I‘m a little bit sad that most discussion about Sokka is only about his sexism (mainly because that discussion already came up before the show started). For me, the far bigger concern with his character is that he suddenly seems to have become an optimist when he was clearly a rational pessimist in the cartoon and his bad luck from his pessimism was often a big part of his comedic scenes. I mean for crying out loud he was SINGING ALONG with the nomads about love! And he was the one lecturing Katara that they should trust in the power of love in the tunnels of Omashu! Hello?! That‘s the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what Sokka does in the cartoon! He was the one getting frustrated with the nomads and their singing and drew maps of the tunnels instead because he was the rational one in the group. It‘s a big part of his character and not only important for his comedic scenes but also for him to become the strategist of the group.
I don‘t really have a problem with most other characters and their different interpretation as long as I can still see that the original character in the cartoon could still behave in that way and fits their circumstances. But Sokka for me is just not the same character if he isn‘t a rational pessimist and they literally make him into the complete opposite. The Sokka from the cartoon clearly wouldn‘t have acted the that way in the the Omashu tunnels.
Wait, when did Zuko ever get the upper hand on Ozai? Ozai was clearly toying with him in the Agni Kai, in complete control the entire time, just waiting for Zuko to do something, anything.
thank you so much for this. it's tiring constantly seeing critiques like "it wasn't exactly like the original therefore it was bad". such a refreshing analysis of the live action characters! looking forward to your next videos!
I said this in your other video, but I have worked with children who have gone through trauma my whole career, and some kids will do anything to avoid their trauma and will go off and play and be goofy to avoid the pain. It is very realistic for a child to act like Aang in the show and to go off and avoid that pain. I’ve seen it many times and at first it surprised me in kids. But now I understand it cause it’s how they cope.
Also Aang not bending water by himself once, feels bad. Even my wife who is loving the show and disagrees with most of my problems is mad about that.
Great videos btw! The show is great and we do need more positivity about it. These are just gripes I have that I don’t see a positive for.
I saw what they were trying to do with Katara but in the end it could have been done better. I didn't have a problem with them wanting her to progress towards becoming someone who isn't afraid to be more assertive and show her anger, but I felt like it wasn't as impactful as it could have been because of both the script and the acting from Kiawentiio. Kiawentiio isn't a terrible actress but in those moments where she is supposed to be fierce and angry, it's still a bit too soft, especially her voice, and she could be a lot more expressive with her face. She has it in her though because I've seen her sound way more tough and passionate portraying her character in Netflix's Anne with an E.
That being said, the biggest thing that I was disappointed with about this live-action Katara is how they cut out how inspiring she is for those around her. She isn't just a waterbender, not just motherly, she isn't just angry and passionate, but she is also a spark. A spark that helps those that have lost hope light their fire again and join back the fight. A great example of this is in the animation is the episode when she inspires the earthbender prisoners to fight back. She gave a great speech to them hoping it would motivate them, but they still sat there doing nothing (which was a hard watch). Even so, she didn't give up on them and saw it would take more than words to uplift their spirits, so she helped by getting them coal. This is also a core element of who Katara is, and we don't see that from her in the live action.
Sure, she had her moments where she inspired Aang but what makes it even more admirable is the fact that she was always willing to stand up for anyone, any stranger. I noticed they could have put this in the live action by taking the elements of Katara's speech for the earbender prisoners and modify the speech so it could be given to the waterbending women of the northern water tribe. What would have made that scene in episode 8 where they are all standing together ready to join in on the battle even more impactful, is if they gave Katara a moment to give that speech to the women prior to them showing up ready to go against their tribe's sexist culture and fight. Since animated Katara had to do more than just shout a speech to the earthbender prisoners, the live-action could've taken this scenario a step further by having Katara demonstrate the combat waterbending that she has learned to the women, showing them there's more they can do than just heal. Some kind of moment like this on camera would have made Katara's part in the battle even more powerful.
You might be right on how and why they change Katara in the live action but I personally still not like how they portrayed her. For the character growth that you mentioned, Katara's personality and behaviours (bossy, motherly, explosive, comforting, fierce) in the cartoon are her character traits, like she is not perfect but has flaws which I think are her defined personality and characteristic in the cartoon that does not really grow/change throughout the show, since it is who she is. The live action took a very different approach to her character and that's ok even if I don't like it, but I was mostly disappointed on how they completely omit her flaws, since in the cartoon she was sweet but also has some attitude, selfish, and can even be a sore looser sometimes. However, I hope you are right and we will see more of her original traits moving forward in S2 and S3, as S1 delt mostly her character growth towards the Katara in the cartoon.
You are so wonderful at explaining everything. Truly, I hope people watch this. And have a mind to listen. I think the live action is near perfect. I don’t understand the vitriol and hate towards the show. I just see a bunch of fans who are not true fans And they lack the spirituality that the animation highly regarded
I absolutely agree with what you said about Katara. Her reluctance, insecurities and fear that is being fed by not olnly witnessing her mother's death, but also her brother and Grandma is what is truly holding her back. Katara is considered a prodigy waterbender, so i believe what they did in the la really showcases why she became so powerful and a master in such a short notice, but will also showcase how an incecure girl became such a confident, in herself and her powers, woman. Her character ark and development is defently deeper than that of the cartoon.Really looking forward for season 2 and 3 Katara.
For Sokka i didn't mind that those sexist comments weren't in the show. I think the sexism was represented through patriarchy, with how he was presenting and introducing himself. Dad left ME incharge, not gran gran, but ME a 13 year old boy. He feels responsible for Katara and the village. Do i agree with this change? Yes and no. I agree with what you said tho, that is toned down to the point that we can't really say that yes sokka is sexist.
You were spot on with aang. We have to keep in mind that this is a live action. It would be kind of insensitive of him to ride on a koi fish after witnessing all his people dead.
Also agree with you on zuko and iroh. The anger the determination were there. The only think that they didn't include (and i was sooo happy about) is how disrespectful he was with his uncle.
It was pretty clear (maybe to me) what ozai was up to. Especially with what he was doing to azula. I agree with you, it gave us an insight on why azula is the way that she is in the later seasons and what really pushed her to hate Zuko so much.
Overall, it was a well made first season and i was pretty happy with the majority of the changes that they made. Looking forward for season 2 and 3.
Ps. Sorry if i don't make sense in some parts, English isn't my first language
I think the missed opportunity made was not showing Aang being playful and mischievious with Master Gyatsu. The Southern Air Temple scene could have easily shown Gyatsu racing Aang down the spire to show he can keep up with a grand master, then knock a pastry onto the other monks head to give him a reason to be all mean about anouncing the Avatar.
And what’s up with Suki’s fan throw? And Zuko’s haduken style fireball? And aangs literally flying without a glider? All these world-building things bothered me more than the plot changes, the bending and martial arts sometimes just didn’t feel grounded to reality, which is something that made the original great
4:47 This is a mischaracterization. Paku never said this in the original and doesn't believe this. In the North the women heal and the men fight because that is their tradition. Not because they hate women and think they're inferior. It completely reframes what Katara is up against as the personal beliefs of one man instead of the traditions of an entire community. Similar to the impearilistic traditions of the fire nation, the nomadic traditions of the Air Temple, or the isolationist traditions of the Earth Kingdom. During the show they end up running up against all these traditions and having to break through them or work around them. Removing this removes the character of the entire nation and makes it bland.
If the North was in need of warriors would the chief really be like, "oh darn. We're coming up short but old Paku hates women so I guess we'll all die". No. That is a terrible re-write.
My issue with Sokka and sexism it that it's not entirely true. The current ideology dictates that any and all character flaws are superficial and are personal choices, which is objectively false. Sokka isn't sexist, his culture is. Both water tribes see men as warriors and women as healers. This is why all of the men and only the men left to fight the Fire Nation, leaving Sokka behind because he was too young. And one thing that I think wasn't commented on by neither the cartoon not the remake is that Sokka's pride was coming from the fact that he was indeed the best warrior of his tribe, slightly undercut by being the only warrior and the only "man" – the second best was like 5 years old.
I totally disagree that Aang shouldn't have had his playful stuff. The first step of grief is Denial. Aang is a child who cannot cope with the idea of his people gone until he is face to face with that reality at the air temple. I ENTIRELY disagree that he didn't need to be learning waterbending. Bending is so underdeveloped in the live action. All the new viewers ive spoken to were asking specifically "why wasn't aang trying to learn waterbending?" It was so extremely necessary that he tried to learn. Aang being naturally gifted frustrating katara until she surpasses him with dedication and hard work is such an important character dynamic and arc for both characters. Zukos arc is being sped up like crazy for some unknown reason alot of the weight of those arcs are kindve just flat to me. I really really wanted to love this show. There's people who care working on it and there's some great things. But it's like Avatar Lite, and I have tried to and just cannot justify any changes as being beneficial. The only ADDITION I loved is the 41st being zukos crew. But there's just so much subtraction. Showing so much of ozai and azula doesn't bring much benefit to any characters. They have essentially the exact same scene of azula play out 5 times they all have the same messages why are we doing the same stuff over and over when we are cutting so much already. Felt totally unnecessary to me. The characters practicing and learning Bending on screen is such an important part of the worldbuilding. Speaking of the worldbuilding I feel the earth kingdoms been done super dirty. All of the different issues and places, being condensed and simplified by alot takes away from the scale that the animated show had. Which felt realistically huge, complex, and extremely cultured. Also new viewers I spoke to all just assume that omashu was the capital because they never specify that. The only mention of ba sing sae is totally contextless from azula. So a first time viewer has a weird warped view of the world. Like where's the impoverished villages everywhere with complex geopolitical, economic, wartime, even spiritual issues.dont even get me started on zuko fighting back. I mean idk who that is but that scene is NOT zuko.
Katara was the main characterization I had a problem with, she didn’t feel like the essence of the character, and I don’t think it translated well. With Sokka he was definitely less goofy and adapted a bit differently, but he still felt like the essence of Sokka (aItthough I still think they could’ve included the sexism more than they did (but still in a subtle way) to show him overcoming his traditionalist ideas). I also think it’s baffling that they had an opportunity to show katara earning the master title more than the og show (and I thought they were doing that with showing her practice progression) but then she didn’t even get trained by pakku? And was still a “master”? That was a really confusing choice
I think the biggest issue with Sokka is they made him say outright that he and Suki were the same. Because he treated her as an equal the writers never gave him the chance to apologize to Suki. So it's not as clear whether he learned how his actions hurt Suki.
Just like with WOT they have characters doing things that they have not demonstrated training for. katara is not an ice bender and she doesn't learn to turn water to ice until second or third season of the animation. this fight scene comes off as girl gets angry and can do more than a master simply because she is an angry girl. it would have felt better to katara's character if they showed her training secretly then her demonstrate her new abilities not in a fight but in this is what i can do now kinda way and gain respect.
I'm headcanoning that Aang not learning to waterbend is just their substitute for "Aang running away from responsibility" since we don't have side quests anymore to showcase that so him purposely not taking on any waterbending is his way to not face his responsibilities
Great points. For me the biggest change to Zuko was toning his explosive rage and disrespect way down. He's downright cruel in how he speaks to Uncle Iroh in the cartoons at times, especially in season 1. While its actually kind of hard to watch, especially on re-watch, that's what makes the softer moments more impactful. Especially the BIG one in the season 3 finale. That's part of what makes his redemption so amazing. I just hope his redemption doesn't feel less earned because he was made more sympathetic from the start.
Ozai never believed Zuko to not be his son. In The Search, Zuko believed it for a while because of a secret letter that his mom had sent to her childhood love. When Zuko asks her about it in the end, Ursa reveals that the letter was a lie because she suspected Ozai was intercepting her messages. He had ensured that Zuko and Azula were his by having Ursa under observation even before the marriage. She wrote the obvious lie in her letter to draw out Ozai and confirm her suspicion about the letters. And she also admitted that it was a bit of wishful thinking in the hopes that Zuko would not become like Ozai. He didn't like her play very much and decided that if she wanted Zuko to be someone else's so badly then he would grant her wish by treating Zuko like he was not his own. Great guy ?
I don't agree on Katara tbh. Her lack of anger in the beginning is not what I think is the main difference to the animated series. There Katara takes on much more of a mother role, she feels the need to be the voice of reason, to be 'the adult one' in the team. In the live action series she is 'just a girl'. Even more she wants to be a warrior, which to my knowledge, really was not part of her character in the animated series. Katara is probably the character I like the least in the live action series. I agree on Aang, I liked that he is less joyful than in the animation, that made totally sense given what had happend to 'his family'.
I’m a bit surprised how much push back the shows getting. It’s absolutely not perfect but it didn’t feel far off from the one pieces adaptation to me, in fact they had a lot of the same issues in my opinion and they both had that same feeling to me you were describing where I can see how hard they worked on it and while that in itself is a bit of a flaw it’s a flaw that tells me the creators care and are trying and even if they miss the mark I can see what they were going for and it doesn’t bother me so much. I really think the show can pick up in overall quality in future seasons and that goes for both the OP LA and the ATLAB LA.
8:10 I have not finished your video yet, but even though I agree that Katara does change in the end you don’t really see that change happen and it’s kind of abrupt in the live action
i don't know way they make more season's , was a big let down for me , I feel like they diminish the brand Avatar the last Airbender . the writing was weak and was more like bad play on the world of Atla.
I was talking about Katara on twitter a few days ago and was basically saying the same thing – whereas animated Katara starts the show headstrong and outspoken, live action Katara has an arc over the course of season 1 about gaining confidence, not just in her bending but in her beliefs and opinions and her right to voice them. From telling sokka to stop treating her like a child, to rejecting jet’s attempt to claim her improvement as his doing, to standing up against pakku and bringing out all the women to help in the battle even after he refused, to asserting her ownership of her own mastery against zuko. If this was the intention then it’s understandable why she feels so much more “docile” until the later episodes where she starts to act more like cartoon katara, albeit still not quite there – it’s bc she’s on her journey to get there.
I appreciate your open view and agree with some of your takes however there are things that you’re missing out on Katara 1. Being outspoken isn’t only a trait that missing but also her desire to be a nurturing, mother figure and inspiring hope to others. Sure these things can be added in the next two seasons but doesn’t make sense to not start some traits like Nurturing and taking care of others when that stem from her water tribe roots. 2. 18:32 It’s unlikely that scene is going to happen because Katara is now a Waterbending master, they said she’s going to train Aang and Pakku already gave her a water potion so they’re no reason for them to be in the north anymore. Sokka 10:31 I’m pretty sure the reason why Sokka was upset was not because he lost to a girl but him failing at impressing a girl he likes because she outmatched him. We know from the beginning he wants to get wet with her(pun intended) so the intention there was to impress her. Aang 1. The problem with Aang's change is that his character flaw is weaker. In the original, his main flaws were his immaturity and avoiding responsibility. In this version, it's the fact he was gone 100 years which doesn’t work well because here he left to clear his head and actually try to come back. This makes his absence more blameless and people who criticize him for that sound like just talking about OG Aang lol. 2. Aang not trying to learn water bending doesn’t make sense for this version of the series because his drive here is that try to fulfill Avatar duties and end war. Kyoshi even mentions his responsibility to start mastering elements. Ironically enough if it was OG Aang this change actually makes more sense because he drives to have fun and be more carefree. By having Aang be more responsible and duties driven but attempt other elements is very incongruent. 3. 18:53 I don’t see them bring out Aang not just his because of character motivation ( which I said other point)but also because there is going to be a time skip and he needs to now master water and earth bending. It would be weird to have Aang act more immature when he’s older than younger despite him having more responsibilities/duties to take care. Will there be downtime sure, but can’t see this Aang having much of it knowing that Omashu has been taken by Fire Nation.
The Azula change makes more sense when you realize we’re dealing with a more Sympathetic Ozai although the lesson of her needing to defy to Ozai could be considered out of character.
I‘m a little bit sad that most discussion about Sokka is only about his sexism (mainly because that discussion already came up before the show started). For me, the far bigger concern with his character is that he suddenly seems to have become an optimist when he was clearly a rational pessimist in the cartoon and his bad luck from his pessimism was often a big part of his comedic scenes. I mean for crying out loud he was SINGING ALONG with the nomads about love! And he was the one lecturing Katara that they should trust in the power of love in the tunnels of Omashu! Hello?! That‘s the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what Sokka does in the cartoon! He was the one getting frustrated with the nomads and their singing and drew maps of the tunnels instead because he was the rational one in the group. It‘s a big part of his character and not only important for his comedic scenes but also for him to become the strategist of the group.
I don‘t really have a problem with most other characters and their different interpretation as long as I can still see that the original character in the cartoon could still behave in that way and fits their circumstances. But Sokka for me is just not the same character if he isn‘t a rational pessimist and they literally make him into the complete opposite. The Sokka from the cartoon clearly wouldn‘t have acted the that way in the the Omashu tunnels.
Wait, when did Zuko ever get the upper hand on Ozai? Ozai was clearly toying with him in the Agni Kai, in complete control the entire time, just waiting for Zuko to do something, anything.
thank you so much for this. it's tiring constantly seeing critiques like "it wasn't exactly like the original therefore it was bad". such a refreshing analysis of the live action characters! looking forward to your next videos!
I said this in your other video, but I have worked with children who have gone through trauma my whole career, and some kids will do anything to avoid their trauma and will go off and play and be goofy to avoid the pain. It is very realistic for a child to act like Aang in the show and to go off and avoid that pain. I’ve seen it many times and at first it surprised me in kids. But now I understand it cause it’s how they cope.
Also Aang not bending water by himself once, feels bad. Even my wife who is loving the show and disagrees with most of my problems is mad about that.
Great videos btw! The show is great and we do need more positivity about it. These are just gripes I have that I don’t see a positive for.
I saw what they were trying to do with Katara but in the end it could have been done better. I didn't have a problem with them wanting her to progress towards becoming someone who isn't afraid to be more assertive and show her anger, but I felt like it wasn't as impactful as it could have been because of both the script and the acting from Kiawentiio. Kiawentiio isn't a terrible actress but in those moments where she is supposed to be fierce and angry, it's still a bit too soft, especially her voice, and she could be a lot more expressive with her face. She has it in her though because I've seen her sound way more tough and passionate portraying her character in Netflix's Anne with an E.
That being said, the biggest thing that I was disappointed with about this live-action Katara is how they cut out how inspiring she is for those around her. She isn't just a waterbender, not just motherly, she isn't just angry and passionate, but she is also a spark. A spark that helps those that have lost hope light their fire again and join back the fight. A great example of this is in the animation is the episode when she inspires the earthbender prisoners to fight back. She gave a great speech to them hoping it would motivate them, but they still sat there doing nothing (which was a hard watch). Even so, she didn't give up on them and saw it would take more than words to uplift their spirits, so she helped by getting them coal. This is also a core element of who Katara is, and we don't see that from her in the live action.
Sure, she had her moments where she inspired Aang but what makes it even more admirable is the fact that she was always willing to stand up for anyone, any stranger. I noticed they could have put this in the live action by taking the elements of Katara's speech for the earbender prisoners and modify the speech so it could be given to the waterbending women of the northern water tribe. What would have made that scene in episode 8 where they are all standing together ready to join in on the battle even more impactful, is if they gave Katara a moment to give that speech to the women prior to them showing up ready to go against their tribe's sexist culture and fight. Since animated Katara had to do more than just shout a speech to the earthbender prisoners, the live-action could've taken this scenario a step further by having Katara demonstrate the combat waterbending that she has learned to the women, showing them there's more they can do than just heal. Some kind of moment like this on camera would have made Katara's part in the battle even more powerful.
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You might be right on how and why they change Katara in the live action but I personally still not like how they portrayed her. For the character growth that you mentioned, Katara's personality and behaviours (bossy, motherly, explosive, comforting, fierce) in the cartoon are her character traits, like she is not perfect but has flaws which I think are her defined personality and characteristic in the cartoon that does not really grow/change throughout the show, since it is who she is. The live action took a very different approach to her character and that's ok even if I don't like it, but I was mostly disappointed on how they completely omit her flaws, since in the cartoon she was sweet but also has some attitude, selfish, and can even be a sore looser sometimes. However, I hope you are right and we will see more of her original traits moving forward in S2 and S3, as S1 delt mostly her character growth towards the Katara in the cartoon.
You are so wonderful at explaining everything. Truly, I hope people watch this. And have a mind to listen. I think the live action is near perfect. I don’t understand the vitriol and hate towards the show. I just see a bunch of fans who are not true fans And they lack the spirituality that the animation highly regarded
I absolutely agree with what you said about Katara. Her reluctance, insecurities and fear that is being fed by not olnly witnessing her mother's death, but also her brother and Grandma is what is truly holding her back. Katara is considered a prodigy waterbender, so i believe what they did in the la really showcases why she became so powerful and a master in such a short notice, but will also showcase how an incecure girl became such a confident, in herself and her powers, woman. Her character ark and development is defently deeper than that of the cartoon.Really looking forward for season 2 and 3 Katara.
For Sokka i didn't mind that those sexist comments weren't in the show. I think the sexism was represented through patriarchy, with how he was presenting and introducing himself. Dad left ME incharge, not gran gran, but ME a 13 year old boy. He feels responsible for Katara and the village. Do i agree with this change? Yes and no. I agree with what you said tho, that is toned down to the point that we can't really say that yes sokka is sexist.
You were spot on with aang. We have to keep in mind that this is a live action. It would be kind of insensitive of him to ride on a koi fish after witnessing all his people dead.
Also agree with you on zuko and iroh. The anger the determination were there. The only think that they didn't include (and i was sooo happy about) is how disrespectful he was with his uncle.
It was pretty clear (maybe to me) what ozai was up to. Especially with what he was doing to azula. I agree with you, it gave us an insight on why azula is the way that she is in the later seasons and what really pushed her to hate Zuko so much.
Overall, it was a well made first season and i was pretty happy with the majority of the changes that they made. Looking forward for season 2 and 3.
Ps. Sorry if i don't make sense in some parts, English isn't my first language
I think the missed opportunity made was not showing Aang being playful and mischievious with Master Gyatsu. The Southern Air Temple scene could have easily shown Gyatsu racing Aang down the spire to show he can keep up with a grand master, then knock a pastry onto the other monks head to give him a reason to be all mean about anouncing the Avatar.
And what’s up with Suki’s fan throw? And Zuko’s haduken style fireball? And aangs literally flying without a glider? All these world-building things bothered me more than the plot changes, the bending and martial arts sometimes just didn’t feel grounded to reality, which is something that made the original great
4:47 This is a mischaracterization. Paku never said this in the original and doesn't believe this. In the North the women heal and the men fight because that is their tradition. Not because they hate women and think they're inferior. It completely reframes what Katara is up against as the personal beliefs of one man instead of the traditions of an entire community. Similar to the impearilistic traditions of the fire nation, the nomadic traditions of the Air Temple, or the isolationist traditions of the Earth Kingdom. During the show they end up running up against all these traditions and having to break through them or work around them. Removing this removes the character of the entire nation and makes it bland.
If the North was in need of warriors would the chief really be like, "oh darn. We're coming up short but old Paku hates women so I guess we'll all die". No. That is a terrible re-write.
leaving a comment to help the algorithms
You gave this way more grace than other series. Feels like rose tinted glasses
My issue with Sokka and sexism it that it's not entirely true. The current ideology dictates that any and all character flaws are superficial and are personal choices, which is objectively false. Sokka isn't sexist, his culture is. Both water tribes see men as warriors and women as healers. This is why all of the men and only the men left to fight the Fire Nation, leaving Sokka behind because he was too young. And one thing that I think wasn't commented on by neither the cartoon not the remake is that Sokka's pride was coming from the fact that he was indeed the best warrior of his tribe, slightly undercut by being the only warrior and the only "man" – the second best was like 5 years old.
How did you feel about Katara’s waterbending master arc? I felt that they didn‘t really do that one well…
Ang not wanting to water bend at all was M night levels of bad. That is the one major issue i have.
Seems so weird that a lot of people are not understading how different the tone is for both medias. Can't wait for the other parts of your review
I totally disagree that Aang shouldn't have had his playful stuff. The first step of grief is Denial. Aang is a child who cannot cope with the idea of his people gone until he is face to face with that reality at the air temple. I ENTIRELY disagree that he didn't need to be learning waterbending. Bending is so underdeveloped in the live action. All the new viewers ive spoken to were asking specifically "why wasn't aang trying to learn waterbending?" It was so extremely necessary that he tried to learn. Aang being naturally gifted frustrating katara until she surpasses him with dedication and hard work is such an important character dynamic and arc for both characters. Zukos arc is being sped up like crazy for some unknown reason alot of the weight of those arcs are kindve just flat to me. I really really wanted to love this show. There's people who care working on it and there's some great things. But it's like Avatar Lite, and I have tried to and just cannot justify any changes as being beneficial. The only ADDITION I loved is the 41st being zukos crew. But there's just so much subtraction. Showing so much of ozai and azula doesn't bring much benefit to any characters. They have essentially the exact same scene of azula play out 5 times they all have the same messages why are we doing the same stuff over and over when we are cutting so much already. Felt totally unnecessary to me. The characters practicing and learning Bending on screen is such an important part of the worldbuilding. Speaking of the worldbuilding I feel the earth kingdoms been done super dirty. All of the different issues and places, being condensed and simplified by alot takes away from the scale that the animated show had. Which felt realistically huge, complex, and extremely cultured. Also new viewers I spoke to all just assume that omashu was the capital because they never specify that. The only mention of ba sing sae is totally contextless from azula. So a first time viewer has a weird warped view of the world. Like where's the impoverished villages everywhere with complex geopolitical, economic, wartime, even spiritual issues.dont even get me started on zuko fighting back. I mean idk who that is but that scene is NOT zuko.
Katara was the main characterization I had a problem with, she didn’t feel like the essence of the character, and I don’t think it translated well. With Sokka he was definitely less goofy and adapted a bit differently, but he still felt like the essence of Sokka (aItthough I still think they could’ve included the sexism more than they did (but still in a subtle way) to show him overcoming his traditionalist ideas). I also think it’s baffling that they had an opportunity to show katara earning the master title more than the og show (and I thought they were doing that with showing her practice progression) but then she didn’t even get trained by pakku? And was still a “master”? That was a really confusing choice
I think the biggest issue with Sokka is they made him say outright that he and Suki were the same. Because he treated her as an equal the writers never gave him the chance to apologize to Suki. So it's not as clear whether he learned how his actions hurt Suki.
Just like with WOT they have characters doing things that they have not demonstrated training for. katara is not an ice bender and she doesn't learn to turn water to ice until second or third season of the animation. this fight scene comes off as girl gets angry and can do more than a master simply because she is an angry girl. it would have felt better to katara's character if they showed her training secretly then her demonstrate her new abilities not in a fight but in this is what i can do now kinda way and gain respect.
I'm headcanoning that Aang not learning to waterbend is just their substitute for "Aang running away from responsibility" since we don't have side quests anymore to showcase that so him purposely not taking on any waterbending is his way to not face his responsibilities
Great points. For me the biggest change to Zuko was toning his explosive rage and disrespect way down. He's downright cruel in how he speaks to Uncle Iroh in the cartoons at times, especially in season 1.
While its actually kind of hard to watch, especially on re-watch, that's what makes the softer moments more impactful. Especially the BIG one in the season 3 finale. That's part of what makes his redemption so amazing.
I just hope his redemption doesn't feel less earned because he was made more sympathetic from the start.
About the comics – (spoiler warning)
Ozai never believed Zuko to not be his son. In The Search, Zuko believed it for a while because of a secret letter that his mom had sent to her childhood love. When Zuko asks her about it in the end, Ursa reveals that the letter was a lie because she suspected Ozai was intercepting her messages. He had ensured that Zuko and Azula were his by having Ursa under observation even before the marriage. She wrote the obvious lie in her letter to draw out Ozai and confirm her suspicion about the letters. And she also admitted that it was a bit of wishful thinking in the hopes that Zuko would not become like Ozai. He didn't like her play very much and decided that if she wanted Zuko to be someone else's so badly then he would grant her wish by treating Zuko like he was not his own. Great guy ?
❤
I don't agree on Katara tbh. Her lack of anger in the beginning is not what I think is the main difference to the animated series. There Katara takes on much more of a mother role, she feels the need to be the voice of reason, to be 'the adult one' in the team. In the live action series she is 'just a girl'. Even more she wants to be a warrior, which to my knowledge, really was not part of her character in the animated series. Katara is probably the character I like the least in the live action series.
I agree on Aang, I liked that he is less joyful than in the animation, that made totally sense given what had happend to 'his family'.
I’m a bit surprised how much push back the shows getting. It’s absolutely not perfect but it didn’t feel far off from the one pieces adaptation to me, in fact they had a lot of the same issues in my opinion and they both had that same feeling to me you were describing where I can see how hard they worked on it and while that in itself is a bit of a flaw it’s a flaw that tells me the creators care and are trying and even if they miss the mark I can see what they were going for and it doesn’t bother me so much. I really think the show can pick up in overall quality in future seasons and that goes for both the OP LA and the ATLAB LA.
Show is a hot mess
8:10 I have not finished your video yet, but even though I agree that Katara does change in the end you don’t really see that change happen and it’s kind of abrupt in the live action
i don't know way they make more season's , was a big let down for me , I feel like they diminish the brand Avatar the last Airbender . the writing was weak and was more like bad play on the world of Atla.
I clicked on this video thinking Sarah Palin was an Avatar fan
I was talking about Katara on twitter a few days ago and was basically saying the same thing – whereas animated Katara starts the show headstrong and outspoken, live action Katara has an arc over the course of season 1 about gaining confidence, not just in her bending but in her beliefs and opinions and her right to voice them. From telling sokka to stop treating her like a child, to rejecting jet’s attempt to claim her improvement as his doing, to standing up against pakku and bringing out all the women to help in the battle even after he refused, to asserting her ownership of her own mastery against zuko. If this was the intention then it’s understandable why she feels so much more “docile” until the later episodes where she starts to act more like cartoon katara, albeit still not quite there – it’s bc she’s on her journey to get there.
I wonder how much they paid you to defend every poor writing decision of this show. Wow.
I appreciate your open view and agree with some of your takes however there are things that you’re missing out on
Katara
1. Being outspoken isn’t only a trait that missing but also her desire to be a nurturing, mother figure and inspiring hope to others. Sure these things can be added in the next two seasons but doesn’t make sense to not start some traits like Nurturing and taking care of others when that stem from her water tribe roots.
2. 18:32 It’s unlikely that scene is going to happen because Katara is now a Waterbending master, they said she’s going to train Aang and Pakku already gave her a water potion so they’re no reason for them to be in the north anymore.
Sokka
10:31 I’m pretty sure the reason why Sokka was upset was not because he lost to a girl but him failing at impressing a girl he likes because she outmatched him. We know from the beginning he wants to get wet with her(pun intended) so the intention there was to impress her.
Aang
1. The problem with Aang's change is that his character flaw is weaker. In the original, his main flaws were his immaturity and avoiding responsibility. In this version, it's the fact he was gone 100 years which doesn’t work well because here he left to clear his head and actually try to come back. This makes his absence more blameless and people who criticize him for that sound like just talking about OG Aang lol.
2. Aang not trying to learn water bending doesn’t make sense for this version of the series because his drive here is that try to fulfill Avatar duties and end war. Kyoshi even mentions his responsibility to start mastering elements. Ironically enough if it was OG Aang this change actually makes more sense because he drives to have fun and be more carefree. By having Aang be more responsible and duties driven but attempt other elements is very incongruent.
3. 18:53 I don’t see them bring out Aang not just his because of character motivation ( which I said other point)but also because there is going to be a time skip and he needs to now master water and earth bending. It would be weird to have Aang act more immature when he’s older than younger despite him having more responsibilities/duties to take care. Will there be downtime sure, but can’t see this Aang having much of it knowing that Omashu has been taken by Fire Nation.
The Azula change makes more sense when you realize we’re dealing with a more Sympathetic Ozai although the lesson of her needing to defy to Ozai could be considered out of character.