#it's probably her hyperspecialized military skills aka her brains her physical abilities and her sang froid

[did-we-imagine]

Both Azula & Katara are OP.

OTOH, neither of them is a Mary Sue. A mary sue is an overly cringey perfect character for whom the universe's rules bend (usually a youthful -teens to early 20s- fanfic author's self-insert character).

Azula & Katara's "over poweredness" doesn't come from thin air.

->Katara is shown to be a very hard worker who trains more diligently than Aang does, to the point where despite him having more natural affinity than her (debatable IMO, because I feel Aang's airbending training is probably the real reason behind him having an edge over her at first, rather than just sheer prodigiousness on Aang's part), she surpasses him & becomes her teacher.

->Azula is according to various fan analyses either a freak of nature thanks to fantastic genetics, or the result of very, very hard work with a pefectionist mindset. I would say she is both (look those avatar and fire lord genes were not wasted on her lol), and that she enjoys firebending and/or is more motivated to achieve its mastery than Zuko was because of positive reinforcement VS Zuko's generally more negative experience with it. (That's just a hypothesis? I have a personal HC on this, I'll leave it for another time).

With all of this said, I do believe that the one who is the most in tune/connected with her element is Toph. Idk how to explain, but Toph is indissociable from earth. She met the original masters at a very young age, is younger than everyone else, and has created a whole sub bending category (metalbending). If fire and water are elements ti be bent for Azula and Katara, then earth is literally Toph's 5th sense (it's her eyesight!).

PS: Many people sleep on Katara's genius in waterbending because Aang had an easier time at first. I think that she is fucking badass, not only for the feats anon mentioned, but because my girl is the only bender who has master all sub bendings of her elements per the show's canon and literally beats an older master (Hama?!). Toph is not shown fighting Bumi in the show, and Azula doesn't beat any extraordinary older master (Iroh/Ozai/Jeong Jeong) in the show. (That one time she burnt Iroh was more due to her intelligence, it's not the same as over powering someone in a face to face fight, though she stood her own against 5 opponents).

People be calling Azula mary sue or overpowered while hailing Katara who's the same age and speedran her way from zero to a master in under a year, surpassing Azula who was trained with the best masters since childhood.

Very ture.