Avatar The Last Airbender (Anime or....?)

[sandwraith]

I'd really like that but with the irregularity of episode releases, its kind of hard to keep up or stay interested. Unless we talk about previous episodes and such. I'm game for that.

A little OT but where can I post jRPG ideas on SHH? I've been meaning to get this storyline for a game off my chest but haven't gotten around to doing it out of fear of 0 replies. Any good sites or other forums you could recommend?

 

[deathshead2]

Just watched epsiode 9 of the 2ed book. Theres alot of foreshadowing of uncles deaths, and Zuko joining the group with uncles speech about the elements. This show is fantastic its gets even better when its about Zuko.

 

[The Question]

I've really gotten into this series. First really good think Nikelodian has put out in a while. However, while the art style is Japanese influenced, it's made by an American studio. But whatever.



Also, someone mentioned character depth a while ago. I must agree, this is one of the few kid oriented shows with relatively complex characters on both sides of the conflict. The only character who seems kind of two dimensional is Azula. She seems like your standard manipulative *****. It would be interesting if the writers gave her a bit more depth. Maybe show her when she's not being the world's youngest assasin and what her personal life is like. Or something.

 

[sandwraith]

There have been hints that Azula is crazy. Her fixation with her grandfather's possible death and how she tried to scare Zuko by claiming that Ozai wa going to kill him must prove some degree of insanity.I think Ozai favors her because like himself, Azula is the second child. I guess Iroh was the more favored of the two so maybe Ozai hated him. This could be genetic since Azula does hate Zuko for some reason, possibly because Zuko is the firstborn.

The depth of even the temporary characters are also explored. I particularly like General Fong, the Earthbender general from The Avatar State. It showed that they're were bad guys on both sides of the fence. There was also Jet and Haru. Though their appearances were brief, you feel for them, Haru in particular. I'm really impressed on how much content they can squeeze into a 24 minute episode.

I really don't think Uncle's going to die. Uncle ROCKS man. He's one of the reasons I keep watching Avatar. I really liked the episode The Waterbending Scroll where he forces Zuko to follow in him in his search for a Lotus tile. Very cool fat guy. Nothing's cooler than a cool fat dude.

 

[deathshead2]

I still think he is going to die way to much foreshadowing of it. I really liked the episode where zuko helped save that kid who befriend him but after he told everyone his name they made him leave just because he was a firebender. Also more than likely Zuko will teach the Avatar airbending.

 

[The Question]

There have been hints that Azula is crazy. Her fixation with her grandfather's possible death and how she tried to scare Zuko by claiming that Ozai wa going to kill him must prove some degree of insanity.I think Ozai favors her because like himself, Azula is the second child. I guess Iroh was the more favored of the two so maybe Ozai hated him. This could be genetic since Azula does hate Zuko for some reason, possibly because Zuko is the firstborn.

Well, an interesting thing I've noticed. King Ozai did not start the world war. His grandfather did. Ozai is an imperialist dictator simply because he was raised to be an imperialist dictator. And it seems the same with Azula. It would be interesting if they explored that with her. She's obviously ****ed up, and it might be interesting if she actually realized that.

 

[sandwraith]

I don't think so. Ozai was probably not groomed to become heir to the throne. Iroh was. And between them, Iroh seemed much more principled even in war. Sozen, Iroh and Ozai's grandfather did start the war when "Sozen's Comet" arrived, increasing the natural strength of Firebending. However it is probable that after the comet passed, the Fire Nation could not repeat its massive military feats which is why the war has dragged on for nearly a hundred years. It's likely that Azulon and Iroh share the same principles while Ozai might see himself as the reincarnation of Sozen or something since Sozen's Comet is approaching at Summer's End. Ozai is ambitious and cruel, but I think he did love his wife Ursa very much. Maybe his cruelty and hatred for Zuko might be attributed to whatever happend to her.

I think Aang has learned the basics of Firebending from a deserter/master named Jeong Jeong. I don't think Zuko will be willing to teach Aang unless it is a request by his Uncle, whom I hope does not die. I really like the guy. My favorite Zuko moment (its funny that lots of Avatar fans like Zuko more than Aang...hmm...) was when he sat with that girl Song from The Cave of Two Lovers. I really hope they meet again

 

[deathshead2]

I don't want Uncle to die either but like I said foreshadowing.I also like the fact that Zuko is much better with swords then with firebending.

 

[sandwraith]

Lets hope not. Uncle seems more of a teacher anyways. Heh. Funny how everyone seems to prefer calling him Uncle than Iroh. I think because Zuko was never really good at Firebending to begin with, he chose to take up Dual Swords. Maybe its frowned upon by Firebenders since as a member of the Royal Family, he should be very skilled at Firebending, while Swordsmanship and other fighting styles are for lower-class soldiers. But maybe thats why he can bend while using weapons at the same time

 

[The Question]

I don't think so. Ozai was probably not groomed to become heir to the throne. Iroh was. And between them, Iroh seemed much more principled even in war. Sozen, Iroh and Ozai's grandfather did start the war when "Sozen's Comet" arrived, increasing the natural strength of Firebending. However it is probable that after the comet passed, the Fire Nation could not repeat its massive military feats which is why the war has dragged on for nearly a hundred years. It's likely that Azulon and Iroh share the same principles while Ozai might see himself as the reincarnation of Sozen or something since Sozen's Comet is approaching at Summer's End. Ozai is ambitious and cruel, but I think he did love his wife Ursa very much. Maybe his cruelty and hatred for Zuko might be attributed to whatever happend to her.

Very true. But I was talking more about Ozai's imperialist aditude. His veiw is that the Fire Nation needs to expands and become the main world super power because it's they're "destiny." That is only because those veiws were instilled in him by his father and grandfather from an early age. It really would be an interesting angle to explore how Ozai and Azula are simply products of their upbringing, and how Zuko and Iroh probably would have ended up similarly if their lives hadn't put them at odds with the Fire Nation.

 

[sandwraith]

The show is about Ying and Yang. I guess Azula and Zuko, Ozai and Iroh are simply part of that cycle. Of course, I don't think it could get any deeper than that. Zuko and Iroh are probably there to show that not all of the Fire Nation is evil, much like the difference in Admiral Zhao and Jeong Jeong. One could go on as to why Ozai wishes to carry out this war after so long but ultimately it boils down to who will truly triumph, whose will is stronger and who can see their destiny through.

 

[The Question]

Fair points. Still, I think it would be interesting to explore how Ozai is an imperialist simply because that was his upbringing.

 

[sandwraith]

Well the series is slated for about 60 episodes so I'm sure they could squeeze in an Azula/Ozai backstory. Personally I hope they show how and why Iroh made his pilgrimage to the Spirit World which they have not really explained since mentioning it way back in the Siege of the North. Why I'm convinced that Uncle is not going to die. I hope.

 

[sandwraith]

Also, as seen in Zuko Alone, both Ozai and Azula seemed to be well read in history so maybe they're the "Living for the past" types

 

[The Question]

Possibly. Truth be told, they're the most two dimensional characters on the show. Ozai's your standard evil dictator and Azula's your standard crazy assasin *****. A little backstory and character developement with them would be nice. At the very least, show a little bit of Azula's personal life. I mean, she can't be a crazy assasin ***** all the time. I'd think she has friends and something resembling a social life when she's not, you know, killing people.

 

[WallCrawl]

Possibly. Truth be told, they're the most two dimensional characters on the show. Ozai's your standard evil dictator and Azula's your standard crazy assasin *****. A little backstory and character developement with them would be nice. At the very least, show a little bit of Azula's personal life. I mean, she can't be a crazy assasin ***** all the time. I'd think she has friends and something resembling a social life when she's not, you know, killing people.

I'm sure they'll get to it. Keep in mind both Zuko and Iroh were fairly 2-dimensional characters atthe beginning of the series, simply filling in the villian and comic relief/foil roles, respectively. It took an entire season of paced storytelling and unfolding to build their arcs, background stories and give layers of depth to their relationship.

Azula's just been introduced. I'd rather they take their time like they did with Iroh and Zuko.

 

[The Question]

Very good point. I'm just saying, I'd like to see it happen eventually. My veiw has always been that the villains usually have the more interesting backstories.

 

[Rowen]

I'd really like that but with the irregularity of episode releases, its kind of hard to keep up or stay interested. Unless we talk about previous episodes and such. I'm game for that.

A little OT but where can I post jRPG ideas on SHH? I've been meaning to get this storyline for a game off my chest but haven't gotten around to doing it out of fear of 0 replies. Any good sites or other forums you could recommend?

its not really that hard to stay interested. you just have to look for the little subtilies that spark your interest. new epsidoes come on every friday night at 8:00. sometimes i have trouble remembering that, other times i don't. but im going to start making talkback threads for this show, since no else is doing it.

i mean toonzone has thier talkbacks for avatar & so does animation insider. the same thing with naruto. i alaways wondered why nobody made a talkback for naruto, when alot of people on the SHH boards watch it.

 

[sandwraith]

This just in:

In Bitter Work, Aang begins his Earthbending training with Toph. But forget about that!! The most important thing is that Uncle LIVES!!!

Discuss!!!!!!

 

[Rowen]

Im starting to get used to the characters names, personalities, & placements. bare with me if i spell names wrong or hit & miss with scenerio's. the best part i liked about the ep, was iroh's & zuko's philosophy training.

first off, i love philosophy. since i use it in my daily life, & second you can never get enough of wisdom. having alot of wisdom does indeed set you apart from alot of other people. but when iroh was explaining the elemenets to zuko,

it was like a breath of fresh air. i miss alot of philoso[hy in shows, today shows do need more of it these days. but the rest of the ep where anng is learning to earth bend from troph, & sokka being stuck in a hole, just lost my interest from thier on out.

i wish the whole ep could of been about zukko's training. & im hopeing they will show him catch his lightning so he can bend the element of lightning.

 

[Dorian Gray]

In Bitter Work Iroh had one of the best lines IMO regarding Azula...

Zuko - Its only a matter of time before I run into Azula again, I need to learn more advanced Fire Bending to stand a chance against her........*to Iroh* I know what you're going to say, shes my sister and I need to get along with her

Iroh - No, shes crazy and needs to go down.

For some reason the way he said it is what struck me as really funny.

 

[Rowen]

In Bitter Work Iroh had one of the best lines IMO regarding Azula...

Zuko - Its only a matter of time before I run into Azula again, I need to learn more advanced Fire Bending to stand a chance against her........*to Iroh* I know what you're going to say, shes my sister and I need to get along with her

Iroh - No, shes crazy and needs to go down.

For some reason the way he said it is what struck me as really funny.

I dunno, for me, i really never laughed at that part. i just thought it was really plausible though.

 

[Dorian Gray]

I dunno, for me, i really never laughed at that part. i just thought it was really plausible though.

I Dunno, I agree it wasn't really funny...I guess because we were thinking it and saying it in this thread and then he said that line I chuckled a bit.*shurgs*

What gets me about the last few episodes is Katara.... In The Water Bending Master and The Seige of the North she was bad ass and could stand her ground(we saw that in The Water Bending Master). It gave me the impression that she was or will be a Water Bending prodigy.

Makes me wonder why there is dips and rises in her powers. In The Swamp episode she showed some great moves and seemed to be incredibly fast but when fighting Ty lee, Mai, and Azula she rarely does a thing....fear or not she is obvioulsy a very skilled and powerful Water Bender and should be able to at least take Mai or Ty Lee down.

 

[sandwraith]

With Ty and Mai, it might have been psychological since Ty Lee can apparently cut off Katara's bending by hitting certain spots. Sorta like acupuncture maybe. A bender who can't bend must terrify her and she always has to be careful not to take a hit while Ty with her skills must be trained to take down Benders.

My guess is that Katara is ost comfortable in places where there is a large abundance of Water, when its night and the full Moon is up and when she's well rested and confident. Don't forget in the Chase, she like everyone else was exhausted. Add that to paranoia and even the most able of fighters can falter

 

[taskmaster]

sss