Konninchiwa Minna-san and welcome to another Anime Battle blog post here on World of Anime Girl. As you can see from the title, the two anime competing today are Akatsuki no Yona aka. Yona of the Dawn and Arslan Senki or The Heroic Legend of Arslan. I picked these two because I have already written about their similarities in a post before: What if: ANIME CROSSOVERS (which you can see on the right) and because I really love both of them. Yona, which is a studio Pierrot production has MAL rating of 8.23 whereas Arslan Senki is produced by a not so well known studio, SANZIGEN with a rating of 7.88. Both are action, adventure, fantasy anime with a bit comedy in Akatsuki no Yona and some pinch of history in Arslan Senki. With all the main information set, let's get to the details.
Plot and Story Line
Let's say, ladies first. Akatsuki no Yona follows young princess Yona. A naive 16-year-old princess that lived a happy and luxurious life in the peaceful kingdom of Kouka. One night, her life turns into a nightmare after her beloved cousin Su-Won murders her father and forces her to flee from the castle with her best friend and bodyguard Son-Hak. Soon, Yona realizes that her Kingdom is not as idyllic as it seemed, being plagued by poverty and corruption. Yona sets off on a dangerous adventure to save her kingdom guided solely by an old and mysterious legend.
Arslan Senki is set in the Pars Empire ruled by King Andragoras III. The story starts as, young Arslan, the prince of Pars, sets out to prove his valor to his father in the battle between the Parsian Empire and the kingdom of Lusitania. But after the king is betrayed by one of his closest officials, the Parsian army gets defeated and the capital of Pars, Ecbatana seized. With a defeated army and the Lusitanians out for his head, Arslan is forced to run away together with respected army general Daryun. Arslan and Daryun start their journey in search for allies that will help him take back his home.
Now, both stories are extremely intriguing and have amazing settings. When it comes to the backgrounds, Yona's story has more fantasy in it because it is based on an old legend. It is so well done how the legend actually affects Yona's life and her mission. And even though the story looks like a tale from a children's book, it get's quite serious because Yona starts dealing with her own weak and naive self and the kingdom's problems like corruption, prostitution, drug trade etc. The story has a lot emotional but also romantic and humorous moments and some really good fight scenes.
Arslan Senki on the other hand has a serious setting throughout the whole anime and has more drama woven into the story. Also, Arslan's story has a lot elements of intrigue that caused some major plot-twist in the story. Without that much romance in the beginning, one thing is for sure there, a bromance like no other. I must admit, I found the bromance between Arslan and Daryun quite funny from time to time.
On the whole, Akatsuki no Yona has it all, an intriguing setting, romance, humor, drama...Arslan Senki is more serious and complex but in the end I would say that Yona is the front runner for now!
Characters
Let's firstly analyse the main characters. Yona is a naive, weak princess that undergoes an immense character development already in the first season. Arslan on the other hand is the oh so perfect prince that needs help every here and there. And even after two seasons he goes trough minimal character development. Still he is a very determinate and optimistic one.
When talking about the right hand of the main characters, Son-Hak and Daryun we have a cute romance on one side and a very committed bromance on the other. I have to admit I didn't like Daryun that much. He kinda has that Saber complex where he has to act in a moral way in every situation. But I do love Son-Hak, charismatic as he is, carrying the title 'Thunder Beast'. And for the side characters, in Akatsuki no Yona, you get to know every one of them because they all have their own side story. I didn't see that much in Arslan Senki even though the side characters are really unique and interesting. With all this said, I think we know who won this round-Akatsuki no Yona.
Animation and Style
I guess we have a tie here. Arslan Senki produced in 2015 and Akatsuki no Yona in 2014, both anime have amazing animation and a beautiful style. The settings are breathtaking and I really can't say which one was better. In addition to that, I have to comment the unique character design of both anime.
Conclusion
I think that we all know the winner of this battle considering the previous 3 rounds. AKATSUKI NO YONA. In the end, I do have to admit that I couldn't stay that much objective in this battle because Akatsuki no Yona is one of my favorite anime ever. Still I cannot say that I don't love Arslan Senki beacuse it is a truly amazing anime.
In the end, the only thing that the winner, Akatsuki no Yona lacks is a second season but thankfully, the anime is a manga adaptation which is currently airing.
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