Hapuriainen's Avatar the Last Airbender watching diary

Those who haven't been living under a rock may have noticed the existence of this show Avatar the Last Airbender. I hadn't seen it either (I knew of it though), since Western animation had failed to impress me so often that I had kind of this prejudice "Western animation = stupid comedic violence, unfunny puns everywhere, formulaic episodic garbage with no plot". Plus what can be heard of English dubs of different anime series where pirates drink juice and onigiri turn into meatballs doesn't exactly give a good picture of what kind of stuff can be shown to English speaking kids. And it didn't air where I am at the time I would have watched it anyway, and finding it on the net myself would have taken too much effort since I wasn't interested to begin with.

However, Avatar kept getting positive reviews and people always praised its world building and stuff. But just the fact that random people say a show is good isn't enough for me to start watching a 61-episode series, even if there's many of them. Ultimately I noticed that the Water guys living in snow had pretty nice and varied outfits that still consistently had a theme, and the dress-up making monster in my mind raised its ugly head once again. But I don't do a dress up on stuff I don't know, so I had no choice but to give Avatar a chance even with its somewhat long lenght. Those stupid flash products make me do bizarre things.

The dates don't necessarily mean I watched (all) the episodes that day.

There will be some spoilers marked like this OMG! This is a spoiler!, since I noticed I talked about some stuff that hadn't been shown at the episodes in question. Not bothering to summarise the episodes since people who have seen the series don't need it, and those who haven't either don't care or can search for better summaries elsewhere (like Wikipedia).

All screen shots from AvatarSpirit.net.

Jul 12, 2012

Episodes 1-5

Right from the start I loved the series. For starters, the Water tribe's outfits were as good as I expected, as were all other character designs. The world building is great. The water/fire/earth/air elements thing has been used everywhere, but that wasn't really a problem since there was so much other interesting stuff, and Avatar seems to have something more to it than just "well, they needed magic powers and the elements were easy". So far there has been either plot or character development or world building in every episode, and I'm hoping that it'll continue since fillers are often a waste of time.

I'm fine with Aang being the main character. He's a nice kid, not too annoying and kind of cute, and his problem with having a lot of responsibility while being so young is handled believably. Also liking Sokka; at first he was kind of boring but he won me over when he looked so embarrassed when the female warriors totally humiliated him in a fight (not that he didn't deserve it though).

I even like Zuko, which is kind of rare this early in the series. Usually it takes me much longer to warm up to the antagonist, but this time he wasn't only a dark brooding serious fangirl magnet whose main purpose is to look cool and effortlessly beat the good guys (who then get saved by a deus ex machina). Instead he made a couple of funny faces and showed some weakness, without losing his credibility. And his uncle is a cool guy.

There was this one weak link, however.

She was just boring. Sokka was the "butt monkey" guy who always is at the receiving end of the jokes. Aang was a childish guy who loves having fun, and he's, well, the avatar. Katara... just was there, being mature and level-headed and reacting to Sokka and Aang's actions. Or whenever she did something it was being mature and level-headed and understanding and righterious and caring etc. And as far as I can remember she didn't have any noticeable faults either. It felt like she was there so that female viewers could self-insert themselves to her. Or maybe I'm just unpleasable. Not saying "OMG horrible character" and she wasn't particularly annoying in her goodness, but the first impression could certainly have been more positive. But since It's only five episodes into such a ~60 episode series I'll wait a bit longer before making my ultimate decision on her.

So far, episode five is my favourite. The king was fun ("lettuce leaves!") and I didn't see the plot twists coming but they were still plausible. I didn't see the brat with the annoying laugh from Aang's flashback being the king; I thought he was just a nonimportant filler guy who was needed to demonstrate Aang's interest in the slide. And the twists in the Aang vs King fight surprised me as well; at first I thought there'd be two strong-looking guys and one weak-looking guy for opponents, and that Aang would choose the weak-looking one, who'd turn out to be a lot stronger than the strong looking guys. Then when the king stood in the opponent row I thought that Aang would choose him, and that he'd be horribly weak and that the fight would be a joke. So when the king turned out to be the strongest guy in the city the show had managed to surprise me twice in the matter of twenty seconds. I was kind of wondering how they'd deal with the fact that Aang & co destroyed a lot of buildings. I was fearing that it'd get some stupid solution that the king ends up forgiving them for being fun and excusing their actions, but when the king turned out to be Aang's old friend who himself loves the slides it was very believable that he wouldn't hold it against them.

The animal designs are great. I'm not a fan of stupid animal mascots in kids' shows so I wasn't really pleased when the monkey joined the group, but so far it hasn't done anything too annoying. The flying bison is cool and since it serves as their transport it justifies its existence a bit more than the monkey who feels just a mascot. And I loved the mutant penguins.

My theory is that the avatar can use all elements because he/she is the reincarnation of so many different benders. Then every avatar will always be a bit stronger than the previous one, since there's one more past avatar who gives more strength. Let's see where that theory goes!

I hear that there's this new girl Toph who will join the main characters. I like her design, and I've heard that she's blind, which is new trait for a main character to me, so I'm very interested. I've been waiting for her since episode three, and when they went to the Earth city I was expecting for her to appear somewhere, like saving them when they were prisoners. But I can forgive her for not appearing since the episode was great with the king in the spotlight.

Jul 14, 2012

Episodes 6-12

Still keeping up the good quality and I'm as interested as I was after the first few episodes. I heard that Toph won't appear until episode twenty-something which is a major disappointment, but I'll have to accept defeat for now.

Avatar Roku was epic, hoping to see more super bending on a large scale like that more.

At first I was scared that Jet would turn out to be some uber awesome cool guy who'd have no negative qualities and who'd teach the kids important lessons of life, so I was pleased to see that he was quite an extremist. And since I like Sokka I was happy to see how he got to save the day.

Liking Zuko and Aang's backstories, they gave them depth and were understandable (and they made me like both characters even more), but didn't fall into crazy sob story "first I lost my parents, then I lost my pet dog, then my friends betrayed me, then I got a new hamster and the hamster betrayed me whaaaaaaa". But whyyyy reveal them in the same episode? Was it to draw some kind of parallel between Aang and Zuko? I think they would have deserved their own episodes.

Even Katara has become less of a problem with her jealousy over Aang insta-learning the waterbending stuff she took months to learn, and even -gasp- stealing (from pirates but still). It was nice to for once see her doing something that isn't mat00r and right. Still she's easily the least interesting out of the cast to me.

I see that the avatar has some spirit world business stuff as well and not just controlling all the four elements. Or maybe it was already explained in the first five episodes but I missed it. Anyway I'm fine with it, in a story where people can use an element it's not super duper special if you can use more than one element so having another ability makes the avatar's speciality more... special.

Aang's avatar power has been used well. It looks cool, but it would be bit of a letdown if he solved every fight with a deus ex machina inherited power. On the other hand when he used it in episode 11 it had a story to back it up so it felt character development instead of cheating.

The fights are good enough for me to actually pay attention to them. Usually my opinion on fights is more like "okay, can we move on with the story", but in Avatar they are varied enough and there's a lot of movement and creative attacks that even I'm pleased.

Jul 15, 2012

Episodes 13-16

Still as hyped as... yesterday. Except I kind of got spoiled a bit during my reference image hunting trip. I should learn to save those for AFTER I've finished the show, to avoid both getting spoiled and doing unnecessary work in case the series flops so bad that I lose all interest in drawing it. Luckily the spoilers weren't worse than "they wear fire nation clothes, Zuko gets a new hairstyle". And the fact that Zuko joins the heroes is about as common knowledge as "Kataang vs Zutara pairing wars are intense" so seeing him being all friendly with Aang wasn't much of a spoiler (though it's not like it'd take much effort to predict it even without spoilers).

I loved episode 13. At first I seriously wondered how they'd get out of that mess without stupid random deus ex machina plot twists with Aang being captive in a place where he couldn't reasonably get out himself and Sokka and Katara conveniently out of the picture. I was kind of worrying the same thing as with Jet; that the masked guy would turn out to be an invincible new character. But since his mask and the fact that we couldn't see his face were stressed so much I concluded that it has to be someone we already know. When it turned out to be Zuko my reaction was "OMG it's Zuko .... wait, I should probably have seen this coming". And the fact that it was Zuko made very much sense since he of course doesn't want admiral whatshisname to get the Avatar, and because he's a Fire Nation soldier it's not surprising that he knows his way around. Hnnngggh A:tlA sure has good writing, I don't think I've spotted any plot holes and the foreshadowing works well enough to make plot points not come out of nowhere~~~

The fortunetelling episode wasn't all that bad considering the subject which is not one of my favourites. Apparently fortune telling can be real in the world of Avatar since many of the predictions were accurate. Since I've been spoiled enough about the Korra sequel that the mention of Katara's three grandchildren was fun. Also I find it a bit odd how I've heard that Katara+Aang pairing comes out of nowhere and that there never was any romantic tension between them. Do I wear pairing goggles if I say that it was a bit difficult not to notice Aang's interest in Katara?

Katara's a healer. Hoooo I'm totally surprised! One Piece is the only series I can remember right now not to make a girl the healer in the main cast. Luckily she is competent enough to take care of herself in a fight so I believe it's reasonable to think that that won't change. Let's hope that she doesn't degrade into "the boys can do the fighting, I'll heal their wounds after the action is over~~".

I really like the little things they add to Aang's characterisation, such as casually mentioning that he doesn't eat meat and how he seems to be comfortable sleeping without a mattress, blanket and pillow. And Zuko's scar is actually quite interesting considering they dared to give him such a large one; wouldn't such a fangirl bait character benefit more from a scar that doesn't affect his appearance that much? But apparently it's not a problem since he seems to be pretty popular.

Jul 16, 2012

Episodes 17-20

This is so amazing that I can barely contain myself~ The first season, or book, or whatever they're called, is now over, and the quality didn't decline at all. Now onwards to the next season where I'll finally see Toph and find out if she's able to fulfill my unrealistically high expectations. She has a lot to live up to.

The air temple episode was kind of boring but I liked how it handled the issue that Aang's actually pretty old. And it was nice how the episode was somewhat fair to both Aang for being upset at the destruction of the temple and the new dwellers for turning it to a place to live, and neither side was painted as the antagonist. I was wondering how they'd deal with the fact that just because they're able to ward off the Fire Nation this time wouldn't mean that there wouldn't be a second attack, but how they blew off the surrounding rock solved that problem. Of course there are those Fire Nation's new hot air balloons...

The Northern Water tribe city was huge. Because the Southern tribe was small enough to conveniently fit on the screen at the same time I was expecting something similar, maybe a bit more people but definitely nothing like that. Annnd the Northern Water tribe of course gave me plenty of material for the dress up~~

Now I'm more positive towards Katara. While she's nowhere near Aang, Sokka and Zuko in my favourite character list, at least her presence doesn't bother me any more. The healing thing went well, I was fearing for her to just deal with it and find out how ~useful and awesome and important~ magical learning (and respecting the tradition) is and drop combat practise in favour of it. Maybe I shouldn't even have had so low expectations on it in the first place considering it's a Western show. Watching so much anime has made me sceptical for girls to amount to more than being the healer of the group...

The Water master guy was good too. Luckily he had somewhat reliable reasons for doing a complete 180 on his views on women and waterbending and not just noticing how awesome and talented Katara is and making an expection on her. And Katara's necklace got some relevance as well instead of being an useless trinket Katara could use to moan about her mother.

Zuko may now be my favourite character due to his increasing woobie levels. He tries so hard! And whoa, he got new scars! I wonder if they're permanent. Also his uncle remains as awesome as ever, the hug is one of my favourite moments in the whole series so far. I might even have to find out how to spell his name.

The romance between Sokka and the princess was nice too. For starters, it was nice how for once it was the guy who got a romantic sub plot while the girl practises battling. And the princess was pretty and a likable character. Also I liked how Sokka's affection wasn't just played for laughs and how he'd learn at the end of the episode that they're too different and he's actually better off without the princess. When it turned out that the princess would like to return Sokka's feelings but was already engaged to a guy she doesn't like I feared that the guy would turn out to be so brave and courageous in the war that the princess would learn to see him in a new light and Sokka would willingly step back for her happiness, since I knew that she wouldn't be a part of the main cast afterwards. Buuuut instead they solve the problem by killing the princess!? Or turning her into a spirit, whatever. Such a young character, I thought only old farts could die in this series! I remember pondering how she had white hair at that age, but I brushed it off as a design choice. It's not like I hadn't given white hair to my own character, though that's just because I like it and there's no deeper backstory for it.

Now that I think of it, did they kill the jerk fiancee too? Last time I saw him he was thrown off a ship...

I'm becoming sceptical on Aang mastering all the four elements in whatever the time limit was. It's been twenty episodes, and he didn't even learn water! What they achieved was just "okay Katara is a pro now, she can teach him".

The grand finale was grand enough. The fact that the moon strenghtens waterbenders was cool, but I wish it had been mentioned earlier. Now the epic spirit business came kind of out of nowhere. But it was extremely awesome so I'm fine with it. Also, I liked how for once the attack happened at daytime. It's always so that bad guys equals darkness, and the sun rises with the heroes' victory so a different take on this was very welcome.

Not digging Zuko's sister. She seems exactly like she exists just to be invincible and awesome (again). But since I've already been proven wrong on this twice I shall actually wait for her to do something before making a judgement.

Jul 17, 2012

Episodes 21-27

This is so awesome that I'd want to watch more instantly, but something tells me that it might not be the most healthy thing to watch too much cartoons on the same day.

First things first, Toph has finally appeared. She didn't disappoint, I liked her very much. But unfortunately I didn't have too much time for her, for reasons explained later. Why is she an earthbender? I could have sworn that the Korra family tree I saw listed her as a metalbender. What is a metalbender anyway? It doesn't fit with the four elements thing. I predicted that she'd be able to "see" around her with her earthbending, but I thought she'd really be a homeless bandit or come from a dojo or something. So it surprised me when she turned out to (pretend to) be a fine little princess in a huge mansion. I'm actually kind of glad she has a softer side, she probably wouldn't have entertained me long if her character only consisted of "I'm a tomboy and just cause I'm small and blind doesn't mean I can't kick your butt!11". The subplot of Toph's father sending people to get her back seems a bit unnecessary considering they didn't look like they were unreasonably good at earthbending and we've had to deal with a war already. Also, I definitely didn't see her to become Aang's teacher.

Turning the clock back a little, the first episodes of the new season were a bit boring. Though that was probably to be expected; since the previous episode had a huge battle and all that spirit mess average traveling feels more boring that usually. And since they took some fifteen episodes to get from Omashu to the North Pole it'd be a bit weird if they got back instantly. So they get back... in two episodes? The mountain maze episode was pretty meh and Sokka and Katara's cute hug in the background after reuniting interested me way more than the Katara/Aang ship tease.

It appears that my prediction about the Avatar's super avatar powarz was... incorrect? What did Roku say about the Avatar state anyway? It was when he could access all the information from all the previous Avatars or something like that. That's not exactly what I had in mind (probably), but I don't think I got that far from truth either.

The swamp episode should be given some credit for surprisingly managing to give the pets a little adventure of their own without boring or annying me. And Appa shouting the other animals to shut up was hilarious.

Return to Omashu was nice for going back to previously introduced places so that they weren't total filler. Bumi continues to be as awesome as ever, just chilling in his prison coffin and all that.

The avatar day episode wasn't all that interesting either. But it was seriously surprising when Kiyoshi actually appeared to explain the murder deal. I thought it was only a joke episode with stupid "funny" villagers, so the appearance of a 400 years old super bender caught me by surprise. At first I thought it'd be Sokka's girlfriend from episode four bluffing like Aang did in the great divide episode, but with the huge shadows and all the other grand stuff I had to believe it was the real thing. Wait, Sokka already has two potential girlfriends? Though the other one died, but anyway, he's more popular than I thought.

But to the reason why Toph was mostly ignored. Because if there's first episodes of showing Zuko's misery as a fugitive and then an episode of showing his misery as a child, it's difficult for me to concentrate on anything that happens between them. Poor Zuko just can't catch a break! He is a wanted criminal, can't get food from the nature himself, has to beg for money, is betrayed by his sister, and his uncle mistakes a poisonous flower for tea. Aaaand then he parts ways with his uncle, so his allll aloneeeeee! How long will it take for him to join Aang's gang anyway? Or the Gaang as people seem to call it.

I've been wondering Zuko's family relationships a bit. For one I was confused about how Zuko's uncle looked pretty old compared to what we've seen of his father. If he's the older brother how come he's not the emperor? And what of Zuko's mother, where is she? And was she a total jerk to him too? The flashback episode explained a lot.

Azula manages to be a succesfull villain because I'm very eager to see the heroes beat that smug smile off her face. It'll be a seriously difficult task if they try to develop her into a likable good guy after showing what a rotten to core bitch she used to be even as a child. Or at least I won't buy any "she's really a sweet girl under all that" too easily. Her "friends" had nice designs too.

Lastly, new season (or book) should have meant new opening credits. I already know that long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked...

Jul 18, 2012

Episodes 28-40

Okay, apparently we can forget all thoughts about trying to limit how much I should watch a day. Sooooo, season 2 is finished now. Currently my main thoughts are the following:

In other words, I... wasn't exactly pleased by the last few episodes. But let's start with the earlier episodes.

Training arc then. Actually it doesn't bother me at all since the point really is that Aang has to learn all the elements instead of just spending a couple of episodes to learn a new ninja move because the new bad guy is a bit stronger than the previous one. Now that I think of it, it would have been a serious problem if Aang never practised anything. Also, I'm glad that he actually uses all the elements he knows in combat instead of being the "Master of all elements" in the name only.

I'm really liking how Toph's blindness is handled. They could merely have gone with "okay she's blind and has an ability to "see" anyway so she's unique and speshul. Moving on", but instead her blindness really is a part of her character. Like when she obviously shows lack of interest in books, and how she doesn't necessary look the person she's talking to in the eyes. And when they're flying she seems to be clutching pretty tightly to the edges of Appa's... whatever the thing is where he carries them. Which is not surprising considering she can only see if there's ground, so she must be pretty helpless up there. And when I gave a bit more thought to her super earthbending I noticed that even Bumi pointed out how important listening to the earth is. So Toph is disproportionately better than other earthbenders at the tournament who may have had decades of training because she really has to listen to the earth or she won't see anything, while others who have working eyes havent' had to rely on it that much. Oh gee, I must be a genius since I figured that out, all on my own!

Sadly, I can't be say I was liking how her whole character has been handled. No matter how much I like her, she still feels like a new character added for the sake of adding a new character. The sub plot about her parents wanting her back home was as unnecessary as I thought; it didn't really affect anything else than giving Toph something to do while other characters were busy with the ~real plot~. And she was caught with a cheap trap trick instead of a proper fight, and she escaped easily by insta-learning a new bending thing (so that's what the metalbender thing is). And the sub plot concludes with a toilet joke. Sigh.

I didn't like the magical library. I'm fine with Aang getting important magical information by going to a special location, getting into the avatar state, wandering in the spirit world and speaking with a monster who steals his face if he messes up. But now there's a super library managed by spirits, and anyone who finds it in the desert can just march in? Even the sandbender guys got there. So good thing that place is destroyed now. Also, the filler professor was kind of cool for deciding to stay in the collapsing building, he better not show up any more. That'd taint his epic love for information.

The Earth city stories were quite fillerific, but since I like slice-of-life I'm fine with having the characters just hang out without having to get into fights all the time. I liked uncle Iroh's the best (finally bothered to learn how to spell his name), the twist at the end was so sad. The girls in Toph and Katara's story had nice designs. And it was great how my little pondering about how Zuko's hair grows while Aang remains bald was answered. Lol @ Sokka with facial hair... Zuko's was what I was most eager to see, but a romance with a filler girl wasn't exactly my favourite subject.

Appa's episode was surprisingly decent and against all expectations I wasn't completely bored by an episode where the team pet gets the spotlight. Plus since his disappearance took many episodes and his capture and return served as many plot points it was a lot easier to swallow than random "OMG, Appa is in trouble, let's resque him!" one episode wonder. Okay, it was sad seeing him all alone and abused and the reunion was heartwarming.

Azula's posse has started to bore me, especially the airhead circus girl. The apathetic bored girl is still great though.

Since I never cared for Jet his death didn't really interest me. But I guess that a character with a name dying means more srs business? Wait, what about Sokka's girlfriend at Kiyoshi? We see them fight Azula's posse, but the outcome remains a mystery, and then Azula comes to the Earth kingdom wearing their clothes. Uh-oh, I was starting to warm up to Sokka/Zuki (or however you spell her name) too.

Occassionally the main characters were annoyingly competent. In the drill episode they at least had the element of surprise, but with the palace it was more like a bunch of kids just marching in and OHKOing all the elite (?) earthbender soldiers. Sure Aang's the Avatar and Toph is a pro, but still...

And now to the massive trainwreck. Character arcs where a jerk is put through hell so he has to learn to be less of a jerk belong to my favourites. It has been a pleasure to follow Zuko's character development; we've seen his... complicated family life and banishment and humiliation and the obsession to get the Avatar to restore his honour etc. Then he ends up freeing Aang (even if it was for selfish reasons), and drops the chase at the North pole for whatever his real reason was. Then he becomes a fugitive and has to see what Fire nation has done to common people, and he occassionally acts like a nice guy. And then he and his uncle start a new life in the Earth city, and he ceases his constant whining about the job at the tea place, and even goes on a date! And ultimately he decides to free Appa instead of using him as a bait or whatever he may have planned! I like where this is going! Then he gets sick. Huh? Didn't see that coming, I don't remember that he got frozen or eat anything weird or got hit with anything poisonous.

But no problems here! He is up and healthy again, and happily serving tea! It's like a completely different person! ...soooo the turning point in his character I had been waiting for some forty episodes happened due to a magical sickness that had never been mentioned earlier, while he was sleeping, offscreen?

Excuse me, but that is not what I had in mind. Where is all the internal drama? He saw a couple of vague bad dreams, and that's that? This... this just not is how you do a plot twist. I really expected, or wanted, that the uncle would be suspicious of the sudden chance and it'd turn out to be a trick by the hypnosis or... anything, and the future events would nullify everything fast. But no, it appears that it really was supposed to be a legit plot twist. I really trusted this series to have good character development and plot twists, and now this! This betrayal will not be forgotten easily.

I've been paying more attention to Zuko's face lately. While his left eye gives hime the permanent bad guy look, his right eye shows what's happening inside. It's sweet how it shows tiredness or gratitude or a confused young man, or a content expression while serving tea- oh come on, I wanted to see that expression as a result of the awesome culmination of his character arc, not because of some magic fever healing!

But let's forget about Zuko for now. While the ending redeemed a lot of stuff, there still was a lot of stuff wrong with it. For starters, when the gang split there were far too many situations (Aang, Toph, Sokka, Katara, Zuko and his uncle, Azula's posse) to follow, so the story jumped everywhere all the time. And far too many plot points happened in far too little time. What was it, Sokka and Katara's hyped dad makes his first onscreen appearance, Aang learns the Avatar State, Toph learns a new move, the war and politics process, Zuko... serves tea. That's a lot of stuff and many of it would have deserved more time.

In the end the finale managed to redeem a lot of things. Zuko was the source of the greatest grief, but he also brought the greatest relief when he actually chose to side with the Fire Nation. Does this mean I get an another chance to see a proper redemption? Or is this just some trick about ~pretending~ to side with the Fire people and attack from the inside, and he's actually a really good guy? I really hope it was just a poorly presented hope spot that he'd join the good guys. So now if he's put through a serious meat grinder I'm willing to accept a new redemption (though unless they retcon the first one I'm not going to forget about it either). I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but my trust in the writing of this series has taken a serious blow.

Also, points for the downer ending of the season. Now I'm at least very interested in what'll happen in the last 21 episod- wait, there's so few left? Should I slow down so I won't run out right away?

Jul 20, 2012

Episodes 41-48

Managed to tone down the pace a bit. New season has begun, and still no new opening credits. ~Quality~ is back again, and now that Zuko continues being miserable my enjoyement meter has risen greatly.

Aang with hair took me by surprise. He looks a lot younger with hair, and... weirder, now that I've been used to seeing him bald. Also liking Sokka, Zuko and Katara's new hairstyles. And the new outfits are nice too. It's cool how they actually change the characters instead of giving them only one iconic wardrobe and sticking to it for the whole series because designing more clothes would be too difficult and altering the character would be too difficult for the audience to understand~~~ Permanently destroying Aang's glider was a nice touch too.

(Also, it was pretty cool how eager Katara was to steal clothes. Extra points for the episode for not turning into a moral lecture about how wrong stealing is by getting the characters in trouble for theft. Not everything has to be educative all the time.)

I really liked the Aang/Zuko parallel about wanting their honour back, and I was a bit sad when it didn't really go anywhere. Or, uh, was it that Aang deals with it and with the help of his friends accepts to operate secretly, while Zuko is obsessed about his honour and continues to be miserable? Okay, I get it now. Besides, Aang being all alone and wangsty would have changed the series quite a lot.

As a Sokka fan I was glad that the obvious observation that he's the only non-bender of the main group got attention, even if it felt quite a bit like a day-in-the-limelight episode. And I wish the issue would have been mentioned earlier, even if it wasn't resolved until now.

The beach episode completely bamboozled me. For starters, a teenager drama isn't what I want to see; I watch stuff like Avatar because I couldn't care less about srs teenager parties and crushes and stuff. Yet at the same time it worked pretty well showing Zuko doing normal stuff he should be enjoying but still doesn't. There were positive moments, like Azula's posse getting some depth (not that I still care much about them), and the characters learning stuff about themselves and the others, while especially the ending makes it pretty clear that Azula's company isn't exactly good for Zuko. Even Azula mentioned how she totally isn't sad about their mother liking Zuko more and calling her a monster. I can see that something like that would surely affect how she's now (though we only have her word on it), but the flashbacks make it pretty clear that Azula was a really creepy kid, enjoying the deaths of her family members, so I can see where the mother comes from too. The episode confused me a lot, but I consider it a good thing because it has forced me to think a lot myself.

The episode about young Roku was good, I like when old geezer masters are shown younger when they weren't masters at all.

The Toph episode following it didn't interest me as much, but that was to be expected of a lighter episode of the main kids quarreling after an epic one showing important history. They really got me with the opening teaser; I believed that they'd actually have so serious a row that it'd lead to Katara turning Toph in, so I was very pleased to see it had a more clever plot twist. Just a row with someone getting caught would've been pretty boring, since everyone knows they'd realise their mistake and rescue the captured person by the end of the episode anyway and then everyone would be friends again. But since we're back at the ~quality writing~ after the fiasco at the end of the previous season the real result was so much better and provided nice character development for both Toph and Katara.

The show is also creative with its element system. I'm sure that fans who spent more time speculating than me (since I watch at a lot faster pace than one episode a week) have had long discussions about whether waterbenders could get water out of air or plants or use blood or sweat, so it was nice how the series actually answers that. I had heard of bloodbending before, and quite frankly I expected it to be a lot creepier, like only existing to seriously hurt the person instead of just controlling them.

Zuko is acting right again, and it's a pleasure to see him being all miserable and conflicted again. A ha ha, serves him right! Seriously though, him getting everything he wanted and failing at being happy about it and all the confusion about his father's unearned respect is a lot more interesting to see that what probably would have been if he had joined Aang's gang already and being all happy-happy with them for the rest of the series. I'm still bitter about the exection last time, but with all the new pressure the new attempt at his resolution has chances to be very good. Don't fail me now!

With the end of the series approaching (waaah) I've started wondering how they're going to finish it. Since it's been stressed that mastering the elements takes years of practise and I have enough faith in the writers not to have Aang win by Avatar state only, it's feels pretty unrealistic that he could be able to beat the Fire lord in a fight. But the Fire lord doesn't seem like someone who could be talked down instead either. And then there's all the political problems; I can't see that just beating one guy would make the entire Fire nation want to stop the war. This is going to be interesting.

Jul 21, 2012

Episodes 49-53

Why must I be so bad at avoiding spoilers? Or actually I know pretty well that if you search for "avatar the last airbender" on google or Deviantart or anything you will, like, see pictures of it (whoa!) and it was all my fault, but still... I think it's possible that I may have seen fanart where an adult Zuko was the Fire lord. Maybe it was just the artist's guess...

The attack to the Fire Nation was ok. I never expected them to succeed since there was still ten episodes left, but it was still entertaining to watch, and there was pleasurably much strategy and very little "my ninja move is stronger than your ninja move!".

Zuko turning good was a lot better this time. I don't know if it was really actually good since it's compared to... that, but I shall now concentrate more on the latter events that weren't horribly executed. But anyway, this time he reached a change in his ways by actually thinking things through himself, and how he confronted the Fire lord all alone was awesome. I was actually surprised how he managed to deal with everything all on his own, instead of... active help from the heroes, or, uh, being in a stressfull combat situation where he has three seconds to decide whether he sides with the Fire nation or Aang's gang and chooses good because, er, seeing Aang in srs trouble makes him realise something super important. I expected him to choose good but be still somewhat wangsty and gaining confidence from the support of the other heroes, but this was probably better.

Zuko acting all nice is really really weird. It's good he still shows his short temper with the bursts of anger and general grumpiness (which is hilarious). And he's still calling Aang "the Avatar" instead of using his name. Tee-hee, acting so cold~~ The other characters were believable in their suspicion in his sincerity, and it also made sense that Toph was more eager to accept him, due to being able to have some insight on whether he's lying or not, and not having been a member of the main group back when Zuko kept attacking them. I hope the "Katara doesn't like Zuko" plot doesn't take too long since everyone knows they'll all be the best of friends anyway at the end.

I loved how Aang was all genre-savvy about not picking up the giant egg and Zuko just snatches it.

Jul 22, 2012

Episodes 54-61

Aaaand now I am done. I'm very pleased, his sure was a great way to spend some twenty hours. Now I'll have to update my opinion on Western animation; there is western animation that is good that is not a Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks movie.

The finale was satisfying and the battle was epic. I see people not liking Aang's sudden conflict over killing the Fire lord, but it didn't really bother me as his character had been a peaceful kid afraid of evil stuff for the entire show. Maybe the conflict over killing someone should have been discussed more earlier in the series, but whatever. The sudden Deus ex machina energybending didn't bother me either since I was so stunned at all the general epicness.

In the end my favourite characters were

6. Bumi (what?).

I didn't particularly hate anyone, though Katara failed to impress me as a main character.

The pacing of the last season wasn't as good as I had hoped. The beginning was pretty fillerific, while the ending felt rushed. I would have preferred more episodes with Zuko as a member of Gaang, so if the fillerific episodes showing the Fire nation people as normal people instead of villains were so important, why couldn't they have been moved to after Zuko's joinage?

The Ember island players episode was plain crazy. I haven't quite decided whether I love it or whether it's a part of my personal discontinuity... It had great humour and poking fun at the fandom was awesome, but on the other hand it felt too weird how they had managed to find so detailed info on their travels. Plus the episode had pairing dramaz which is of no interest to me, but to compensate for it there was also Zuko wangsting about how he treated his uncle and having a conversation about it with Toph, that balances the pairings out.

Bumi continues to be awesome, I didn't even realise how much I liked him. Taking out an entire city alone was cool, and I loved the "I didn't escape, everyone else escaped!" line. And the Lotus flower geezer team wiping the Earth city was quite awesome as well.

Zuko and Iroh's reunion is probably my favourite scene in the whole series. I think I've watched it over 20 times already... But I liked it so much that it would have saved the whole series to me even if the finale had completely flopped otherwise. I really like how Zuko's story was written; like Iroh said, he found his way and he did it by himself. I'm so used to "power of friendship" being the only acceptable solution that I really couldn't see that he'd be able to fully turn good without the help from the heroes, but I'm very pleased with the outcome. He made up his mind and stuck to his views before he was on friendly terms with Team Avatar, and I'm sure he would have been able to do something useful even if he hadn't been accepted as a part of the group. And it was pretty sweet how he was very confident when facing his father, but he was completely at a loss when he had to meet Iroh. And then he sat there for hours waiting Iroh to wake up, writing in his shame all the time. Must have been unpleasant.

While Zuko and Iroh's relationship was one of the best things in the show for me, the pairings didn't move me at all. Zutara made no sense to me to begin with, and Kataang was boring and it felt a bit meh how Katara didn't return his feelings until he was the famed hero who saved the world. But anyway I'm fine with the final pairings even if I could ship both Zuko and Sokka with all the other girls expect Katara as well. It was slightly disappointing though how the last thing we see was Kataang becoming canon, as if I should consider it an important thing that concludes the story. Maybe I can just think it was Aang's daydream and didn't really happen.

I didn't really get what was going on with Suki. She doesn't really appear in neither fanart or official art of the final Gaang, so I had no idea that she'd play such a large role at the finale. But on the other hand, since she does hang out with them in the last episodes, officially belongs to their Team Avatar and gets her moment in the finale it's a bit weird how she still doesn't get to be a part of the Gaang. Well, she was there for so few episodes and wasn't particularly interesting, so I don't really care.

Azula was a succesfull willain to me. She was competent and a serious threat, and her flaws and problems made her downfall believable. In the end I couldn't decide whether to feel sorry for her or just consider she got what she deserved.

Pleased with how the non-bender Sokka got to really accomplish something in the finale as well. I was worried that it'd end with benders hurling fire and stones at each other while Sokka... comes up with some plan and hits a few mooks in the background. I don't see why he had to break his leg though since it didn't really affect anything, as it was at the end of the battle and at that point he didn't run that much that much, and didn't seem to cause any permanent damage. Aaand "GrandPakku" was one of the best things Sokka has ever said, it still amuses me.

Katara didn't really interest me. Her distrust in Zuko took screen time from stuff I would rather have wanted to see, and the darker shades in her character (wanting to kill her mother's murderer) appeared too late in the story for me to care. And since I'm not particularly interested in her I was disappointed how Zuko's Agni Kai with Azula ended with Zuko having to take the hit because Katara couldn't stand in a more sensible location and Katara finishing Azula instead. But whatever, Zuko had the best character development and how he beat his own internal problems all by himself was a lot more interesting to see than whether or not he'd land the finishing hit on his crazed sister.

Toph was as awesome as I wanted her to be. The only reason she is not my favourite character is because she has to compete with Zuko. But anyway, Toph was a great and well-balanced character; her bending skills were absurdly good and the "seeing with feet" compensates for her eyes and give her the advantage of seeing stuff you couldn't normally see, while she's vulnerable to attacks from sky and she's useless in water, ice, air or wooden buildings. Her being blind gave plenty of great jokes and it was constantly a part of the series when it made sense instead of a random attribute that gets mentioned once or twice to make her special. But being blind still wasn't her whole character since her arrogant and devious personality was an important part of her and her screen time as well. And she didn't go the boring "girly stuff is yuck! but this girl, she is super tough, like one of the guys! and she hates girly stuff because that's cool!!!" way either as she had no problem with dresses and makeup either if they were useful (or just fun). More well-written characters like this, please!

How the comet was so important didn't occur to me until they explicitly spelled it out. Sure it was mentioned at the beginning of season one, but I didn't really bother thinking about it further than "okay, some huge astronomical phenomenon that makes firebenders strong". I somehow confused it with a meteorite that lands to Fire Nation and the Fire people get strong when they absorb its space powarz or something like that. I do know enough about astronomy to be know what a comet and a meteorite are, but apparently it was too much to ask to expect me to spend the required two seconds to think about it... But sure, sun = power to firebenders, a new huge fireball in the sky = more power to firebenders makes a lot of sense.

TVtropes says Zuko's mother killed his grandfather the Fire lord. Wut? I totally missed that then. I'll blame the language barrier, understanding spoken English isn't one of my best skills. Orrrrr maybe it was just that I interpreted the "Grandpa dies, mother disappears" in an incorrect way, I was under the impression it went
Ozai: I wanna be the fire lord
Firelord: lol that is arrogant but ok if you fulfill my random sadistic whim first and kill that stupid son of yours
Ozai: ok
Zuko's mom: noooo kill me instead
Ozai, Firelord: ok
Zuko's mom: *dies*
Firelord: ok Ozai can be the new fire lord *dies of old age some time later*
Ozai: yay now I am the new fire lord!
.... that's how I thought it went.

Kinda sad how the missing mom thing was never resolved though. And neither was the face stealer guy shown again, I thought he'd be important. Or Kuzan, or however you spell the name of Aang's old childhood friend from Fire Nation. I was kind of hoping for a Bumi type reappearance, but then again it'd probably have been silly if all his friends turned up as super strong geezers. One Bumi is enough.

Okay, the final thoughts. Despite the pacing problems in the last season and the random Zuko thing at the end of the second season I'm very glad I ended up watching this thing. Towards the end the writing may not have been as great as what I thought of it in the beginning, but it still remained enjoyable to the end. But still, the best thing to me was the well-written characters who were likable and who were used well. And to me it was evident that the creators were ambitious enough to make a good series instead of just creating random stuff that'll hopefully entertain kids with low standards enough to make some money.

Now it's Korra's turn. I hear it doesn't get as much acclaim as Aang's story due to spending too much time on shipping, but we'll see. At least it's not too long even if it isn't as good as AtLA.