#I'm just so fed up with this idea that Meinyan wasn't cool until she was a general (i.e. not ~really~ a concubine) and could kill a man

[dear-kumari]

besides the fact that her haircut was a disappointment, what do u think abt mei nyan so far? i’m surprised how quickly i’ve come to rly love her, but once it started clicking for me that she used to be a general, and when she CHARGED at joo doh, i’m thinking damn she’s great. i know joo doh “teased for being unmarried” was hella stressed a half naked woman came straight out of a bath to kill him :D and i’m hopeful abt val, the fact that her old colleges clearly still respect and worry for mei nyan rly shows how good she was. it’s sad when i think that she worked hard to get that position, then chagol takes a look at her and goes “oh no actually i’m making u my mistress” and it’s gone just like that! it is silly that she’s still on castle grounds for ho-chan when she could’ve ran, but i rly think she’s desperately lonely, she’s hurt even by the fact that a stranger like hak wouldn’t come with her. even in kai no one knew she was sick

(Sorry for the delay, anon!  My response is definitely colored by the latest chapter, just so you know.)  I liked Meinyan long before she started swinging a sword around and canonically had the title of "general" … so like, from the very first chapter she was introduced in, lol.  I liked that she was a wildcard who was challenging Yona's legitimacy as “Hiryuu” above all else.  When we learned that she also suffered from the Crimson Illness, I was still pretty happy — she had a totally legitimate reason to be resentful, just like Suwon!  Obviously she wasn’t gonna get what she wanted, but that didn’t mean her anger and pain wasn’t valid.  I was excited to see her Fuck Shit Up unapologetically, even and especially if that meant getting in Suwon and Yona’s way.

But right now … well, I’m gonna sound a little mean, anon, but I can’t bring myself to care that much about her.  Maybe that’ll change, but all of her scenes in the past four chapters that were designed to garner sympathy just came off as hollow and manipulative to me.  We already had all the context needed to sympathize with her situation in ch. 202 and 203, but no, apparently we also need to speedrun to all these scenes where she’s beat up and fainting and weeping pitifully and searching for her cloying little animal sidekick.  She gets a couple of rote scenes of Girl Power™ where she wields a sword and cuts her hair, sure, but she functionally has no agency after revealing her cards to Suwon.  The Action Babe stuff is basically window-dressing to her character at this point, though of course this is the Not Like Other Girls Shoujo fandom so that's the push people needed to start liking her.  I think it's shallow, but whatever — I guess it’s better than fans calling her a bitch like they used to. :)

Some people fear Meinyan just exists to make Yona and the HHB look good (hence the almost-slap) or to make Suwon look bad (hence the almost-murder), but I think her purpose is even more utilitarian than that.  She primarily exists to motivate Hak and Yun to go get the senjusou(?) plant from Awa.  Suwon’s condition was successfully being kept secret and Hak was unlikely to want to help just for his sake (he would, at minimum, have a lot more soul-searching to do and/or be motivated primarily by the quasi-hostage situation), so enter Meinyan, another descendant with none of the personal baggage Suwon brings.  Yona’s concern over the descendants’ pain could exist without Meinyan, just as a connection to the Kai Empire could; what she brings is forward momentum to a stalled cast.  It’s obvious in hindsight.

idk what role her general buddies or fellow concubine will play, but I’m not anticipating anything groundbreaking.  Probably the worst thing that could happen is that she’ll be killed off by the disease to increase the stakes/give the HHB and her guy friends some angst, but I doubt Kusanagi will go there.  I understand why more people like her now and I don’t begrudge them that, but the aggressive sympathy grabs in the last few chapters really killed the pathos of her story for me.  Meinyan’s far from empowered and — at this point — far from motivated, as Yun has already kickstarted her change of heart.  I love the kid, don’t get me wrong, but that just isn’t what I was hoping for with this character.

#Kumari answers #Anonymous #Akatsuki no Yona #Yona of the Dawn #Meinyan #Suwon #Yun #Now do I think the senjusou will actually help anyone in the end? Uhh *laughs nervously* #idk. but I think the series is winding down and that's why we're revisiting nostalgic locations #so yeah #Sorry if that's not the answer you were looking for anon #I'm just so fed up with this idea that Meinyan wasn't cool until she was a general (i.e. not ~really~ a concubine) and could kill a man #or that she wasn't sympathetic until she was brought to her knees #Also not super comfortable with how this series is framing terminally ill people in general #but that's an underdeveloped line of thought for another day #Kumari abuses the tagging system #Kumari procrastinates irl #Long Anon: The Anon That Is Long