(spoiler alert: he does.)
so like I finally got around to watching Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I spent much of the first few episodes thinking OH GOD WHEN WILL ZUKO GET A NEW HAIRCUT and DAMN KATARA AND AANG ARE SO THE OFFICIAL COUPLE and KATARA WHEN ARE YOU GONNA GET YOUR WATERBENDING ON.
And by the end of season one I was like KATARA YOU BADASS and ZUKO SRSLY GET A NEW HAIRCUT and AANG YOU ADORABLE BADASS SPIRIT AVATAR THING and daaaang this show is pretty awesome.
Season Two starts and I'm like YES THIS IS THE SEASON WHEN ZUKO GETS HIS NEW HAIRCUT. and also ZUKO ENDS UP WITH HERRRRRR? D: (but man his hair grows crazy fast) At least Katara is doing a lot more bending. And you know who else is doing a lot of bending. A LITTLE MISS BADASS THATS WHO. I always love a seemingly disavantagous little girl who looks weak then kicks the crap out of goliaths. Ah never gets old. GODDAMN IT ZUKO YOU BITCH. "I thought you changed" "I did change.
Season Three is like WOW SOMEONE'S CHANNELING ZUKO and GODDAMN IT WHY MAIII? "Now look at what you've become." What, outrageously buff? Zuko doesn't deserve Iroh either. List of things I didn't expect in Avatar: a beach episode. Complete with fanservicey swimsuits, a shot of Zuko taking off his shirt WITH BIRDS TAKING OFF IN THE BACKGROUND, and parody of Azula's megalomaniac tentancies in beach volleyball not to mention her hilarious attempts at social niceties. "I know what you're going to say. She's my sister and I should be trying to get along." "No...she's crazy and she needs to go down." Wise words as ever Iroh. I'm surprised the fire lord Ozah doesnt look that crazy. Azula may be a crazy bitch but at least she's a self aware crazy bitch. Best kind. Not like Zuko who keeps emoing one moment and then sucking Mai's face the other. Also high on the list of things I thought I'd never see on Avatar: Mud wrestling competition between girls. Looking at Nightmares and Daydreams, I almost forgot this show is targetted towards 11 year olds. "CHAKRAAA CHAKRAA" And then Zuko has an existentialist crisis and I forgot again. Ohmygoshhh zuko's so cute, in a pathetic sort of way. I thought anti-heroes were supposed to be cooler than this. Oh but he's so adorablely pitiful. "My first girlfriend turned into the moon." "...That's rough buddy.""Saving the jerk who dumped me." Okay fine Mai I guess you're kind of cool too even if you're relationship with Zuko came out of fucking nowhere. And yeah TY Lee you're still kind of cool too ;) OMG I was fine with Mai sinking my ship by being cool and heroic but very next episode you have a zutara one? Screw you Michael and Brian. Screw you. Oh but Zuko's just helping everybody isn't he? First Sokka and his dad then Katara and her mom. D'awwwww. Heel face turn ftw. "Is it your turn to take a field trip with Zuko?" It's like they completely forgot about the Kataang kiss. The CANON couple? LOL the running gags. Just when you think you say the last of him suddenly a new play is written through sources such as a "surprisingly knowledgable merchant of cabbage". Wacky time wasting nonsense- oh hi there fourth wall. TEARBENDING. OH GOD "WAIT, WHAT'S THAT? I THINK ITS YOUR HONOUR" "WHERE?" OMG THEY EVEN HAVE SHIP TO SHIP COMBAT AND THEY LAMPSHADE THE ZUTARA MOMENT IN THE CAVE NVM I LOVE YOU GUYS BRIAN&MICHAEL. Overreacting? If I hadn't blocked my chakra I'd probably be in the Avatar state right now! Okay this show has some seriously good writing. OHGOSH ZUKO'S DYING WORD "HONOURRRR" Oops I can't find the fourth wall its somewhere in all those lampshades. Oh Iroh, oh iroh iroh iroh. TEARBENDING. Oh pft I was like hey it's not a turtle props to -oh its a lion turtle. Some say the world will end in fire...from what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. And isn't it incredibly poignant that Azula at the end meets her mother? I mean, not that she's all alone because she totally had that coming. But her one moment of weakness on the beach, not her so called friends, not the father she strived to please, not the brother she fought with, but the mother who was barely with her. Even in the midst of all this drama you have Sokka being comic relief. Happy birthday dude, it's going to be one hell of a day. AND AANG LOOKING SO COOL, EARTHBENDING, AIRBENDING, WATERBENDING, FIREBENDING AND ITS LIKE WE'VE WATCHED HIM GROW UP AND ITS MAKING ME TEARBEND. Oh please don't tell me you dragged Katara -the most bamf when it comes to waterbending -just to make her watch your duel. Everyone's having badass battles. And I love that there's that tense action music for the Aang/Firelord fight but its just sad violin music for Zuko & Azula. OH YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT. And at the end Sokka's still using the boomerang. SUKI SOKKA TOPH OH GOD ALL YOU PEOPLE AVATAR AANG HOLY GLOWING BAMF. (even if it did seem a bit typical and contrived how he got his avatar state back but that's being ignored in favour of seeing him bend ALL the elements.) And the fire flag being eaten by fire, ironic. HIGH SPEED EARTHBENDING BULLETS. OMG AVATAR AANG TAKES ALL THE AWARDS. Okay so that was a bit cool but come on Katara that was a lot of running and very little water bending. And come on Mai you better show up because you can't expect me not to be shipping Zutara hard. But Ozai must have a ton of power to be using only fire yet lasting so long against avatar!aang. AND HE'S USING TOPH POWER. NO WAY HE'S TAKING AWAY HIS BENDING! THAT'S THE SURPRISING THING (okay that lion turtle was so cheating and his voice so hard to hear) But oh my gosh Aang you are kind of cool and kind of the best and definitely the messiah. OH SO NOW MAI SHOWS UP. AFTER ALL THE ZUTARA. OHMYGOSH AND HE'S IN HIS FULL AVATAR GETUP. OH GOSH I CANT TAKE ALL THESE FEELS ANYMORE IM JUST GOING TO TEARBEND UNTIL I DIE IM JUST GOING TO QUIETLY BE A SOBBING WRECK HERE KAY KAY THNAKS GUISE. YEAH SURE GO AHEAD KATARA TAKE THE AVATAR. GO AHEAD NICKELODEON NOT TIE UP THE ZUKO MOTHER THING. GO AHEAD WRITERS JUST STEAL ALL MY FEELINGS. dont watch this show guise it steals your feelings.
I read the first in the Promise trilogy of graphic novels that are supposed to connect to Korra and I just want to barf because Aang and Katara call each other sweetie like really? And Zuko visits his father for advice in jail does he do that? visit relatives whom he betrayed in jail with some tea?
REVIEW PART
For a show supposedly targeted towards 8 to 11 year olds, it's surprisingly good and surprisingly deep. They effective portray themes of war and technology without showing casualties/dead corpses. They show not only the battle, but the consequences of war in its colonies and refugees. The graphic novels address the issue of the aftermath and all those displaced people and the effect that a 100 year long war has on the four nations. There's the Northern Air Temple episode about the clashing between old and new, and the advancement of technology. Not to mention the use of technology in war, what with the Fire Nation conquering everyone through the use of their superior weaponry. To add to that, there's things like oppression and dictatorship and corruption. Like the Orwellian type Room 101 in Ba Sing Se. They have Aang struggling with the decision to take someone's life. Zuko has existentialist crises. Aang gives everyone wise sage monk advice like forgiveness is the hardest or violence is never the answer and I'm like wouldn't it totally just fly over the heads of any 8 year olds watching?
But in the end it's still a kids show which I'm almost glad for because there are some serious seinen possibilities for the bending abilities in this show. And if it weren't fights would end so much quickly because I'm pretty sure bending can kill someone pretty easily. (And my own little idiosyncrasy is that you can't just get close to magma without giant bulky suits because the heat would burn you even if you weren't touching it rawrrr) The action scenes in this show are actually awesome. They have some seriously sweet martial arts choreography going on, and mix that in with the limitless possibilities of bending? They even have Matrix-style slow motion shots. And when Team Avatar works together their moves complement each other so well. It helps that everyone is an extreme badass. It's an overall pretty show. The animation style isn't too detailed which makes it good for all the action, but the details they do mix in makes it even nicer. There's the Asian influences which I love. Each of the unique fashion and architecture for each nation, influenced by mixtures of cultures from all over Asia. The simple animation accentuates the motions in bending, like the dragon dance in Firebending Masters.
But I don't think this show would've attracted the older fanbase if it wasn't for the excellent writing. And it's really some excellent writing. And not just the plot and whatever, because ATLA has a really nice mix of humour and drama. It's serious without being overdramatic, and as seen in the Ember Island Players, it doesn't take itself too seriously that they can't poke fun at themselves. Maybe it's just I'm immature enough to appreciated but it's funny that I actually laugh at sometimes. Like at Sokka most of the time. Or my favourite line: "It's on Island Nunya.......NONE YA BUSINESS." I was like ROFL WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE AN INSULT OH GOD LOL CAN ANYONE EVEN SAY THAT WITH A STRAIGHT FACE ELEMENTARY KIDS DISS BETTER THAN YOU. Okay yeah I'm mentally 11.
Add the humour to the different themes, layered plot line and the fabulous characters and you can see why everyone from 8 to 18 can enjoy it. And what a cast it has. There's Team Avatar, made up of a sweet and wise 112 year old trying to figure out how to save the world (and he does it in the most badass way ever), a sensible and motherly waterbender supporting him in both life and battle (as the most badass waterbender ever), an intelligent and funny water tribe warrior armed with his trusty boomerang and space sword (who can be pretty badass when he's not being comic relief), a snarky and fun blind earthbender teaching the avatar (and being as badass as possible all the time), a exiled hot-tempered fire prince trying to find his destiny (and once he does he finds his badassery too) and a brave and capable Kyoshi warrior who joins them in their fight (by being a badass non-bender). Of course they also have the cute, intelligent, furry sky bison Appa and winged lemur Momo. And then there's Azula who's crazy and strong but weak and estranged. (And with her brother making the Fire Nation the definition of Slytherin) There's Iroh, leading the Order of the White Lotus whose members seem to follow their leader's example who's always there to kick ass and drink tea. (And he's all out of tea). There's Yue, and the rest of the spirit world including the Avatar's past lives. Nobody's one dimensional, everybody makes mistakes and faces challenges. (Even the cabbage guy overcomes obstacles.) And the SHIP TEASE. Don't even get me started on all the ship tease. (It seems that the water tribes are the launchers of a thousand ships though. How apropos.) But basically this is a show about a bunch of awesome characters kicking ass and taking names.
Avatar <3<3
Oh yeah James Cameron really-
The Last Airbender <3
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