Shin-Ah

Shin-Ah is one of the main characters from the Akatsuki no Yona anime and manga.

Shin-Ah is the current Seiryuu, one of the four dragon warriors which possesses the blood of the blue dragon deity. His power lies within his eyes. He became the third person and the second dragon to join Yona and Hak on their journey.

Appearance
Shin-Ah is a tall, very handsome and attractive young man who wears a horned skull mask over half of his face. Before departing on his journey with Yona, he had two bells attached to the left horn of his mask. He also has a big detachable white fur piece that he usually attaches to the back of his mask, which covers his short blue hair. Without the mask, he has beautiful golden dragon eyes, the source of his dragon ability, that are highlighted by red facial markings, both of which come from being the Seiryuu. He also has particularly pale skin, even compared to Yona, likely due to his living the majority of his life in a cave.

He wears a black robe with white fur trimming over a blue turtleneck shirt along with two decorative necklaces. He also wears fingerless black gloves and carries his sword across his back. He is also very unique.

Personality
Growing up in complete isolation, he has almost no social skills whatsoever. He is very quiet and hardly ever speaks, usually replying to questions with nods and gestures, or just blank, awkward stares. Because of this, he is often misunderstood by other people, thinking he is suspicious and even frightening. However, he has an extremely kind and caring personality, even towards those in his village who hate and fear him. He deeply cares for Yona and the rest of the group, and has a unique bond with a squirrel that he named Ao. He also absolutely hates the cold, often using his fur head-piece to keep himself warm.

Shin-Ah fears his own dragon powers and refuses to use them, calling himself "cursed" and a monster. He is afraid of the destruction they could cause and the people that could be hurt, including himself. Because of this he constantly keeps his mask on in order to prevent people from looking into his eyes and being affected by his "curse". Despite this, it is suggested that the girls in Chapter 65 of the manga saw his eyes, as one of the girls asked her friend if she had "seen the eyes of the man in the mask?". She went on to say that 'It's so beautiful, it sucks you in."

Shin-Ah can also be very protective over Yona and his fellow warriors. During the Water Tribe Nadai crisis, Yona is assaulted by a nadai addict when being used as bait. Shin-Ah struggled with keeping calm over this, wanting to cut off the man's arm for grabbing Yona's arm. Kija had a similar reaction, but Shin-Ah showed way less restraint. People harming Yona in any way seems to trigger a sudden anger and causes him to occasionally outburst. However, these outbursts seem to be rare, and only happen when Yona is in danger or is being disrespected. Yona, herself, helps him express himself more. He is determined to protect Yona and her honor. He doesn't tolerate disrespect towards Yona and would gladly kill if harm comes to her. Shin-Ah shows extreme loyalty to his fellow Dragon Warriors, as well as Hak and especially Yona.

Abilities
Dragon Eyes: With the eyes of the blue dragon, he has the ability to see long distances very clearly, being able to see people and objects miles away. When using the eyes' ability, he has the power to paralyze people when he looks directly into their eyes. His victims are then subject to fatal hallucinations. In extreme cases he can cause their entire bodies to stop functioning, including their hearts. However, he does not have full control over this power and will lose himself to the blue dragon's murderous willpower. When he finishes using this ability, he himself becomes paralyzed as a result, making the power a double-edged sword. In order to avoid unintentionally hurting others with his ability, he wears his mask to cover his eyes. After being possessed by a previous Seiryuu in the hidden cave underground, Shin-Ah gains full control over his dragon eyes. However, he continues to wear the mask (or bandage his eyes) because he feels uncomfortable without it.

Swordsmanship: Since his dragon ability is so dangerous, Shin-Ah has trained himself to become a extremely capable and skilled swordsman so that he doesn't have to use his powers. He is able to keep up with Hak and Kija easily.

Education: It appears that Shin-Ah may not be able to read. In the first OVA, he draws the symbol for an onsen to show Yona and her companions, rather than tell them the sign he has seen with his dragon sight in the distant forest. This could be a result from being isolated in his village, and also the villager's fear surrounding Shin-Ah, causing no one wanting to get to close to him.

Craftsmanship: Afraid of enemy attacks on his village and not wanting to use his power, Shin-Ah taught himself how to craft various weapons such as bows, arrows, and arrowheads made out of wood and stone. This talent was exceptionally noticed by Hak, who praised Shin-Ah's work on a few arrowheads and said that he would go make them into arrows, which makes Shin-Ah glow with pride at being complimented. It also seems that Kija helps Shin-Ah gather materials, as seen when just as Hak leaves, Kija comes back with a large log of wood, and then proceeds to cut it into smaller pieces for Shin-Ah to craft.

Trivia

 * In the original planning stages for his character, Shin-Ah was supposed to have a more serious, dark personality.
 * He ranked 5th in the character popularity poll conducted by Hana to Yume in December, 2014. He scored 771 votes in total.
 * "Shin-Ah" is a name that means "moonlight" in the language of Kouka.
 * Although he is physically around 17, Zeno has lived for thousands of years, making Shin-Ah the youngest of the current dragons.
 * When he becomes possessed in The Forest Lushing Blue, Shin-Ah finally gains control of his eyesight.
 * It is revealed that he is fiercely protective of the members of the Happy Hungry Bunch, as when the dragons were attacked by the Five Stars, Shin-Ah attempted to use his sight to protect them.
 * Out of the dragons, the Seiryuu is the only one that is truly hated as the Ryokuryuu are described as annoying.
 * Between the anime and manga, Shin-Ah and Hak's character designs remain the same. With the other characters, the patterns on their clothing is not present in the anime (excluding the second ending).
 * Shin-Ah's original character design featured him with slightly curved lines going from his forehead down his face, instead of the smaller ones on his cheekbones. Other than that, he looked very much the same.
 * During the course of the story, Hak, Soo-won and Shin-Ah are the same age, being 18 years-old, but Shin-Ah is one month older than Soo-won and almost five months younger than Hak.
 * Shin-Ah's mask and sword are mementos of his former guardian, Ao.
 * Both Shin-Ah and Han Dae share the same voice actor.
 * It is clearly shown that Shin-Ah has a big appetite as it is seen that he can devour almost anything served to him. In one of the special chapters where he took in candy which made him go berserk (just like Yona and Kija), it was evident that Shin-Ah's weakness is food as he stopped fighting when Zeno mentioned rice balls. But this behavior could probably just be a result of his years living in a cave and being forced to eat anything for survival.