Akatsuki no Yona is a popular shoujo manga that’s mostly known for its independent and strong female protagonist, Yona. Even though it is listed as a shoujo, the story is about how Yona grows as a person through the hardships she goes through. The manga introduces many strong female characters. Let’s take a look at the top 5 badass female characters in Akatsuki no Yona. This list contains major spoilers from the manga, continue reading at your own risk.
5.Princess Tao
Princess Tao is the second princess of the Xing Empire and is only 19 years old. She opposed her own sister and created an anti-war faction. She only cares about her citizens’ safety and fights strongly for her beliefs. She disregards her own life in order to stop the war from destroying her empire, to the point that she sent her own bodyguards, her only protection, in the enemy territory to ask the legendary Kouka dragons for help. She ended up bringing Yona to Xing and asked her for help to stop the war that’s about to break out.
4. Captain Gi-Ga
Gi-Gan is an old citizen of Awa in the Earth Tribe. She created a pirate crew to fight the oppression of Yang Kum-Ji and his officers, who have been turning a blind eye to the human slave trade with the country of Kai for more than a decade. She is strong, blunt, can fight expertly with a blade and most importantly, she cares a whole lot about her crew.
3. Kouren
Princess Kouren is the second princess of the Xing empire and the throne successor. She holds a justified grudge towards Kouka and will do anything to restore her empire’s honor, and prefers losing all men in battle over becoming a vassal nation to Kouka. It was later revealed that when Kouren was ten years old, she saw Xing’s prisoners being decapitated after the war against Kouka, and held the head of one of the decapitated prisoners while glaring towards Kouka. She cut her hair and threw away her feelings in order to take revenge on the empire.
2. Lili
Lili is the only daughter of the Water Tribe’s head. She has lived her whole life sheltered and treated like a fragile doll. When the Nadai trafficking happens in Shinsen, Lili takes matters into her own hands after her father refused to investigate it. She ventures to the outside world with her two servants and meets Yona. Together, they find the source of the drug and are taken hostage. Lili, who has lived her whole life as a general’s daughter, shows how strong she is when she refuses to drink the Nadai drug even after being deprived from water for a long time. And she didn’t even bat an eyelash when she was about to be hanged.
1. Yona
Yona is the Kouka empire’s princess and has lived her whole life sheltered in the Hiryuu castle. She suddenly got chased out of her home after witnessing the man she loved, her cousin, killing her father. She is forced to hide and survive in the wild with her trusted bodyguard, Hak. She, who was used to the luxury of the castle, started sleeping on the floor and bathing in a river full of bugs. She gathered the legendary four dragons and slowly started learning about how corrupt her Empire was and tried to change it. She learned how to use a bow and wield a sword. She even confronted Soo Won, the new king and the man she loved for the past 16 years, without letting her personal feelings get in the way when she needed to help Princess Tao stop the war between Xing and Kouka.
Rania Harrathi
JET Press Team
