No, I’m not referring to any tv show that is currently airing. I watch very few of those (Agents of SHIELD and Doctor Who are the most important). I am referring to something that my three roommates and I have been binge watching on Netflix for the last couple of weeks. Roommate F had seen the whole series about four or five years ago, and really enjoyed it, and it the spinoff series. Roommate A had seen a few episode here and there when it was airing from 2005 to 2008. I started watching the series on Netflix a couple years ago, but only watched five or six episodes of season 1. Roommate M had never heard of it, and only got hooked a few days ago. Just in time.
Even though the show is considered to be for children or young teenagers, it is still so watchable for all of us (who are in our early twenties, except for A who is 29). The humor is so good. Sometimes it’s quite basic, just a silly look, some slapstick physical stuff or an obvious joke, but it’s for kids so it knows what it’s doing. Other times I laughed so hard that it was lucky I wasn’t eating anything or I might have choked and died. In an episode from last night my favorite joke was “What did the cabbage merchant use to fix his broken cabbages? A CABBAGE PATCH!!!” The characters’ relationships are so wholesome and nice, simple yet again, but with good reason; the characters are young, and it is for young viewers. It has heart and deals with what different people would be like in relationships. F and I are guilty of shipping some characters who do not end up together.The animation is very satisfying. Classic cartoon with a touch of anime and 3D modeling. Have you guessed what show it is yet?
That’s right! It’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. Did the picture give it away?
Oh my god it is so awesome. I would recommend it to anyone, and then anyone who wasn’t enchanted by it I would lose a little bit of respect for. It makes me want to learn Kung Fu. Northern Shaolin Kung Fu to be exact. Because that is the style that Firebenders use. Yes I would choose fire as my bendable element. I could create it out of nothing (unless I was in a cooler at the Boiling Rock) and when I’m high level enough it would be BLUE! Blue fire is my fantasy. I love it. **SPOILERS BEGIN NOW** The first time I saw Azula cast blue fire I was so convinced. Blood bending is appealing, and healing powers, but wearing blue all the time would get old for me. Earth bending ties for second with Water I think. I just like dirt, and Metal bending would be very useful for certain environmental conservation activities that require removing big ugly metal factories (The Painted Lady was such a satisfying eco-terrorism episode). F prefers Air bending for the flying. It does seem that Aang use his native bending element more than any other element and to greater effect. I also like Dragons better than Sky Bisons, Badgermoles, and (just a little bit more than) the Moon.
So (hopefully) tonight is the night that we watch the very last episode, Sozin’s Comet: The Final Battle. I am unbelievably excited. My predictions are that Zuko defeats Azula in a big scary battle and she goes to prison swearing revenge. Or that after getting her ass handed to her, she realizes that maybe she should be a good person and then Zuko will let her kind of rule the Fire Nation with him. Unless Zuko makes Iroh be the new Fire Lord because he doesn’t think that he deserves the power. I’m really looking forward to Zuko and Iroh’s reconciliation. Aang will face Zuko’s father and, because he knows that violence is not the answer, he will try to reason with the Fire Lord. Aang will know that the Firelord will not go down without a fight so the battle will begin! At the crucial moment, perhaps when Aang has seemingly been defeated himself, he will activate the Avatar state and defeat the Fire Lord. Or maybe Katara will be injured and Aang will think she has died so he will go into the Avatar state because he is so angry. Katara will of course not be dead. I predict, and desperately hope, that no good characters will die in the finale.
Oh! That was another awesome joke from last night’s episode: when the gang is watching the play about them and Jet “dies” Katara asks “Did he die?” And Sokka says “It was unclear.” BECAUSE IT WAS UNCLEAR. Did Jet die? Was it an off-screen death? Or will he come back at the end in the moment when they make you remember all the characters that helped them along the way? Signifying that you should always remember important people in your life, even if you haven’t seen them since season 1. They kind of already did that though when the rag tag team of warriors came together for the invasion.
Anyway, back to predictions. I predict that Katara will tell Aang that she loves him, and there will be closure. Wonderful closure. Katara and Sokka will be reunited with their dad for real this time. Suki will go back to the Kyoski warriors and maybe Sokka will go with her. Toph will see her family and stop feeling guilty about leaving. She will open a school where she instructs Earthbending, maybe in Ba Sing Se which will stop being all weird and North Koreaesque. I wonder where Katara and Aang will go? Maybe Katara and her dad will bring Aang back to the Southern Water Tribe for a little while to visit Katara’s people and tell them everything that happened, and then Aang and Katara will go to Aang’s old Air Temple and fix it up.Then they can have Airbending babies! Mai will forgive Zuko and they will live happily ever after too, fixing all the wrongs that Zuko’s father did when he was Fire Lord. I’m very glad the last episode is an hour and a half long because there a lot of things to wrap up.
The two characters that F and I were shipping were Zuko and Katara. If they had had a longer time in that prison together they totally would have ended up together. I tried to imagine what the show would be like if it were more serious and for an older audience and had gone on longer than just three seasons. I think Katara would have gotten seriously involved with someone besides Aang, and he would have been totally depressed and maybe gone off on his own, or just with Sokka and Toph. Then Katara would settle down for a while with her honey before realizing that she couldn’t live without Aang and traveling the world to be a badass. A lot more people would have died gruesome anime deaths as well if it were for an older audience. Sometimes I had to remind myself that I was not watching Attack On Titan, and that everyone on screen was not about to be massacred.
I love Zuko though. I just want to give him a big hug. The way he says “I’m never happy” is so… so… I don’t know. Cute? In a sad way? I love him. But I also love Sokka. I think Sokka and I would be best friends. We would eat food all the time and have joke battles and he could teach me how to sword fight.
*Sigh* I will miss it when it’s over. When the credits role tonight after a majestic finale I will be sad, but hopefully satisfied with how it ended. I make my predictions based on the formula that I have seen or read in other stories. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I want a show to follow the formula, just aspects of it. I want a story to surprise me, but be happy in the end. I need a happy ending otherwise my view of the entire story blows up and dies. It’s not a good habit to have, but I’m a romantic. Either way, The Legend of Korra has four seasons. That will tied me over for a few weeks at least.
Why my roommates like Avatar: The Last Airbender
M likes Avatar because “it’s not sexist”. A lot of the Asian cartoons that M has watched are good that way, M says. The fact that gender roles are not outwardly discussed in the show is a plus. I hadn’t thought about it too much before but M is right. I did appreciate that Fire Nation military and prison guards were a mix of men and women. It’s a good portrayal of equality that bending is not restricted by gender, and that the avatar can be a man or woman.
F likes Avatar because “it’s a kids program that adults can enjoy”.
A likes Avatar because “it’s colorful”.
Paopique - a day in the life 