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Honestly? The Ember Island Players! Okay,I actually like a LOT of Book 3 episodes more on a technical level but the fun and surprise of the first time I saw that episode really sticks with me.
I think it's also worth bringing up that this episode was when we began to realize more of how Ozai saw Azula. Not as his daughter, but as a weapon he was willing to sacrifice while he hid in a bunker.
ozai is the firelord, why would he wait in the most obvious place for an invasion that he already knows about? and azula planned that part herself, she “had a hunch” the avatar was still alive and devised a plan to confront him. plus she was not defenseless, she had some dai li agents with her.
When I was a kid I actually believed that these two episodes would be the series finale. I feel like the shock I experienced at the gang's loss is comparable to what people watching Empire Strikes Back in theaters in 1980 felt.
RIGHT?! I thought it was too! I was shocked to my core! And then we had to wait 8 MONTHS for the next episode! It made the finale SO satisfying though. This is one of my favorite shows I've ever watched
For me, I was a teenager when the episode happened... so I thought that it would be impossible for them not to have the final fight during the comet... but even then, it shocked me how bad they lost... I just thought it would be a failure...
You know, Sokka's journey is an interesting one... he started off with proper training... but no one to practice with, no actual combat experience. With the Kyoshi warriors, he got his martial arts and battle skills cleaned up and even learned a few tricks. From there, he had constant battle to give him experience, and he even had to fight 2 martial artists that followed Azula... Sokka learning the sword quickly makes sense when you realize that he already had a lot of combat ability with a club and tons of experience and watched a lot of combat... the sword master just further cleaned him up...
Honestly... I always took Soka as the idea guy. They kinda work that into his training, but I thought they under utilized that angle. In that he never truly works to train his brain with like an actual tactician. He just has it naturally. But I enjoyed what they did with him none of the less.
@@KianOntong13 Surely there was more onboard the subs than just Sokka? I mean we saw several torpedoes launched, some medical supplies would be logical, and the tanks.
I like how they did a finale fake-out. From the library episode until this point, the story was really hyping the invasion up to be the culminating event of the whole show. But then they decide to chill it with the whole war drama and switch to quieter, more personal stories for half a season. It’s unconventional and works really well.
I always knew sozin's comet was going to be the grand finale As soon as Azula knew about the eclipse invasion plan in ba sing se I knew that it was going to end in failure
I always had a feeling it was gonna fail they just weren't slick enough. If they already knew about the invasion and the eclipse, of course they'd set up something
It's really the stupid earth kings fault for not telling Sokka that Azula and her crew know about the solar eclipse when they were dressed as Kyoshi warriors
@@edra3118 It's actually Katara's fault for not taking the Earth King going to the meeting room or discuss the plan in his throne room along with other Generals. Come on, he's the King, he should've at least learnt about the situation. Also, do you think it's really suspicious to know that Toph's mom in Ba Sing Se while in The Blind Bandit episode, she along with her husband barely go outside and even locked Toph 24 hours because of her blindness? Sokka also can ignore his dad's letter and becomes the guard and he is a smart guy, he should know every members of Kiyoshi Warrior even with face painting so he can regonize Azula and her friends. Aang is the only one who can go to learn about training of his Chakra so he can go to The Avatar State.
After all these years of seeing breakdowns and analyses of AtLA, I have been conditioned to expect the phrase "my favorite scene..." to be immediately followed by something to do with Zuko.
I understand Zuko had a great character arc, but it starts getting annoying when that's all everyone talks about when there are so many characters with great arcs in the entire series. Like CM missed the arcs here of development with Aang, Katara, and even tertiary characters that I feel was just as important and made the episodes well-rounded.
@@eggsnspam honestly i agree that all of the characters had noteworthy arcs, i think that the reason zuko's is discussed so much is that unlike the others, who we know are going to be good people, zoku starts a s a villain but is shown having the potential for good, throughout the show that goodness and humanity grows until we, the audience, finally get to see him break free of his past life and join the avatar.
I dont understand the Zuko love. I dobt hate the character but he is nowhere near one of the high points of the series for me. He wouldnt even be my 5th favorite character so Im always blown to see how important he is to the fandom at large.
I've noticed that there's an interesting parallel between Sokka and Zuko. Both are the sons of leaders who are less powerful than their younger sisters and feel that they have to prove themselves somehow. The difference, however, is that Zuko had mostly toxic relationships growing up (with the exception of Ursa and Iroh), while Sokka's relationships were way healthier. Still, in the end they learn that they had nothing to prove (Hakoda is already proud of Sokka, and Zuko sees his dad for the abusive coward that he is).
A great thing about ATLA is that it has several ongoing parallels between its main characters: Aang and Zuko is just the most obvious because...well several reasons but one is that the episode The Storm basically slammed it in our faces.
Sokka was my favorite part of the whole 2 parts. Sokka standing up as leader was frikin awesome, and I couldn't avoid feeling proud of my boy. And when Azula taunted him, it was heartbreaking for me. Showing his humanity, and how the knowledge that Suki is in danger, and that he probably failed her, Yue situation repeating itself. Hearing that Suki lost hope on him, it's fatal for him, because it means he failed again
Z: Look Sokka, you're gonna fail a lot before things work out. S: That's supposed to make me feel better? Z: Even if you fail over and over and over again- S: SERIOUSLY, not helping! Z: -you have to try every time. You can't be afraid to try because you MIGHT fail.
Also, after the fall of Ba Sing Se he probably thought Suki was dead. He had to deal with loosing 2 girlfriends within less then a year to the fire nation! Edit: I just found out Appa's lost days was going to be sadder. Azula was originally supposed to kill Suki and sneak into Ba Sing Se. Poor Sokka!
@@diepssuarez2676 yeah, he had it pretty rough. Man, that aspect of Sokka, the fear of losing her, and his relationship with her should've been more developed imo. Ahgg, it had so much potential. I'm happy with what we got, but I can't stop thinking it could've been something more
Even though Azula was smart enough to play his emotion and the entire Team Avatar at that episode, she forgot to bring her big bro along with her or maybe she's ignoring him because he's not good enough. If Azula brought Zuko, Sokka will never know the location of Boiling Rock, Aang will never get Firebending teacher, Team Avatar will never know about Ozai's plan to burn Earth Kingdom and Aang will never stop the war.
One thing: Ozai didn’t know that the Avatar was still alive at that point, Azula had lied to him and said Zuko had killed him. So, it’s more like Azula set up the diversion herself, without Ozai’s knowledge.
But he still had her go up against master benders while she was at a disadvantage. It didn't matter if he believed the avatar was dead or alive because he still used his daughter as a decoy against a skilled group of benders when she couldn't use firebending to counter.
Regular dad would be: no youre powerless as well..there is a chance you would be captured, or dead, dont be the diversion, we get general mcgeneralface for it. Ozai: lol k bitch, if youre dead i dont really care bai
Another thing: In Sozin's Comet Part 1: We see how Ozai just completely walked to his coronation as Phoenix King and then his daughter called him for being late. You can see in his face, he looks completely disgusted and dissapointed after learning the truth that she's lying about The Avatar being dead. So, the moment when he asked her to stay in Fire Nation and becomes The Fire Lord is his form of "You're Grounded!"
@@JasonGodwin69 agreed, but their point is just that each of the episode's concept are/almost the same as infinity war and endgame, not comparing the quality of the two franchise
It was interesting rewatching the scene where Ursa is amused by Iroh's letter describing how he was burning down Ba Sing Se with young Zuko and Azula. Even someone as kind-hearted as her was disillusioned with Fire Nation propaganda.
The root of Toph's issues (her parents) didn't get the same attention as the trio's and zuko's. Or more like, it wasn't as fleshed out. All she got was some pep talk
It's because Toph is both literally and figuratively the rock of the series. As befits her place as the resident earth bending master she is immovable. The world changes around her but she does not. This is why during the episode with the Ember Island players Toph is the only character happy with her portrayal. All of the other characters have personal insecurities that keep them from being confident in who they are, some more than others. Only Toph is a fully realised individual totally confident in her own being and so the warped and exaggerated portrayal of her by the players is not something to worry about. Toph and Iroh are the only characters in the show portrayed to have no personal insecurities to speak of.
We see Sokka and Zuko interact with: Girlfriends Honor. Sisters. Strategic. Akward cringe. Sokka is more consistently funnier than Zuko. I love how Zuko and Sokka were like real bros after the Boiling Rock.
There’s one mistake in your essay: you were saying that Ozai left Azusa to deal with the Avatar. You should have should have just said the heroes: He had in no way considered Azula lying about who struck down the Avatar, or the Avatar still being alive until Zuko revealed both!
I get what you mean, but like how? Cuz, like everyone says that. And that kinda makes him not underrated anymore. He's not necessarily overrated but he's not underrated.
@@ethanmcfarland8240 That's not true. Maybe to some extent, but the same could be said about other important characters. Zuko is definitely the most commonly talked about arc, idk about Aang tho.
"Ozai didn't know the Avatar was still alive" I think that makes it even worse. In Ozai's mind, that invasion force would solely consist of adult soldiers willing to kill the enemy to achieve victory. He used his 14 year old, temporarily powerless daughter as bait to enemy soldiers.
@@jin00305 that's what I was thinking too. It's actually worse when you realize that he thought adult soldiers perfectly capable of killing their enemy were coming for him, putting his daughter in his place to possibly be killed instead.
I believe he did know, there was that episode where toph told aang to cover up his tattoos when he was in the water and he went down a tunnel of water, then 2 fire nation soldiers saw him jumping up the rocks to do it again and sent a black tie message to the fire lord that the avatar was still alive.
I've been re-watching Avatar the past few weeks, and I'm really surprises how smart, mature, subtle, and complex this show is for a Nickelodeon kid's show.
A Spelling Error In a non children’s version sokka would just slit Azula’s throat after she is pinned down, and then Ozai gets slaughtered by the 4 lol
Craig Peoples he felt bad because his death lead to the fall of Ba Sing Se and the fire nation getting full control of the earth kingdom. He failed a 3rd time. You can’t blame him for being upset
@@dripdoriya1707I don't blame him at all quite the opposite but it really wasn't Aang's fault he died he didn't know Azula would shoot him so it's not like he could do anything
He felt like everyone put their faith in him and he failed them. I think at times he felt very alone in the world. Next to losing Appa and getting killed it was one of his worst setbacks. Luckily we see here that Katara is able to remind him that she and the Gaang were still there for him and he didnt fail.
😂😂😂😂 this comment brought back so many memories. My initials are CM and my friends called me it in school as a joke and when I saw this comment first a second I low key thought it was aimed at me 😂😂
His phrasing is from the characters perspective, which would make it about the length of time they have known each other in the show. If he did mean in real life it should have been from when we met aang, not when katara, sokka, etc. met him.
yea tbh I was a little suspect too, cause' its possible that the room was filled with guards and azula decided she would face them herself. Or, honeslty, a million other variations where ozai is not privy to azula's shenanigans.
about your comments on Ozai, Ursa actually put it really nicely in the comics Smoke and Shadow "You're a little man trying your hardest to show you are big" he isn't honored, he isn't honest, he is just a very tiny man (not phisically lol) the quote might be unaccurate, but it is something among those lines
i loved the idea of disappointments, mistakes, and change of plans in avatar. every time things didn’t go as planned, and mistakes were made, and things couldn’t be avoided, team avatar had to not only find another way, but keep the hope that there was another way. it just shows that the solution to a problem is never cut and clear
Absolutely loved the video was spot on and couldn’t agree more, but also at 8:00 it wasn’t even a few years, it’d be months and crazy just how far they came in such little time !!
@@studio.applebyte it was probably about 9-10 months in total-the series started before winter and ended at the end of the summer. The invasion probably took place about two months before the finale, maybe less, I don't know
xXRandom_NerdXx well using context clues from his previous sentence he states their names and then says years ago so he is speaking from their PoV not ours or else he would have had to change the PoV to ours. Therefore since he didn’t do that before or after then it wouldn’t actually be our time it would be their time
man, I don't think avatar could've been written in any other tine than the early 2000's (it was being brainstormed as early as 2003 if I'm correct). it's *such* a post 9/11 show, and that spirit, that mood of conflict and fear and propaganda was so well captured. I mean like you said, that quote from zuko is perfect. "we were taught that the fire nation was the greatest civilization in history. and somehow, the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. what an amazing lie that was. the people of the world are terrified by the fire nation. they don't see our greatness. they hate us. and we deserve it."
"man, I don't think avatar could've been written in any other tine than the early 2000's" Don't be too sure. If you watch Babylon 5, written before 9/11, it sounds uncannily prophetic of what the US was about to go through. But Straczynski wasn't predicting the future; he was using the Nazis as a model. The patterns have been repeated a lot in many contexts, before and after the first and second Persian Gulf wars.
This episode feels like Infinity War. All the character interactions between each other, an amazing action sequence, all characters having their moments. Lastly, they lose for a much more redemptive and comeback finale.
I think calling Azula “powerless” is uh...misleading. She’s without her bending, sure, but she is far from powerless! Besides that, this was a great video!
@@xnortheast1106 azula is basically parkouring and martial arting..we know the firebender royals can fight with no bending, we see zuko multiple times just fight with his twin swords, their ways of moving mirrors martial arts as well, but during in earth kingdom, against an earthbender, zuko who years before fought zhao, had trouble fighting with just the swords...what was meant here is azula is powerles, aka without power, aka without bending, but in a sense of combat, she is highly capable
Anyone else watched the show as it was airing? The writer's strike happened in the middle of book 3, so the schedule was throw off. We waited *ages* for these episodes, and the Gaang's failure on the Day of Black Sun was a huge shock. And then we had to wait even more for the second half of book 3, then all the episodes came out at once. Good times.
Great vid, but I'm surprised you didn't talk about Hakoda's nearly life threatening injury. The way that gruesome of an injury was able to be shown on Nickelodeon, and how it was presented overall with haunting sounds rather than with visuals, I thought was really clever. As a kid, I was truly horrified in that moment.
Plus it brings the gruesome reality of war to light; people can and do get hurt. So it was also realistic that someone got hurt during the battle. Had this been an R-rated show they'd have probably driven that point even more home.
A point you missed: Ozai didn't know the Avatar was still alive by that point as Zuko confessed that Azula made the final blow to him and that the Avatar was the one probably leading the attack. Ozai being in a separate spot from where Azula was was probably more of Azula's scheme to take more glory. As it would only benefit her if the Avatar was alive since the lie that Zuko killed him was already spread. Ozai being in a different spot was probably a suggestion from Azula since she had the Di Lee as a trap and should any combatants get that far, Ozai had that final layer of defense. It could be Ozai made the call, but it smells like Azula being manipulative to her advantage again.
These two episodes always reminded me of when Harry Potter goes to the ministry in the Order of the Phoenix. Although his reasons for going are valid, his nastiness ends in the death of Sirius Black. Also, Voldemort is very similar to Ozai by sending his cronies (although he does show up to try and kill Harry) to do his dirty work.
"since meeting in the ice years before" Months. All three seasons took place within one year. We know because in season one, during the winter solstice when Aang talks to Roku, Roku tells him that the comet is coming at the end of the summer. Then in book 3, Aang meditates on Roku's island during the summer solstice. So at most it was about 9 months.
Speaking of amazing all-ages cartoons, you should give Infinity Train a shot especially now that Book 3 is about to release soon. It’s got a lot of depth and an amazing set piece.
that moment with zuko confronting ozai is honestly the most powerful scene in tv I have ever watched. The triumph at the end of the show was very powerful with aang getting cheered on by the four nations the day after sozins comet. But that scene with zukos incredible moment of the culmination of so many episodes of self realization was just incredible and the most pwerful scene i have watched
I love that The Day of Black of Black Sun was like Infinity War before Infinity War. The good guys have a chance at stopping the big bad, and many other characters join in for the battle, but in the end, they lose. And they lose bad. Allies are lost, and hope is crushed. All of which leads to the big Endgame finale later on. It was a fantastic bit of storytelling that shows the importance of the heroes being down. They can't always wing. There must be a dark hour. It makes their eventual victory that much more earned.
An actual series that can compete with anime in terms of world building, character development and deep plot. The audience will not care where this made from as long as the themes are still relevant up to this day.
"since meeting in the ice years before" lol the entire show happened in about a year, being a kid and waiting through the months and years to get every season really warped our senses of time. UGH i remember that wait for season 3 being SO LONG and the break between the day of black sun to the rest of the season being unbearable. this was such great analysis! i loved this!
Near the end of the video you mention how far the characters have come since finding Aang in the ice years ago. But I thought the whole series took place in one year? When the last episode is wrapping up Zuko says to Aang "I cant believe only a year ago I was trying to hunt you down." (Something like that 😆) and Aang replies "I cant believe a year ago I was still trapped in ice." But idk maybe I heard you wrong
@@captainmidnight no worries. Great video overall. The last airbender has a wellspring of topics to discuss and its fun hearing and contemplating other peoples thoughts on it. This is actually one of my favorite episodes because Zukos turn really blindsided me. After rewatching the whole show I see how they were setting that up but my first time through I tried not to make any speculations so I was thrown through a loop 😄. But what made it so great are the following episodes where Zuko starts utilizing the knowledge gained traveling with his uncle. And how Zuko ended up being the one who solidified the team and helped each member to better themselves and ultimately succeed.
@@Levi_52_336 It wasn't half a year. They went through months of fun & stuff before the winter solstice showed up (took weeks to get to the Northern tribe). Zuko knew Aang the whole show. Only Toph was relatively new to the group.
I know people of certain political persuasions have been pushing memes like “The US was the Fire Nation all along,” which is fine-you’re allowed to interpret the show as you want. But the Fire Nation is literally WWII Japan. Literally. It mechanizes ultra fast, it’s superiority complex is hinged in a belief in its “advanced” culture (and still exists to an extent to this day), it colonized the hell out of those it conquered, it kicked off the war with a surprise attack... I mean, even the architecture in the Fire Nation is Japanese mostly. So while, yes, the mature writing of the Fire Nation is applicable beyond its historical roots, it always irks me a bit when it’s politicized while ignoring said history.
Fire Nation was also based on China when it literally invaded Tibet and exiled the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. China kind of tamped down and overrun Tibet's Buddhism so it doesn't go on the same power level as the CCP. And yes Ba Sing Se was also based on China with it's re-education camps (lake Lao Gai) and great wall.
Eggsn Bakon personally I think Earth Kingdom = China pre-communism (all power is in the king) but it is put in control of its provinces really. Japan = Fire Nation (pretty obvs why), Tibet = Air Nation (also pretty obvious except they get invaded after Japan falls), while the northern and southern water tribes are based on the Inuit peoples of the North Pole/Siberian Russia.
Aang didn't meet them all years before by the end. The whole series took about 9 months or so. It shows how quickly people bond in high stress situations. It was years to us...not them.
Honestly you explained a lot of things I didn't notice about this episode but the great way you describe the lesson that they're not ready only makes me realize more how easily aang was willing to throw it all away and let ozai win
To me, what the kiss means is that Aang is expecting the worse, so just incase he doesn’t come back he wants to kiss Katara before he leaves. A lil motivation for him as well
No, I think it's meant to be at least 7-8 months covering winter, spring, and summer. Because the winter solstice happened in season 1, the beginning of spring happened in season 2, and the end of summer happened in season 3
My favoritr part of those 2 episodes was when Aang and Zuko both say "I'm ready to face you" and enter the fire lord's room at the same time (although the firelord os not reallt in Aang's room). This shows the parallel between Aang's and Zuko's destinies which is emphasized and given more clarity in Iroh's speech to Zuko while in prison. This is the one where Iroh revealed that Zuko's other great great grandfather is avatar Roku and like the avatar, Zuko's destiny is also to bring balance to world by cleansing the sins of the fire nation.
That intro sounds like something I would hear as a child just before knocking out late at night in front of the T.V. Really helps me wind down at the end of the day now that I'm an adult.
One thing that I don't think is addressed enough is also how the character growth is reflected in the episodes immediately following. You have the other characters like Haru essentially acting like kids, we saw them on the same level as the leads when they were first introduced, but now we see what the burden of saving the world has done to the leads. All of them are concerned with stopping Ozai and what needs to be done as opposed to the sort of ignorant innocence seen with the other kids. Honestly, it's probably just a function of the writers not really wanting that space to be taken up by the side characters, but still, it was expertly done.
I loved when Zuko confronted his father, Ozai thought he could just kill him or make him leave like he could when he had firebending. Only for Zuko to be calling the shots because he knew his father was too much of a coward to face him without his bending. When Zuko said "You will listen to me" his father just sits back down without saying anything. It was so satisfying for me.
Lohith Raj I guess it’s all opinionated. I didn’t like the ending of GOT, but the first 5 seasons I found amazing. Breaking Bad for me was perfect however and same can be said for AOT.
@@innatebubble121 yeah but still man think abt got was perfection till the 6 season or so and i even liked the ending of breaking bad i would even call breaking bad a perfect ending like no other for me but still it was too much boring in a few seasons like the second and third but GOT was like a roller coaster which was amazing at the beginning and even in the middle and only at the end it slowed down and even gave the biggest wow factor in the mid season which i think would have not been possible by breaking bad. Overall GOT was much better than breaking bad!!!
@@innatebubble121 and also i ran out of maximum no. characters i can write i n the last reply btw i wouldnt comment anything abtAOT cuz it aint finshed i would like to only talk abt the finished ones right now.
I’d really love to see you do an in-depth analysis of Mad Men. Be it characters, seasons, or the time period representation as a whole, there’s definitely a lot of material there for you to talk about :D
Great video! For me, and for Sokka, it was a lot of “if only we had dad, or this friend, or this ...” . It was like concentrated wish fulfillment gone just the way they wanted, but then still getting kicked in the teeth anyway. Superb story, that stood on all the previously earned story beats.
@@paponmeowmeow4745 yeah but they still lose a good bit and/or have to run. Suki even comme ted in "The Ember Island Players" lol To name a few, season 2 finale and invasion. Major plot points in the show
Although the Day of the Black Sun is a crucial part of the story, it isn't as shocking as some people say it to be. Its quite predictable, when you look at it in a storyteller's perspective, it would be too good and too easy if Sokka's plan worked out as it should. Thus, if you're a storyteller you would form a twist, that would make the characters and the viewers unprepared, which then led to the true finale of Avatar the Last Airbender. What's even more interesting is that I predicted it so when I watched it the first time on TV when I was a kid. Maybe its just me having watched many shows that used this kind of twists, but personally the Day of the Black Sun isn't as surprising as people say it to be.
ozai is the firelord, why would he wait in the most obvious place for an invasion that he already knows about? and azula planned that part herself, she “had a hunch” the avatar was still alive and devised a plan to confront him. plus she was not defenseless, she had some dai li agents with her.
The direction of these 2 episodes are cinematography like with its seamless animation and great writing truly a great show very captivating and engaging that speech zuko gave to his father ass spine chilling and summed his story up perfectly
I always wondered how the fire nation wiped out the air benders, then it's later revealed they attacked them during sozins comet making their firebending super powerful. Just goes to show how amazing this show is korra was also amazing
@@TropicaIJay everything have admirers. Korra had some great ideas, execution was sub par. It's not something that's great but something that could have been great, for many others, including me.
Sokka’s character arc is so fantastic. I was so disappointed when he didn’t appear in LOK and they didn’t even go into what he might of been doing in the time between the events of season 3 of ATLA and his death 😢
My own headcanon is that each book is a year. For the whole show to happen in like 6 months is so unrealistic. Each book being a year helps explain the growth each character goes through
I’m surprised you didn’t talk about the fact that the series had been building to this episode as far back as book two. With the gang learning about the comet’s effects on firebenders and how the characters had all been planning this confrontation since then. It just makes their failure a lot more impactful because of all that buildup
wo'ah, earf, birming'am, fish n' chips... long ago, the fou' nations live togedah in ah'mony. then ev'ryfing changed when the IRA attacked.... only the avatah, mastah of all fou' elements could stop 'em but when the queen needed 'im most, 'e vanished. 100 yea's passed and me bruv and i found the new avatah. a fish n' chips bendah named aang. although 'is chipbendin' skills ah great, 'e still 'as a lo' to lea'n 'fore 'e's ready to save anyone m8.
What is your favorite episode from Book 3?
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The Southern raiders for me
The firebending masters🔥
Firebending Masters is my favourite Avatar TLA episode overall. I cry every time I watch it.
... that's true for a few other epsidoes as well.
I can’t remember the names of the episodes lol
Honestly? The Ember Island Players!
Okay,I actually like a LOT of Book 3 episodes more on a technical level but the fun and surprise of the first time I saw that episode really sticks with me.
I think it's also worth bringing up that this episode was when we began to realize more of how Ozai saw Azula. Not as his daughter, but as a weapon he was willing to sacrifice while he hid in a bunker.
He did bring that up.
@@MagusMarquillin I know I was just hoping he'd explore it more. Though I realize that's not really the focus of the video.
Father of the year
Ozai loves Azula 100x more than Zuko. but 100 x 0 is still 0.
ozai is the firelord, why would he wait in the most obvious place for an invasion that he already knows about? and azula planned that part herself, she “had a hunch” the avatar was still alive and devised a plan to confront him. plus she was not defenseless, she had some dai li agents with her.
When I was a kid I actually believed that these two episodes would be the series finale. I feel like the shock I experienced at the gang's loss is comparable to what people watching Empire Strikes Back in theaters in 1980 felt.
je. was real gut punch but a fantastic experience.
RIGHT?! I thought it was too! I was shocked to my core! And then we had to wait 8 MONTHS for the next episode! It made the finale SO satisfying though. This is one of my favorite shows I've ever watched
For me, I was a teenager when the episode happened... so I thought that it would be impossible for them not to have the final fight during the comet... but even then, it shocked me how bad they lost... I just thought it would be a failure...
Yah but if u pay attention closely the bad guys ( azula ) knew about the invasion months prior
The exact same
This show is a masterpiece. One of the best shows ever made.
THE best show ever made, no need to pretend here
For me its the best show
Andrew Rocha yup!
@@andrewrocha5816 ...really? That good ay?!
Tell me something everyone doesn't know
You know, Sokka's journey is an interesting one... he started off with proper training... but no one to practice with, no actual combat experience. With the Kyoshi warriors, he got his martial arts and battle skills cleaned up and even learned a few tricks. From there, he had constant battle to give him experience, and he even had to fight 2 martial artists that followed Azula...
Sokka learning the sword quickly makes sense when you realize that he already had a lot of combat ability with a club and tons of experience and watched a lot of combat... the sword master just further cleaned him up...
and he also did warrior training in the north pole. it’s mentioned a little before Sokka gives Aang the idea to teach Katara water bending at night
Honestly... I always took Soka as the idea guy.
They kinda work that into his training, but I thought they under utilized that angle. In that he never truly works to train his brain with like an actual tactician. He just has it naturally.
But I enjoyed what they did with him none of the less.
@@TapDat52K well he is the inventory of the submarine
@@KianOntong13 Surely there was more onboard the subs than just Sokka? I mean we saw several torpedoes launched, some medical supplies would be logical, and the tanks.
@@DraconicDuelist I meant inventor* ahaha it was a typo
I like how they did a finale fake-out. From the library episode until this point, the story was really hyping the invasion up to be the culminating event of the whole show. But then they decide to chill it with the whole war drama and switch to quieter, more personal stories for half a season. It’s unconventional and works really well.
I always knew sozin's comet was going to be the grand finale
As soon as Azula knew about the eclipse invasion plan in ba sing se I knew that it was going to end in failure
Ed Ra Oh true! Also in retrospect, a giant firey comet seems more finale-like than a solar eclipse.
I always had a feeling it was gonna fail they just weren't slick enough. If they already knew about the invasion and the eclipse, of course they'd set up something
It's really the stupid earth kings fault for not telling Sokka that Azula and her crew know about the solar eclipse when they were dressed as Kyoshi warriors
@@edra3118 It's actually Katara's fault for not taking the Earth King going to the meeting room or discuss the plan in his throne room along with other Generals. Come on, he's the King, he should've at least learnt about the situation.
Also, do you think it's really suspicious to know that Toph's mom in Ba Sing Se while in The Blind Bandit episode, she along with her husband barely go outside and even locked Toph 24 hours because of her blindness?
Sokka also can ignore his dad's letter and becomes the guard and he is a smart guy, he should know every members of Kiyoshi Warrior even with face painting so he can regonize Azula and her friends.
Aang is the only one who can go to learn about training of his Chakra so he can go to The Avatar State.
After all these years of seeing breakdowns and analyses of AtLA, I have been conditioned to expect the phrase "my favorite scene..." to be immediately followed by something to do with Zuko.
I understand Zuko had a great character arc, but it starts getting annoying when that's all everyone talks about when there are so many characters with great arcs in the entire series. Like CM missed the arcs here of development with Aang, Katara, and even tertiary characters that I feel was just as important and made the episodes well-rounded.
Eggsn Bakon Sokka was kinda the protagonist here, like he said
@@eggsnspam honestly i agree that all of the characters had noteworthy arcs, i think that the reason zuko's is discussed so much is that unlike the others, who we know are going to be good people, zoku starts a s a villain but is shown having the potential for good, throughout the show that goodness and humanity grows until we, the audience, finally get to see him break free of his past life and join the avatar.
I dont understand the Zuko love. I dobt hate the character but he is nowhere near one of the high points of the series for me. He wouldnt even be my 5th favorite character so Im always blown to see how important he is to the fandom at large.
@@shihoblade As far as "Zuko-love" you don't have to agree but you can respect it because we are all allowed to like different things.
I've noticed that there's an interesting parallel between Sokka and Zuko. Both are the sons of leaders who are less powerful than their younger sisters and feel that they have to prove themselves somehow. The difference, however, is that Zuko had mostly toxic relationships growing up (with the exception of Ursa and Iroh), while Sokka's relationships were way healthier. Still, in the end they learn that they had nothing to prove (Hakoda is already proud of Sokka, and Zuko sees his dad for the abusive coward that he is).
Funny tho, because for the entirety of the show, they focus on the parallel between *aang* and zuko.
there's a video essay on that that i watch a while back
A great thing about ATLA is that it has several ongoing parallels between its main characters: Aang and Zuko is just the most obvious because...well several reasons but one is that the episode The Storm basically slammed it in our faces.
@@carolyn8740 lmao yeah. And the avatar and the firelord
🤯😆
Sokka was my favorite part of the whole 2 parts. Sokka standing up as leader was frikin awesome, and I couldn't avoid feeling proud of my boy. And when Azula taunted him, it was heartbreaking for me. Showing his humanity, and how the knowledge that Suki is in danger, and that he probably failed her, Yue situation repeating itself. Hearing that Suki lost hope on him, it's fatal for him, because it means he failed again
Z: Look Sokka, you're gonna fail a lot before things work out.
S: That's supposed to make me feel better?
Z: Even if you fail over and over and over again-
S: SERIOUSLY, not helping!
Z: -you have to try every time. You can't be afraid to try because you MIGHT fail.
Yeah, he even cried. Pretty sad
Also, after the fall of Ba Sing Se he probably thought Suki was dead. He had to deal with loosing 2 girlfriends within less then a year to the fire nation!
Edit:
I just found out Appa's lost days was going to be sadder. Azula was originally supposed to kill Suki and sneak into Ba Sing Se. Poor Sokka!
@@diepssuarez2676 yeah, he had it pretty rough. Man, that aspect of Sokka, the fear of losing her, and his relationship with her should've been more developed imo. Ahgg, it had so much potential. I'm happy with what we got, but I can't stop thinking it could've been something more
Even though Azula was smart enough to play his emotion and the entire Team Avatar at that episode, she forgot to bring her big bro along with her or maybe she's ignoring him because he's not good enough. If Azula brought Zuko, Sokka will never know the location of Boiling Rock, Aang will never get Firebending teacher, Team Avatar will never know about Ozai's plan to burn Earth Kingdom and Aang will never stop the war.
I love the fact that they were brave enough to show Aang crying. He's already so human, but I loved that they added that to give him even more depth.
Out of all the things that this show did, I don't think depicting a 12 year old boy crying is very bold or brave, ngl
@@kylemorrison6162 seeing boys cry in media is a really rare thing, especially back when this show was released.
@@amanda1271 that doesn't mean the creators were brave to add that in any capacity whatsoever
@@kylemorrison6162 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@kylemorrison6162 no
One thing: Ozai didn’t know that the Avatar was still alive at that point, Azula had lied to him and said Zuko had killed him. So, it’s more like Azula set up the diversion herself, without Ozai’s knowledge.
Trueeee
But he still had her go up against master benders while she was at a disadvantage. It didn't matter if he believed the avatar was dead or alive because he still used his daughter as a decoy against a skilled group of benders when she couldn't use firebending to counter.
Regular dad would be: no youre powerless as well..there is a chance you would be captured, or dead, dont be the diversion, we get general mcgeneralface for it.
Ozai: lol k bitch, if youre dead i dont really care bai
Azula had her dai li agent body guards
She wasn't completely defenseless
Another thing:
In Sozin's Comet Part 1:
We see how Ozai just completely walked to his coronation as Phoenix King and then his daughter called him for being late. You can see in his face, he looks completely disgusted and dissapointed after learning the truth that she's lying about The Avatar being dead. So, the moment when he asked her to stay in Fire Nation and becomes The Fire Lord is his form of "You're Grounded!"
The day of the black sun is like invinty war on the avatar universe and sozin comet is like endgame in the avatar universe
Wrong, Avatar is better.
@@JasonGodwin69 agreed, but their point is just that each of the episode's concept are/almost the same as infinity war and endgame, not comparing the quality of the two franchise
No
@@JasonGodwin69 just let people have opinions
Don't compare the marvel crap to this well written show please.
Can we OG fans just take a moment to appreciate that our childhood show is ACTUALLY being talked about even years later.
yes! i remember watching it 7 or 8 years ago and begging people to watch it!
Yeah, why this revival all of a sudden? I don't stop seeing new videos and stuff about the show, and my childhood memories are all coming back
@@nosyrballeb EXACTLY
Makes one tearbend
Jose Ignacio Real Lozano it was added to Netflix recently and because of COVID lots of people have nothing to do so are watching it
It was interesting rewatching the scene where Ursa is amused by Iroh's letter describing how he was burning down Ba Sing Se with young Zuko and Azula. Even someone as kind-hearted as her was disillusioned with Fire Nation propaganda.
I think it was more like her being proud of Iroh, a little of both actually
Even after 15 years there is still so much the fandom can learn from this masterpiece.
everyone*
This is why this show is timeless in my opinion. It’s for everyone.
Show sucked ass
Papon Meow meow I’m not mad at you I’m just disappointed at you lost your way
@@paponmeowmeow4745 youre trolling, definitely trolling... i wont believe that youre not.
"sokka katara zuko and aang have really come a long way"
*Toph has left the chat*
The root of Toph's issues (her parents) didn't get the same attention as the trio's and zuko's. Or more like, it wasn't as fleshed out. All she got was some pep talk
It's because Toph is both literally and figuratively the rock of the series. As befits her place as the resident earth bending master she is immovable. The world changes around her but she does not.
This is why during the episode with the Ember Island players Toph is the only character happy with her portrayal. All of the other characters have personal insecurities that keep them from being confident in who they are, some more than others. Only Toph is a fully realised individual totally confident in her own being and so the warped and exaggerated portrayal of her by the players is not something to worry about. Toph and Iroh are the only characters in the show portrayed to have no personal insecurities to speak of.
******SINCE MEETING IN THE ICE BEFORE
@@volodymyrboitchouk well said
Unpopular opinion: Sokka’s character ark is just as good or maybe even better than zukos because of how amazingly subtle it was
Truth
Truth
Preach
We see Sokka and Zuko interact with:
Girlfriends
Honor.
Sisters.
Strategic.
Akward cringe.
Sokka is more consistently funnier than Zuko. I love how Zuko and Sokka were like real bros after the Boiling Rock.
Oh and their fathers.
And culture.
There’s one mistake in your essay: you were saying that Ozai left Azusa to deal with the Avatar. You should have should have just said the heroes: He had in no way considered Azula lying about who struck down the Avatar, or the Avatar still being alive until Zuko revealed both!
Finn Inama exactly and him finding out about that is what led him to leave azula at the fire nation during Sozin comit
He also said Aang Sokka and Katara met years before, when the show happened 'before Summers end' (the words of my boi Roku)
Plus she's got the Dai Li with her.
@@bigballsjohnson116 yeah like the entire show was at most a single year
@@imagiccion he probably meant years for how long was between that episode and the first..irl
Sokka is truly an underrated character
IKR
I get what you mean, but like how? Cuz, like everyone says that. And that kinda makes him not underrated anymore. He's not necessarily overrated but he's not underrated.
Jacob W
His character arc is often overlooked compared to Zukos or aangs
@@ethanmcfarland8240 That's not true. Maybe to some extent, but the same could be said about other important characters. Zuko is definitely the most commonly talked about arc, idk about Aang tho.
Basically, Every person in Team Avatar are Overrated
Correction at 4:20 Ozai didn't know the Avatar was still alive
Yep, only Azula and Zuko "knew", Ozai was just hiding because he knew from Azula the resistance had a plan to invade on the eclipse
@@moek25 I believe Azula didn't 100% know either. She may have suspected it, but didn't completely know.
"Ozai didn't know the Avatar was still alive"
I think that makes it even worse. In Ozai's mind, that invasion force would solely consist of adult soldiers willing to kill the enemy to achieve victory. He used his 14 year old, temporarily powerless daughter as bait to enemy soldiers.
@@jin00305 that's what I was thinking too. It's actually worse when you realize that he thought adult soldiers perfectly capable of killing their enemy were coming for him, putting his daughter in his place to possibly be killed instead.
I believe he did know, there was that episode where toph told aang to cover up his tattoos when he was in the water and he went down a tunnel of water, then 2 fire nation soldiers saw him jumping up the rocks to do it again and sent a black tie message to the fire lord that the avatar was still alive.
I've been re-watching Avatar the past few weeks, and I'm really surprises how smart, mature, subtle, and complex this show is for a Nickelodeon kid's show.
This ismt a nick show, just aired on nick. This is Aaron Ehasz's show. We all know it. This lightning in a bottle cant be duplicated.
I remember when I saw this episode, I was in shock when they lost.
Me too, man. Me too.
It was kinda obvious they would lose
A Spelling Error In a non children’s version sokka would just slit Azula’s throat after she is pinned down, and then Ozai gets slaughtered by the 4 lol
I wasn't.
Azula knew about the invasion plan thanks to the stupid earth king
They were at a disadvantage from the start
When I saw Aang crying it broke my heat. He already has so much guilt for dying in Ba sing se and for running away and now he has this.
How does a kid feel bad for dying seriously the nomads wanted to accelerate his training
Craig Peoples he felt bad because his death lead to the fall of Ba Sing Se and the fire nation getting full control of the earth kingdom. He failed a 3rd time. You can’t blame him for being upset
@@dripdoriya1707I don't blame him at all quite the opposite but it really wasn't Aang's fault he died he didn't know Azula would shoot him so it's not like he could do anything
He felt like everyone put their faith in him and he failed them. I think at times he felt very alone in the world. Next to losing Appa and getting killed it was one of his worst setbacks. Luckily we see here that Katara is able to remind him that she and the Gaang were still there for him and he didnt fail.
Even the title of the episode " the day of the black sun" is badass.
They couldve gone with the eclipse, but went in a much better direction
There's only one "the" in the title: "The Day of Black Sun"
When CM says “Years ago” he means in real life, people.
Yeah, I was taken back by that line.
I was just about to comment on that to. The context in my mind was this story takes place over the course of a year, not years.
😂😂😂😂 this comment brought back so many memories. My initials are CM and my friends called me it in school as a joke and when I saw this comment first a second I low key thought it was aimed at me 😂😂
His phrasing is from the characters perspective, which would make it about the length of time they have known each other in the show. If he did mean in real life it should have been from when we met aang, not when katara, sokka, etc. met him.
@@Iceman5920 What ?
Tbf, Ozai didn't know Aang lived, I think Azula was acting independently of his plan.
yea tbh I was a little suspect too, cause' its possible that the room was filled with guards and azula decided she would face them herself. Or, honeslty, a million other variations where ozai is not privy to azula's shenanigans.
about your comments on Ozai, Ursa actually put it really nicely in the comics Smoke and Shadow "You're a little man trying your hardest to show you are big" he isn't honored, he isn't honest, he is just a very tiny man (not phisically lol)
the quote might be unaccurate, but it is something among those lines
i loved the idea of disappointments, mistakes, and change of plans in avatar. every time things didn’t go as planned, and mistakes were made, and things couldn’t be avoided, team avatar had to not only find another way, but keep the hope that there was another way. it just shows that the solution to a problem is never cut and clear
Absolutely loved the video was spot on and couldn’t agree more, but also at 8:00 it wasn’t even a few years, it’d be months and crazy just how far they came in such little time !!
it was less than a 5 months if memory serves right.
He was talking about real life like the viewer saw them meet a few years before this episode was released
@@studio.applebyte it was probably about 9-10 months in total-the series started before winter and ended at the end of the summer. The invasion probably took place about two months before the finale, maybe less, I don't know
xXRandom_NerdXx well using context clues from his previous sentence he states their names and then says years ago so he is speaking from their PoV not ours or else he would have had to change the PoV to ours. Therefore since he didn’t do that before or after then it wouldn’t actually be our time it would be their time
It's pretty much one calendar year. Thats how long the whole show takes place.
Captainmidnight swearing? That’s like Wolverine saying “I don’t drink•
man, I don't think avatar could've been written in any other tine than the early 2000's (it was being brainstormed as early as 2003 if I'm correct). it's *such* a post 9/11 show, and that spirit, that mood of conflict and fear and propaganda was so well captured. I mean like you said, that quote from zuko is perfect.
"we were taught that the fire nation was the greatest civilization in history. and somehow, the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. what an amazing lie that was. the people of the world are terrified by the fire nation. they don't see our greatness. they hate us. and we deserve it."
the parallels between the Fire Nation and the USA are quite obvious, even if the image is more inspire by Asian wars.
"man, I don't think avatar could've been written in any other tine than the early 2000's"
Don't be too sure. If you watch Babylon 5, written before 9/11, it sounds uncannily prophetic of what the US was about to go through. But Straczynski wasn't predicting the future; he was using the Nazis as a model. The patterns have been repeated a lot in many contexts, before and after the first and second Persian Gulf wars.
This episode feels like Infinity War. All the character interactions between each other, an amazing action sequence, all characters having their moments.
Lastly, they lose for a much more redemptive and comeback finale.
Imfinity war is like "The day of black sun"
never mentioned how epic it was when zuko redirected the lightning back at ozai
I think calling Azula “powerless” is uh...misleading. She’s without her bending, sure, but she is far from powerless!
Besides that, this was a great video!
no I don't think it is, surely everyone who watches this video has seen the series at least once and know what he meant. But I do get what you mean
Shut up she is powerless
XNorthEast Wow, way to be rude about it. Read the other replies if you want a lesson in how to disagree respectfully.
@@xnortheast1106 azula is basically parkouring and martial arting..we know the firebender royals can fight with no bending, we see zuko multiple times just fight with his twin swords, their ways of moving mirrors martial arts as well, but during in earth kingdom, against an earthbender, zuko who years before fought zhao, had trouble fighting with just the swords...what was meant here is azula is powerles, aka without power, aka without bending, but in a sense of combat, she is highly capable
LazyBunnyLyn Everything you said was wrong she had no fire at the time so she was powerless
I honestly wish I could a watched more of this series when I was younger.
You could probably pick more out of it as an adult.
I watched it so many times i can quote the whole thing and own the dvds, yet i still wished I watched more haha
@@claire12345-e i have the dvds too lmao.
@@donovanchilton5817 True but there was a certain type of fun u had watching it as a kid
Anyone else watched the show as it was airing? The writer's strike happened in the middle of book 3, so the schedule was throw off. We waited *ages* for these episodes, and the Gaang's failure on the Day of Black Sun was a huge shock. And then we had to wait even more for the second half of book 3, then all the episodes came out at once. Good times.
Great vid, but I'm surprised you didn't talk about Hakoda's nearly life threatening injury. The way that gruesome of an injury was able to be shown on Nickelodeon, and how it was presented overall with haunting sounds rather than with visuals, I thought was really clever. As a kid, I was truly horrified in that moment.
Plus it brings the gruesome reality of war to light; people can and do get hurt. So it was also realistic that someone got hurt during the battle. Had this been an R-rated show they'd have probably driven that point even more home.
Same
Truly an impactful 2 parter. I'm definitely hyped for the finale (I'm saving it for the end of summer to coincide with the timing of the episode
Eight Octoling Captain America dies in the finale
Harry Potter kills Voldemort
Iron man kills Thanos
Sokka kills the actual antagonist of the show melon lord
Aang goes super saiyan
A point you missed: Ozai didn't know the Avatar was still alive by that point as Zuko confessed that Azula made the final blow to him and that the Avatar was the one probably leading the attack. Ozai being in a separate spot from where Azula was was probably more of Azula's scheme to take more glory. As it would only benefit her if the Avatar was alive since the lie that Zuko killed him was already spread. Ozai being in a different spot was probably a suggestion from Azula since she had the Di Lee as a trap and should any combatants get that far, Ozai had that final layer of defense. It could be Ozai made the call, but it smells like Azula being manipulative to her advantage again.
These two episodes always reminded me of when Harry Potter goes to the ministry in the Order of the Phoenix. Although his reasons for going are valid, his nastiness ends in the death of Sirius Black. Also, Voldemort is very similar to Ozai by sending his cronies (although he does show up to try and kill Harry) to do his dirty work.
"since meeting in the ice years before" Months. All three seasons took place within one year. We know because in season one, during the winter solstice when Aang talks to Roku, Roku tells him that the comet is coming at the end of the summer. Then in book 3, Aang meditates on Roku's island during the summer solstice. So at most it was about 9 months.
Speaking of amazing all-ages cartoons, you should give Infinity Train a shot especially now that Book 3 is about to release soon. It’s got a lot of depth and an amazing set piece.
1:50 saying that about Sokka, about his journey, on a show that already has Zuko. This show is so good it's unreal.
Fun fact Serena Williams guest stars as Ming in part 1
Who’s Ming
Ming’s the prison guard that Iroh warned about the invasion
Aqueous Snake ohhh yaaa
I heard the voice in that ep and was really confused. It's so random lol. I assume she was a fan..?
I never knew that. Wow.
that moment with zuko confronting ozai is honestly the most powerful scene in tv I have ever watched. The triumph at the end of the show was very powerful with aang getting cheered on by the four nations the day after sozins comet. But that scene with zukos incredible moment of the culmination of so many episodes of self realization was just incredible and the most pwerful scene i have watched
I love that The Day of Black of Black Sun was like Infinity War before Infinity War. The good guys have a chance at stopping the big bad, and many other characters join in for the battle, but in the end, they lose. And they lose bad. Allies are lost, and hope is crushed. All of which leads to the big Endgame finale later on.
It was a fantastic bit of storytelling that shows the importance of the heroes being down. They can't always wing. There must be a dark hour. It makes their eventual victory that much more earned.
Ironic how the heroes failed when the Fire Nation was at their weakest, but succeeded when the Fire Nation was at their strongest during Sozin’s comet
An actual series that can compete with anime in terms of world building, character development and deep plot. The audience will not care where this made from as long as the themes are still relevant up to this day.
"since meeting in the ice years before" lol the entire show happened in about a year, being a kid and waiting through the months and years to get every season really warped our senses of time. UGH i remember that wait for season 3 being SO LONG and the break between the day of black sun to the rest of the season being unbearable. this was such great analysis! i loved this!
"Pants are an illusion...and so is death."
Is that real, or a legend?
A Captain midnight video on avatar gives me life
Near the end of the video you mention how far the characters have come since finding Aang in the ice years ago. But I thought the whole series took place in one year?
When the last episode is wrapping up Zuko says to Aang "I cant believe only a year ago I was trying to hunt you down." (Something like that 😆) and Aang replies "I cant believe a year ago I was still trapped in ice."
But idk maybe I heard you wrong
I meant years in our time, but yes you're right! I should have been more specific.
Half a year.
@@captainmidnight no worries. Great video overall. The last airbender has a wellspring of topics to discuss and its fun hearing and contemplating other peoples thoughts on it.
This is actually one of my favorite episodes because Zukos turn really blindsided me. After rewatching the whole show I see how they were setting that up but my first time through I tried not to make any speculations so I was thrown through a loop 😄.
But what made it so great are the following episodes where Zuko starts utilizing the knowledge gained traveling with his uncle. And how Zuko ended up being the one who solidified the team and helped each member to better themselves and ultimately succeed.
@@Levi_52_336 It wasn't half a year. They went through months of fun & stuff before the winter solstice showed up (took weeks to get to the Northern tribe). Zuko knew Aang the whole show. Only Toph was relatively new to the group.
@@Monie71793 Between half and a full year.
I know people of certain political persuasions have been pushing memes like “The US was the Fire Nation all along,” which is fine-you’re allowed to interpret the show as you want.
But the Fire Nation is literally WWII Japan. Literally. It mechanizes ultra fast, it’s superiority complex is hinged in a belief in its “advanced” culture (and still exists to an extent to this day), it colonized the hell out of those it conquered, it kicked off the war with a surprise attack... I mean, even the architecture in the Fire Nation is Japanese mostly.
So while, yes, the mature writing of the Fire Nation is applicable beyond its historical roots, it always irks me a bit when it’s politicized while ignoring said history.
I’ll never forget that I told my friend this exact thing, and he said “The Japanese were in the WWII?”😑
Imperialist Japan actually, which was around decades before WW2.
I mean the guys are based of Japan they're not literally Japanese.
Fire Nation was also based on China when it literally invaded Tibet and exiled the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. China kind of tamped down and overrun Tibet's Buddhism so it doesn't go on the same power level as the CCP.
And yes Ba Sing Se was also based on China with it's re-education camps (lake Lao Gai) and great wall.
Eggsn Bakon personally I think Earth Kingdom = China pre-communism (all power is in the king) but it is put in control of its provinces really. Japan = Fire Nation (pretty obvs why), Tibet = Air Nation (also pretty obvious except they get invaded after Japan falls), while the northern and southern water tribes are based on the Inuit peoples of the North Pole/Siberian Russia.
Aang didn't meet them all years before by the end. The whole series took about 9 months or so. It shows how quickly people bond in high stress situations. It was years to us...not them.
Honestly you explained a lot of things I didn't notice about this episode but the great way you describe the lesson that they're not ready only makes me realize more how easily aang was willing to throw it all away and let ozai win
To me, what the kiss means is that Aang is expecting the worse, so just incase he doesn’t come back he wants to kiss Katara before he leaves. A lil motivation for him as well
"meeting in the ice years before" *show takes place over one summer*
No, I think it's meant to be at least 7-8 months covering winter, spring, and summer. Because the winter solstice happened in season 1, the beginning of spring happened in season 2, and the end of summer happened in season 3
@@AlexKnauthcool
My favoritr part of those 2 episodes was when Aang and Zuko both say "I'm ready to face you" and enter the fire lord's room at the same time (although the firelord os not reallt in Aang's room).
This shows the parallel between Aang's and Zuko's destinies which is emphasized and given more clarity in Iroh's speech to Zuko while in prison. This is the one where Iroh revealed that Zuko's other great great grandfather is avatar Roku and like the avatar, Zuko's destiny is also to bring balance to world by cleansing the sins of the fire nation.
I love me an avatar analysis video. This show will be forever legendary. Glad to have been witness to it.
The message of failure here is so much better then star wars TLJ.
That intro sounds like something I would hear as a child just before knocking out late at night in front of the T.V.
Really helps me wind down at the end of the day now that I'm an adult.
"Some rock hard character development"
*I see what you did there*
One thing that I don't think is addressed enough is also how the character growth is reflected in the episodes immediately following. You have the other characters like Haru essentially acting like kids, we saw them on the same level as the leads when they were first introduced, but now we see what the burden of saving the world has done to the leads. All of them are concerned with stopping Ozai and what needs to be done as opposed to the sort of ignorant innocence seen with the other kids.
Honestly, it's probably just a function of the writers not really wanting that space to be taken up by the side characters, but still, it was expertly done.
Keep up with the Avatar videos.
I loved when Zuko confronted his father, Ozai thought he could just kill him or make him leave like he could when he had firebending. Only for Zuko to be calling the shots because he knew his father was too much of a coward to face him without his bending. When Zuko said "You will listen to me" his father just sits back down without saying anything. It was so satisfying for me.
“Since meeting in the ice, years before”
I thought the show was only 3-6 months?!?
This is great! Not enough people talk about how great Sokka’s character ark is
More original Avatar analysis. Hell. Yes.
Just got finished watching avatar The Last Airbender another day ago and I can see why you love this show so much
there is no better show than airbender taking in the consideration it is animated
Thank you for saying it right. Best ANIMATED. Not best ever. Breaking Bad and a few others are superior.
@@innatebubble121yeah for me it wasnt breaking bad it was got ntg is better than that for me
Lohith Raj I guess it’s all opinionated. I didn’t like the ending of GOT, but the first 5 seasons I found amazing. Breaking Bad for me was perfect however and same can be said for AOT.
@@innatebubble121 yeah but still man think abt got was perfection till the 6 season or so and i even liked the ending of breaking bad i would even call breaking bad a perfect ending like no other for me but still it was too much boring in a few seasons like the second and third but GOT was like a roller coaster which was amazing at the beginning and even in the middle and only at the end it slowed down and even gave the biggest wow factor in the mid season which i think would have not been possible by breaking bad. Overall GOT was much better than breaking bad!!!
@@innatebubble121 and also i ran out of maximum no. characters i can write i n the last reply btw i wouldnt comment anything abtAOT cuz it aint finshed i would like to only talk abt the finished ones right now.
I love these character developments and it’s even more amazing because it’s within a single year
It's funny how so many people misunderstood him when he said years ago. He didn't mean years in the show,he meant real life years for the viewers.
I’d really love to see you do an in-depth analysis of Mad Men. Be it characters, seasons, or the time period representation as a whole, there’s definitely a lot of material there for you to talk about :D
“Meeting in the ice years ago” the show is only 9 months long not even a year
Great video! For me, and for Sokka, it was a lot of “if only we had dad, or this friend, or this ...” . It was like concentrated wish fulfillment gone just the way they wanted, but then still getting kicked in the teeth anyway. Superb story, that stood on all the previously earned story beats.
6:49 “Aang and katara are too young”
*Aang cries in 116 years*
116?
at the end lf the series he’s 113 and beginning he’a 112
Jake 28 sorry my mistake
@@ahmadalgharaibeh3363 113 not 28
I don't wanna be the "well actually" guy but the show takes place over the course of just one year if I remember
The Day or black sun, reminds me of the dark twisted world where D day failed.
I remember the commercial and staying up to watch part 2 omg so good
8:03 This was not years ago. The whole series takes place over the course of one year.
He meant in real life
Oh that makes more sense.
YESSS SOKKA APPRECIATIONNNN
his character development is soooo good and is so overlooked ugh but he's my fave i love him
It never fails to surprise me how many times the gaang loses battles in this show
Wdym they win multiple times?
@@paponmeowmeow4745 yeah but they still lose a good bit and/or have to run. Suki even comme ted in "The Ember Island Players" lol
To name a few, season 2 finale and invasion. Major plot points in the show
I've always LOVED Sokka's development, and I'm shocked anyone could forget these episodes!
8:05 “Years before”? Didn’t the show take span over several months?
I actually just finished watching this show for the first time and I absolutely love every second of it.
Although the Day of the Black Sun is a crucial part of the story, it isn't as shocking as some people say it to be.
Its quite predictable, when you look at it in a storyteller's perspective, it would be too good and too easy if Sokka's plan worked out as it should.
Thus, if you're a storyteller you would form a twist, that would make the characters and the viewers unprepared, which then led to the true finale of Avatar the Last Airbender.
What's even more interesting is that I predicted it so when I watched it the first time on TV when I was a kid.
Maybe its just me having watched many shows that used this kind of twists, but personally the Day of the Black Sun isn't as surprising as people say it to be.
Exactly. People act like it's such a huge twist. My 5 year old self saw it from a mile away. Like how slow are some of these people
@@paponmeowmeow4745 Right?
The zeppelins were foreshadowed at the Northern Air Temple, where War Minister Qin mentioned that defeat as leading to many victories.
@@strategicgamingwithaacorns2874 in the avatar world there's a pandemic that causes mental retardation
@@remiremsar5946 They literally salvaged and reverse-engineered a hot-air balloon. What pandemic?
ozai is the firelord, why would he wait in the most obvious place for an invasion that he already knows about? and azula planned that part herself, she “had a hunch” the avatar was still alive and devised a plan to confront him. plus she was not defenseless, she had some dai li agents with her.
7:17
This is the worst part, the calm before the battle.
And then the battle's not so bad?
Oh right, I forgot about the battle, eyyeye.
Is that a futurama reference?
absatively
The show took place over the course of a few months. Like 8-9. Just noticed that you said they met in the ice “years before”
Sokka is one of the best comic relief characters of all time
Zuko's confrontation with Ozai is one of my favorite scenes in the show bar none
Speaking of Azula, LET'S TALK ABOUT THE FIRELORD
I agree about Aang and Katara being young, and I was most delighted when I discovered a post-war comic where they drew Aang significantly older.
"Our protagonist, Sokka."
That's a funny way to pronounce "Azula".
The direction of these 2 episodes are cinematography like with its seamless animation and great writing truly a great show very captivating and engaging that speech zuko gave to his father ass spine chilling and summed his story up perfectly
I always wondered how the fire nation wiped out the air benders, then it's later revealed they attacked them during sozins comet making their firebending super powerful. Just goes to show how amazing this show is korra was also amazing
@@aurahoneydew9607 well people including me definitely love korra
@@TropicaIJay everything have admirers. Korra had some great ideas, execution was sub par. It's not something that's great but something that could have been great, for many others, including me.
@@TheKurtkapan34 well all have opinions
@@TropicaIJay yes, that was my answer to that. Every single thing in the world has people loving them and cherishing them. It's your right to do so.
Sokka’s character arc is so fantastic. I was so disappointed when he didn’t appear in LOK and they didn’t even go into what he might of been doing in the time between the events of season 3 of ATLA and his death 😢
My own headcanon is that each book is a year. For the whole show to happen in like 6 months is so unrealistic. Each book being a year helps explain the growth each character goes through
I’m surprised you didn’t talk about the fact that the series had been building to this episode as far back as book two. With the gang learning about the comet’s effects on firebenders and how the characters had all been planning this confrontation since then. It just makes their failure a lot more impactful because of all that buildup
wo'ah, earf, birming'am, fish n' chips... long ago, the fou' nations live togedah in ah'mony. then ev'ryfing changed when the IRA attacked.... only the avatah, mastah of all fou' elements could stop 'em but when the queen needed 'im most, 'e vanished. 100 yea's passed and me bruv and i found the new avatah. a fish n' chips bendah named aang. although 'is chipbendin' skills ah great, 'e still 'as a lo' to lea'n 'fore 'e's ready to save anyone m8.
i hate you
I had to read it out loud
Hahahahaha
🗿🗿
is this from a parody or something ? hahaha i love it