"my aura has never been pinker!"

[littledust]

So watching Avatar is basically like wrapping a warm, fuzzy blanket around your heart. Sokka/The Ladies FTW! Although Sokka/The Singing Hippie Troupe and Sokka/Hallucinogenic Cacti run a close second.

Comments

[beckerbell]

but then I changed my mind after realizing Avatar wasn't meant to be Anime Lite.

Shockingly, I agree with just about everything you've posted here. Especially this bit--the humor and timing/pacing of the jokes is so very American, but it's meant to be, it's not like trying to shoehorn a completely different style of humor into visual gags that were meant for something else. I mean, it's obviously inspired by anime in a lot of ways, but it's also very much an American cartoon and it works so, so fabulously for that.

It was hard getting used to the pronuciation of names ("Ha-roo" and "Soo-kee" especially) but I relaxed when, again, not meant to be anime, just inspired by it.

How much do I love that it's a group of kids who act like kids and don't fall into stereotypical roles? Try picking out the "leader" of the group and you can't really do it, because they each contribute and as much as Sokka self-identifies with being the "idea guy", it's not all that true. They all contribute their ideas

[littledust]

Avatar is like... my hope that Americans can do something other than cash in on the "animanga trend" gripping the country. Because it's such a beautiful meshing of East and West. ♥ You're right about the humor being incredibly American, but it meshes seamlessly with the Asian-based world. And "spot the country!" has become a game. :D

I CAN'T EVEN PRONOUNCE "IROH" RIGHT NOW THAT I'VE SEEN IT SPELLED.

Re: superpowers! Yeah, if Avatar has a fault, it's powering up people a little too quickly. I bought Toph's newfound bending abilities because earth-bending has been her whole life like none of the other characters', who have close relationships with family members/friends/teachers et cetera. Super!Katara of the last few episodes of S1 was rather sudden, though. Also I had a hard time buying Aang being able to open his chakras up so fast. I was a bit WTF, that really sounds as though that would take at least weeks of training

[beckerbell]

I love it because it balances all these different things so very well--it's still obviously a cartoon aimed at kids, but there's story arcs and continuity. Things that happened in the first season come up again later. Characters go through emotional growth and it's (usually) consistent! It's showing that cartoons can be a great medium to tell stories without having to be graphic (or anime snitched from Japan) to do so.

I can buy Aang's sudden power-ups if, for no other reason, than because he's the Avatar. He's done all this in a previous life, even if he's not in the Avatar State, those memories are still somewhere in him/are him. (Like with the toys he picked out as a kid, letting them know that he really was the Avatar.) Even with Toph... I find it a bit much, but it's all right because it's balanced out with her lack of sight and how earth bending is everything she is

[littledust]

Really, all the best cartoons appeal to everyone, not just the target age group. This is my firm belief. This is why most of the kiddie stuff on TV is such dreck. People became convinced that dumbing things down was the way to get more viewers, forgetting that kids can tell when they're being talked down to. *waves cane* Get off my lawn, you damn network execs!

Yeah, generally I get Aang's instant powerups. It was just the whole chakra thing depended so much on having all his emotions sorted out in perfect order, and he is only twelve years old. (My baby Tibetan Buddha Jesus. ♥) But it didn't really take away from the show for me, it just niggled a bit. And you've got a good point about how he's done it already in a ton of past lives.

Re: Azula keeping Zuko around. That's interesting. She's certainly calculating enough to keep anything useful, and heartless enough to discard it after it is no longer so. Because she is Mistress of All Things Creepy On Avatar, except for the hypnosis dude

[bookelfe]

I LOVE SOKKA.

. . . um. This is predictable, though, because I always end up loving the ones who don't have powers and get to be cool and smart in spite of that. But Sokka especially!

[littledust]

I THINK EVERYONE LOVES SOKKA. DOES THIS MEAN WE ARE PART OF THE SHOW? BECAUSE SOKKA/THE LADIES = TOTALLY CANON.

Yeah, show me a goofball with a good heart and he or she is my favorite character forever.

[bookelfe]

TOTALLY, YO. (Though often that does not work out that well for the ladies. >.>)

I love goofball!Sokka, but I also love him especially when he is right. See: Jet.

[littledust]

SOKKA, I WILL BE YOUR MOON! ♥♥♥ This makes total sense. Really. ALSO I WILL BE HIS CACTUS!

OH YES. Sokka was all cranky suspicious and then justifiably suspicious and no one believed him and then he SAVED THE TOWNSFOLK WITH HIS BRAIN. SOKKA FOR PRESIDENT.