#this is what we mean when we say aang idealizes katara

[phsychobanana]

In your eyes

Pairing: Zuko x Firebender!reader

Summary: When Zuko falls for a member of the gaang, he fears that his mistakes may ruin his chances with them.

Word count: 2.3k

A/n~ I think this is gender neutral? I don't remember putting any specific pronouns, but correct me if i'm wrong. Enjoy!

Funnily enough, the first time you met Zuko was at the northern water tribe. Two fire benders surrounded by waterbenders during a full moon. Not exactly an ideal situation for any firebender, but you were welcome, whereas Zuko was not.

You were running as fast as you could, your legs carrying you in a speed you didn't know was even possible. Katara was in trouble and the moon was slowly disappearing from the sky, fire nation soldiers were everywhere, the water benders were struggling with the loss of the moon and you were terrified.

"Katara!" You yell to her as you get closer to the girl. She was fighting a boy you had never seen before.

You jump on the boy's back and hold your hand to his throat, heating your palm up slowly.

"I would choose my next move carefully if I were you." You say as Katara puts her own hands to her neck and moves them around trying to mimic an explosion.

Suddenly, the boy moves his hands to your face and you feel a burning swipe across your eyebrow. You let go of him and move your hands to your face, a searing pain on your eyebrow almost making you drop to your knees. Katara rushes to your side in a panic,

You see the boy grab Aang and run off before you could do anything.

"Who was that?" You ask Katara angrily.

"Zuko."

***

Zuko followed you and the gaang around for weeks, those weeks turning into months. And the more he saw you, the more he wanted to see you again.

Unfortunately for him, the more you saw him, the more you wanted to smash his head through a window. But every couple has their problems.

You held a very strong grudge towards him, seeing as your eyebrow had scarred and you now had a line going through your eyebrow and over your eye. It made you angry every time you looked in the mirror.

Unbeknownst to you, Zuko felt absolutely terrible for what he had done. He didn't mean to scar you, he would never wish his fate on anyone. Not even his greatest enemy, which lamentably, happened to be you at the moment.

***

The next memorable time that you saw Zuko was in the crystal cave. You had both been thrown in there as a punishment and you were freaking out. Aang, Katara, and Sokka needed you.

You started hitting the walls, throwing as much fire power at it as possible, you even broke a crystal into one big sharp shard and slammed it against the door repeatedly, but it was no use.

"There's no point in doing that." Zuko says, looking at you with his blazing golden eyes. "We aren't getting out until they want us out."

You just scoff in response, unsure of why he was even talking to you in the first place.

He looks at you when he hears your scoff, "You don't have to be rude."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt your feelings by being mean?" You mock him in a baby voice, causing him to roll his eyes.

"What's your problem?" Zuko asks, looking you up and down with pinched eyebrows.

"What is my problem? You're my problem, Zuko. You've been hunting my friends and I for months, you've hurt us -or attempted to- more times than I can count, you gave me this," You point to your scar, making him flinch, "And you have the nerve to ask me what my problem is?" You let out another scoff and turn around, giving him your back.

Zuko looks down at his hands, not knowing what to say. He watches as you light each one of your fingers up like a candle to keep yourself distracted.

He walks over and sits next to you, doing the same with his fingers.

You look at him and roll your eyes.

He smiles softly to himself. You haven't moved away from him, yet.

***

If there had ever been even a sliver of you that had liked him in that cave, it was completely gone now. He had betrayed you that night in the cave and it hurt you.

It was the day of the eclipse and you were running through the underground tunnels, looking for Sokka. As you were running you bumped into something, falling hard to the ground.

"Ow!" A familiar voice huffed as the other person made contact with the ground.

"Zuko?"

He looks up, his hair falling into his eyes. You notice his eyes widen and light up, but just as he goes to say something you lunge at him.

With your hands around his neck, you yell at him through gritted teeth. "I trusted you!"

"I know, I'm sorry." He barely gets the words out, gasping and clawing at your hands.

You let go of him and slam him into the ground hard.

"I swear to the spirits, if you ever try to hurt my friends again I will kill you with my own two hands. No bending, no help, just me and you." You say and walk away to go find Sokka.

Zuko sits there for a moment replaying what you said in his head over again. A small smile spreads across his face and he jumps up, running after you.

***

"You have got to be kidding me!" You yell at your friends. They were letting Zuko, the guy that had tried to kill you and capture Aang on more occasions than you could count, into the group.

"Everyone deserves a second.....or 100th chance, Y/n." Aang says, placing a hand on your shoulder as Zuko takes a step towards you.

You clench your fist defensively, making him put his hands up in defense as he takes another step forward.

"I get why you wouldn't trust me, but I've changed." He says, taking one of your hands in his. You pull away with a hollow laugh and walk away.

"Fine, let this psycho join us. I don't care." You say as you disappear behind a wall.

Zuko looks down with a sigh. "Challenge accepted..." He says under his breath as he thinks of ways to win you over.

***

Two days after Zuko joined the gaang, you were attacked. A pack of firebenders found you, attacking the group. You all paired together, Sokka with Toph, Katara with Aang, and you with Zuko. You had begged Toph to pair with you but Sokka stole her, leaving you with the one person you did not want.

You were back to back, fighting off the soldiers when another fleet arrived. The gaang chose to run, not wanting to be captured. You stayed behind to fight off the rest of the soldiers so the others could get away.

"Y/n come on! Hurry!" Sokka yelled for you as you were running after Appa. A soldier dived at you and their hand grabbed at your ankle, making you tumble to the ground.

"Go!" You yell and Aang pulls Appa out of there. You kick your foot back at the soldier, successfully kicking them in the face. You run off into the forest, You can hear the soldiers running after you as you twist through the trees.

You feel something grab your arm and pull you toward them. Looking up, you see Zuko. He's not looking at you, instead looking at the soldiers running around looking for you. You notice that he pulled you into a clearing hidden by trees and bushes. He places his hand over you mouth as you go to say something.

His adams apple bobs as he swallows harshly, listening and watching for any signs that the soldiers might be headed towards the two of you. After no signs, he looks down at you, finally making eye contact.

His golden eyes shine as he looks at you and he smiles softly.

"Thank you." You say quietly, not wanting to be too loud.

He nods.

"Do you still hate me?" He asks with a barely there smirk.

You shake your head. "I don't think I ever really hated you." He smiles at you. "I just strongly disliked you. It was a very strong dislike. Very strong."

"Okay, I get it."

You laugh softly at his dismissiveness of the subject.

"Do you think I'm still a bad guy?" His voice is quiet. Barely a whisper, but you hear it.

You look at him, he's looking down at the grass, his fingers are playing with each other out of habit, his hair is fallen over his face and covering his eyes. You never quite realized how pretty he was.

"Of course not-" You begin to tell him your answer, but your words are interrupted by yelling.

The two of you turn your heads in the direction of the noises and see your friends running to you.

"There they are!" Katara calls to the others as she makes eye contact with you.

Zuko lets out a frustrated breath at the interruption, but he gets up and dusts off his clothes, offering you his hand.

***

The days after that moment in the woods would replay in your mind every night before you would sleep, every morning when you'd awake, every meal, every training session with Aang and Zuko, every group meeting, every day all day.

You had started watching Zuko more than you would care to admit. The way he tried to make up for all of his past mistakes always seemed to put a smile on your face. He helped Katara in the kitchen when he could, he always made time to talk about weapons with Sokka, he always played games with Toph and Aang, and he was especially trying to make it up to you. Though you didn't notice that part.

He always pulled your chairs out for you, he helped teach you how to control the lightning within you, he even got you flowers one time. Unfortunately the flowers backfired and Appa ended up eating them, sneezing petals for a week.

You were currently training Aang on the beach with Zuko. The sun was blazing down on your back and your cotton shirt was absorbing all of the heat, making you sweat more than you would normally.

You walk over to where Katara, Toph, Sokka, and Suki are sitting, sipping their little coconut drinks as they watch you and Zuko beat the arrows off of Aang.

You take both ends of your shirt and pull it over your head, leaving you in your shorts and bathing suit top. When you walk back over to the boys you notice how red Zuko's face is.

"You alright over there, Z?" You ask, worried that he might be overworking himself in the heat.

His head snaps to look you in the eyes, his face going an even deeper red.

"Y-yeah, heh. Why wouldn't I be?" He looks around, avoiding looking at you with everything in him.

You decide to ignore his weird reaction to your words and go back to teaching Aang.

"This one is a partner move. So, I'll demonstrate with Zuko and then when you understand how to do it, you can try with him." You explain as you walk over to the spluttering and red as a beet, boy.

You move his hand to your waist and his other in yours, your own face heating up a bit at this position. You then kick his own foot out from underneath him and flip him over your shoulder. You light your hand ablaze and put it near Zuko's neck like one would a sword.

"I thought you said this was a partner move," Zuko groans out.

"Yeah, good guy and bad guy. Partners." You say with a smirk.

"You can do that, right Aang?"

Aang nods his head excitedly.

After another hour or two of flipping Zuko over your shoulders, you all sit down around a camp fire on the beach for dinner. You and Zuko offer to collect the plates and take them back up to the house.

"You did good in training today." He says as he takes the plates from your hands and places them on the counter.

You let out a small laugh.

"Well I would assume I did considering the amount of times I was able to flip you."

He rolls his eyes and you take this moment to admire him.

His hair falls in perfect strands across his forehead, his golden eyes reflect the light of the setting sun peeping through the window, his skin is soft as you place your hand on his.

He looks at you confused when he feels your touch.

"You did good, too." You say softly.

He smiles at this, looking down at your hand that was still on his.

"How do you see me?" He asks, breaking the peaceful silence.

"What do you mean?"

"What am I in your eyes?"

You think for a moment, pondering how your answer.

"You're a person who has made many mistakes." You begin, making his shoulders droop a little bit. "But you are also a person trying to make up for all of those mistakes. You're a kid, a kid who has been through a lot. Yet, you're still sweet and funny and kind and loyal. You try to hide how you feel, but I can still see every emotion you have in your actions. You're trying. And for that, I think you are amazing. That is who you are in my eyes."

He doesn't say anything for a moment, making you feel nervous about how he would react.

With a million thoughts racing through his mind, he decides not to say anything. You said that his actions meant more, so he spoke with an action.

He gently placed his hand on your cheek and leaned in slowly, giving you time to pull away at any second. But you don't.

His lips meet yours in a soft kiss, his hair tickling your cheek. You smile into his kiss making him smile as well. Your arms wrap around his neck and you pull him closer as he pulls away from the kiss. You rest you foreheads against each other, catching your breath.

"I think I like you." He says, making you laugh.

"Oh shut up." You say and lean in for another kiss.

[sokkastyles]

As the eldest daughter in my family, I've always kind of related to Katara in some ways. I wasn't parentified like she was, but whenever I saw her trying to keep things together for the Gaang in the show or whenever I see her being the emotional anchor for the Gaang in a way, I could really relate to that, especially because Katara is sort of always expected to be that person for everyone and she never really gets a break from it. I'm nowhere near as incredible as Katara is, but I have experienced being the person who was always expected to be kind and forgiving, always willing to compromise and understand, and never really being allowed to be mean or angry or even make mistakes in the same ways that some of my other family members were allowed to do. I've heard my family members say things like "that's just what that person is like, that's just what their personality is like, nothing you can do about it." It still frustrates me to hear that, because it often feels like I've never been given that same margin of error. I'm not an ideal older sister or daughter by any means and I've definitely made mistakes. I'm sure there must be other girls and women who can relate to this too. And I think one of the main reasons Zutara has always been, and still is, appealing to me is because Zuko sees Katara for who she is, the good parts and the less than perfect parts, and he doesn't ever make her feel guilty about any of it. He takes her seriously, gives her a lot of care and emotional support, and is very good at meeting her where she is and trying to understand her rather than dismissing the parts of her personality that he doesn't understand or are more complicated. That's the type of emotional support I would like from a partner one day, and I wish Katara and Zuko had ended up together for that reason too.

Tbh, when people (usually KA shippers) talk about Katara getting to be a child with Aang, they talk about in based on the idea that what she needs is to be like Aang. They want her to be carefree and do cute things like penguin sled. And even though Katara enjoys doing those things, when she penguin sleds with Aang, she doesn't actually experience herself as a kid again. Her reaction is "I haven't done this since I was a kid," and Aang points out that she talks as if she isn't still a kid, because she doesn't feel like one, and going penguin sledding doesn't magically transform her. If anything, that scene emphasizes how much Katara does not consider herself a kid. Which doesn't mean she isn't one, but Katara's attitude towards penguin sledding highlights her parentification, not reverses it.

When Katara acts like a kid, she often acts in ways that get her hated by the fandom. In what scenes does Katara actually get to experience being a kid again, I ask you?

Katara's inner child is not happy-go-lucky like Aang. Katara's inner child is selfish and full of anger and grief and fear. And validating that child is just as important as Katara getting the opportunity to play. I just find it interesting that certain people scream about letting Katara be a kid when she's doing the things that Aang wants her to do, and yet one of the episodes that show Katara the most in touch with the child she is is an episode where she gets accused of acting in a way that is not herself or too adult or too dark.

Katara avenging her mother and confronting the man who murdered her is an acknowledgement of Katara's stolen childhood and one of the most clear expressions she has of taking it back, literally reclaiming her identity. And she doesn't do it in a way that's innocent or kind or cute or wholesome or acceptably feminine, but it still comes from a need to be the child she is.

And Zuko is the one who makes that happen for her, and who doesn't tell her what the mature or proper way to do it is.

I read a quote recently from a review of the remake of Carrie that instantly made me think of Katara, and I feel like it's relevant both in the ways we talk about Katara as a heroic character and as a parentified child.

Whether she’s volunteering to take her sister’s place in the arena or grooming her son to lead the resistance; gunning down the gangsters who sell drugs to the kids in her neighborhood or swinging swords to avenge her daughter, the “strong female character” is often stirred by a maternal concern, a quintessential desire to preserve her community, to protect the weak and vulnerable. Her bad-assery must be in the service of a greater good. Even when she’s more ethically complex (like the Bride, who begrudgingly admits that all the people she killed to get to her daughter, “felt good”), she never takes a place at the table of Walter White’s grand epiphany: “I did it for me.”

- Laura Bogart, The Trouble With Carrie: Strong Female Characters and Onscreen Violence

Katara's actions in the Southern Raiders are one of the best expressions of her being a child because she does it for herself. She does it BECAUSE she is a child and she was hurt. When Katara is penguin sledding because Aang asked her to, it never approaches the point where she's doing it for herself or letting go of the idea that she isn't a kid like the others around her. It's only when she's confronting Yon Rah that she's acting not as her mother's replacement, but as the child who was left behind. The child who, like Carrie, needed the adults around her to protect her.

Of course, Katara's actions are nowhere near as extreme as Carrie's, but both stories tap into something intrinsic about girlhood and the desire for validation in a world that adultifies girls but at the same time tries to keep them infantalized.

[longing-for-rain]

Do you think Bryke are creepy for saying that they love the trope of the kid having a crush on the babysitter and that this was the major inspiration for the dynamic behind Kataang? I know Kataang shippers are always denying that they ever had a sibling bond but it's basically canon.

Absolutely. It’s very creepy, not just from the motherly undertones it brings, but the overall dynamic.

I think it’s very fitting for Katara and Aang because the dynamic between them was never equal. Katara was always in a position where Aang depended on her emotionally the way a child depends on a mother or big sister. I actually found the moment where she and Sokka hug him and promise “we’re your family now” very sweet—and making this romantic just ruins it.

As for the babysitter-crush trope being explicitly encouraged by the creators, let’s unpack this. What is a babysitter? It’s a job where an older kid has obligation to look after a younger kid. The younger kid is dependent on the older kid. The younger kid receives emotional support and care from the older kid that is not reciprocated. We see this very clearly between Katara and Aang; she is constantly acting as his support system while he never does the same in return. I mean, he wasn’t even there with her when she confronted her greatest trauma; he just sat there spitting out insultingly moralizing comments.

This is just another example of the maturity gap in heterosexual relationships being glorified, honestly. Immature men are idealized as “cute” and “nice guys” even though their immaturity often serves as an excuse to avoid reciprocating the energy and hard work put into the relationship by the woman. It’s draining to be a woman in that situation. Because it is so close to a mother/child dynamic.

One final note is that the “babysitter crush” inspiration solidifies the one-sided nature of it. It’s not an uncommon trope, and a key feature of it is a little kid getting googly eyes for an older girl who just isn’t thinking about him that way.

Her lack of interest is framed as an obstacle for the male protagonist to overcome rather than a boundary to be respected. It’s simply expected of her that she’ll eventually “see the light” and give him a chance if he’s a good enough hero, wins against the Bad Guy, etc. It’s appealing to a young male audience because it gives them the idea that if they work hard enough, that hot older girl they fantasize about will finally notice them. That’s exactly what kataang is.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

What i just noticed about a lot of kataabg antis (often covered as zutarians ) is that they love to cherrypick scenes and take them out of context.

for example they claim that aang didn‘t support katara in the sothern raiders as vice versa in the desert but they completely ignore the fact that they were close to dying and katara basically had no time to talk aang down? On the very next day we see that katara was running behind him the entire time and trying to uplift him.

or the typical „aang idealized katara“ card they play and say that aang said to pakku she didn‘t mean it that way when she challenged him. Well katara also said the same when aang said „your rules stink“ and she almost apologized to pakku because of aang, the only reason she challenged him was after he said „i am waiting little girl“.

Or when he said to toph in the chase that „she didn‘t mean it that way.“ Do these people forget they were fighting the entire night, didn‘t get a second of sleep and were chased by 3 elite soldiers? It is as if the circumstances never matter because it just doesn’t fit your narrative.

You just hit the nail on the head with that last line. What actually happened doesn't matter, what matter is making Aang look bad so they can make Zuko look better by comparison and thus act like Zutara is the only good choice of endgame for Katara.

[sora-of-uranus]

The removal of the sexism pisses me off not because it just affects Sokkas character but because it has ruined almost every woman in the show.

Suki takes off her make up often, as if it isn't a large part of her cultural identity and personality, as if her being a kyoshi warior and her destinctly femenine clothes are something to be ashamed off or that hinders her. Because its only her that gets this treat amongst the warriors, and shes the only main kyoshi warrior for the audience.

Yue's entire character is removed. It is replaced with what I think is meant to be a sympathetic princess to the people, she joins the nans in the kitchens and make deserts for the children. Like a disney princess whose quirky and silly and held back only by her title of a princess. Gone is the battle between her desire to help and her duty to be a water tribe ideal woman. Gone is her realising that the best way to help her people is to not be an ideal woman, but to take action and to do what no one else can, to become one with the moon so that she can forever help not just her tribe but the entire world. It is depressing, it is deep, it isn't fair to her but when has the world ever been fair?

Katara aswell. Her bending is forever unlocked by men (Aang and Jet), her defiance of authority is lessened and her naievety is also changed. A lot of her motherhood role is also completlty gone since they have changed Sokkas sexism into elder brother smothering. Her fight with Paku holds a lot less significance since she has no RAGE behind her. No rage that has built for YEARS as time and time again people have said no to her face for being a woman, for being weak, for not being enough simply because of who she is. that doesn't exist for her anymore because the water tribes are just...nice. We see one bad person in the water tribe and its Hadoka and he's mean to sokka! Kataras rage comes from Paku saying no to her, and whilst thats swell, it changes her entire "I'm a master now" moment into just...lame girlbossery. Thats kinda how the entire last 2 episodes felt like for her character. A common girlboss character without the emotional depth to make it femenism.

I think my main issue is that both shows set themselves up as being femenist by nature. The og show wanted to tackle issues with sexism, using book 1 as its main demonstration with it, but the theme still follows throughout the narative. netflix's show outright said they were removing the sexist elements. When you place youself onto that pedastal, any sexist writing you have becomes emphasised.

The og show undoubtably has sexist moments! Irohs comments to June are the most obvious to me, a long with a couple comments from Zuko later on. You can certainly argue that the extreme lack of GOOD mother figures is an issue (Kat and Sokkas mother is dead, Zukos is 'dead', and Toph is awful and rather quite compared to her father). Theres other examples, although currently my brain cannot think of any since I don't often write indepth critisms.

The live actions main point of sexism is its female main characters. we literally meet Yue in the kitchen! Women can be in kitchens but that is certainly a choice! Theres this strange hatred for make up aswell, yes with Suki but also with Sokka. His war paint is removed. Its like saying make up cannot be worn by strong fighters which is rather sexist. Speaking off: not putting Sokka in the kyoshi outfit is just...dumb? If you want to show him learning the style, having him wear the outfit. Its an aspect of the style and philosophy. A man wearing make up and a skirt doesn't emasculate him yet the show makes it feel that way with the refusal to do it. "Oh but then you'd have Sokka and Suki kiss in the kyoshi outfits" who cares. "it will look like lesbians" it won't. Even if it did, who cares? you can't be 'femenist' and anti-lesbian. Putting Sokka in the Kyoshi outfit, having him respect it, is just as important as having Aang learn the other elements, or Iroh creating lightning redirection. Why? because it shows a respect of culture, and how you can blend that into your own way of thinking. It's cultural extchanged based on respect.

When you name yourself femenist, yet have explicitly sexist writing, your GOING to get dogpiled with critism based on that 'femenist' msg.

[kataraslove]

I just stumbled across your acc and I gotta say, I agree with alotta ur takes

Ur sooo well spoken and I really enjoy reading your thoughts and opinions

Katara is one of my favorite characters and it makes me really happy to see someone appreciate her and her writing

Ngl a lot of atla fans r lowkey braindead so ur acc is pretty refreshing

Thanks for posting!! 🩷

thank you! 🩷 your words are too kind. i appreciate it.

i did mention this before, but this blog stemmed kind of entirely out of spite. i was sick and tired of fandom on here telling me that there was only one way to interpret and enjoy my favourite character, dictating who i could or could not ship her with and how much of a stan that made me. it’s not an experience just unique to the atla fandom, of course. it’s becoming something more apparent nowadays especially, the ways in which multiple readings and interpretations of a character is heavily discouraged by fandom in favour of just one.

it’s baffling how, for so many years, there was a strict binaric interpretation of katara’s character, with 0 being non-canon and 1 being completely in favour of all things canon. either you had to vehemently agree with everything that bryke wrote for katara’s within atla and post-canon, to the point where i have seen people defend the lack of statues of her as “oh, she probably didn’t want one anyway,” (NO!!) or you had to have deep-rooted anger and rejection for all things that were done to her story, in the guise of katara deserving better.

katara does deserve better narratively, but NOT in the ways that the tumblr fandom thinks she should have. not in the ways that she should be ambassador to the fire nation, or become firelady (a racist depiction in fanon and nothing but a decorative title in canon) and live out the rest of her life by zuko’s side, serving and prioritizing zuko’s nation.

“but wouldn’t it be empowering if katara sat on the throne of her oppressors and got to dictate - “ no. it’s not. stop advocating for that type of ending for women from oppressed and marganized groups. stop acting like that is the ideal future that katara wanted this whole time, that ruling as part of a foreign monarchy that decimated your people and your culture is the ultimate threshold for liberation.

i’ve seen people who claim to take a doylist perspective for critique of atla (read: kataang)’s writing completely lose all comprehension when it comes to critically assessing post-canon zutara. by that i mean, if we continue with the writing direction that we saw for all of the female atla characters in the sequel series, a zutara endgame would position katara in a worse outcome than she got narratively. but you tell anyone that and it’s an instant “zuko would have given her 10 statues!!”

but most importantly, nothing has radicalized me more over this year than seeing the “katara deserves better (in the form of zuko)” crowd, the same crowd who is currently dreading any form of fixing or retcons from avatar studios in upcoming content, defend the hell out of natla katara’s writing. the very same people who were praising katara’s arc to the stars, stating that it was nearly complete until the two grown men decided to pair her up with aang and ruined all at the end.

well, what about the group of zutara shippers in the natla writer’s room who handed her everything in the narrative, who removed her flaws, her anger, her compassion, who stripped her down to everything except hope, all in the name so that she wouldn’t appear unlikable to audiences. i mean, that tremendously backfired for them, because now the young actress who plays katara is getting hate spewed at her for failing to portray katara interestingly, when the problem has always been the shit writing.

anyway, i appreciate this message! glad i could be of service and it’s nice that you’re a zuko fan who ships kataang! lots of people who love zuko do.

“a lot of atla fans are braindead” LMAO you can say that again!!!

[kittenshift-17]

I want to know, if you don't mind and if you feel comfortable, your honest opinion, from the bottom of your heart, why you choose zutara over kataang. I'm really curious to know an adult's perspective about this ship.

Hi,

Thanks for asking this. Hopefully, it's with genuine curiosity and not a means to find things to argue with or attack me over.... anyway... I've been thinking about this a little bit, and the answer is two-fold.

The short answer is that I pick Zutara over Kataang because I don't like Aang very much, and I do like Zuko; I think the characterization of both just lends itself more to an appreciation of Zuko and his redemption arc over Aang's hero struggle.

The long answer is a summation of the following:

Aang's a child in the series, not yet even a teenager, and I think we can all agree that he often displays his lack of maturity throughout the series in several places. Now, this isn't necessarily a fair argument to bring to the table, given that he would undoubtedly mature as he grew (we assume) and did some growing up, even during the series. That said, his age - his being younger than Katara, is another reason I prefer Zutara, because most of the time - at least when I'm writing them - the gaang are either in their mid-late teens or early twenties, and I think at those ages, most girls don't want to date someone younger than them. Partially, it's social conditioning, but developmentally, boys tend to be two years behind girls in regard to maturity, etc., so it's a big factor.

We see throughout the series that Katara goes for guys that are... shall we say, more "manly" than Aang? Jet is a sexy schmooze with mixed-up ideals, but he's older than her and well-fit. Haru is buff as hell and kind of adorable (before the mustache makes its debut, anyway). In that regard, Zuko is much more Katara's 'type' than a scrawny, short, skinny bald kid with arrows tattooed all over him. Also, I mean, she seems to prefer men with great hair, and Aang just doesn't fit the bill.

Aang is the Avatar and, by merit of being so, needs to put his connection to the spirits world, his responsibility to the physical world, and his role as an avatar before everything else, including worldly attachments. We see this throughout the series, wherein his unwillingness to let go of his attachment to Katara inhibits his chakra pathways and blocks him from entering the avatar state. We also see him finally choosing his responsibility over his love for Katara, and while that's the right thing to do for the sake of the world, I just think Katara deserves more than that. It's the embodiment of the uptick in a preference for falling for the morally grey villain over the hero because the hero will sacrifice you for the good of the world, while the morally grey villain will let the world burn as long as you're safe.

Now, you could argue that the above isn't fair because Zuko has responsibilities, too, in that he needs to take on the role of Fire Lord, but I think there's more room for love/romance/attachment in that role than there is in Aang's role.

Zuko is so much more interesting than Aang; I don't know how else to put it. He's got the tragic back-story, the anger issues, the redemption arc, that morally-grey-what-can-I-say-grey's-my-favourite-colour vibe about him, and he's just so much cooler and more mature. Like, yes, he has his moments of childishness and temper tantrums - as does Katara - but he's matured far beyond what we witness of Aang and it makes him a more likable character. An example of what I mean is probably best illustrated in the Southern Raiders chapter. Aang tries to impose his own ideals and morality on Katara when she's burning for revenge, which, while he's trying to encourage her to do the right thing, doesn't really suggest that he's supportive of her feelings. I found him quite dismissive in that chapter with his insistence that she just forgave the man who killed her mother without any attempt at growth or chance for closure. Meanwhile, Zuko just grabs his gear and goes with her to make sure she'll be safe and to support her in whatever decision she chooses to make. Yes, it might've meant that he would be an accessory to murder, but at least he was supportive. Also, his reaction to learning Katara can blood-bend - an insanely frightening ability when you really stop and think about it - is alarmed but then accepting, and it's just so much more palatable than the lecture I imagine she'd get from Aang if he learned she'd used the ability for harm and revenge.

There's too much of a brother-sister vibe between Aang and Katara - at least when it's shown from Katara's perspective - and it wigs me out that the writers put them together in the end. Throughout the series, Katara treats Aang much the same way she treats Sokka, often mothering him as opposed to seeming romantically inclined towards him. Whereas with Zuko through the entire series, there's the ongoing thread of parallels between their characters and the underlying unresolved sexual tension between them - put there intentionally BY THE WRITERS, I might add. Like throughout the series, we were SUPPOSED to be shipping Zuko and Katara; the intention was to have them end up together. It's only the last-minute switch of writers and/or change of heart to fulfill the "hero gets the girl" trope that made Kataang canon, and I just think it's a disservice to the characters, the fans, and the series in general, to backflip like that at the last minute for a lame reason.

I could probably go on - and have before, in GCs and sometimes on Tumblr, about the many reasons they're just better suited to one another, but you're probably bored by now, so I'll stop here. Hopefully, the above gives you something to think about and a better understanding of the reasons so many ship the two of them. If nothing else, it's got me thinking about my Zutara fics and maybe even planning an update.

xx-Kitten

[burst-of-iridescent]

atla live action thoughts: episode 5

SPOILERS AHEAD

tw: opinions

things i liked:

the title of the episode being a nod to ghibli is cute since ghibli was a major influence on the original

jun hitting on iroh is so fucking funny. zuko's reaction is 100% on point it's giving that scene in book 2 where iroh flirts with the ba sing se official to get passports and zuko's all "great agni please kill me now"

guessing this episode is pulling from both the swamp and the winter solstice. not mad about it, they're probably trying to eliminate some of the early filler in s2 to save time in the next season if they get greenlit. this means we're likely not getting aang having his vision of toph though :(

katara actually seeing her mother be burned to death is so much more traumatizing than the original, but i do appreciate the depth it brings to how desperate katara is to learn waterbending because she wasn't able to save her mother when it mattered

koh is just as creepy as the original, but i wish they hadn't taken out that the way he steals faces is by goading his victims into showing emotion

mai and ty lee sleeping next to each other is very cute <3

idk if i was just imagining things but it looked like azula's fire briefly turned from orange to blue at the end. guessing the season is going to end with her getting her lightning and iconic blue flames

aang getting to have one more moment with gyatso to say goodbye and gyatso assuring him the air nomad genocide wasn't his fault... tearbending

things i disliked/am conflicted about:

why on earth would sokka's traumatic memory be nearly failing at ice dodging and having to be saved by bato??? the fact that sokka DIDN'T get to go ice dodging in the original was a great way of showing us what he'd lost without male influences in his life, and his success at it highlighted his quick-thinking and ingenuity. if we needed a traumatic memory, why not use the moment where sokka watches the men sail off to war without him?? especially since the live action is so focused on how sokka grew up too soon by having to be the protector of his village and this was one of the story beats in the original that told us WHY he felt the need to live up to some impossible ideal of masculinity

sokka and hakoda's relationship in the live action is just weird in general. sokka saying his dad didn't really support him being an engineer in omashu as though hakoda wasn't just as resourceful and inventive in the original? i don't buy that hakoda would've EVER spoken about sokka like that to bato either, which also defeats the entire purpose of foiling the zuko/ozai and sokka/hakoda relationship.

fox spirit yue (?) was downright odd

no clue what they're doing with azula's character or if i like it. on the one hand, i do find it plausible that ozai would use the threat of zuko to keep azula in her place, but she feels way too visibly threatened by zuko here when she didn't seem that way up till her breakdown in the original. why would she when she was ozai's golden child pretty much right from the start?

ty lee's wig is god awful

we're more than halfway through and aang has not waterbent ONCE or made any attempt to learn... bombastic side eye

overall episode rating: 6.5/10, mostly for the odd characterization decisions.

[tiredlylaughing]

An analysis/rant about netflix's ATLA episode 1

who is that guy ?????

oh he's dead now ig it doesn't matter

the people in the intro were giving uncanny

i like the costumes, they're cute, i like zuko's crew especially. and i like that everyone on the ship is wearing armor except for iroh

aang's airbending bordered on flying waaay too many times

loooove gordon cormier, he's such a great aang

interesting choice to have them know about the comet right from the beginning ? i mean i guess it works to set up the end earlier on. i do actually think i like that it was originally something the air nomads celebrated and it got stolen from them by the fire nation

my biggest pet peeve continues to be how much they just say the things meant to be showed or explored later on. zuko wastes a scene info dumping to his uncle about things he already knows just so the audience is caught up, gran gran spits out all the avatar lore suddenly, aang gives an entire monologue about being the avatar before he runs away when his thoughts should absolutely not be that clear about it yet.

appa crying ;(((((((( my day was ruined

i'm about to be very predictable but i think it's so stupid that aang wasn't even trying to run away after finding out he's the avatar. they left out what feels like an entire part of his arc and now he feels more like a vessel of information rather than an actual person with feelings

i hate the glowy eyes when they firebend lol

i like that they left in katara being a bad bender at the start instead of just making her a girlboss

no penguin sledding FUCKKK WHAT'S EVEN THE POINT ANYMORE

dallas liu sounds so much like zuko to me. like, his voice is so different but it just sounds like zuko

fire fucking shot what the hell

aang's nightmares make no sense when we just saw what happened barely a minute ago, it's fine if that's how they wanted to set up his past but it doesn't feel like these things happened 100 years ago at all. the nightmares could've come in later or never at all.

i love that aang and katara still got their bonding moment, even if it was different from the original

didn't get a boomerang scene. so fucking sad

the conversation between iroh and aang was cool👍

NO MOTHERFUCKING YIP YIP ?????? IS THIS WHAT THE WORLD HAS COME TO

anyway, zuko was such a weirdo <3 love that <33 now for the serious opinions

it bothers me SO much that this guy is so old, like what's the purpose of sokka then ?? if the rest of the men in the tribe aren't literal toddlers ??

sure sokka was the protector but this guy existing means he wasn't ever that alone in that role. it makes who he was a lot more superficial. sure, you can argue some of the people of the southern water tribe believed the role was superficial, or just not that important, but to sokka it was who he was and what shaped him. i'm guessing they probably did this because it was kind of insane to leave the entire tribe alone without sokka there to protect them. but to me that was always the point. sokka didn't want to leave, but he understood that leaving them alone was for a greater good that would ultimately mean all of their safety. he was able to leave because he knew, in a way, he was still doing everything he could to protect them. now he just gets to walk away without any worries, leaving behind a role that was apparently not even that important to him ?? also !! it does feel a bit sexist on the creators' part to think that surely those women couldn't have survived on their own, they need whoever has some testosterone to protect them. that's literally what hakoda did and what caused sokka to have wrong ideals (wether or not hakoda did it with these intentions or not). so. the showrunners just did that to another character but without punishing it this time.

[prying-pandora666]

Yes, it really does.

Nothing exemplifies this more than the fact that the friggin Air Nomad Genocide was not directed, acted, and shot as a horrible, cruel massacre from the POV of the people being slaughtered, but instead as an adrenaline rushing action scene where Sozin has a DBZ-esque fire shield that somehow deflects wind (???). Nothing but a power fantasy. Think about how war is depicted in other movies and shows. Think about what film does when we are supposed to empathize with the ones being aggressed upon versus the aggressors. Then see what NATLA chose.

Or how about the fact that Aang has none of his motivations for The Guru set up? As others have artfully and comedically pointed out:

Or how about the water sibs?

Katara who has lost all of her anger, her passion, her idealism, her inner strength and perseverance, her dedication to never turning her back on people who need her no matter the risks. She’s now… a mild mannered a girl with all the personality of cardboard who constantly gets belittled by not only her brother but also the narrative which actively agrees with him! Even her trauma is made a mockery of. Kya’s death is now not only made her fault for recklessly trying to bend when she was told to hide, when it wasn’t before, they also place this highly traumatic incident before Sokka’s big traumatic memory of�� kinda disappointing his dad one time because he botched a coming of age ritual. In the language of film, stakes are meant to escalate. By placing Katara witnessing her mother be burned alive before Sokka overhears dad saying he’s disappointed, they’re putting more importance and emphasis on Sokka’s trauma. How is that not the ultimate undermining of Katara’s trauma and loss? The entire show, she never once even mentions her mother’s necklace. There isn’t time to dwell on anything about her. Even when she gets to the North, she doesn’t get her moment to earn her place. She just IS a master. Oh well. What a waste of Kiawentiio’s acting talent. Everyone who came away from NATLA thinking she can’t act? I implore you to check out Anne with an E. She’s phenomenal!

Meanwhile, the show can’t stop kissing Sokka’s ass for five seconds at the expense of everyone and everything else. No longer is he the neurotic, sexist, xenophobic kid just doing his best to keep them all alive while slowly realizing that his ideas about what it means to be a man are phony and based on nothing but his desperation to live up to his father and protect his remaining family and tribe. No longer is he a wannabe warrior who has to learn not only how to fight but the respect and discipline and responsibility that come with being a leader. No, now he really is just the leader of his tribe, constantly talks down to his sister (which the narrative agrees he’s correct to do because it’s completely devalued the labor Katara does now, something the original NEVER did and took great pains to explain the sacrifices Katara made for her brother and tribe, to the point of missing a lot of her childhood), and yet every single character just cannot stop telling him how great he is! Suki doesn’t humble him anymore. Now she is thirsting over him with zero self respect like a vapid horndog ON SIGHT. She thanks HIM for bringing the world to her—instead of Aang, the living embodiment of her idol Kyoshi—when in the original she was the one who opened Sokka’s eyes! Even Yue dumps her chad fiancé the moment she meets Sokka in the spirit world! And even after she dies, Arnook doesn’t softly and quietly mourn Yue beside Sokka like he did in the original. No, now Arnook just HAS to reassure Sokka about how important HE is and how grateful he is that SOKKA was there. It’s beyond parody.

Don’t get me started on Zuko. We’ll be here all day picking apart how they removed all of Zuko’s moral ambiguity and complexity and had Iroh basically look into the camera and say “you owe Zuko your loyalty”. Gee, thanks! Being talked down to and spoon fed how to feel is SO much better than slowly watching him go from the angry, violent teen willing to burn down the homes of innocent civilians and threaten his own crew and Uncle, to the troubled young man forced to confront that everything he has ever believed is a lie. Nope! Why would we ever want tension or intrigue or meaningful development? He’s already had a meaningful conversation with Aang for some reason. Good luck justifying his betrayal in Book 2 now.

And poor Azula. If it isn’t enough that the fandom can’t decide whether she’s the embodiment of psychopathic evil or a helpless little meow meow (spoilers: it’s neither), now NATLA has to join in on completely reducing and misinterpreting one of the most complex and fascinating characters in the entire franchise. Far from the cool, calculating, clever prodigy that keeps her insecurities and vulnerabilities hidden beneath a mask of unshakable perfection, making her eventual breakdown and the reveal of her true feelings all the more powerful, now they’ve turned her into what Zuko was supposed to be! Volatile, angry, openly insecure, jealous of her brother’s success, constantly venting to anyone who will listen about her problems.

Bold of them to have kid Zuko beat Ozai in the Agni Kai though. Yeah, I’m sooo scared of Ozai after seeing his teen son get the better of him and only lose because he didn’t have the stomach to finish it. Just awful. Writing 101 tells us not to undermine our final villain in the first season! Rest assured though, they’ve already gone ahead and ruined Toph ahead of time by needlessly stuffing in a plot from Book 2 about the Cave of Two Lovers! Only instead of sensing vibrations (you know, the way Toph uses seismic sense), the badger moles now sense “love”. I can’t wait to see Toph sensing love through her feet, I guess! Assuming they even keep her blind!

But hey, it was all worth it to have moon spirit Momo. I GUESS.

Listen, it’s true that changes will always be necessary for adaptations. There’s nothing wrong with making changes to suit a different medium. But needing changes is not an excuse for horrible, sexist, pro-imperialistic writing! However unintentional some of it may have been!

All this AND every single recognized Cherokee Nation has spoken out against Netflix casting Sokka’s actor, since he’s registered with an alleged pretendían tribe that siphons resources from actual Cherokee people without requiring any actual proof you’re Cherokee as long as you pay.

How much further from the spirit of the original could you get?

what’s so crazy abt natla is that the cast is so phenomenal. the show itself absolutely butchers the story in all aspects other than appearance. the heart of the entire show and the entire emotional arc of avatar, the family that the gaang becomes, is no where to be seen within the actual text of the show yet every interaction between the actors behind the scenes and on social media has that heart. it’s so sad to see actors that look exactly like their characters and who understand and care for their characters so deeply be given material that feels hollow and void of all of this. natla has an insane level of untapped potential buried beneath netflix’s terrible handling of the story and that’s what i find the most frustrating and upsetting.

[my-bated-breath]

On Ideals and Idealization

OR: My-Bated-Breath’s interpretation of Aang and Katara’s relationship in The Southern Raiders

When Bryke said that Kataang was in the DNA of ATLA, it was not a complete lie - Katara and Aang, in many ways, are each other’s anchors. For Katara, Aang is hope revived, the Avatar that has come to restore balance to the world. Meanwhile, for Aang, Katara is his guide in a cruel and unfamiliar 100-year war, loving him unconditionally in a world that hates him for abandoning it. As a result, Aang naturally loves her in return.

The narrative itself suggests that Aang’s love for Katara is nearly divine (and it suggests that it’s a love so blinding that it becomes his most selfish attachment). But for a love that appears so pure and untouchable on the surface, the episode “The Southern Raiders” reveals countless fractures lying underneath the surface.

Aang loves Katara, yes, but he is in love with an idealized version of her. In his mind, he holds close the idea of a gentle Katara, a smiling Katara, a compassionate and all-loving Katara. Even though he has seen her darkest moments when she bloodbends Hama - arms bent in disjointed angles, fingers curled as if manipulating puppet strings -  it does not tarnish his image of her because, at this moment, she is not the persecutor, but the persecuted.

After her experience with Hama, Aang is there to comfort her and help her come to terms with the terrifying power she now possesses. With her face streaked with tears and eyes widened with horror, it is clear that this is a power that Katara does not want, that it has been thrust onto her against her own will.

The conclusion that Aang draws from this is that Katara’s inner darkness is a separate entity from her inner light, and he perceives this acquired part of her as a blemish on her inherent goodness. As such, in “the Southern Raiders,” when he witnesses how Katara’s anger and grief drive her to hunt down her mother’s killer, he equates Katara seeking closure to Katara succumbing to darkness, tainting her purity and compassion in the process.

Dialogue from The Southern Raiders

Katara: Ugh, I knew you wouldn't understand.

Aang: Wait! Stop! I do understand. You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?

Many have stated valid reasons why Aang cannot possibly understand Katara’s pain in this scenario - he was not there to witness his people’s genocide or the theft of Appa; he has no way of confronting those who were responsible for his loss - but perhaps the reason why Aang thinks that he understands Katara’s pain should be expanded upon as well. As stated before, Aang has seen how bloodbending is a power Hama forced Katara to learn and how “bloodbender” is an identity unwillingly pushed onto her.

Maybe, in the same way that Aang believes that he knows Katara’s pain, he believes that he knows Katara’s inner conflict as well. After all, to take on an unwanted power and identity is something he knows all too well.

Dialogue from The Avatar Returns

Katara: Why didn’t you tell us you were the Avatar?”

Aang: Because… I never wanted to be.

When the sandbenders stole Appa, Aang succumbed to the Avatar state. When he found out what the Fire Nation did to his people, Aang succumbed to the Avatar state. In the Avatar State, Aang forfeits control over himself, loses sight of his pacifistic nature, and in return, he gains the power to hurt the people he cares about.

Aang enters the Avatar State in times of desperation and, as he alludes to in his dialogue, in times of anger. So to see Katara express her rage in The Southern Raiders scares Aang - no, it terrifies Aang - because he is seeing Katara is “giving in” to her own Avatar State, one where she has no control over herself and loses sight of her compassionate nature. 

Dialogue from The Southern Raiders

Zuko: She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice.

Aang: I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge.

Katara: Fine, maybe it is! Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what he deserves!

Aang: Katara, you sound like Jet.

To be impassioned in her search for her mother’s killers is to be impassioned in her search for revenge, and to want revenge against a war criminal is to want to attack the innocent. As soon as Katara descends into violence, she will slide down the slippery slope where she will become Jet, where she will become Hama.

Only morality is not quite as black and white as Aang depicts it to be, and Katara’s psychology is not as similar to Aang’s as he believes to be. While Aang views Katara’s compassion and rage as a dichotomy in her character (meaning that they are mutually exclusive) or as an internal conflict of good versus evil, in truth Katara’s compassion and rage can often be described as a reciprocatory relationship where one drives the other. I expand upon this concept in much more detail in this meta, but here I will simply quote an excerpt and summarize:

Excerpt from “Rage, Compassion, and the Bridge in Between” (give this a read if you want an analysis on how Katara’s rage and compassion embody the complexity of human emotion) 

“…Katara’s anger and compassion do not simply split themselves into two identities. Instead, they coexist and coalesce into one. They drive each other; they feed into each other; they are two sides of the same coin.”

Katara’s rage fuels her compassion because her relationship with grief and anger is what allows her to sympathize with other people’s grief and anger, which is why she shares the story of her mother’s death with Aang, Haru, and Jet. Then, to quote again from my meta, “Katara’s compassion is what grants her a protective instinct, and her protective instinct is what moves her anger and violence.” To clarify, Katara’s protective violence describes her frightening Fire Nation soldiers in order to protect the Jang Hui village in “The Painted Lady” and her threatening Zuko in order to protect Aang in “The Western Air Temple.”

Thus, to Katara, rage is not always an emotion that causes her to lose sight of herself. Instead, it’s one that incites her to act on her ideals of justice and protection.

Dialogue from the Southern Raiders

Katara: It's not the same! Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster.

Of course, that is not to say that Katara’s anger does not lead her to violate her morals since she bloodbends the captain of the Southern Raiders despite her previously swearing to never bloodbend again. But while the Southern Raiders shows Katara coming to terms (or at least beginning to come to terms) with the idea of good and bad, justice and revenge, and right and wrong, Aang stalwartly clings onto the notion of two separate “Katara”s - the good and evil, the compassionate and the rage-driven - and unfairly takes on a position of moral authority against the “dark” Katara in hopes of reviving the “light” one.

Excerpt from “On an Immensely Popular Post” (most of the analysis in this one is about platonic-romantic relationships, but I dissect the Aang-Sokka-Katara dialogue from TSR in-depth here):

“While I believe that Aang’s principles of forgiveness are morally sound, the way he pushes his beliefs onto Katara undermines much of her grief. At first, Aang tries to relate to Katara’s experiences by comparing them to his own, but there is a forceful connotation to his dialogue that suggests that Aang considers himself to be the moral authority compared to Katara. Hence, Aang judges Katara (“I think it’s about getting revenge”) without trying to reach out and understand her, forgoing the empathetic common ground in favor of taking on the moral high ground.”

Aang forgoes the common ground because he believes Katara’s morality to be as black and white as his own, and then he takes on the high ground because he thinks he understands Katara’s internal conflict. Except he doesn’t, since what rage means to Aang is vastly different from what rage means to Katara. What he understands as Katara’s ideals stem from his idealization of her, and this crack in their relationship, this masquerade of misunderstandings and attachment and “falling in love” - it all comes to a breaking point in the Southern Raiders where the truth finally makes itself known:

Aang idealizes Katara by rendering her into a dichotomy. Katara draws the agency to act on her ideals from her duality.

[sokkastyles]

Hi.... If you don't mind, can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from Aang : The Legend of Airbender? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Sorry if you've answered this before.....

Top five characters:

Zuko - the short answer is that he has the most complex arc of any character in the series, and there are so many things to say about Zuko, a lot of which I have already said on my blog.

Katara - Katara is such a complex character, her arc is more subtle than Zuko's, and what drew me to her initially was that a lot of people were Wrong About Her. She's such a wild card because she gets idealized for her soft traits but this girl also has opinions about everything and will tell you so.

Iroh - there's this tweet that said "when I was a kid, I was a Zuko, but now that I'm grown, I'm an Iroh. And yeah.

Sokka - I've seen a lot of discussion of how unique Katara was as a brown skinned girl who got to be vocally and explicitly feminist onscreen in a children's cartoon in the early 2000s. I feel like less people talk about how rare Sokka is as a brown boy who gets to be smart without being a token character, whose narrative deals so much with identity and toxic masculinity. I don't talk about Sokka enough on this blog, but I love him.

Toph - a disabled girl whose narrative is explicitly about how her disability interacts with her femininity, who still gets to be a badass. Toph means a lot to me for a lot of personal reasons.

Top five moments (in no particular order and these are just the ones I couod think of off the top of my head because there are so many and I love them for different reasons):

The final agni kai - the choreography, the music, the heightened emotion and tragedy of it, and the shock when Zuko took the lightning for Katara and then Katara defeated Azula. The narrative symmetry. Perfection.

Katara offers to heal Zuko's scar - the unexpected common ground between enemies, the unfulfilled potential. Also I'm a huge sucker for hurt/comfort. This was my zutara awakening before I knew that zutara was a thing.

"I was the first person to trust you!" - I know, I know, another zutara moment, but the emotional complexity of that scene, when Zuko realizes why Katara is so angry at him, the way that Katara's anger is really about caring for someone she wanted to be a friend, and perhaps she didn't even realize it until that moment. Honorable mention also goes to when Katara makes the water dome around herself, Zuko and Yon Rah but then lowers her hand and lets it wash away.

Sokka figures out when the eclipse will happen in the library - in this house we love engineer brain Sokka.

Zuko apologizes to Iroh - just the culmination of Zuko and Iroh's arc, both of them getting to really feel what they mean to each other after a long journey, Zuko finally getting the love and forgiveness from a father figure that he'd needed and being comfortable with himself enough to accept it.

[tiny-katara]

Oh my god that post with the "Aang looks nothing like Katara's canon love interests" - he IS her canon love interest! Jesus Christ.

My type is girls with dark curly hair, but I've been in love with several blondes. It happens. Katara saying that her fantasy guy is tall and handsome is not a contradiction to her liking Aang, not in the slightest.

I don't think you all want to fuck Zuko. I think you just like the ship dynamic of a tall, strong, fire bending, short-tempered man and a smaller, beautiful, kind but feisty women. And yes I do believe that if Aang looked like Zuko and acted a bit more traditionally masculine, you'd totally ship Kataang instead.

I really don't mean to be rude but did you read that post? I said that the characters Katara expresses explicit interest in look nothing like her canon love interest lol. I know you're going to say "well look at the headband! she obviously liked him then!" or the forced ending, but I just have to say that it's pretty much irrelevant.

Kata*ng is built on a writing trope in which one character explicitly expresses romantic interest while the other is specifically written to ambiguous about their feelings. This is traditionally associated with a "superhero" type story as in the end the girl comes around and gets with the man who saved the world.

Katara is literally designed within the show to not express explicit interest in Aang until the very last moment for ~drama~ so when I say that Aang looks nothing like the people she shows explicit interest in, that is what I mean.

This leads into the section of my post that you are so vehemently distressed with. Here's a friendly little reminder of it for you:

Now, just to reiterate again with that screenshot, I say that the characters Katara expresses explicit interest in look nothing like her canon love interest. You can rest easy knowing that I am aware of how the show ended.

And sure, you can be in love with people who don't fit your physical preferences. I'm not going to say you can't and I didn't say that you couldn't in the previous post either. I'm simply pointing out that it's kind of weird considering there was another character who fit her preferences pretty perfectly right there, but this is all just speculation really. It makes sense to me and if it doesn't to you, that's fine. We don't need to agree.

I do enjoy the dynamic, although I would describe it a bit differently than you have. I enjoy the dynamic of two people who can fall in love against all odds and see each other as equals in a world that was torn apart by a superiority complex. I enjoy seeing two people who are similar enough to understand each other, but different enough to complement each other. That is the Zutara dynamic. That's why we love it.

I must express my distaste for your notion that I think Aang is not as ideal of a partner for Katara simply because he is less traditionally masculine than Zuko is. I love that Aang is comfortable with who he is. I hope that someday all men can feel comfortable with their traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine traits in the same way that Aang does.

Lastly, I've already said my issue with Kata*ng has absolutely nothing to do with looks. Stop saying this. It's a dumb argument. I don't like Kata*ng because Aang does not respect Katara's boundaries. That is something I cannot support in good conscious. It's disgusting.

⚠️Slight discussion of what I would consider sexual assault below!!! I'll leave another little message to indicate the end of the discussion⚠️

Aang forces himself on Katara on screen. There is absolutely no excuse for this decision. It is a horrible example for anyone watching. It violates Katara's boundaries. She is visibly upset and verbally angry with him for doing it. Aang does not even have to apologize to her or face any consequences for it. I am so angry about that and I will never stop being angry about it. I am going to move on because I am physically shaking with rage, but I will state very clearly that if Zuko ever violated Katara in that same way, I would be furious and I would not ship Zutara.

⚠️Potential sexual assault discussion is over⚠️

I have even more reasons to dislike Kata*ng on a personal level, which I mentioned in that same post you're talking about. It just proves to me that you either did not read the post in its entirety due to your blind rage or completely discounted my personal experiences. If you did the latter, it's extremely frustrating.

Personal experience is just that, personal. If someone says something makes them uncomfortable based on things that have happened in their life, take it seriously. That goes for people who ship Zutara too. Neither of us should be dismissive of feelings we do not fully understand. If Zutara makes you uncomfortable based on your life, that's completely valid. If Kata*ng makes you uncomfortable based on your life that's completely valid. It's your life.

Now anon, I suggest reading things a little more carefully to avoid confusion in the future as well as blocking tags you find irritating or distressing.

[sasukesun]

this is just a ramble about chainsaw man, not a proper analysis or anything, i just wanted to write my thoughts down regarding the story because i’m still very intrigued after finishing it so… i don’t even have to say how bothered i was when i started reading chainsaw man, like- you’re supposed to feel bothered by denji’s situation since he’s pretty miserable and i had no idea how it was gonna go after the first chapter but somehow i ended up even more bothered than i already was.

when makima shows up and holds denji, making him go back to his human form, i don’t know why but i thought of aang and katara in episode one of atla when he gets out of the iceberg. i thought aang’s attachment to katara was cute because she was the first face aang saw after waking up of a 100-year-old sleep, somehow she saved aang. denji seeing makima’s face for the first after his reborn reminded me of that. my expectations obviously weren’t supported because makima instantly gives him two options: she either kills him or he becomes her pet. and i felt so stupid for being optimistic because we’re talking about a story that started with a teenager who lived his whole life in misery, who had to pay for a debt that wasn’t his, who had to sell parts of his body to live another day, whose biggest aspirations are the bare minimum. idk maybe i thought the situation was already so bad that things might just improve a bit? but yeah, i don’t think they did.

makima’s dehumanisation towards denji by calling him a dog and even making him respond “woof” and having him do what she wanted in exchange of food raised such a huge red flag from the very beginning to me because i couldn’t stop noticing how cruel and exploratory the public devil hunting system is. denji is constantly controlled by his wishes, by basic needs. he will kill devils as long as he gets food or a place to sleep, he will do this or that as long as he gets those basic needs despite multiple people questioning his motivations and the system itself, he’ll put himself at risk and accept such unreasonable conditions for the bare minimum. and it only gets worse, it gets worse to the point that denji wants to be a dog.

because chainsaw man is a story about privilege, or actually, the lack of it. it’s about someone who never had the privilege to idealise romantic goals. and it’s so cruel and ironic that even when denji achieves something, it’s never what he expected, the goals aren’t ideal or romantic at all. he wants to touch boobs and he gets to do it at the beginning of the story, but he feels disappointed. he wants to kiss a girl and he also gets to do it but he tastes vomit instead. and even when we understand that those wishes in fact mean that denji craves human connection, those expectations still aren’t satisfied. denji connects to aki and power but he kills aki and watches power die in front of him. and then he gets to ask whatever he wants from makima- and he asks to be her dog. that’s not only anticlimactic once again but also cruel, because it’s somehow the synthesis of a system that only takes with the false sensation of giving back. it takes and it doesn’t give back and it’s dehumanising.

even the bare minimum is too much to ask. and actually that makes sense, because why would someone with the bare minimum join such a horrible system? everybody keeps saying how crazy you have to be to be a devil hunter. aki, who wasn’t miserable like denji, joined the system because of revenge, but even that isn’t portrayed as something noble or heroic at some point of the story, people still point out how a lot of them joined because of the gun devil but they actually know they won’t be able to kill it and acknowledge how crazy you have to be to join such system. a great narrative such as revenge isn’t romanticised in this case. because aki, just like denji, has nothing to lose. in fact, when aki realises he has something to lose (denji and power) he gives up on killing the gun devil.

“everybody’s after my chainsaw heart! what about my heart? denji’s! does nobody want that!? huh!?”. at the end it’s a shonen with a dehumanising and exploratory system that measures people’s worth by how much they can serve said system. the biggest difference is how much more pessimistic (or realistic) it felt to me.

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

Katara: “Did Aang managed to locate Azula for you?”

Zuko: “Yes, she’s been residing in the ember islands the whole time. Much to my surprise.”

Katara: “Is she suspecting anything?”

Zuko: “Aang tells me that she isn’t.”

Katara: “I say we take the her out now while her guard down but let’s not underestimate her.”

Zuko: “No, over the years I tried to fight Azula, I made her into a powerful enemy.”

Katara: “I know you finally managed to understand the concept of teamwork but that doesn’t mean we should stop fighting Azula.”

Zuko: “Going up against Azula will only force her to become more dangerous and she’ll make us feel guilty about it.”

Katara: “You think you two can just hug it out? She attacked you when you finally left the fire nation and join our team.”

Zuko: “My uncle saved me from myself so I could save the fire nation from itself, my father purposely pinned me and Azula against each other. If I could befriend her, have her see past my father’s lies and show her how good life can be...”

Katara: “That would be a mistake. The last time she traveled with us, she was nuisance and only tagged along to kill her own mother. Next she randomly holds a bunch of kids hostage.” 

Zuko: “That’s the thing Katara, Azula was supposedly planning to kill our mother, but when she had my mother an inch away from doing the deed, she hesitated and just ran off. Not to mention that throughout that trip, I didn’t treat her any better and I even blamed her for my problems. She also coulda done a lot worse then abduct children just to get me to act the same way as my father even though it’s not like her to turn against her own country.”

Katara: “Then she seems to have snapped to the point where she can’t tell from enemy to ally.”

Zuko: “I don’t think she’d be wasting time on the one place where we were once happy. I think she’s just as conflicted as I was right before joining you and she’s still trying to do our father proud.”

Katara: “You really think she’s worth saving? Do you even know how to do it?”

Zuko: “By not doing it alone, I thought I could handle her alone. When Aang fought Zhao and his crew on the island in the form of Avatar Roku, I felt a spiritual connection with him for a few moments, it could’ve been due to me being the maternal great-grandson of Roku. Maybe Aang could share the same connection with Azula but on a much stronger level.”

Katara: “Woah! Have you become as loco as Azula now? She shot Aang with lightning and for what I’ve been told, it was enough to actually kill him!”

Zuko: “I’ve known Azula better then anyone, she wouldn’t have used the kill act unless it was the absolute and desperate last resort, she would have settled with Aang’s capture as I would. If memory serves, I put a hit on Aang should he have actually survived. I’ve seen how they interacted, Aang seemed to get along with her the best despite it all, as he still asked her how her morning was and made attempts to talk to her and such. Azula has the least beef with Aang then anyone.”

Katara: “Not to shut down your idealism but this all sounds really terrible. She’ll fly psychopathic circles around us. Wow, I’m beginning to sound like Sokka.”

Zuko: “I’ve seen what happens when we treat Azula like the enemy. This time we’re gonna do things the right way. Aang’s already agreed to this.”

[the-badger-mole]

Down the Road and Back Again: Chapter 19

“Sochiro is such a great guy. I feel like a girl with her first boyfriend. I love the way he takes initiative. I told him a couple of weeks ago that I like dancing, and he planned this whole evening as a surprise for me. He makes me feel special.”

“Didn’t Aang do that whole ‘putting you on a pedestal’ thing?” Toph asked. “Sochiro’s not doing that, is he?”

“This is different,” Katara said assuredly. “With Aang, it wasn’t so much that he made me feel special as much as he idealized me. Sochiro isn’t trying to make me fit some version of me he has in his head. He’s actually trying to get to know me. You know, I don’t think Aang ever really truly knew me. And part of that was my fault- I made a lot of concessions on things I should have stood firm on. But he would never have come up with a night like tonight if I asked him to.”

“It sounds like things are getting serious,” Zuko said, taking a sip of his tea. Katara shrugged shyly.

“I don’t know if I would say that…”

“It sounds pretty serious to me,” Suki said. “Sochiro seems like a great catch.”

“Sochiro is lovely,” Katara agreed. “But tonight, he mentioned going back to the Earth Kingdom.”

“He’s leaving?” Zuko’s brow quirked at that. “Did he say when?”

“No.” Katara rested her chin on her hand thoughtfully. “He didn’t even officially say that he was planning to leave soon at all. All he said was that he wanted a recipe from the restaurant to take home with him. But I hadn’t thought about his leaving at all until then. I know that’s crazy, but these last few weeks have been so nice, it hadn’t even crossed my mind. Eventually, he’s going to go back to the Earth Kingdom, and this is going to end. What kind of relationship are we going to have by correspondence?”

“What do you mean?” Suki asked. “You have Umiak, and you can afford to take time to visit him if you want.”

“ What ?” Zuko’s head snapped towards Suki in shock. “You want her to follow some guy she just met?”

“Only if she wants to,” Suki shrugged. She turned back to Katara with a reassuring smile. “All I’m saying is distance isn’t a huge hurdle if this is something you want to pursue.”

Read the rest here