When the worst episodes of a show are still good, that also puts into perspective the quality. After all, one way I put it is if these episodes were in any other show, people wouldn't blink an eye.
I think the headband is an important episode. It's not the best but when your audience is children, the idea is even more important. Showing the audience that the fire nation isn't just an umbrella covering all villains is important. We can figure this out on our own but for a 10 year old, the realization that being from the fire nation doesn't make you evil could be a bit bigger. It's important to humanize the next generation of fire benders because they come after the war.
You could say it does the same thing like in the beginning of book 2. Zuko had seen the other nations as something maybe even inferior to the fire nation after living in his bubble all this time, and then he has to deal with living like everyone else in the earth kingdom. He sees how his scar is related to being burnt by a firebender and he sees people from his country have done that. I feel that the headband and even the painted lady do the same but for team avatar. I feel that all of them feel that the people from the fire nation are all on the same boat, doing their part to win the war, but then we see that kids aren't being shown the full story, that Aang just so happens to know and that those kids are being educated into a rigid system. Then in the painted lady we see the fire nation kinda screws over some of their people to keep the war going. In the end, both Zuko and the Gaang needed to learn that the war involved everyone, taking along people that couldn't care less about it.
I totally agree with there not being enough time in the North Pole. If they had another anthology video like Tales of Ba Sing Se might’ve worked, with Aang discovering the spirit lake, Soka getting more development with Yue, and Katara getting some more training and bonding with Pakku. That would’ve been awesome
It feels realistic to me. Like, sometimes you don't have the time to say everything you want to say to the girl you like before some shit starts happening. That works for me.
@@assordante2205 I mean, yeah that's a really nice sentiment, but it still leaves the finale pulling heavy duty to make us care about a largely undeveloped character and location
seige of the north is so underrated. especially when we later get the scene w iroh and zuko "if his friends hadnt found you you wouldve frozen to death!" we get some of zukos more powerful writing, arguably the best avatar state moment. I still to this day get chills when i hear aang say "NO, ITS NOT OVER"
So many details in this episode for example Zhao mentioning Iroh visiting the spirit world and many scenes referred to this episode later on wether its the line you've mentioned, Koh the face stealer that got mentioned by an old water bending Avatar in sozins comet episode, Zhao visiting the library to get the information of the spirits and many other things.
Thank you for saying this. I could understand the placement with all the other episodes but Siege of the North (at least part 2) totally deserves A tier. Great character development for Zuko, Iroh gets to be a badass, and probably the coolest spirit world stuff in the entire show. @@uncleiroh7
Jet is Zuko without Iroh, just on the other side of the war. Like seeing how Zuko would be without Iroh is crazy interesting, and seeing how a non-bender reacts to this war and fighting back is doubley interesting.
Not quite though, at least not as far as we can tell - Jet didn't have any character like Ozai that we're aware of which is where the majority of Zuko's corruption and conflict stems from. Jet is more a reflection of Katara than of Zuko.
This is what I truly miss about the avatar episodes on this channel. Reading the comments and seeing genuinely interesting and thoughtful opinions and theories. Heck yeah.
You didn't mention how katara's final move against Azula was a genius but of writing parallels, never seen anyone change state of water just by breathing before. She was using firebending technique with waterbending just like how Zuko saved her by using waterbending technique with his firebending. Her creation of this move was what, a day or two after her and Zuko reconciled?
We don't know that that's the case though, it could easily just be a Waterbending technique that we hadn't been introduced to as we very rarely see Waterbenders that are actually submerged.
I think it's a better parallel in how they were both very talented, hard-working benders and younger sisters with an absent mom, but that Katara had a support system who genuinely loved her and that she genuinely loved while Azula just ruled everyone through fear and ended up alone as a result. Katara, the heart of the Gaang, winning against someone heartless.
I also think Katara's presence in the final fight against Azula was important for character development because of what Azula did to Aang in the S2 finale. The calm and smart way Katara dealt with Azula in the end shows us that she really is maturing, especially after The Southern Raiders episode. Instead of lashing out at Azula because of her killing Aang, Katara actually took some of Aang's philosophy into heart and fought Azula with unparalleled finesse.
Man people love making up scenarios where “this character learned this technique from a bender of a different element” when really it was never meant to be interpreted that way
8:30 honestly this makes perfect sense to me when you realize how the monks probably taught him. One of the possible steps to becoming an airbending master involves you inventing a new technique (Aang became one because of the air scooter) so airbender children were probably very much encouraged to try out random things and be creative with their element. Aang probably did a lot of random and careless stuff with airbending when he was learning and suffered little from it due to air just being so harmless by nature, so him not really grasping the danger of fire and immediately going to try something out that is totally out of his skill level just to see if he can do it makes a lot of sense to me when you connect those dots.
The ingrained airbending teachings is probably also why fire is last for air avatars and why jeoung jeoung was so hesitant to train him- either that or I'm looking too much into it- but hey it's overanalyzing for a reason
@@slaybutton1692 Fire is last because the training order always follows the avatar cycle (i.e. the order in which avatars are reincarnated), starting with your "home" element. Roku learned fire, air, water, then earth, and Korra (ostensibly) learned water, earth, fire, then air (she started learning fire a bit early, and air a bit late, so it all balances out, I guess). This is also the order in which elements are named during the opening (for both shows).
@@slaybutton1692 yeah the order is actually tied to the teachings of the others. Air and Water are so close together that you can lessons from each and use that to hone your skills. Whereas Air and Fire can only come together if you learn to balance between them. Firebenders already know this but airbenders dont
@@slaybutton1692 "The ingrained airbending teachings is probably also why fire is last for air avatars and why jeoung jeoung was so hesitant to train him- either that or I'm looking too much into it- but hey it's overanalyzing for a reason" This is actually a very interesting point that I've not seen anyone consider before, like whether intended or not, this is most certainly what happened in the story, the inherent nature of each element results in the last element the current avatar has to learn being one with a deceptive philosophical contrast to their original element. (most probably because its not the opposition element with the exact opposite philosophy, behavior, nature, and habit) Fire and air both can be "conjured" out of nothing and react much the same to the environment physically, but treat them the same and you end up with very bad habits that cause many issues for the Avatar, an airbender learning firebending before he's ready will do as Aang did and hurt himself or others, which results in guilt especially with their affinity for life philosophy. (without the understanding that fire is life) But if a firebender gets into airbending before they're ready they will be limited by their behavior, habits, and emotions, and almost certainly would not be so creative and free willed. They'd be very likely to never properly manage or use airbending and may even be stuck not being able to do it properly. With earth and water, again they act similar as they cannot be conjured and they generally have similar physical effects (in the case of water being frozen in fact the same) but they have philosophy and a lot of nuance differences. A waterbender is taught to flow and redirect, to use an enemy's attack as a strength against said enemy. In contrast an earthbender is expected to face attacks straight on, rarely deliberately redirecting anything. A waterbender doing earthbending without maturity would most certainly be too avoidant, or more aptly, would be too prone to using all their energy trying to redirect attacks instead of facing them head on. This would wear them down and lead them to be easily defeated especially when they try to treat earth as though it flows when it doesn't and thus causing many issues that could get them or others killed. With water, an earthbender might be too used to the lack of flow and might try to hard to face a direct attack which wouldn't work out well against waterbending since it takes more energy to stop water then it does to redirect it. They would too far believe in water as being static and unchanging (philosophically I mean) and thus would be used to trying to use it in bursts of attack and defense instead of it being a continuous. They'd also likely be too afraid to use the full potential of the bending out of fear it would harm people beyond necessity when it would rarely ever really do so. As for water and air, they're quite distinct in that one is "conjured" and the other isn't, but they also share an aspect of flow and redirection, but whereas experimentation is safe with air, it is not so possible and safe with water, and it requires a lot more structure and not as much free flow as air. (even if its more then fire and earth) The similarity caused by the element's flow creates a deception that their philosophies are similar and yet they don't share much in common beyond that fact, for which any bender of either would easily fall into the trappings of their respect element's philosophy hampering their mastery massively and likely getting people hurt or their own progress and willingness and control of the element. As for earth and fire, again they do share a similar stand your ground type of mentality just as water and air share a similar flow redirection mentality, but whereas earthbending stands its ground head on, firebending is a lot more deliberate and precise, it seems more about picking its moments and seizing them entirely and not going all out all the time, less brute strength and headstrong, more precise but no less passionate and aggressive. Because they share that mentality of stubborn aggression to an extent, while out of all the cases I can think of, these two seem to share the least similarities, I do think because of their aggressive and natural headstrong stubborn natures it becomes more inciting then specifically deceptive, like an unwanted habit or addiction, for one to use the respect philosophy for the other form of bending even if one knows its wrong. The result of which would almost certainly create a block from bending properly at all. The adjacent bending in the cycle aren't as distinct as their opposite counterparts, but I do think unintentionally the training order has itself some form of synchronicity to a deliberate design regarding philosophy.
Man really can't get away from this series. So far all his other stuff has been excellent so I'm glad he's diversifying, and he IS making good money from this so that's a plus too
Man needs a consistent theme again. Korra is the obvious choice regardless of whether he's a huge fan of not it's another 4 seasons of relevant content
@@TheGreenScout if it's not something he's interested in doing, it's going to make bad content and he won't be happy doing it. I'd rather see more overanalyzing bigfoot or aliens
Don't disagree PZ, just seems like he's been floundering for a new angle recently, don't want a quality channel to lose steam. Reminds me of Lyle Wrath between Sanity Not Included and Pregame Discharge - got kinda lost in trying new angles before coming home to what he's good at
Man, I got so happy when he was singing the praises of The Painted Lady because I know everybody hates that episode but I think it's fuckin great. I was wounded this day
Zuko Alone, I feel, is definitely the best episode of ATLA when taken as a work without context of the rest of the series. For an episode all about Zuko's character, it gives enough context that someone who's never seen the show before can watch it and still be left in awe.
If you only knew this one episode you’d think Zuko was the primary protagonist. But actually at this point he had been the primary antagonist thru season 1, and was now in a weird purgatory state where his story became his own, separate from the primary cast of protagonists
While I definitely understand the criticisms of the lion turtle stuff and even the Azula stuff, I will always love Sozin's Comet. It just feels like the perfect conclusion to this wonderful show.
Maybe now you could do Overanalyzing different characters. Like how did certain characters change. Maybe finally go into why you didn’t like Azula going full schizo
I think that's an awesome idea, there's so much going on in the show that it can be easy to lose sight of how far the characters come, Sokka is always the one that springs to mind for me
I would love this, especially since I disagree with his reasoning for not liking Azula's development. I think it actually makes a lot of sense if you look at things from her perspective and in the context of her life
I'd always put the beach in S-tier personally. The scene where Zuko storms out the party and visits his old house is done so well, and then of course the scene around the campfire is one of the biggest turning points for Zuko's character imo
In my opinion, the Beach episode is the beginning of Azula's descent into madness for the following reasons. -Jealous of Ty Lee getting attention from boys -Showing weakness by admitting that to Ty Lee (which must have been like ripping an arm off to her) -Her version of admitting that she has feelings for Chan -Getting turned down/scaring him off If you think about Azula's character, this makes sense. Forcing herself to be in these uncomfortable situations for such extended periods of time, maybe for the first time ever, could have done a number on her. Especially since nothing went the way she wanted or planned.
Personally I interpret that episode as both getting a peek into Azula's psychology to make you sympathize with her despite her cruelty, realizing that she's never had a real childhood outside of her two friends, and seeing how she could have been so different, given that when presented with a social situation and treated like a normal person, she embraces it, not wanting to reveal who she is, and makes a real effort to open up. I'd say her descent into madness was almost entirely brought about by Mei and Ty Lee's betrayal, because they were the only people she had ever been able to call friends, and basically represented her whole childhood. By the end of the show Azula very much deserves what she gets, but I like that the Beach shows a more human side of her and illustrates how in a way, she's just as much of a victim as Zuko. Sure, she was always the bully, but Zuko was fortunate enough to have a positive role model (Iroh), and to be banished so that he could grow as person free of his family (not what he wanted or what Ozai intended, but still). Azula may well have grown in a similar way if she "disgraced" Ozai enough to get banished.
Honestly I feel like they should've dropped an episode like the painted lady, and given us another episode of Zuko with the gaang. I don't really think Toph needed a field trip with Zuko (she already had a talk with Iroh over some tea, which is like 2.5 Zuko field trips), but I would've loved to see an episode that isn't the finale where they're all together doing something (that isn't an elaborate recap). Heck, you can still have the plot be 'the gaang does an eco-terrorism" but take out the whole deal with the village to focus more on how the group dynamic is with Zuko there. Give us a cool action scene with all of them working together.
Ooohh an ecoterrorism episode where it’s Gaang against zuko on whether to help the people. Zuko is much more focused on the big issue/training while the Gaang wants to help the people.
I honestly don’t know why the painted lady is so overhated. It shows greats worldbuilding and how there are innocent fire nation people who struggle within their own homeland. It shows how they are victim to the firelords cause, and I’d say that the painted lady expands upon the universe of atla. In comparison, the great divide is about two irrelevant families that are never mentioned again and do not push the narrative whatsoever and has no good character moments. At the very least, the painted lady had great katara moments which show her conviction and compassion.
28:27. That, RIGHT THERE, that tear filled hug. Best moment of the show for me. I've almost never cried at a piece of media but this does it for me. Even more so than Tales. I'm getting a little misty just thinking about it.
I like the painted lady. I enjoy soft magic throughout the show that caters more to the characters and story, the people of the town owing their good fortune to the painted lady which was katara all along, followed by the real spirit thanking karara for her actions is an interesting moment. Implies the reach and impact of spirits to include the actions of their influenced, good stuff
So hey this might be one of those "Duh, everyone noticed/knew that" but I really like the way that Zuko's lightening scar mirrors Aang's being on his chest instead of his back.
Hot take: I think The Storm and The Blue Spirit are essentially a 2 parter episode and when watched together is the highest peak of season 1. Establishing Zuko and Aangs similarities via backstory and then forcing the audience to recontectualize their villain/hero dynamic after seeing them work amazingly well together is THRILLING television.
Both episodes do a great job depicting the yin and yang their two characters represent while also foreshadowing the balance they bring when working together. Of course we don't learn until much later that Zuko is a descendent of the Avatar and is spiritually kin to Aang, but it feels like the writers had this planned very early on.
25:00 To everyone who thinks “Nightmares and Daydreams” is too silly or unrealistic: it’s not. Not in the slightest. As someone who has stayed up for almost a full 96 hours (minus a couple of short naps), I can honestly (and somewhat shamefully) say that I have NEVER related to an episode of television more than I relate to “Nightmares and Daydreams”… especially in college. I’m pretty sure I actually saw a hallucination (and yes, those do happen if you haven’t slept in a while) saying “you’ve got to get a hold of yourself” to me at one point.
I actually really like The Swamp. It’s a really pretty animation, and has some pretty nice wisdom at the end. I also think it’s cool to see waterbenders originate from a not cold place lool.
Bit late to comment but I also really enjoyed the swamp. The swamp environment has an interesting vibe to it, and the wisdom towards the end of the episode is easily on par with Iroh’s wisdom throughout the series. Not that much happens overall, but it’s still a very enjoyable episode to me!
You criminally underrated the King of omashu! The GoatedBloatlord that Bummi turns out to be in The fight, the cabbages joke, the tie in to Ang's past that helps heal his heart a little bit. The hilarious double fake out that the creeping crystal is harmless and edible. The double fakeout of the small animal not being the true Flopsy, and Flopsy not being dangerous. Come to think of it, this episode had a least three major double fakoeouts to show just how damn wiley Bummi truly is. He's like the Joker of the Avatar world.
Idk if I’m alone in this but I love how you upload all your videos in the exact screen ratio of the show you’re reviewing. So many channels woulda uploaded their reviews of ATLA in 16:9 just making the blank space either be black or a blurred version of the footage and I have so much respect for you for not doing that. I noticed it in the Love, Death, and Robots video too and it’s so cool
i cant believe that after i watched this series idk how many times and watching possibly every analysis of this show, i still get goosebumps at certain episodes that are mentioned in a fucking tier list... MAN I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH
22:54 “The Beach” This is a very underrated episode imo, you really get to see how it’s impossible for Azula not to make every aspect of her life a competition, or a challenge she has to overcome. You see how deep her disconnect goes on a different level than it’s been presented to us before. And it is played for comedy for a lot of the episode, but I genuinely think it’s essential to understanding her character. Zuko’s interaction with everyone at the end is fantastic writing as well. Just a reallllllly solid episode for me.
I really enjoyed the episode but still kinda disliked some things. The scene where they sit at the fire was a bit weird for me. I love to hear the background of characters but in a less "forced" way. It seemed a bit bizarre for me how they were talking about their feelings at the beach in such a crucial phase of the war. Especially for Azula. But it def helped to have more insights into their character. And you can see how her manipulative and competitive streak can also be transferred to other areas in life.
I didn't realize that some people dislike the hippies in Cave of Two Lovers. It's always been one of mine and my sister's favorite episodes, due in large part to them and their music.
lets get a moment of silence for the people in live chat who legit thought a premiere turned into a livestream, and that it was live in the final re-arranging section. Truly a tragedy 😞
I actually love Avatar Day specifically because it’s a nothing episode. There’s no moral, no verdict, no point. The ultimate thesis statement is “This is the worst town we’ve been to” and that’s hilarious.
I'm amazed how you never run out of hilarious things to compliment your top tier patreons with. Also, even though you didn't want to make it initially and I personally am not a fan of tier list videos, this one was very entertaining to watch!
It always makes my day when you post a video. I'm glad you made this, I like hearing your brief summaries on each episode. It's kinda like bite sized Overanalyzing Avatar. I've also always said the Firebending Masters is my favorite episode as well. The scene with the dragons is probably the most epic scene in the show, plus I love the dragon dance. Just amazing
Would have definitely seen Crossroads of destiniy in S Tier. It is such a beautiful season finale, with twisting expectations, great character moments and finale-worth action scenes + a cliff-hanger ending which is not too cliffhanger-like, but well presented to imagine the situation the gang is in in beginning of S3
This show and Gravity Falls are my absolute favorites. And they have in common that both were made as a finished story and didn't drag on after the show success.
I love how he mentions that the setup from the finale of season 2 and the first on season three set up a picture of emotion along with how that is what fire as an element is based off of
ive always loved The Chase but i’m constantly shocked and how nobody ever mentions some of the really weird animation moments in it, like the two jarring off model frames of iroh belly bumping azula , or the kinda silly moment of everyone attacking azula at once but toph is just kinda throwing dust at her? it’s such a good episode but i feel like nobody mentions the silly bits!
28:46 I still stand by the logic of Azula cheated the Agni Kai by attacking a third party, and thusly Zuko wins by default. He was dominating until that point so I think its fair
I feel like i'm getting into "cheating territory", but hey, you really should bend your own rules for the final 4 episodes. Can't help but feel that ranking the "sozin's comet" episodes all together is a bit unfair, given the last two are definitely S tier material. I mean, we're talking about "last agni kai", Ozai's defeat, Zuko's Coronation, Aang and Katara finally expressing their feelings towards each other in an appropriate moment, The White Lotus reclaiming Ba Sing Se, and the list goes on! Sure, there are some minor hiccups, such as Aang accidentally tapping into the Avatar State , but I guess if you can consider the "energy bending" technique taught by the Lion Turtle as something that Sozin's Comet part 2 failed to properly introduce (once again, a bit of cheating territory), then episode 4 is nearly flawless!! S rank for both "Into the Inferno" and "Avatar Aang" (9.8 and 9.9 on IMDB, respectively)
It's hard to rank multi parters as seperate episodes because they're telling one story. The start, middle, and end is divided over several episodes so ranking one episode without the others won't really be fair.
I wish some of the more "filler"-ish episodes from the start of book 3 were cut in order to have Day of Black Sun earlier so that Zuko could join the group sooner and give him more time to sort of fit in/let the rest of the characters start to trust him more naturally and maybe have more Azula content so we can see her mental state deteriorate more naturally and gradually.
@@Luke_SkywaIker yeah katara ticked me off in that episode. (Especially where she thought jet attacking an old man was okay by virtue of him being fire nation.)
Honestly the boiling rock 2 part probably are 2 of my favorite episodes I really wanted to know what happened to the dad (can’t spell any of the names so I’m not gonna try) and dudes chick and them breaking out together was awesome for me as a kid and watching it now. But I didn’t even think about how the broke in or how they got the cooler out but it’s always got a place in my heart lol
My favorite part of Bitter Work is that it focuses on Avatar training for both Aang and Zuko, and that it's a direct quote from Roku when he was explaining his Avatar training to Aang during the solstice, saying "It was bitter work, but the results were worth it"
Wow, this is really good! You should, like, make a whole series where you go episode by episode and give a thorough review of each one! idk just an idea, keep up the great work.
The Beach was one of my favorite episodes only because of that ending campfire scene the music the emotion and Zuko having to accept he’s not happy all just worked for me but I do understand it’s placement as the rest did kind of fall short of my expectations
In firebending masters, when aang first bends fire out of himself, he has the same look and it mirrors when he tried to firebend when he burnt katara. Except this ended with happiness and not with Kamara being burnt.
Its unbelievable how each added episode, intensifies my heartbeat and excitement for the next. This amazing show and your awesome way of presenting and analising it, is incredible.
is that a youtube automatic thing? I thought that was the joke, that he put the phrase "like this video" in there under a different context, and had the like button light up anyway.
Funfact, We all know that Roku is a fine name, and when I hear it spoken it's fine, but when I read it I always pause because in my language (Czech) Avatar Roku literally means "Avatar of the year", then I always chuckle.
I miss when these overanalyzing episodes were coming out every wednesday and i would always get excited for them. kinda puts me back in the childhood glory i had when the actual show was airing
I think it's funny that it feels like each season progressively gains more finale episodes, leading to the 4 part Sozin's Comet (The Earth King, The Guru, and Crossroads of Destiny absolutely feel like one connected finale plot to me)
I think the thing I like the most about the art style of ATLA is how it subtlety evolves even between episodes and you don't notice it until you start at the beginning again. It makes you think
i was already thinking of rewatching your overanalyzing series as a spiritual rewatch of ATLA. but now ill be doing that and then actually rewatching the show in Ranked order
I love this guy's personality. I'd listen to him overanalyze, underanalyze, and regularanalyze anything. And some part of me wishes that one day we could become friends.
I really like the northern air temple episode for some reason. I always enjoyed them showing a crafty side to Sokka. Showing that he is more capable of doing more than just being a warrior.
Katara finishing the fight with Azula is also important because one of the big parts of Zukos arc is learning to rely on others. I think it emphasizes his growth in many ways, and is way better than if he did actuslly just beat Azula.
Thing for some of these episodes is definitely that even though it was 15 years ago, I do remember how I first felt when I saw some of these episodes. "fallen out of love" with things like the storm and sokka's adventure in the desert makes sense, but when I think about the first time that I watched these episodes I feel like I want to put them higher.
As much as I love ATLA I've honestly been loving your other videos. I genuinely do really like listening to you talk. You should change the channel name to "Overanalyzing Everything" but always keep the same profile photo so it has the Avatar element. Then just do vids on anything that interests you. Maybe move into full on long form video essays. You bring something unique to the table that I absolutely love.
I get that it has some structural issues and, while I personally don't think it's that bad, it kind of mishandles Zhao, but The Deserter is probably my favorite S1 episode besides The Blue Spirit. Jeong Jeong kicks ass. He's got some really great lines ("To master the bending disciplines, you must first master discipline itself. But you have no interest in this, so I have no interest in you!"), Roku gets to throw his weight around, the whole thing is an homage to Apocalypse Now. It's just good. Also, I've really enjoyed your other videos. I hope things work out so that you can keep doing deep dives into other subjects.
Saying The Tales of Ba Sing Sae is the best episode of Avatar because of the tale of Iroh, is like saying Up is the best Pixar film because of the first 10 minutes. Both good for sure, but not the best for that small part of it.
no one's talking about how when he was talking about jet it looked like he kicked the old man and then it just cut to the dam exploding
2 года назад+80
I've heard the tip of cutting in the middle of a sentence when you do multiple attempts at saying a sentence. It's unintuitive, but seems to work really well! In your videos, I can occasionally hear a change in speed/volume/pitch/… when you have apparently cut multiple attempts together. (Or you didn't and you just talk like that, in which case nevermind.)
Enjoyed the live resorting, kept it more interesting than the typical tier list video. Great vid as always, would really love some more cryptid stuff in the future. Keep it up!
I'm glad you didn't cave and do 'overanalysing korra' because no matter what videos you do, 'overanalysing avatar' will always be the roots of your channel and damn, those are some good fucking roots! I might be wrong but I think you pioneered the overanalysing **insert series** concept which is cool. I love you and this channel, you hit a sweet spot!
Fun Fact: Zuko had the same sword master as Sokka. I'd like to think, Iroh asked him to teach Zuko, or recommended him as the best person for the job. There is an amazing animation about what would happen if Aang and Korra fought each other, and I think it's what would have actually happened: ruclips.net/video/y_GfaSCNlkk/видео.html
Honestly, I think the point of Sokka and Aang doubling back to the planetarium in the library is to feel the loss of Appa more. If they hadnt gone back to get the information, they would’ve been able to save Appa but then we wouldnt know about the eclipse, if it played out the more concise way it could feel sorta arbitrary that aang didnt make it in time. I dunno.
The best recap episode has one more thing going for it, it sets Zuko feeling so bad for offending his uncle while also he gets told Iroh would be proud of what Zuko did by joining team avatar and once finally they reunite near the end of book 3 Iroh simply hugs Zug and forgives him for everything showing his unconditional love and to this day it's the single moment in a TV history that makes me cry, nothing else did. But that of course depends on each person, if you never cry and somethin gets you, that's the good stuff.
I like how the tier list had the top episode and bottom episodes be from season 3. Seems really fitting. Like the show was riding so high but could still manage to drop the ball.
Like and comment on this video or confine yourself to the depths of F tier for all time.
Hello Funny Avatar Man Overanalyze LOK Please.
Like the painted lady I assume
No.
me when I:
too late, I'm already there 😔
If you think I didn't talk about an episode enough, boy do I got a series of youtube videos for you.
This man just shamelessly liked his own comment. What a legend.
Yo, I might have to check it out wink wink wink
Do tell
lmaooo dawg
Idk what’s up but there is no playlist for the overanalyzing avatar series
The "I like talking about the show" line while money piled up in Sokka's arms and he winked is too perfect and I don't see anyone talking about it
Legitimately as good as a lot of jokes from the show
@@bevvvy1374 he learned from the best and it shows
Lmao I thought he said "I like milking the show" first
What's the time stamp?
@@osmanrivera9992 0:29
When you have 32/60 episodes being A or S tier you realise how good this show really is
When the worst episodes of a show are still good, that also puts into perspective the quality. After all, one way I put it is if these episodes were in any other show, people wouldn't blink an eye.
@@NicolasClark7732 he said he didn’t like some but i’d say there’s maybe 3-4 I’d even consider a 6/10 and that’s still an okay episode
Get southern raiders and sozins comet up in .
And the bottom tier episodes are still better than the average episode from almost any other show.
Was just getting ready to comment this
I think the headband is an important episode. It's not the best but when your audience is children, the idea is even more important. Showing the audience that the fire nation isn't just an umbrella covering all villains is important. We can figure this out on our own but for a 10 year old, the realization that being from the fire nation doesn't make you evil could be a bit bigger. It's important to humanize the next generation of fire benders because they come after the war.
You could say it does the same thing like in the beginning of book 2. Zuko had seen the other nations as something maybe even inferior to the fire nation after living in his bubble all this time, and then he has to deal with living like everyone else in the earth kingdom. He sees how his scar is related to being burnt by a firebender and he sees people from his country have done that.
I feel that the headband and even the painted lady do the same but for team avatar. I feel that all of them feel that the people from the fire nation are all on the same boat, doing their part to win the war, but then we see that kids aren't being shown the full story, that Aang just so happens to know and that those kids are being educated into a rigid system. Then in the painted lady we see the fire nation kinda screws over some of their people to keep the war going. In the end, both Zuko and the Gaang needed to learn that the war involved everyone, taking along people that couldn't care less about it.
The setting? Great. The plot? Mediocre.
In terms of humanizing the fire nation, Jets intro episode and the puppet master basically do the exact same thing
I totally agree with there not being enough time in the North Pole. If they had another anthology video like Tales of Ba Sing Se might’ve worked, with Aang discovering the spirit lake, Soka getting more development with Yue, and Katara getting some more training and bonding with Pakku. That would’ve been awesome
It feels realistic to me. Like, sometimes you don't have the time to say everything you want to say to the girl you like before some shit starts happening. That works for me.
Maybe an episode of Iroh finding Zuko alive and planning how to get the avatar. Maybe Zhou's plan of invading the North Pole? Probably not that one.
@@assordante2205 that's rough buddy
If You had two anthology episodes, Tales of Ba Sing Se wouldn’t feel very special anymore.
@@assordante2205 I mean, yeah that's a really nice sentiment, but it still leaves the finale pulling heavy duty to make us care about a largely undeveloped character and location
seige of the north is so underrated. especially when we later get the scene w iroh and zuko "if his friends hadnt found you you wouldve frozen to death!" we get some of zukos more powerful writing, arguably the best avatar state moment. I still to this day get chills when i hear aang say "NO, ITS NOT OVER"
Yes! This!
So many details in this episode for example Zhao mentioning Iroh visiting the spirit world and many scenes referred to this episode later on wether its the line you've mentioned, Koh the face stealer that got mentioned by an old water bending Avatar in sozins comet episode, Zhao visiting the library to get the information of the spirits and many other things.
Thank you for saying this. I could understand the placement with all the other episodes but Siege of the North (at least part 2) totally deserves A tier. Great character development for Zuko, Iroh gets to be a badass, and probably the coolest spirit world stuff in the entire show. @@uncleiroh7
Same
Jet is Zuko without Iroh, just on the other side of the war. Like seeing how Zuko would be without Iroh is crazy interesting, and seeing how a non-bender reacts to this war and fighting back is doubley interesting.
Love this take
Not quite though, at least not as far as we can tell - Jet didn't have any character like Ozai that we're aware of which is where the majority of Zuko's corruption and conflict stems from. Jet is more a reflection of Katara than of Zuko.
@@Meagreee Like what could have happened to Sokka if he let himself become radicalized.
This is what I truly miss about the avatar episodes on this channel. Reading the comments and seeing genuinely interesting and thoughtful opinions and theories. Heck yeah.
Great take!
I feel the hopeless romantic thing, being a kid you just wanted to root for Aang and Katara even when it got awkward or heavy handed
It's just on who you are because I always hated aang as a partner for Katara. And yes I was a kid when I watched.
Really? As a kid I was more of a "no one gives a shit get to the good fucking content" guess my child self was wrong
I've heard Aang and Katara called "baby's first OTP" and honestly yeah
@@metalvoiceguy1232 Strange to take that personally.
@@LunamrathP I... wasn't
You didn't mention how katara's final move against Azula was a genius but of writing parallels, never seen anyone change state of water just by breathing before. She was using firebending technique with waterbending just like how Zuko saved her by using waterbending technique with his firebending. Her creation of this move was what, a day or two after her and Zuko reconciled?
We don't know that that's the case though, it could easily just be a Waterbending technique that we hadn't been introduced to as we very rarely see Waterbenders that are actually submerged.
I think it's a better parallel in how they were both very talented, hard-working benders and younger sisters with an absent mom, but that Katara had a support system who genuinely loved her and that she genuinely loved while Azula just ruled everyone through fear and ended up alone as a result. Katara, the heart of the Gaang, winning against someone heartless.
I also think Katara's presence in the final fight against Azula was important for character development because of what Azula did to Aang in the S2 finale. The calm and smart way Katara dealt with Azula in the end shows us that she really is maturing, especially after The Southern Raiders episode. Instead of lashing out at Azula because of her killing Aang, Katara actually took some of Aang's philosophy into heart and fought Azula with unparalleled finesse.
Man people love making up scenarios where “this character learned this technique from a bender of a different element” when really it was never meant to be interpreted that way
@@NobleVagabond2552 Avatar fans tend to come up with some really weird head-canon that makes absolutely no sense. Not really sure why.
8:30 honestly this makes perfect sense to me when you realize how the monks probably taught him.
One of the possible steps to becoming an airbending master involves you inventing a new technique (Aang became one because of the air scooter) so airbender children were probably very much encouraged to try out random things and be creative with their element.
Aang probably did a lot of random and careless stuff with airbending when he was learning and suffered little from it due to air just being so harmless by nature, so him not really grasping the danger of fire and immediately going to try something out that is totally out of his skill level just to see if he can do it makes a lot of sense to me when you connect those dots.
The ingrained airbending teachings is probably also why fire is last for air avatars and why jeoung jeoung was so hesitant to train him- either that or I'm looking too much into it- but hey it's overanalyzing for a reason
@@slaybutton1692 Fire is last because the training order always follows the avatar cycle (i.e. the order in which avatars are reincarnated), starting with your "home" element. Roku learned fire, air, water, then earth, and Korra (ostensibly) learned water, earth, fire, then air (she started learning fire a bit early, and air a bit late, so it all balances out, I guess). This is also the order in which elements are named during the opening (for both shows).
@@NYKevin100 yeah it's obvious.
I meant that the order has to be that specific for a reason, after all.
@@slaybutton1692 yeah the order is actually tied to the teachings of the others. Air and Water are so close together that you can lessons from each and use that to hone your skills. Whereas Air and Fire can only come together if you learn to balance between them. Firebenders already know this but airbenders dont
@@slaybutton1692
"The ingrained airbending teachings is probably also why fire is last for air avatars and why jeoung jeoung was so hesitant to train him- either that or I'm looking too much into it- but hey it's overanalyzing for a reason"
This is actually a very interesting point that I've not seen anyone consider before, like whether intended or not, this is most certainly what happened in the story, the inherent nature of each element results in the last element the current avatar has to learn being one with a deceptive philosophical contrast to their original element. (most probably because its not the opposition element with the exact opposite philosophy, behavior, nature, and habit)
Fire and air both can be "conjured" out of nothing and react much the same to the environment physically, but treat them the same and you end up with very bad habits that cause many issues for the Avatar, an airbender learning firebending before he's ready will do as Aang did and hurt himself or others, which results in guilt especially with their affinity for life philosophy. (without the understanding that fire is life) But if a firebender gets into airbending before they're ready they will be limited by their behavior, habits, and emotions, and almost certainly would not be so creative and free willed. They'd be very likely to never properly manage or use airbending and may even be stuck not being able to do it properly.
With earth and water, again they act similar as they cannot be conjured and they generally have similar physical effects (in the case of water being frozen in fact the same) but they have philosophy and a lot of nuance differences. A waterbender is taught to flow and redirect, to use an enemy's attack as a strength against said enemy. In contrast an earthbender is expected to face attacks straight on, rarely deliberately redirecting anything. A waterbender doing earthbending without maturity would most certainly be too avoidant, or more aptly, would be too prone to using all their energy trying to redirect attacks instead of facing them head on. This would wear them down and lead them to be easily defeated especially when they try to treat earth as though it flows when it doesn't and thus causing many issues that could get them or others killed. With water, an earthbender might be too used to the lack of flow and might try to hard to face a direct attack which wouldn't work out well against waterbending since it takes more energy to stop water then it does to redirect it. They would too far believe in water as being static and unchanging (philosophically I mean) and thus would be used to trying to use it in bursts of attack and defense instead of it being a continuous. They'd also likely be too afraid to use the full potential of the bending out of fear it would harm people beyond necessity when it would rarely ever really do so.
As for water and air, they're quite distinct in that one is "conjured" and the other isn't, but they also share an aspect of flow and redirection, but whereas experimentation is safe with air, it is not so possible and safe with water, and it requires a lot more structure and not as much free flow as air. (even if its more then fire and earth) The similarity caused by the element's flow creates a deception that their philosophies are similar and yet they don't share much in common beyond that fact, for which any bender of either would easily fall into the trappings of their respect element's philosophy hampering their mastery massively and likely getting people hurt or their own progress and willingness and control of the element.
As for earth and fire, again they do share a similar stand your ground type of mentality just as water and air share a similar flow redirection mentality, but whereas earthbending stands its ground head on, firebending is a lot more deliberate and precise, it seems more about picking its moments and seizing them entirely and not going all out all the time, less brute strength and headstrong, more precise but no less passionate and aggressive. Because they share that mentality of stubborn aggression to an extent, while out of all the cases I can think of, these two seem to share the least similarities, I do think because of their aggressive and natural headstrong stubborn natures it becomes more inciting then specifically deceptive, like an unwanted habit or addiction, for one to use the respect philosophy for the other form of bending even if one knows its wrong. The result of which would almost certainly create a block from bending properly at all.
The adjacent bending in the cycle aren't as distinct as their opposite counterparts, but I do think unintentionally the training order has itself some form of synchronicity to a deliberate design regarding philosophy.
Man really can't get away from this series. So far all his other stuff has been excellent so I'm glad he's diversifying, and he IS making good money from this so that's a plus too
Man needs a consistent theme again. Korra is the obvious choice regardless of whether he's a huge fan of not it's another 4 seasons of relevant content
@@TheGreenScout just let the guy do his thing he knows it better than you, me and George Bush combined
@@TheGreenScout if it's not something he's interested in doing, it's going to make bad content and he won't be happy doing it. I'd rather see more overanalyzing bigfoot or aliens
@@frog8220 he literaly named the channel "overanalyzing avatar"
Don't disagree PZ, just seems like he's been floundering for a new angle recently, don't want a quality channel to lose steam. Reminds me of Lyle Wrath between Sanity Not Included and Pregame Discharge - got kinda lost in trying new angles before coming home to what he's good at
Man, I got so happy when he was singing the praises of The Painted Lady because I know everybody hates that episode but I think it's fuckin great. I was wounded this day
Whack!
I take it you haven’t seen his episode guide then? 😂
@@nasecoo I went and watched most of them after this comment. Top tier avatar content
Justice for the Painted Lady
it's always been one of my favorite episodes ever, nothing beats the chills I got as a child when the actual spirit appeared at the end
Zuko Alone, I feel, is definitely the best episode of ATLA when taken as a work without context of the rest of the series. For an episode all about Zuko's character, it gives enough context that someone who's never seen the show before can watch it and still be left in awe.
Probably. But in a serialized show, context is everything. The episodes are written to be a part of the whole, and be experienced in order.
It has to be taken in context bcuz it’s the only episode in the whole show featuring only one of the main characters, thus the title of the episode
If you only knew this one episode you’d think Zuko was the primary protagonist. But actually at this point he had been the primary antagonist thru season 1, and was now in a weird purgatory state where his story became his own, separate from the primary cast of protagonists
While I definitely understand the criticisms of the lion turtle stuff and even the Azula stuff, I will always love Sozin's Comet. It just feels like the perfect conclusion to this wonderful show.
Maybe now you could do Overanalyzing different characters.
Like how did certain characters change.
Maybe finally go into why you didn’t like Azula going full schizo
I think that's an awesome idea, there's so much going on in the show that it can be easy to lose sight of how far the characters come, Sokka is always the one that springs to mind for me
I would love this, especially since I disagree with his reasoning for not liking Azula's development. I think it actually makes a lot of sense if you look at things from her perspective and in the context of her life
He did go into why he didn’t like Azusa’s arc, no? It was that it wasn’t really built up and seemed to come out of left field.
@@andreawalker8343 I think they mean a full in-depth analysis
If you like something like that I highly recommend "the psychology of azula" from hello future me
I'd always put the beach in S-tier personally. The scene where Zuko storms out the party and visits his old house is done so well, and then of course the scene around the campfire is one of the biggest turning points for Zuko's character imo
"I'm angry at myself!" will always give me goosebumps with every rewatch
In my opinion, the Beach episode is the beginning of Azula's descent into madness for the following reasons.
-Jealous of Ty Lee getting attention from boys
-Showing weakness by admitting that to Ty Lee (which must have been like ripping an arm off to her)
-Her version of admitting that she has feelings for Chan
-Getting turned down/scaring him off
If you think about Azula's character, this makes sense. Forcing herself to be in these uncomfortable situations for such extended periods of time, maybe for the first time ever, could have done a number on her.
Especially since nothing went the way she wanted or planned.
Personally I interpret that episode as both getting a peek into Azula's psychology to make you sympathize with her despite her cruelty, realizing that she's never had a real childhood outside of her two friends, and seeing how she could have been so different, given that when presented with a social situation and treated like a normal person, she embraces it, not wanting to reveal who she is, and makes a real effort to open up. I'd say her descent into madness was almost entirely brought about by Mei and Ty Lee's betrayal, because they were the only people she had ever been able to call friends, and basically represented her whole childhood. By the end of the show Azula very much deserves what she gets, but I like that the Beach shows a more human side of her and illustrates how in a way, she's just as much of a victim as Zuko. Sure, she was always the bully, but Zuko was fortunate enough to have a positive role model (Iroh), and to be banished so that he could grow as person free of his family (not what he wanted or what Ozai intended, but still). Azula may well have grown in a similar way if she "disgraced" Ozai enough to get banished.
I completely agree
@@maxpackard1952 to me it was opposite.
That episode showed how truly crazy she is and that she is monster just as her father
Azula did NEVER have feelings to worm Chan. It was attempt to prove she can get attention too
And her saying my own mother thought i was a monster
The Waterbending Scroll and Jet gave us two of the best soundbites ever:
"That's good"
"He's right"
Honestly I feel like they should've dropped an episode like the painted lady, and given us another episode of Zuko with the gaang. I don't really think Toph needed a field trip with Zuko (she already had a talk with Iroh over some tea, which is like 2.5 Zuko field trips), but I would've loved to see an episode that isn't the finale where they're all together doing something (that isn't an elaborate recap).
Heck, you can still have the plot be 'the gaang does an eco-terrorism" but take out the whole deal with the village to focus more on how the group dynamic is with Zuko there. Give us a cool action scene with all of them working together.
Na Shu was an amazing character. And his brothers.
exactly, and maybe in the same episode they couldve done something with Azula too to build up for the finale
Ooohh an ecoterrorism episode where it’s Gaang against zuko on whether to help the people. Zuko is much more focused on the big issue/training while the Gaang wants to help the people.
Maybe we get finally get that in the upcoming movie(s). I read that the first movie would be about the gaang.
I honestly don’t know why the painted lady is so overhated. It shows greats worldbuilding and how there are innocent fire nation people who struggle within their own homeland. It shows how they are victim to the firelords cause, and I’d say that the painted lady expands upon the universe of atla. In comparison, the great divide is about two irrelevant families that are never mentioned again and do not push the narrative whatsoever and has no good character moments. At the very least, the painted lady had great katara moments which show her conviction and compassion.
28:27. That, RIGHT THERE, that tear filled hug. Best moment of the show for me. I've almost never cried at a piece of media but this does it for me. Even more so than Tales. I'm getting a little misty just thinking about it.
I like the painted lady. I enjoy soft magic throughout the show that caters more to the characters and story, the people of the town owing their good fortune to the painted lady which was katara all along, followed by the real spirit thanking karara for her actions is an interesting moment. Implies the reach and impact of spirits to include the actions of their influenced, good stuff
So hey this might be one of those "Duh, everyone noticed/knew that" but I really like the way that Zuko's lightening scar mirrors Aang's being on his chest instead of his back.
Hot take: I think The Storm and The Blue Spirit are essentially a 2 parter episode and when watched together is the highest peak of season 1. Establishing Zuko and Aangs similarities via backstory and then forcing the audience to recontectualize their villain/hero dynamic after seeing them work amazingly well together is THRILLING television.
Good point. I like it!
Both episodes do a great job depicting the yin and yang their two characters represent while also foreshadowing the balance they bring when working together.
Of course we don't learn until much later that Zuko is a descendent of the Avatar and is spiritually kin to Aang, but it feels like the writers had this planned very early on.
I’m bouta watch these shits back to back rn baby
@@hossatnight love the energy
The people who commented two weeks ago are definitely the kind of people who can pin a tree to a fly without killing the YuYan
I think they can fly a tree to an archer without pinning the tree
Nah man, you're thinking of the flies who can tree a Yuyan to an archer without killing the YuuY.
@@awesomesmileyguy He's right
25:00 To everyone who thinks “Nightmares and Daydreams” is too silly or unrealistic: it’s not. Not in the slightest. As someone who has stayed up for almost a full 96 hours (minus a couple of short naps), I can honestly (and somewhat shamefully) say that I have NEVER related to an episode of television more than I relate to “Nightmares and Daydreams”… especially in college. I’m pretty sure I actually saw a hallucination (and yes, those do happen if you haven’t slept in a while) saying “you’ve got to get a hold of yourself” to me at one point.
I actually really like The Swamp. It’s a really pretty animation, and has some pretty nice wisdom at the end. I also think it’s cool to see waterbenders originate from a not cold place lool.
Bit late to comment but I also really enjoyed the swamp. The swamp environment has an interesting vibe to it, and the wisdom towards the end of the episode is easily on par with Iroh’s wisdom throughout the series. Not that much happens overall, but it’s still a very enjoyable episode to me!
I enjoy the mysticism of this episode
I also thought Sokka had some funny lines in that episode. And it showed us the premonition of Toph helping set up the Blind Bandit episode
You criminally underrated the King of omashu! The GoatedBloatlord that Bummi turns out to be in The fight, the cabbages joke, the tie in to Ang's past that helps heal his heart a little bit. The hilarious double fake out that the creeping crystal is harmless and edible. The double fakeout of the small animal not being the true Flopsy, and Flopsy not being dangerous. Come to think of it, this episode had a least three major double fakoeouts to show just how damn wiley Bummi truly is. He's like the Joker of the Avatar world.
What cabbage joke? I haven't seen any in this series
@@invisiblestar5473 Whose cabbages?
I watched all of Avatar in 38 minutes. This is the definitive ranking video.
Idk if I’m alone in this but I love how you upload all your videos in the exact screen ratio of the show you’re reviewing. So many channels woulda uploaded their reviews of ATLA in 16:9 just making the blank space either be black or a blurred version of the footage and I have so much respect for you for not doing that. I noticed it in the Love, Death, and Robots video too and it’s so cool
i cant believe that after i watched this series idk how many times and watching possibly every analysis of this show, i still get goosebumps at certain episodes that are mentioned in a fucking tier list... MAN I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH
best show oatttt
22:54 “The Beach”
This is a very underrated episode imo, you really get to see how it’s impossible for Azula not to make every aspect of her life a competition, or a challenge she has to overcome. You see how deep her disconnect goes on a different level than it’s been presented to us before. And it is played for comedy for a lot of the episode, but I genuinely think it’s essential to understanding her character. Zuko’s interaction with everyone at the end is fantastic writing as well. Just a reallllllly solid episode for me.
I really enjoyed the episode but still kinda disliked some things. The scene where they sit at the fire was a bit weird for me. I love to hear the background of characters but in a less "forced" way. It seemed a bit bizarre for me how they were talking about their feelings at the beach in such a crucial phase of the war. Especially for Azula. But it def helped to have more insights into their character. And you can see how her manipulative and competitive streak can also be transferred to other areas in life.
I didn't realize that some people dislike the hippies in Cave of Two Lovers. It's always been one of mine and my sister's favorite episodes, due in large part to them and their music.
lets get a moment of silence for the people in live chat who legit thought a premiere turned into a livestream, and that it was live in the final re-arranging section. Truly a tragedy 😞
It was mainly just one dude spamming it
@@IceBen4444 that poor man
I actually love Avatar Day specifically because it’s a nothing episode. There’s no moral, no verdict, no point. The ultimate thesis statement is “This is the worst town we’ve been to” and that’s hilarious.
I'm amazed how you never run out of hilarious things to compliment your top tier patreons with. Also, even though you didn't want to make it initially and I personally am not a fan of tier list videos, this one was very entertaining to watch!
I think my favorite 'overanalyzing Avatar' joke is the cabbage guy joke.. I am easy to please.
What cabbage guy?
Who?
...huh? What joke?
Did you write something?
It always makes my day when you post a video. I'm glad you made this, I like hearing your brief summaries on each episode. It's kinda like bite sized Overanalyzing Avatar. I've also always said the Firebending Masters is my favorite episode as well. The scene with the dragons is probably the most epic scene in the show, plus I love the dragon dance. Just amazing
Would have definitely seen Crossroads of destiniy in S Tier. It is such a beautiful season finale, with twisting expectations, great character moments and finale-worth action scenes + a cliff-hanger ending which is not too cliffhanger-like, but well presented to imagine the situation the gang is in in beginning of S3
I was a little surprised it was middle A tier it’s a top 3 episode for me
Crossroads of destiny is the best episode of Avatar. This guy's list is terrible, he contradicts himself so much it's insane
This show and Gravity Falls are my absolute favorites. And they have in common that both were made as a finished story and didn't drag on after the show success.
At this point I'm just looking for any excuse to revisit the world of avatar lol. Thanks for making awesome content as always!
I love how he mentions that the setup from the finale of season 2 and the first on season three set up a picture of emotion along with how that is what fire as an element is based off of
ive always loved The Chase but i’m constantly shocked and how nobody ever mentions some of the really weird animation moments in it, like the two jarring off model frames of iroh belly bumping azula , or the kinda silly moment of everyone attacking azula at once but toph is just kinda throwing dust at her?
it’s such a good episode but i feel like nobody mentions the silly bits!
This guy definitely mentions at least one of these things
28:46 I still stand by the logic of Azula cheated the Agni Kai by attacking a third party, and thusly Zuko wins by default. He was dominating until that point so I think its fair
I feel like i'm getting into "cheating territory", but hey, you really should bend your own rules for the final 4 episodes. Can't help but feel that ranking the "sozin's comet" episodes all together is a bit unfair, given the last two are definitely S tier material. I mean, we're talking about "last agni kai", Ozai's defeat, Zuko's Coronation, Aang and Katara finally expressing their feelings towards each other in an appropriate moment, The White Lotus reclaiming Ba Sing Se, and the list goes on! Sure, there are some minor hiccups, such as Aang accidentally tapping into the Avatar State , but I guess if you can consider the "energy bending" technique taught by the Lion Turtle as something that Sozin's Comet part 2 failed to properly introduce (once again, a bit of cheating territory), then episode 4 is nearly flawless!! S rank for both "Into the Inferno" and "Avatar Aang" (9.8 and 9.9 on IMDB, respectively)
It's hard to rank multi parters as seperate episodes because they're telling one story. The start, middle, and end is divided over several episodes so ranking one episode without the others won't really be fair.
I wish some of the more "filler"-ish episodes from the start of book 3 were cut in order to have Day of Black Sun earlier so that Zuko could join the group sooner and give him more time to sort of fit in/let the rest of the characters start to trust him more naturally and maybe have more Azula content so we can see her mental state deteriorate more naturally and gradually.
People don't like the Jet episode? I've always loved that one. Jet's a great character.
I remember hating it as a kid probably because I saw myself in Aang and seeing Katara liking an obvious douche probably pissed me off.
I think most people’s problems with “Jet” aren’t Jet himself but Katara
@@Luke_SkywaIker yeah katara ticked me off in that episode. (Especially where she thought jet attacking an old man was okay by virtue of him being fire nation.)
@@AnInkStick Yeah definitely a weak moment from her, especially when looking at The Painted Lady
@@bevvvy1374 yeah I legit wanted to deck her there
Honestly the boiling rock 2 part probably are 2 of my favorite episodes I really wanted to know what happened to the dad (can’t spell any of the names so I’m not gonna try) and dudes chick and them breaking out together was awesome for me as a kid and watching it now. But I didn’t even think about how the broke in or how they got the cooler out but it’s always got a place in my heart lol
My favorite part of Bitter Work is that it focuses on Avatar training for both Aang and Zuko, and that it's a direct quote from Roku when he was explaining his Avatar training to Aang during the solstice, saying "It was bitter work, but the results were worth it"
Wow, this is really good! You should, like, make a whole series where you go episode by episode and give a thorough review of each one! idk just an idea, keep up the great work.
The Beach was one of my favorite episodes only because of that ending campfire scene the music the emotion and Zuko having to accept he’s not happy all just worked for me but I do understand it’s placement as the rest did kind of fall short of my expectations
Same. This episode was overall very fun and emotional for me.
In firebending masters, when aang first bends fire out of himself, he has the same look and it mirrors when he tried to firebend when he burnt katara. Except this ended with happiness and not with Kamara being burnt.
20:10 "My rules are nebulous and beyond human understanding"
As a DM, I might steal that for when a player disagrees with me.
How is Sokka such a ladies' man? This is the video essay we need.
Its unbelievable how each added episode, intensifies my heartbeat and excitement for the next. This amazing show and your awesome way of presenting and analising it, is incredible.
It’s been 3 days and he’s still putting episodes in A tier
0:12
you said "i always felt like this video would be kinda redundant"
and youtube heard "like this video" and activated the like button flare thing
lmao
is that a youtube automatic thing?
I thought that was the joke, that he put the phrase "like this video" in there under a different context, and had the like button light up anyway.
@@redgeoblaze3752 it's automatic
bro you HAD me at the painted lady, solid gotcha moment had me cracking up
Love the ATLA videos, but I’m really loving where your channel is going from there. Keep up the great work!
Oh this is pretty cool, after watching this show so many times I kind of just want to watch the best videos and observe the philosophical meaning.
I feel like part of the genius of The Last Airbender is that the episodes eb and flow when watched in order. It's part of the experience
the fact they brought the freestyle kid from the headband ep back to help fight on the day of black sun, im still surpirsed they didnt win
You know what's crazy. I watched your entire overanalyzing series, then watched the entire show, and I still wanted more
Can't get enough of this channel 🔥We would love to see you do a tier list for the characters in ATLA
5:50 the way you edited that made it look like Jet kicked that old man and just blew him up.
😂
Funfact, We all know that Roku is a fine name, and when I hear it spoken it's fine, but when I read it I always pause because in my language (Czech) Avatar Roku literally means "Avatar of the year", then I always chuckle.
I miss when these overanalyzing episodes were coming out every wednesday and i would always get excited for them. kinda puts me back in the childhood glory i had when the actual show was airing
I think it's funny that it feels like each season progressively gains more finale episodes, leading to the 4 part Sozin's Comet (The Earth King, The Guru, and Crossroads of Destiny absolutely feel like one connected finale plot to me)
I think the thing I like the most about the art style of ATLA is how it subtlety evolves even between episodes and you don't notice it until you start at the beginning again. It makes you think
i was already thinking of rewatching your overanalyzing series as a spiritual rewatch of ATLA. but now ill be doing that and then actually rewatching the show in Ranked order
9:14
Sounds like you're channeling your inner cosmonaut variety hour
I was like “no way this guy had dedicated his whole channel to my favourite show” and when I realized you did I immediately subscribed this is awesome
The big foot and aliens videos are great and anyone who stopped after overanalyzing ATLA ended are missing out
Aliens is the best video on the channel, come at me scrubs
@@kidkangaroo5213 won't see me disagreeing
@@kidkangaroo5213 I prefer the Bigfoot video
Truth
I need to use "My rules are nebulous and beyond human understanding" in my everyday life.
Jet’s brainwashing is finally “Resolved”, he’s out of line… but he’s right.
That scene was a real gut punch.
I’m glad to see you still uploading even after you finished the series.
Imagine putting the blue spirit in S but the last Agni Kai in A
I love this guy's personality. I'd listen to him overanalyze, underanalyze, and regularanalyze anything. And some part of me wishes that one day we could become friends.
Woah the painted lady disrespect is kinda crazy
I really like the northern air temple episode for some reason. I always enjoyed them showing a crafty side to Sokka. Showing that he is more capable of doing more than just being a warrior.
Katara finishing the fight with Azula is also important because one of the big parts of Zukos arc is learning to rely on others. I think it emphasizes his growth in many ways, and is way better than if he did actuslly just beat Azula.
Thing for some of these episodes is definitely that even though it was 15 years ago, I do remember how I first felt when I saw some of these episodes. "fallen out of love" with things like the storm and sokka's adventure in the desert makes sense, but when I think about the first time that I watched these episodes I feel like I want to put them higher.
As much as I love ATLA I've honestly been loving your other videos. I genuinely do really like listening to you talk. You should change the channel name to "Overanalyzing Everything" but always keep the same profile photo so it has the Avatar element. Then just do vids on anything that interests you. Maybe move into full on long form video essays. You bring something unique to the table that I absolutely love.
The painted lady below the great divide is engagement bait... And it's working lol
He really does hate the painted lady.
I get that it has some structural issues and, while I personally don't think it's that bad, it kind of mishandles Zhao, but The Deserter is probably my favorite S1 episode besides The Blue Spirit. Jeong Jeong kicks ass. He's got some really great lines ("To master the bending disciplines, you must first master discipline itself. But you have no interest in this, so I have no interest in you!"), Roku gets to throw his weight around, the whole thing is an homage to Apocalypse Now. It's just good.
Also, I've really enjoyed your other videos. I hope things work out so that you can keep doing deep dives into other subjects.
Loved seeing a little recap almost of the entire OA series, always enjoying the content !
Saying The Tales of Ba Sing Sae is the best episode of Avatar because of the tale of Iroh, is like saying Up is the best Pixar film because of the first 10 minutes. Both good for sure, but not the best for that small part of it.
no one's talking about how when he was talking about jet it looked like he kicked the old man and then it just cut to the dam exploding
I've heard the tip of cutting in the middle of a sentence when you do multiple attempts at saying a sentence. It's unintuitive, but seems to work really well! In your videos, I can occasionally hear a change in speed/volume/pitch/… when you have apparently cut multiple attempts together. (Or you didn't and you just talk like that, in which case nevermind.)
Overanalyzing Overanalyzing Avatar's voice changes
Enjoyed the live resorting, kept it more interesting than the typical tier list video. Great vid as always, would really love some more cryptid stuff in the future. Keep it up!
Avatar The Last Airbender has got to be one of my top 10 favorite shows
I'm glad you didn't cave and do 'overanalysing korra' because no matter what videos you do, 'overanalysing avatar' will always be the roots of your channel and damn, those are some good fucking roots! I might be wrong but I think you pioneered the overanalysing **insert series** concept which is cool. I love you and this channel, you hit a sweet spot!
Fun Fact: Zuko had the same sword master as Sokka.
I'd like to think, Iroh asked him to teach Zuko, or recommended him as the best person for the job.
There is an amazing animation about what would happen if Aang and Korra fought each other, and I think it's what would have actually happened: ruclips.net/video/y_GfaSCNlkk/видео.html
100% you know Iroh did everything he could for that boy.
"Tell me where Apa is" in the voices of every avatar at once hits SO hard. 15:58
Honestly, I think the point of Sokka and Aang doubling back to the planetarium in the library is to feel the loss of Appa more.
If they hadnt gone back to get the information, they would’ve been able to save Appa but then we wouldnt know about the eclipse, if it played out the more concise way it could feel sorta arbitrary that aang didnt make it in time. I dunno.
The best recap episode has one more thing going for it, it sets Zuko feeling so bad for offending his uncle while also he gets told Iroh would be proud of what Zuko did by joining team avatar and once finally they reunite near the end of book 3 Iroh simply hugs Zug and forgives him for everything showing his unconditional love and to this day it's the single moment in a TV history that makes me cry, nothing else did. But that of course depends on each person, if you never cry and somethin gets you, that's the good stuff.
BOILING ROCK DESERVED BETTER
You are the only RUclipsr that I actually stay and listen to the patron shout-outs
The Poor Painted Lady lol
I like how the tier list had the top episode and bottom episodes be from season 3. Seems really fitting. Like the show was riding so high but could still manage to drop the ball.