Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra Discussion Topic

I actually feel like Season 3 (and 1) are the best ones around, especially when compared to Season 2 and especially 4. I would have much preferred it if Season 3 was extended and replaced the current Season 4. The latter had way too much focus on war machines.

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I’ve started watching TLA, and I just finished the episode where Aang turns the village spirit monster good again (Book 1 Episode 7).

Honestly, this show does not disappoint. At all. All 7 episodes so far have been excellent. The background score is great, the fight scenes are really well done, and the opening episode is a really strong one that sets up the conflict and all the characters really well. Also Iroh is a really fun character!

Also the theme goes REALLY HARD

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It gets even better :wink:

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I remember watching this show as a wee kid

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I have always and will always get this series confused with the Avatar with blue people

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Don’t.

One is clearly better than the other.

ATLA > Avatar.

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i just finished rewatching both of these shows and holy ■■■■ they are both amazing

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I finished watching Book 1: Water and it was absolutely epic! The season finale was really amazing, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I’m in the middle of Book 2: Earth, and “Zuko Alone” is without a doubt my favorite episode of the show thus far. It gives Zuko some much needed characterization, and really elevated him in my eyes.

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…I just finished watching Book 2: Earth, and so I’ll share my thoughts.

Overall

To put it simply, I was not prepared for how good this season was. It started off comparatively weaker than Book 1: Water, but boy does it pick up from there. It takes the “each episode is its own story” format Book 1 adopted and makes it more cohesive with the overarching plot, this time actually advancing the plot further rather than having one-off stories like The Great Divide or the Deserter that don’t serve much relevance to the overall plot of the season (don’t get me wrong, I think “The Deserter” is one of the show’s best episodes). This season perfectly balanced substance and comedy, adopting a much darker tone with the introduction of Ba Sing Se as a utopia and then delving into its true nature as a police state strictly controlled with an iron fist by Long Feng and the Dai Li.

Top 5 Episodes

  1. Zuko Alone - Until this point, easily the best episode of the show. I didn’t like Zuko that much until this episode, but this episode really lays the foundation for his moral conflict and eventual redemption, and Crossroads of Destiny really picks up on this and portrays his moral conflict in a masterful way.
  2. Appa’s Lost Days - My second favorite episode of the show. Seeing Appa go through what he had gone through just to get captured again, this time by Long Feng, was pretty painful to watch especially as an Appa fan myself.
  3. The Crossroads of Destiny - A finale with all one could ever ask for in a season’s final episode. Excellent fight with Aang and Katara vs Zuko and Azula with Iroh saving the day, and I love the dark tone this episode finishes the season off with. Probably one of the darkest episodes until this point, as this is the second time a character (Aang) is killed onscreen (the first being Jet in Lake Laogai). While Aang is more or less forgettable in terms of fighting in this episode, Katara becomes a fully established waterbending master here and her fight scenes were really well done. But this episode’s biggest strength lies with Zuko. Again, his moral conflict is on full display here and it picks up excellently from Zuko Alone, and this expands upon his character and prepares his redemption arc to take full effect. And it’s really satisfying to see Aang made it out okay in the end with Katara’s help after literally being killed during the fight!
  4. The Desert - “Drink cactus juice! It’ll quench ya! Nothing’s quenchier! It’s the quenchiest!” Oh yeah, and the ending though. The ending of this episode is by far the best of the entire series. The soundtrack was the best it had ever been when Aang entered the Avatar State after finding out that the sandbenders muzzled Appa, and Katara pulling him out of it was also really well done. So far, my second favorite moment of the series.
  5. The Tales of Ba Sing Se - While the other tales are pretty alright, Iroh’s steals the show here. I don’t need to explain more than this.

Overall: 9.8/10

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The Beach comes to mind here.

Questionable choices for a kids show, awful first half, pointless purpose in the scheme of things, and those two NPC grandmas make me want to punch a wall. Honestly, this is the only episode of the show that actually sucks.

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Gonna have to disagree here. This episode gives much-needed character depth to the villain team, and of course also introduces Sparky Sparky Boom man. I’ll agree, the actual Beach Party portion kinda sucks, but it does contribute to the story overall.

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He was introduced in “The Headband”, which by the way is one of the show’s best episodes without a doubt.

And while I agree that Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko got more depth in their characters, that happened in the second half which doesn’t prevent the first half from sucking. And all Combustion Man really did was try to blow up the gang.

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Combustion Man? When did this become Mega Man?

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He was shown, but we didn’t know what he could do or what made him special

Also known as Sparky Sparky Boom Man, Panrahk Man, and XplodefromHF.

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I just finished watching ATLA for the first time.

Honestly, I have no words. There’s only one thing I can say:

Magnificence.

I’ll be publishing my review of Book 3: Fire later.

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…and here’s my review of Book 3: Fire.


Overall

Wow. Just, wow. I thought Book 2 was amazing, but Book 3 was even better. Although this season does have my least favorite episode, it just has too many awesome episodes to cancel one bad one out. Originally I was debating which of books 2 or 3 is better, but having seen the series in its full I can say that book 3 is better, and the best season of ATLA, although only by a slight margin. Book 1 had a really strong beginning and built a solid foundation, Book 2 carried it to great heights, and Book 3 finished it off in the most wonderful way possible.

Top 5 episodes

  1. Sozin’s Comet - I’d be severely mistaken if I DIDN’T give the gold medal to “Sozin’s Comet.” I’ll consider all four parts as one episode, and WHAT AN EPISODE IT WAS. The fight scenes were absolutely FABULOUS (the Last Agni Kai deserves the award for the show’s best fight scene), the background score was the best it’s ever been, and overall, it was the grand conclusion this show had built up to. It was really nice seeing old faces return again in the form of the Order of the White Lotus (haha, old), Iroh reuniting with Zuko was an amazing scene (and one of my two favorite moments from book 3), and the ending. I would not have had it any other way. Seeing the entire Gaang, as well as (most importantly) Aang and Katara, finally at peace with themselves was a reward in itself, both for them and the viewer. Aang and Katara in the show’s final shot made a really fitting conclusion (in my opinion), and it was really heartwarming to finally see them become a couple after the entire show building their relationship step by step (my other favorite moment from book 3). It left me with an intense feeling of longing, wanting more, wanting to see what ultimately became of the both of them and the Gaang after the final battle wrapped up (I know there’s the comics, but it doesn’t quite satisfy that feeling of seeing them on screen). 10/10? Forget it, this episode deserves a solid [12/10]. My favorite episode of the show, tied with “Zuko Alone”.
  2. The Western Air Temple/The Headband - Let’s start with “The Western Air Temple” first. Zuko is finally redeemed, and he is forced to prove himself before anyone believes him by helping to defeat Combustion Man, the very assassin he hired to target and destroy Aang. It was very satisfying to see the payoff to almost two seasons worth of a buildup for his redemption, and even more so to see Aang accept him as his firebending teacher. Katara’s unforgiving attitude despite Zuko proving himself kinda rubbed off on me as annoying, but then again she had a reason to threaten Zuko like she did at the end of the episode because of his betrayal of her back in “The Crossroads of Destiny,” and considering this it makes it satisfying to see the two reconcile in “The Southern Raiders” and finally become friends.
  3. Now, " The Headband ". In my opinion, this is THE best filler episode of the show, no questions asked. Aang’s and Katara’s dance is one of my absolute favorite scenes in the entire show, and the cave party music is just excellent. And another major reason (besides the dance) as to why I really REALLY like this episode is that it gives us a slice of Fire Nation life – what the civilians do, what school is like, etc. Up until now, the show portrays the Fire Nation as an evil state, but this episode really humanizes the civilians of the “evil state” and shows us a side which was never really explored before, and I love this episode for it. [both 10/10]
  4. The Ember Island Players - Never have I laughed this hard at any Avatar episode than I did while watching this one. Even the first line of the play got me :joy::joy:. But what’s really best about this episode is that aside from the obviously comedic approach to summarizing the show in preparation for the grand finale, it manages to have important character moments such as Zuko and Toph’s conversation and the state of Aang’s and Katara’s relationship (Aang making it clear once again that he has feelings for her and Katara obviously conflicted about her feelings for him). [9.9/10]
  5. The Day of Black Sun - I’m going to consider both parts as one episode for this review. What a fantastic episode this is, amazing action sequences all throughout. While Katara didn’t do much at all and Aang and Toph were somewhat forgettable in this episode, Sokka REALLY stole the show here. This episode once again showed what Sokka was capable of, orchestrating an entire invasion of the Fire Nation and almost WINNING. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Zuko here. Zuko’s confrontation with Ozai was simply an awesome and defining moment for his character, finally concluding his moral conflict that began with “Zuko Alone” in the most satisfying way possible and setting him up for the best few episodes in the entire show he was in. [9.8/10]
  6. The Avatar and the Fire Lord - Roku lore galore! Roku being my favorite Avatar aside from Aang made this episode a lot of fun to watch. And we finally get to see how the war started. Although this episode has made Sozin one of my least favorite characters; he’s such a scumbag and I despise him for it. [9.6/10]

Honorable mention: The Firebending Masters [9.5/10]

Overall rating: 9.8/10

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personally, i think the puppet master, sokka’s master, headband, sozin’s comet and the boiling rock are my top 5 for fire

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“Sokka’s Master” and both parts of “The Boiling Rock” are also really excellent episodes, I agree there. And “The Puppetmaster” was so deliciously dark, another great episode right there.

However, the episode in this book I was looking forward to the most was “The Southern Raiders,” and while it was also a pretty solid episode I did have some major issues with it. Aang and Sokka kept trying to tell Katara that hunting down their mother’s killer wouldn’t accomplish anything, and they were right. At the end, Katara neither made peace with herself in this matter nor completely forgave the killer; she just threw a few icicles at him, called him a few names, made him feel bad for a bit, and then called it a day. My most major gripe with this episode comes from Katara’s treatment of Sokka. That was just plain unfair, and Katara is better than that. This was honestly her lowest point throughout the series. Sokka loved their mother just as equally, but he grieves in a different way, and so it’s really unfair to tell him that he never loved their mother the way she does.

But it was pretty satisfying to finally see Katara and Zuko reconcile and become friends after her being hostile to him for a few episodes. And I think this episode works for her character by once again establishing her as someone who would do anything (even bloodbending the wrong guy and sinking a whole ship) for the people she cares about.

Here are my favoritescenes:

  1. Iroh mourning his son in “The Tales of Ba Sing Se”

  2. Aang and Katara kissing in the final scene of “Sozin’s Comet Part 4: Avatar Aang”

  3. Iroh and Zuko reuniting in “Sozin’s Comet Part 2: The Old Masters”

  4. The Final Agni Kai in “Sozin’s Comet Part 3: Into the Inferno”

  5. Appa’s flashback of meeting Aang in “Appa’s Lost Days”

  6. Zuko and Aang doing the Dragon Dance in “The Firebending Masters”

  7. Aang entering the Avatar State at the end of “The Desert”

  8. Zuko’s confrontation with Ozai in “The Day of Black Sun”

  9. Aang and Katara’s dance in “The Headband”

  10. Zuko’s childhood flashbacks in “Zuko Alone”

HM: Aang vs. Ozai in “Sozin’s Comet Part 4”, Aang’s flashbacks in “The Storm”, and Iroh bidding Zuko farewell in “The Siege of the North”

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I’m actually on the 7th episode of Korra Book 1, and personally, it’s not all bad. I was on the fence about watching it because I didn’t want it to spoil the memory I have of ATLA’s beautiful finale (especially the really sweet note it left off with), but I decided to give it a shot. The romance situation is at least 10 times worse in LoK (not that it was even half bad in ATLA to begin with), but Amon is a really fantastic villain (better than any villain in ATLA if you ask me) and I enjoyed seeing the fight scenes involving him and the Equalists.

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That’s my main concern about most anime nowadays. Sadly, that alone will prevent me from watching many of these shows.

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