyone else, but he turned the other way to make room for zeno" okay and what if i sob

i love these idiot boys so much goddamnit
jaeha next to hak so he can do equal amounts of meddling and flirting (also literally kicking his feet shut UP)
zeno all adorable and mirroring pu-kyu next to his bestie sinha
AND SINHA COVERING HIS EYES WITH THE BLANKET EVEN AS HE SLEEPS????

OKAY SEE ONCE AGAIN JAEHA IS MEDDLING!!!!! he's trying to get hak to see that yona's dance might've been a farewell to her love for su-won but of course he's not gonna say that directly bc he's a little bitch

.....my theory about jaeha actually trying to push hak and yona together is looking better and better
noticing that yona is jealous but won't admit it to herself yet and then disregarding it and acting like he doesn't actually care?? that's a fake idgaf-er if i've ever seen one. he's gonna drop the act and genuinely help them realize their feelings at some point

"if i were a woman i'd charge right at him" babe i'm pretty sure you DID

okay. after this scene i've got two potential sympathetic readings of jaeha's weirdness about hak and yona
1 - he's trying to be a wingman for hak bc he's endeared by his crush but can't be too genuine about it bc that's too personal for him so he resorts to teasing and pretending like he's a rival
2 - he's literally just bored. less sympathetic but still better than him actually considering making moves on yona

zeno is such an enigma still but wow does he have such a beautiful aura about him. he feels simultaneously young and old for his age which is a mix of comforting and nostalgic and playful and melancholic all at once. based on his reaction to hak's words, i think he's been made to feel more like a tool than a human, so i'm excited to potentially explore that later on

i think for the most part this shojo does a great job of subverting misogynistic tropes of the genre, but i do need jaeha to fucking Stop bc he's the glaring outlier. the only reason i haven't lost my patience already is bc i feel like he's been set up as the hardest nut to crack in the group. there's clearly more depth to him that he's not yet ready to reveal to the others so i'm just hoping it's worth it in the end

every time i think the hak/su-won stuff will get less gay it does the complete opposite and i couldn't be more thrilled about it
hak and su-won inspiring each other to get better bc they're so in awe of the other??? heart eyes and blushing???? su-won saying that he aspires to be HAK, rather than king??? the gut punch of knowing that he ends up betraying hak for the crown???? the tragic yaoi follows me i can't help it

didn't think i'd get a racial profiling plot point in this manga but yknow what sure