Sofie’s Reviews > Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 11 > Status Update

.....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

not only is this very Gay from hak (i know this entire manga is a shojo but this internal monologue as he's describing his admiration for su-won is EXTRA shojo) but it's also breaking my heart bc we're literally seeing the exact moments in which he realized that su-won would be a great king. what a twisted memory this must be for hak now

i fucking KNEW su-won was gonna win the game for ogi bc it's the perfect microcosm of his strengths vs hak's. hak is all about physical domination while su-won is more suited to mind games (although he's also a surprisingly good fighter). and seeing little hak start to appreciate su-won's intelligence is devastating bc i imagine when we cut back to present day he'll still be pretending like he fully hates him

i'm assuming the straight reading of this is that su-won is in awe of hak's strength and nerve to step between him and this much older man, qualities that he does not possess as someone who is more cunning and soft. but hear me out. those feelings ALSO being gay are way more fun and interesting. the admiration, the potential twinge of jealousy, they both funnel to homoeroticism i mean that's just science