So, whose interested in a sort of log I'm doing for Avatar: The Last Airbender?

[The Mano Games VII]

Basically, it's a show that I've seen only a few episodes of before Nicktoons bailed on me and started telling me that I hadn't purchased the channel, even though I've had it for like, years. Well, I finally am now able to get around that, so, I figured that now that I'm able to watch a show I've been dieing to watch for a long time now, I'd write up little segments about what I think of it so far, and maybe ask questions for fans of it to answer.

I dunno whether or not that actually sounds interesting to anybody but me, but I'm going to do it, simply because I want to. If you are interested though, feel free to make suggestions where you feel them appropriate. I want it to be very detailed and indepth, but, I also want it to be enjoyable, so I want to know your suggestions.

I'll start watching them, in chronological order (I've been told that that's a very important thing to do when watching the series, otherwise, you'll be rather confused at times, and it'll lessen the impact of certain things that happen), in a few days. See you guys later, even if nobody responds. If there's anything I've learned from writing my Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu log, it's that even though people don't respond for 50 posts, they still become interested over time. In the worst of scenarios, it's all about patience.

By the way, one other very important thing I've forgotten to cover. NO SPOILERS, I REPEAT, NO SPOILERS, ok? If I ask any questions about any future plot that can't be answered without spoilers, then either ignore them, or be very, very vague

I've watched the first two episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, after a few days of putting it off. Mainly, whenever I get hyped to watch something, or play it, I'll put it off for a few days because I'm nervous to actually see it. But, that's just an oddity of mine.

Saying that, I looked at the episode count, 61, and instantly, I thought back to Dragon Ball Z, and found it really funny that I could've watched almost this entire series in the time that it took the Z Warriors just to beat Frieza. Upon that revelation, I've decided something. I'm only going to watch 2-3 Episodes per day, and that's what my posts are going to summarize. What I think and feel based on those 2-3 episodes. I don't want to blow through this too quickly. Also, if the way I write this differs from log to log, that's because I'm still not quite sure what I'm trying to do, or how I'm writing for this log yet. I want it to be entertaining, but I haven't figured out in what way I want it to be entertaining. I'm just going to do what I feel like for now, and see how you like it. So, lets get this show on the road.

First off, I found the intro pretty neat. It just told us the basic plot, introduced two main characters, then just went straight to the show. I just thought that was really neat, to not have to sit through a long montage before the actual show starts.

I liked how the show just introduced the concept of Water Bending just through Sokka and Katara bickering, and Sokka freaking out every time Katara doesn't manipulate the water quite right or anything like that (not that he doesn't deserve it. Based on his attitude towards the ladies, he's going to be having a rather painful journey if the women on this show are as awesome and tough as the ones I've seen in the few episodes I've already seen).

My first question comes up shortly after this however, when Katara and Sokka get swept up in some dangerous currents and end up getting their raft destroyed. It made me wonder why they bothered fishing in such a dangerous area to begin with. But then, I guess that would be like asking how Katara and Sokka manage to hop across platforms of ice without any difficulty on their way to Aang's iceberg. Speaking of dangerous...

Look's like Zucco's in the house, and he now realizes what this means! But, just when his search is about to come to an end, he's immediately shot down by what seems like a rather...patronizing fashion by his uncle. Zucco immediately shows a rather ugly side to his nature with his raging temper, but then, I think I'd be pretty insulted to if my own uncle responded to me accomplishing my lifelong dream by basically telling me to shut up and drink some tea.

Aang gets defrosted, and it's here that I think the dialouge might've gotten a little hokey, just for a brief instance. For one thing, Aang seems surprisingly chipper and ready to have fun despite that it's shown through flashback that he almost drowned right before freezing himself in that iceberg, just 5 minutes later. I dunno, it just seems like the show was a little too quick to show his goofy and eccentric side, when it seemed like he should've had at least some kind of short, normal conversation before sneezing himself 25 feet in the air and introducing us all to his flying animal.

But that's all water under the bridge. It's only for an instance anyways, and it helps that Sokka's delightful commentary makes for some entertaining scenes.

Flash back to Zucco, a rather shocking sequence as Zucco's mentor outright tells him that his whole mission is pointless and stupid, not something that's going to sit well with Zucco considering that his honor now hinges on being able to capture the Avatar. But surprisingly enough, he actually keeps his cool this time. Maybe he just appreciates his mentor's honesty, or maybe he's so desperate that it's cooled his anger. Makes sense, considering that his honor now hinges on him capturing the most powerful figure in the world...or maybe he's just being the typical meathead who thinks all of life revolves around looking good to your fellow warriors.

Still, you have to wonder why his mentor even bothered to come if he thought this whole thing was pointless. It just makes him look bad, the way he's practically insulting Zucco for trying hard to accomplish something big.

The next few minutes go by, without really much to commentate on. Except for one line of dialouge I found rather...interesting.

"Katara: I can sense that he is full of much wisdom!"

I probably wouldn't have found this line worth mentioning, except that it reminded me of one particular episode of Avatar that I really didn't like too much at all. I'm not going to spoil anything, but both Sokka and Aang just looked like complete douches in that episode, to the point
where I actually started to wonder if the writers were knowingly making them act out of character in order to advance the plot. I won't say much more than that though. Heck, I don't even remember it that well, so I could be remembering wrong. Who knows?

Another scene with Zucco and his mentor, and by now, I'm kind of confused by the dynamics of their relationship. Who exactly is wearing the pants here? Zucco tries to force his uncle to "teach him the advanced set", and at first, it seems like his mentor is the one who has to submit. But then his mentor fires back by forcing Zucco to wait as he finishes his lunch, almost like he's daring Zucco to make him, and Zucco's only response is to get this shocked expression on his face. It's like Zucco relied so much on bullying to get him somewhere, that he doesn't have any clue on how to respond when it doesn't work. One thing's for sure, they make for interesting interactions.

By the way, I find it interesting to note that, according to his mentor, Zucco hasn't even mastered the basics yet, because in the next episode, Zucco's going to say something that's going to make him look incredibly stupid when you remember was his mentor said about his performance here.

Again, the rest of the episode passes by without much to comment on (except that I'm starting to suspect that Aang might have a slight case of ADD). However, I really loved the ending to this episode, where we see Aang and Katara escaping the ship from the perspective of a telescope, and we get a close up of Zucco's eyes.

Episode 2 starts off, and it's actually really good here. The parting of Aang and Katara was pretty sad, especially with Katara's frustration here, and we even revealed that Sokka's actions are driven by a promise he made to his Dad. Good stuff.

However, once Zucco's band arrives, I find it immediately offputting that Sokka is the only one who did anything to prepare for their arrival. I know that the women and children probably didn't have any combat training, but is it really too much to ask that they at least gather slings, or spears, or at least do SOMETHING other than stand there helplessly, and watch Sokka be completely useless against Zucco? It's not a plothole, as some people really are that helpless, but it's a darn shame is what it is, especially considering that even Katara didn't do anything to help Sokka.

Their complete helplesness comes to a fever pitch though, when Aang zooms in, kicks butt, and is doing really well until he ends up almost hurting some of the villagers by redirecting Zucco's fire at them (I'm surprised Aang's able to do that at all actually). One would think that the villagers would, I dunno, actually back off a bit and give Aang room to fight Zucco without hurting them, but instead, they stand their frozen with fear, to the point where Aang is literally forced to let himself be captured so that the villager's don't burn to death because of their fight.

Boy, if I have to rely on anyone in a fight, I'm certainly not relying on anyone from this village, besides Sokka and Katara. Speaking of counting on capable warriors, it is here that Zucco says that line that makes him sound so incredibly stupid...

"Zucco: I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training, meditating, and you're just a child!"

I'm sorry, I just find it really funny that he's apparently spent years training for this very moment, and yet, according to his mentor, he still hasn't even mastered the basics of firebending yet, despite all of this training he's done. It makes him sound like he had some sort of learning disability or something. Either way, the show isn't exactly painting a very intimidating image of him so far. Even more interesting to note, if this is really supposed to be some kind of Avatar conquering team, why does Zucco only seem to have 7 other men with him?

It's like the Emperor had an incompetent bunch of ninnies, and didn't know how else to get them out of his hair than send them off somehwere, on the small chance that the Avatar might still be alive despite him doing nothing for 100 years. It would certainly explain the Mentor's attitude. He'd be old and experienced enough to recognize what the Emperor ordered them to do as an insult after all.

Then, just to complete this image, Aang goes on to school everyone on the boat with his hands tied behind his back...literally. No, seriously, he takes them all out with only his feet availble to him.

Then he gets to Zucco to get his staff back, and it's here that I'm starting to think that Aang's kind of new at this whole "fighting for you life thing". There were a lot of little things Aang did that made the fight so much harder than it should've been. For one thing, there are multiple instances where after dodging an attack, he'd just freeze in place and breath really, not even attempting to do anything but wait until Zucco went on the offensive again. Rather than actually attacking, he just spent almost the entire fight just running and flying around, trying to dodge Zucco's attacks and getting hurt because of it.

There was even one moment where he was right behind Zucco, in the perfect position to lay the hurting on him, and he still did nothing but defend. Listen, I know that Aang's 12 and probably hasn't packed on the muscle to be as physically strong as Zucco, but he still at least knows martial arts. You could tell that by how he moved. And in all that time he was behind him, he could've grabbed his head or his ponytail and kneed him in the back, he could've gotten him in some kind of choke, he could've kicked him in the balls, he could've tackled him to the ground, anything but just continuing to dance around like he did.

Then, the fight finally comes to a head when Aang finally gets his staff, the two face off...and Aang immediately smacks him into a wall and launches him into the ceiling.

After that, I couldn't help but think "Wow, that was quick".

But, after that, as Aang tries to escape, Zucco actually manages to impress me here. Apparently, he's immediately recovered from his smackdown, and catches Aang right as he tries to fly away.

Well, if nothing else, Zucco can definetly take a hit pretty well. I don't think I would've recovered that quickly had I been launched into the ceiling.

His friends arrive, Aang takes his eyes off Zucco to look at his friends, and immediately learns the hard way that you should NEVER take your eyes off of your opponents, as he is immediately blasted with so much fire, that his staff is eventually spun out of his hand, and he gets sent into the ocean by a one two punch of fire.

But then, Aang's eyes glow blue, he starts going Super Saiyan (I'm calling that because I'm not supposed to know that it's called the "Avatar State" yet), and from there, I don't think there's much point in commentating on anything else, other than that the bad guys make themselves look even WORSE than they already did by getting owned by Katara.

When you're supposed to be an experienced adult warrior, you've got two other guys backing you up, and yet, you still get owned by a 14 year old girl who doesn't even have full control over her powers yet, I think it's time to consider getting a different career. But that's just me.

Oh, and I found it pretty cool when Aang deflects the combined blasts of both Zucco and his Mentor (yes, he finally gets off his butt at some point in this episode). The three ride off into the sunset, and despite a rather depressing conversation about how Aang never wanted to be the Avatar, he still manages to make me smile by showing his goofiness again. Apparently, he's not quite done with riding animals yet.

And that's the first two episodes. What did I think? I liked it a lot. I thought Sokka, Zucco, and Katara were all characterized well, and I thought the episodes did a good job of explaining why the character's are all doing what they're doing, without getting bogged down in explanations like some other shows do. However, my favorite parts of both of these episodes was how entertaining the interactions were between the characters, especially Sokka and Katara, and Zucco and his Mentor. I like Zucco as a villain as well, because even though he and his gang aren't really that great in terms of actual competence (no, I'm still not letting the fact that he hasn't even mastered the basics despite all his training), his drive and tenacity still make him seem threatening all the same. I just find him interesting I guess.

I loved the artwork and the fights to. The fights were stunning and flowed very quickly. Speaking of fights, don't be fooled by the way I nitpicked at Aang's actions during his fights with Zucco. I don't expect him to be any Bruce Lee or anything, the guy IS only 12 after all, and new to all of this. I like that he's got a few rough edges actually. Makes it seem more realistic.

So, yeah, I actually liked them quite a bit, despite my nitpicking here and there. There are also some other things I could nitpick at if I REALLY wanted to, but, it's nothing that I actually care about much anyways.

Oh, one more thing, I've decided to keep track of just how many times Sokka gets owned in some way or another by a girl, just to see just how much pain he goes through because of his sexism.

Those were my thoughts so far anyways. Any questions...comments...complaints?

 

[The Mano Games VII]

One other thing, I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that the next episode will be about Aang trying to go to all the places he wanted to go to, only to find out that the Fire Nation has completely reshaped these lands to be something nightmarish, and it will be all about the emotional turmoil Aang feels as a result.

Yet another new thing I'm adding to these logs to make them a little more interesting. I'm going to tell predictions about what I think will happen next.

 

[DerpDaBerp]

Definitely a user blog thing.

 

[The Mano Games VII]

So should I change the title to "user blog"?

 

[The Mano Games VII]

Hello guys, we're back again for more Avatar: The Last Airbender! Will this episode be centered around what I thought it would be?

Well, as it turns out, I was half right. Aang does go through the pain of having some location completely razed on him, but it wasn't any of the three areas I thought it would be.

Anyways, before we get to the actual episodes, I have to tell you that I'm going to have to change up things a little bit. From now on, there's only going to be one episode summary per post, as these blogs are taking way longer than I thought they would be to write.

Nope, as it turns out, he and his gang take a little visit to Aang's home, the Southern Air Temple. Now, this episode was one of the few episodes that I've actually watched before doing this log, and I must say, I'm really surprised that they're showing it this early. With the sheer content, feeling of loss and shock, not to mention Aang's "Avatar Spirit" (not "State" as I thought it was), this episode seems more like it would've been appropriate after Aang and Co. spend a few episodes on a long journey, hyping themselves up with each episode, and dropping subtle hints about the concept of the Avatar Spirit on the way. Not much else I can see talking about, not until we cut back to Zuko and Iroh (yes, I get to call him Iroh now. That's revealed in a moment).

It's here that we are introduced to Commander Zhao. The soundtrack doesn't seem to like him very much, and he's older and more experienced, so I'm going to assume that he's going to come onto this show to be the Yosetami Sam to Zuko's Elmer Fudd (Zuko even has the shaved head to go with it now that I think about it). It's here that Iroh is in fact revealed to be a great hero by Commander Zhao. Not sure whether to take this as a compliment or political B.S. by Zhao, seeing as he also acts honored to have Zuko on board, despite reasons that will be mentioned later. It's B.S. according to YuuYanx anyways.

But never mind. Zuko doesn't want every fire bender out looking for him, so it's lame coverup time, for why his ship got maimed...

"Zhao: That's quite a bit of damage."
"Zuko: Yes...you wouldn't believe what happened....UNCLE! Tell Commander Zhao what happened!"
"Iroh: Yes! I will do that! It was incredible...(obvious whisper) what, did we crash or something?"
"Zuko: Yes! Right into...an Earth Kingdom ship!"

Yeah...not really helping that Elmer Fudd image Zuko. Seems like he should've at least had a lie planned. Zhao plans to point at laugh at Zuko's humiliation for Zuko screwing up by...uh, I mean, be regaled with all the "thrilling" details, so, they head on over to his tent.

In this tent, which seems to have some sort of orange filter on it for reasons I can't determine. I know that there seems to be two lamplights on the sides of Zhao's base, but the room seems too well lit for them being the sole reason for the filter. Whatever though, I like it.

As for their actual conversation, other than Zhao revealing that Zuko was a banished prince, I find it odd that he's so suspicious of Zuko all of a sudden. I don't know why Zhao is so certain that Zuko has found the Avatar, but isn't telling him. Sure, he and Iroh made a royal mess out of covering up the damage to their ship, but I think if I were Zhao, I'dve just figured that Zuko just accidently trashed the ship in some really humiliating way, and didn't want anyone to know. He was a failure after all, and his crew members were the most incompetent soldiers in the kingdom, and it's established later in the episode that all four kingdoms have warning signals to let them know whether or not the Avatar has returned. So, as far as I know, Zhao has no reason to be as suspicious as he is.

Cut back to Aang and his group, in which we get our first bit of foreshadowing that Aang may not be in for such a pleasant surprise after all. That, and we have an enlightening little flashback, to Aang's master this time. I can now say that whatever bad habits Aang has, I think I now know where he got them from...

Back to Zuko and Zhao, the events that I'm really interested in (mainly because I didn't remember any of their interactions from this episode, while I still remember most of what happened to Aang). I find it interesting that one of Zhao's reasons for taking over the hunt for the Avatar was because "capturing the Avatar is too important to leave in a teenager's hands", especially since I believe that we all know a certain...other person in Zuko's life that's younger than him, yet could probably have beaten Aang at this point with one hand tied behind their back.

After some more exposition with Aang and co., and Aang showing that he can indeed use offensive Airbending techniques without his staff, we cut back to yet another Zuko and Zhao interaction. There's always good stuff to talk about there. Zuko actually ends up challenging Zhao to a fight here, and an immediate feeling of "Oh no..." went up inside me. I was actually tense to see how Zuko would suffer, especially as it's revealed that he got his scar from a fight with a master.

We switch to Aang, and I'm surprised by Aang's discovery of Kyotso's corpse for three reasons. One, for a show that was aimed at 6-11 year olds, it seemed like a rather graphic picture, with the close up of Kyotso's skull and everything. I know that this show became more mature as it went on, but I wasn't expecting the change to come immediately after Episode 2. And two, I remembered the exact details being a lot different. I remember this episode being a lot more chilling than it was, with there being more build up to this discovery, like Sokka and Katara discovering more and more Fire Nation corpses/masks/weapons to hide from Aang. Finally though, I remember their being A LOT more Fire Nation corpses surrounding Kyotso than what was there. I thought it was some ridiculous number like 57 or something, when really it was less than 10 here.

Aang goes into Avatar Spirit mode, and we go back to Zuko and Zhao, who for whatever reason, are no more interesting than what's happening with Aang, but a whole lot more interesting to actually talk about.

Anyways, I found it really weird how...harmless the firebending looked. Both Zuko and Zhao are constantly blocking blasts of fire with nothing but their bare arms, and both even get blasted into the air at one point, and yet, there's not one moment where either of them are even singed. At first, I was willing to blame this on Nicktoon's censorship policies (I mean jeez, look at how heavily they censored Dragon Ball Z Kai...), but then I remembered hearing that even the DVD's of this show are virtually identical to the broadcast version, so, that theory was disproven. So I thought, "well maybe they were just holding back a bit since it wasn't an actual fight". That made sense, until I remembered that Zuko got his scar from one of those fights, so hurting each other badly clearly wasn't a problem. So...nope, I'm at a loss.

Anyways, it's a thrilling fight. Zuko's offense utterly fails, Zhao responds by pounding him until Zuko flies into the air, Zhao closes in, Zuko trips him up, sends him through the air...and wins...

Let me say that again. ZUKO WINS!! He's so pathetic that he's actually been exiled, and he STILL manages to beat someone who's supposed to be one of the Commanders.

It is then that it occurs to me that calling Zhao the "Yosetami Sam" of this cartoon is probably too generous, and that Zhao must be one of those Commanders. You know, the ones who don't actually earn their place in the chain of command, but get there through politics, nobility, brown nosing, and all around *******ery.

Then after a rather noticeable continuity error in which Zuko is seen approaching the fallen Zhao from the side, yet ends up in front of him for some reason (I'm just going to assume that Zuko is still at Zhao's side, since otherwise it doesn't make sense why Zhao didn't do what Zuko did when Zuko was on his back, in the same position), Zuko confirms something I've been suspecting ever since Episode 1.

Even though he's quick to yell, and threaten, and push people around, he doesn't seem to dig actually following through with his threats, even when there's no repercussions to worry about. Or, at the very least, he doesn't seem to like hurting people any more than he thinks is necessary. Actually, that was kind of shown when he was interrogating the Water village now that I think about it. Even when he grabbed an old lady, he never once tried to use her as a hostage, and he never did anything to actually harm anyone but Sokka. And even then, Sokka did try to kill him, twice. Both attempts were laughable at best, but still.

Just to top off what was already a great scene, Iroh flaunts his muscle, and manages to send Zhao flying with what didn't look like anything but a leg lock. I don't know what kind of tea he's drinking, but I'd kill to have it. Must be all the anti-oxidants.

Finally, we're done for good with Zuko and Zhao's rivalry, but that's ok. It's here that, for the very first time, I find fault with the voice acting, most specifically Katara's speech. I don't take issue with her pronunciation, or the emotion she's putting in her lines, that's all as good as ever. What bothers me, is how she hardly even raises her voice! Aang is currently surrounded in typhoons, hurricanes, tornadoes, gusts, all sorts of stuff that's making a lot of noise, and Katara still isn't speaking any higher than her regular speaking voice. It just seems like she's not talking as loudly as she should be talking for Aang to hear her.

But, Aang hears her all the same, and calms down, but not before signal lights from all four Kingdoms flare up. Remember why I said that Zhao shoudn't have had a reason to be suspicious of Zuko? Well, this was one of the main reasons why in my mind. They have signal lights that go off when Aang is reawakened, so, I don't really get why Zhao was so bent on the assumption that Zuko actually knew anything. But, whatever, maybe I missed something.

To end this view of Episode 3, I like the music that starts playing as Aang and Co. leave the Air Temple. It was soft and tender, was melancholy, airy, and just seemed like a good theme for Aang in general. Besides that, the instruments reminded me of the soundtrack for "7th Saga", one of my favorite RPG's, with one of my favorite soundtracks from any RPG.

Besides that, I loved how consistently exciting this episode was. You could feel tension all throughout out it, whether it was Zuko's heated rivalry with Zhao, or whether it was Aang exploring the Air Temple, when you just knew he was going to be getting a nasty surprise. All in all, great episode!

Episode 4 however....not so much, for reasons I'll get into. I personally thought this was the weakest episode so far, especially in suspension of disbelief.

Firstly, to my unpleasant surprise, the set ups to the jokes and a lot of what happened were just so painfully obvious, to the point where my brain was kind of on autopilot for a lot of the episode. A great example is the very first scene...

"Iroh: Well, there is news prince Zuko, but you might not like it. Don't get too upset"
"Zuko: Uncle, you taught me that keeping a level head is the sign of a great leader. Now, whatever you have to say, I'm sure I can take it"
"Iroh: Ok then, we have no idea where he is"
"Zuko: WHAT?!! (flames grow huge)"

Yeah, a lot of really obvious set ups like that, setups that I think have been used literally hundreds of times before.

As for the rest of the episode, I think this whole "Aang being able to ride anything" thing has gone a little too far. The way he can apparently get these HUGE fish to go anywhere he wants to just by grabbing them isn't really making any sense with creatues as big as the ones he's riding. But, that's the least of my problems in terms of suspension of disbelief go with this episode.

The gang then gets jumped by warriors from all around, and just to nitpick a bit more, I disliked how Aang just sat there and let himself be captured. Sokka looked like he was at least trying to do something, but was too disoriented to act before being captured, and ok, Katara isn't much of a fighter yet, fine. But Aang had no excuse to be as helpless as he was. According to my count, it took at least 5 seconds for him to be captured. He could've easily jumped into the air (we've already established his ability to clear 25 feet) and summoned up that air orb or flying stick to get away from them.

Seriously though, it should NEVER take you more than 5 seconds to react to anything, not if you've spent your whole life training like Aang has. It's something that should've been drilled out of Aang a long time ago if his teachers knew he would become Avatar. But whatever, just nitpicking

For the next 5 minutes or so after this, it's really just Aang letting all the glory go to his head, and dancing around the village like a goldarned fool. There's not really anything wrong with this in storytelling terms, as it does lay the groundwork for Aang to grow up, but I always find it really exasperating when anyone, fictional or not, goes on the ego trip Aang goes on. Heck, it's not even really anything to be proud of, it's just a bunch of little girls following him around >_<...

After that 5 minutes of exasperation, and 17 minutes in, we get to the first, and one of the only parts of the episode that I actually really liked. Sokka getting his butt kicked by Suki (dunno if her name was revealed yet, but I'm NOT referring to her as "that Kyoshi Warior" either way).

I don't really know what Sokka was trying to accomplish with his showboating in the Kyoshi dojo. At first, I thought he was trying to pick a fight with one of the girls, but then he acts shocked when he's asked to actually demonstrate his prowess...so, I don't know.

He begins fighting Suki, and boy, Sokka stinks, and Suki isn't that great either (although to be fair, it's her style of martial arts that needs work. In terms of speed, power, and technique, she's actually really good). First of all, he keeps telegraphing his blows. Twice in this fight, he winds up and brings his rear arm back before actually throwing a punch, which not only leaves him only one arm to block any punches Suki might've thrown, but forces him to put all of his weight behind one slow, easily predictable punch.

First of all, if you're in any kind of sparring match, you should never lead off with your rear arm. It may have slightly more power, but it's much further away from your opponents face than your front arm, so it takes more time for that punch to actually reach your opponent.

Second mistake Sokka makes, he tries to nail her with a front kick, again using his rear leg which makes him much easier to block. Then, Sukki here makes her first major mistake, by ducking down and using her back to catch Sokka's kick. Even though it worked (because Sokka is an untrained dolt), that could've easily backfired had Sokka grabbed her hair and used his strength to pull her down with him. Had he tried that, there wouldn't have been anything she could've done to defend against that based on her position. Basically, had she used something simpler, like a crane block (basically a circular sweep of your arm where you end up trapping the opponents leg on your shoulder), not only could she have trapped his leg and threw off his balance, she would've had a nice easy, unblocked kick to Sokka's balls.

Then, Sokka makes his biggest mistake of all, by again trying to use a haymaker off of his rear arm, and this time, he actually tries to run towards her. Running towards your opponent when you're as far away from them as Sokka was is by far one of the biggest mistakes you can make in a sparring match. By doing this, you have no way of blocking any powerful kicks (which, by the way, are going to hurt a hell of a lot more with the momentum you've already created by running), but it once again leaves your balls completed exposed and ripe for kicking.

If you're ever going to run forward in any martial arts fights, you need to be far enough away that your opponent can't stop you with a powerful kick, and should only be doing it if you intend to tackle your opponents to the ground, slam your opponents into a wall, or intend to trap their arms in some powerful hug, as to restrict their mobility.

Suki of course has no trouble blocking this, redirects the punch, and traps Sokka's arm in this beautifully done shoulder lock. So now, she's got his entire arm locked out, and could easily end this by pushing down on his shoulder, posting her leg between his, and turning Sokka's body so that he ends up tripping over her leg and landing on his face.

But instead, she makes the bafflingly stupid decision of actually letting go of the shoulder lock, and swinging Sokka around, even stopping at one point to turn him around. Not only could Sokka have easily used the momentum to swing his body around and wrap his arm around her throat, putting him in the superior position, but the way she stops before spinning him leaves her face completely open to a sucker punch from Sokka.

I'm not going to comment on her using his armbands to wrap his arm to his leg, because I've never done that before, so therefore, I don't know whether it's implausible or not.

I'm not totally sure whether this was an honest mistake, or Suki just toying with Sokka (probably the latter now that I think about it), but either way, Sokka is an untrained ragamuffin, and so finds his pride in shambles.

Cut back to Aang and Katara, and it's at this point that I'm beginning to get a little unsettled by how fast their relationship seems to be going. Katara is only 14, and Aang hasn't even reached puberty yet, and already Katara's at the point where she's actually jealous because Aang's hanging out with little girls instead of her....

Then, comes my absolute favorite moment, and probably best part of the episode, in which Sokka displays a level of maturity and humility that I didn't think he was anywhere near at yet, a level of maturity that I really wish he would've had in that one OTHER episode I mentioned in Episode 1, that I...didn't like to say the least. He actually gets down on his knees, admits that he was wrong, and asks that he could please learn from Suki and her warriors. And all this packaged with some particularly effective tunes from the soundtrack that makes his apology all the more touching.

Seriously, just for that, I'm going to scrap the "Sokka Owned by Girl" counter I was planning to have here. I think he just went up a notch in my book! He learns pretty quickly to, even rivaling Suki in just a short scenes. Nothing to nitpick though, as it's already implied that Aang and Co. spent a great deal of time here.

Then of course is Aang's comeuppance for all of his tomfoolery, in which he almost gets killed when he tries to ride something out of his league (it's about time it finally comes back to bite him to). Aang and Katara make up, but just then, Zuko's gang appears, once again proving that although Zhao may talk a big game, he's just as much of a ninnie as Zuko, if not moreso.

Unfortunately, this is where things get really stupid in a short bit. Zuko's goons get their butts kicked by the Kyoshi warriors. Zuko however is another story, and in yet another display of awesomeness, he goes on to pwnstomp three Kyoshi warriors at once, and topping it off with his most ****** line, as well as the only one that was actually legitametly funny.

"Zuko: Nice try Avatar! But these little girls can't save you!"

Aang goes on, loses his staff when Zuko knocks it out of his hand yet again when Aang tries to block his fire with his staff (I don't know why Aang keeps trying to do that), and Aang goes around and this time, it only takes him one blow to utterly destroy Zuko. Now, from here, Aang could've easily gone on, pounded Zuko into submission, then went on to destroying a crew that we've already established he could beat with two hands tied behind his back (literally). All this could've been done, Zuko's gang could've been captured and hogtied like Aang and Co. were at the beginning, and they would be out of Aang's hair for the rest of the series.

But no, Aang doesn't do that. Instead, he gets his staff, flies off, gathers his crew, and completely ditches the Kyoshi warriors.

Great way to thank the village that fed you, housed you, and treated you like a star huh?! I know that Aang was trying to lead Zuko and his gang away, but we've already established that he could've easily beaten them by himself, so with the Kyoshi warriors, it should've been a cinch.

Just to make it seem like Aang actually did something, he jumps back into the water and foolishly risks his life to catch that Leviathin that almost killed him (whom he can now suddenly control for some reason...I don't know), and douses the village.

Oh, just so I have my bases covered, I'm not going to nitpick about Sokka and Suki's spontaneous romance. It's implied in the episode that Aang and Co. spent a great deal of time there, and besides that, both of them are 15 years old, so it's not nearly as bothersome as Aang and Katara's romance.

So ends Episode 4, which I thought was by far the weakest episode in terms of suspension of disbelief. I know I said that, but...I felt like saying it again. Besides what I complained about, I really wish the episode had spent more time focusing on Sokka's training with Suki. There were a lot of little things in the episode that weren't altogether necessary, weren't particular interesting, and could've been easily cut so that we could've gotten more of that.

A great example would be the opening scene, where nothing happens but Zuko and Iroh delivering one of the most tired and overused jokes in media, and one not so tired, but still equally lame joke. It didn't contribute anything to the actual plot, so it could've easily been cut with no repercussions. I just think it would've been nice to have one more scene of Sokka's training, preferably one that sort of built up the romance between Sokka and Suki. Their romance came completely out of left field, so I just think having an extra scene to build up to that would've been much more effective than that lame scene we had with Iroh and Zuko.

Um, by the way, one other thing, anyone else bothered by the seeming hypocrisy of the Kyoshi Warriors? They get on Sokka's case for being arrogant and sexist, and yet, when you look at how they don't normally train boys, they're probably even more sexist than he is.

Sokka may have been sexist, but at least he didn't outright refuse to accept having the opposite gender doing the same things that men do, as the Kyoshi Warriors did before he came along (even if he did think it was silly and foolish, he at least went along with it from what I can tell).

But, those were my thoughts. It wasn't bad or anything, but, I just didn't enjoy it as much as the other three. Your thoughts?

 

[The Mano Games VII]

Hey guys, it's time for some more Avatar: The Last Airbender!

I don't think there's as much to comment on on this one, except that I found Aangs "old man" imitation to be pretty funny. Other than that, the first 6 minutes are really just Aang getting in trouble for...well, being Aang.

I'm starting to wonder if this is really all his fault though. I mean, we're introduced to Boomy, another of Aang's friends, and yet another person in his life who encouraged his behavior. I mean jeez, first Kyotso, and now "Boomy". Was there ever a person in Aang's life who tried to reign in his antics? If not, I hope there's one soon, because so far, Aang's not doing a good job at the whole "saving the world" thing. As a matter of fact, he's been doing just the opposite now that I think about it.

But hey, he's wearing a disguise this time, so, at least he's making progress right?

I don't know if this is the primary Earth Kingdom, or a hamlet, or a province, or whatever, nor whether the Lord of this town is supposed to be a Baron, or a King, or a Lord, or whatever, so I'll just call him the King. Sokka does say that his crown is on a little tight, and I always associate crowns with King's, so King it is!

Anyways, I found the Baron to be an interesting man. Pretty clever one to, if the way he found out Aang's identity is any indication. I think he's pretty funny as well.

I don't know how he managed to kidnap Sokka and Katara without waking Aang up, when the only entrance was a sliding earth door that made tons of noise when opening up, but then, we're talking about a guy who has magic rings that, when put on, encase you in candy. Seeing how technologically advanced the city is, I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that he must've had some kind of crazy sleeping powder in that feast of his.

So, the first two tests go by easily enough. I really like the King's commentary in the first and third trials. He may be kooky, but when it comes to sarcasm, he's not half bad at all.

Speaking of the third trial, it's here that my favorite part of the episode, not only because it's probably the best fight we've had so far (probably helped that the King's pretty much the only opponent Aang's fought so far that wasn't murdered in two moves), but because the King actually points out a flaw in Aang's fighting that's been bugging me since the very beginnning...

"King: Typical airbender tactic. Avoid and Evade. I'd hope the Avatar would be less predictable!"

And...

"King: Don't you have any surprises for me? Sooner or later, you'll have to fight back"

I just like the feel of the fight. That Aang's come to a point where he needs to think creatively and open his mind a little in order to overcome an overpoweringly strong foe.

The twist at the end was pretty cool to. I never expected the King to turn out to be Boomy, though, it didn't help that he didn't do any of the snorting he did as a child, nor did I expect anyone in this show to live to be 112 (nothing to nitpick though, I've heard that Earthbenders live pretty long lives).

So ends a pretty cool little episode. Probably the best one since Episode 3. And, to my surprise, absolutely nothing to nitpick! Well, ok, I guess if I really wanted to, it seems silly that Katara and Sokka are letting Aang lead them around, doing nothing but thrill seeking, especially when Katara is still seeking to actually master her water bending, but hey, that's Aang for you.

I'm going to be taking a break right now. Will I make another log today? Who knows? I don't. By the way, about the Emperor's name, Ozai (it was revealed here)? Is that not one of coolest names ever? I think I'm going to name one of my characters in Final Fantasy Ozai from now on.

 

[The Mano Games VII]

Yo, guys, it's time for some more Avatar: The Last Airbender!

In this episode, we are introduced to a new character, one that I'm assuming is to be episodonic (that means, he appears for only one episode). I don't believe he's given a very appropriate introduction by the soundtrack either, as it makes it seem like he's doing something incredibly menacing and threatening with his Earthbending, when in actuality, he's really just practicing, completely unaware of anything else.

Katara, by the way, is somewhat irritating in this episode in that even though she's quick to do all sorts of things, she really doesn't seem to actually think things through as much as she should. Her plan to get on that Prison Warden ship so that Aang and Sokka could find the ship by following her path was pretty clever, but, it bothers me how her entire plan centered around the Earthbenders actually being able to rebel. I think had they been able to, they would've done so by now.

As a matter of fact, speaking of rebelling, why didn't Aang and Co. bring any kind of weapons with them? I'm pretty sure that a stockpile of spears, swords, slings, heavy stones, and crossbows would've really helped the Earthbenders rebel, like their plan revolved around. They shouldn't have had a problem getting it either, after all, Aang IS friends with a king!

Now that I think about it, why hasn't Sokka gotten himself any weapons or armor in these past episodes? As a matter of fact, if I remember correctly, he HAD armor to wear, from the Kyoshi Warriors, so why isn't he using that? Where'd that go?

Katara's revolution fails as expected when no one responds, the Prison Warden doesn't seem anywhere near as worried as he should about someone trying to start a revolution.

The climax comes when Aang figures out that by summoning up all the coal on the ship, the Earthbenders will have something to fight back with. And it is at this point, that the Gate Warden shows his complete and utter incompetence by absolutely NO CONCERN about the fact that the earthbenders now have weapons to fight with, nor does anything to get rid of them before the earthbenders get any funny idea of using them, and gets trounced by a small group of aging earthbenders who are about 5 years out of practice, and have no weapons to use but a small pile of coals...

You know, with how low Zuko set the bar, I never would have concieved that there would actually be villains so bad, that Zuko actually looks good in comparison. It doesn't exactly make the firebenders look good when the show has gone on for six episodes, and still hasn't got any better villains than the one that regularly gets trounced in just one to two blows. Zuko better start hitting the weights, otherwise, it's going to be a LONG wait for Season 2.

But hey, at least he has the smarts to find Katara's necklace on that abandoned ship, once again proving that, even as an exiled prince, he STILL seems to be more on the ball than Zhao is on finding new information and acting on it, and has a better network of spies (as proven in Episode 4), making Zhao look even more worthless than he already is.

I guess in addition to taking a hit pretty well, he's fairly good at tracking as well, so, we're getting there, we're getting there. One slow step at a time, huh?

Anyways, about the Episode? It's nothing exceptional compared to Episode 3 and 5, but, I like it all the same. It teaches us that one should never give up, even under the blackest of curtains, that nothing ever gets done unless you buckle down and put a fire in your belly. Plus, it's nice to see that Aang finally seems to be getting a sense of responsibility (Sokka is the only one who objects to helping out the Earthbenders). Also, I like how the jokes have gone back to being funny, unlike those terrible jokes in Episode 4.

Before I end this though, both the voice actors for the Ship Warden and Haru's Father sound incredibly familiar. I looked up the VA for the Ship Warden, and found no other previous projects that he was in, so I can't say anything about him. Haru's Father though reminds me of one of the male voices from Baldur's Gate, and I'm too lazy to look him up now, so, has he been in a lot of other roles? He sounds familiar.

Anyways, that wraps up another log. See you folks later. I'm tired now.

 

[Luigitoilet]

Moving to User Blogs

 

[By-Tor]

Who needs TV? Download all the episodes from a certain pirate themed bitorrent site like I did.

 

[The Mano Games VII]

I hope you're going to at least buy the DVD's from them, just to support the official release.

 

[By-Tor]

Eventually I will, and I totally understand.

But seriously, this is the best way to go in your situation. Or you could buy the DVDs.

 

[The Mano Games VII]

I would, but, I'm 17, I haven't gotten a job yet, and quite honestly I would feel terrible if I made my parents pay for all of them. My Dad's already nervous about saving up enough money for their future and all that.

I'll pay for them once I get a job. By the way, what's your opinion on these blogs so far? Are they flawed in a way that I could fix?

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

No johns, do something to make some cash. I'm sure you could find odd jobs to do.

 

[The Mano Games VII]

I'll look into that. Heck, maybe I could mow lawns or something.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

Yeah man, it's stuff like that that can make you cash while you're trying to get a job. Babysitting, mowing lawns, etc.

 

[By-Tor]

I hope I'm not striking a sour note here, but you could download the episodes from a certain pirate themed bitorrent site, then pay for the DVDs when you have money. No harm done the way I see it.

How old are you? If you're at least 16 you can find a legit job somewhere, if you poke around enough.

 

[The Mano Games VII]

That was my plan actually. And since talking about downloading episodes seems to be ok here, that's exactly how I solved my problem. Notice how I left it vague at the very first post I made.

 

[By-Tor]

if you haven't already done so, here's a link to the torrent I used

Edit: we don't allow torrent links here

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

Whoa man you should get rid of that link. No illegal stuff here.

 

[By-Tor]

Oh, sorry 'bout that.

 

[ShadowPhoenix951]

Slight problem with your first post. You claim that you could almost watch the entire series in the time it took them to beat Frieza in Dragon Ball Z. However, I'm pretty sure Frieza wasn't beaten until Episode 93, if memory serves. It may not be exactly 93, but it was in that general area.

 

[The Mano Games VII]

Slight problem with your first post. You claim that you could almost watch the entire series in the time it took them to beat Frieza in Dragon Ball Z. However, I'm pretty sure Frieza wasn't beaten until Episode 93, if memory serves. It may not be exactly 93, but it was in that general area.

Yes, but they didn't start really fighting Frieza until about Episode 50, so that's around 43 episodes just to beat Frieza.

Anyways, lets raise our hands up for some more Avatar: The Last Airbender!

Again, I'm pleasantly surprised by the intro, starting off with some more of that "7th Saga" music I always love. Of course, then it immediately gets interrupted by this wilder theme that only lasts for a few seconds anyways, followed by another song silly song as Aang shakes the water off of him. Just a difference in tastes I guess, but I think it would've been more effective had the composer just kept that same peaceful "7th Saga" music playing up until Saka and Katara see that ruined forest. I just think having a consistent mood going on, instead of it changing twice in 17 seconds would've sounded better. But, that's more of a personal taste issue, so, no biggy. I'm no music composer anyways. But seriously, what's the name of the song that plays in the beginning? I checked Youtube for it, but no dice.

Anyways, as his reaction to the forest shows, it's nice to see that Aang's actually taking this seriously for once. His revelation that he has no idea how to do his job, was, I thought, pretty touching to. I think it sheds a whole new light on his earlier irresponsibilities. It makes me think that all that shirking of his duties in the earlier episodes was just him being frightened to go forward and embrace his destiny. I think I'd be pretty scared to if I was his age, although, I think I would've handled it a bit better (although I also would've acted a lot more depressed).

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for one "Great Hero of the Fire Nation", who was particularly exasperating in this episode. You know how in Episode 1, I painted Zuko's impatience as a negative, and thought it revealed an ugly side to him? Well, it still kind of did, but suddenly it's making a lot more sense considering what Zuko has to put up with.

Zuko: Uncle! It's time to leave! Where are you?! Uncle Iroh!
Iroh: Over here!
Zuko: Uncle? We need to move on! We're closing in on the Avatar's trail, and I don't want to lose him!
Iroh: You look tired Prince Zuko. Why don't you join me in these hot springs and soak away your troubles?
Zuko: My troubles cannot be soaked away. It's time to go!
Iroh: You should take your teachers advice and relax a little. The temperatures just right. I heated it myself...

I'm sure the brave men and women who fought in Vietnam would've loved to hear Iroh's story. However, I say almost, because in Vietnam, we were getting nowhere fast for years and years, so with Iroh, maybe he just knew when to quit? Or, maybe he's giving false reasons so that the warriors will underestimate him?

Ironically enough, it's this scene in which we finally get a glimpse of Iroh's true cleverness, in which he leaves behind a sandle for ZUko to follow.

I'm not sure what the Earthbenders are trying to do by the way. They're bringing Iroh to "face justice", which probably means they're going to kill him, but then, why go to all the trouble of transporting him to their village? Why not just kill him right then and there? Of course, maybe that's NOT what they're doing considering that they were nice enough to tighten the shackles on Iroh when he requested it. Maybe you guys can add a little to this discussion? What do you think?

It is here that Aang's side of the story goes out of the picture for most of the rest of this post, as most of the rest of his story in this episode is flying around with a Dragon who does weird stuff to his mind, so, I'll just say that it is here that Zuko makes the final leap, from villain to anti-hero, by choosing to continue trying to rescue Iroh instead of following Aang when he is given the option. It's great stuff, as Zuko doesn't actually seem that bad of a guy anymore, but at the same time, it leaves sort of a seething exasperation when you realize that now, we're stuck with Zhao as the villain, a villain who is, for all intents and purposes, all bark and no bite. Wonderful...

Zuko rescues Iroh from dealing with the consequences for running away. I'm not completely sure what Iroh accomplished by trying to run away and failing (he smiled like he accomplished something after failing), as in my eyes, all it did was put him at unnecessary risk, but whatever. Fight sequence!

And...ok, ok, Zuko does do pretty good, I guess, but remember, he had Iroh with him. Just look at how he almost got his head smashed by a boulder to the back of the head! Of course...he was completely surrounded, and if there's one thing I learned in Martial Arts training, it's that trying to keep an eye on everyone when they've got you surrounded is almost impossible, so, I guess I can't really fault Zuko for it. Actually, had he done this all by himself, I would've officially had to take back everything I said about his weak sauce fighting. But, he didn't, so I'm not inclined to yet. But, he was smart at least. The moment he had an opportunity, he got out of the circle and got all his opponents in front of him, which is ALWAYS the first thing you should try to do in that situation.

By the way, is it me, or is that little break dancing fire kick of his kind of a signature move for him? He first used it to own the three Kyoshi Warriors that attacked him in Episode 4, if you need visual aide.

So anyways, after that, Aang calms down Heibai, and it's here that I take back what I said about Heibai earlier. He WAS an animal, so maybe he didn't have a clear motive. Just raging. But, he seemed oddly specific in his actions for that to happen so, again, I'd like your opinions.

Also, why's Sokka getting flak for asking for supplies and money? Isn't that something they really need? I mean really Katara, if you're going to complain about him bringing nothing but nuts for dinner, you need to understand that it takes money to get much better. Seriously.

So, to wrap up this blog, Aang's next objective is to finally talk to Avatar Roku by going to some sort of shrine in the Fire Nation...yeah.

Whatever happens, I'm going to be so upset if Aang goes to all that trouble to get there, only for their talk to amount to this...

Roku: You must master the elements Aang.
Aang: I should.

or...

Roku: You should use water against the Fire Nation
Aang: I should. Thanks Dragon!
Roku: No problem!

To wrap it up, I would say it's another typical, good episode, but, it's a two parter, so I'm not going to give it a rating just yet. See ya next time!

 

[Selodin]

i actually enjoy reading this simply for the sake of having episode summaries to reflect back on the series

 

[The Mano Games VII]

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the Aang and Zuko.
"Forward, through the blockade!
"Charge for the Avatar!" Zuko said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the hunter and hunted.

"Forward, through the blockade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the prince knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do or die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the hunter and hunted.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the hunter and hunted.

Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Engaging the ballistacians there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Zuko and Aang
Reel'd from the catapult blast
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Rode the hunter and hunted

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While Momo and Sokka fell,
They that had done so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell.
Rode the hunter and hunted

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor Aang and Zuko,
Noble hero and anti-hero on....

Avatar: The Last Airbender!​

So yeah, as what I have posted above suggests, I was expecting this to be an extremely action packed episode, and I'm still undecided on whether or not it was. And, having considered it, I guess it was, though I certainly wasn't expecting the large break in the action in the middle of the episode.

Which, leads me into my opinion on the episode. Normally, I save this for the end, but, I feel compelled to talk about it now. It's actually a rather strange one for me, as there are things about it that bother me, but, what caused me to complain is almost all stuff that was subtle, easily missable, and aside from one, don't matter much at all. Then, I rewatched the episode, and found out that by paying very close attention, that one of the things I complained about was in fact justified. It was also an exciting episode with some

First of all, I actually liked the fact that Aang tried to go off without his friends, both because it shows him developing further into a responsible hero, and because quite frankly, whenever his friends are involved in his fights, they slow him down MUCH more frequently than they ever help him out. Heck, basically the whole plot of Episode 7 was Aang trying desperately to rescue Sokka after Sokka royally screwed up by trying to help him with Heibai. I guess I was also kind of hoping that this would be a really gripping episode, in which we got to see how Aang acted when he was alone, inside the very Nation that wants his head on a pike.

But, nope. Katara and Sokka both convince Aang to take them along with him, much to my chagrin. I mean, I'd have been fine if it had been just Sokka (heck, this episode would've been a great opportunity for him to show off his brand, spankin' Kyoshi Warrior stuff!), but, why Katara?! If they get into a fight, she's just going to be a distraction to both our heroes! Actually, now that I think of it, what exactly has she done to help out the gang anyways? The only thing I can think of is calming down Aang in Episode 3, and defeating some inept grunts in Episode 2. Other than that, the only thing she seems to provide is friendship.

That would be fine, in other circumstances, but not when Aang is headed off to the battlefield!

Anyways, the trio rides off into the sunset (without any extra supplies, so I guess Katara won that debate), when suddenly, after what's presumably a few more hours, Zuko and Iroh show up to interrogate a random villager. Zuko is kind of taking up most of the camera, but if you look closely at the background, you see Iroh on a Rhino (and, hilariously enough, STILL without proper clothing).

Anyways, the way this interrogation carried out bothered me for some weird reason. It's just, the way Zuko went about it seems radically different from the way he did it twice before. Both times before was basically a shock and awe scare tactic, with his entire crew showing up to intimidate the villagers. This time though, he's...almost entirely alone. Where'd his escorts go? Just to add on to that, it almost looks like Zuko's plan just relied on some random guy just happening to have insomnia and just standing there for him to walk out. It also seemed strange that he knocked the guy to the ground before asking him where the Avatar was. Actually, it was kind of funny.

But whatever. Just funny little things that I notice for whatever reason. I'm weird like that.
I like the music that starts off at the beginning of that "Light Brigade" scene I put at the top
of this post. It sounds kind of like a much slower version of this song from Mega Man Legends...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aiqok0-cVWs

I thought it did anyways. It sounded cool either way. Anyways, after a pep conversation between Aang and Co., we see Zuko and Iroh, and I'm glad that Iroh actually seems worried and serious for once. He's actually acting like a soldier and guardian! Yeah, sure, he joked about how much Zuko's boulder stank, but that was just clever wit, from what I can tell.

Speaking of boulders, what were with those weird faces Aang was making right before he spotted the blockade? He looks like a fly flew up his nose, and he's trying not to sneeze.

Again, Iroh tries to talk Zuko out of this, saying that there's nothing he can do if Zuko is
captured by the Fire Nation, which leaves me wondering why he didn't feel this way every time Zuko got curbstomped by Aang. Actually, that brings up an interesting question. How do people just seem to know that the Avatar is going to be a good guy? Is there just some clause in play that the Avatar cannot be evil? Because it seems weird that Iroh was so unconcerned about Zuko getting hurt or something.

I do like Zuko's reaction to this. He just bull charges in, but the way he closes his eyes and
apologizes right before that was pretty sweet I think. It showed that despite his insistence
that his father will understand, he's nowhere near as he's making out to be, and is also
developing a deeper bond with his Uncle, since he's apologizing and all.

After that, we switch to Zhao, and even though I give him a lot of flak for sucking more than a liposuction pump, he really does have a great voice actor. What's also great, is pretty much the whole next minute and a half, which also has the great fortune of being accompanied by a very exciting and adrenaline packed song. I like how it fits in with everything going on without ever needing to drastically change tempo or feel.

I love Bruce Faulconer's soundtrack for DBZ probably a lot more than almost any other Anime soundtrack, but it did sometimes suffer a bit from trying to adapt to every little thing onscreen, and abrubtly changing in tempo and sound in order to do that (for those who get turned off from his music by watching it on Youtube, listen to it by watching the actual English dub instead. Some of his music makes A LOT more sense when you see the scenes they were supposed to accompany).

Still, I do wonder why Zhao is now suddenly referring to Zuko as a traitor. I mean, yeah, Zuko tried to hide the Avatar from the Fire Nation, but even after that, Zhao never made any effort to treat Zuko like it, even after he found out about it, and even after Zuko proceeded to humiliate him in combat so...hmmm. I guess Zuko must've done something profoundly effed up after Episode 3 that we never saw (well, besides how he almost leveled the Kyoshi homeland, but hey, THEY attacked HIS troop!)

Anyways, after Aang gets by, and after Zhao lets Zuko pass so he can follow him, even though he just saw the direction that Aang flew off in, and as far as he knows, Zuko shouldn't have any better idea about where Aang is going. So, that's twice now that Zhao's somehow come to conclusions that he shouldn't have been able to come to. What do you guys think, is Zhao just a stark, raving idiot, or are there some psychic powers that we don't know about?

So, after Aang and Co. enter the temple, and encounter some Fire Nation, it's here that for the very first time in the episode, I just had to roll my eyes. Ok, so, consider all that talk from Katara and Sokka on all about how they're gonna kick Fire Nation butt, and how they're not going to let Aang do something so dangerous all by himself. All that, and what's the very first thing Katara and Sokka do when encountered with opposition?

They run. Yep, no fight, no resistance, no nothing, they just run, and let Aang hold them off. I know that Katara and Sokka are kind of out of their league against the firebenders, but, is it really too much to ask that they at least have some kind of game plan for stuff like this?!

Even Katara's excuse is getting weaker and weaker by the day. I mean, I know she doesn't know any offensive water bending, but at the very least she could've gotten some kind of spear, or sling, or club, or even an axe, something that didn't require lightning fast reflexes or incredible skill and finesse to use. I mean, I know that the show producers have a kid friendly rating to keep up, so, Sokka or Katara K.O.ing any Firebenders with weapons designed to kill probably wouldn't go over too well, but still, it's not like it has to actually work or be shown onscreen.

Apparently, Avatar is allowed to show corpses to 6-11 year olds, and just look at what
the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon got away with, or, the Venture Brothers. TMNT
actually showed decapacitations, and the Venture Brothers had onscreen deaths!

Anyways, Avatar gives the group the proper 1-3 second curbstomping they needed, as usual, before running off to his friends, and running into a dead end as they meet a friendly fire sage, who gives us some character development. It seems that the Fire Sages were loyal only to the Avatar, but Roku died, and they eagerly awaited the return of the next Avatar. But, he didn't, and he and the Fire Sages were forced to follow Ozai, presumably because he threatened their families or something.

I found the plan for getting the door open to be very clever actually. Even when Plan A didn't look, it looked like it worked, and that was the whole trick right there! So, when they hid, the Fire Benders would assume they were inside and open it! I definetly wouldn't have thought of that!

But, it ultimately fails, as Zuko has sneaked up on Aang, getting both of his hands bound behind his back, and the Fire Nation sages manuever their way out of the locks that the gang trapped them in (see, to counter YuuYanx on one of his earlier arguments, Katara and Sokka at least know enough martial arts to do that, so, I think it's safe to say that their father did at least teach them the basics of martial arts)!

It doesn't last long though, as Aang hops, and he flops, and he not only gets out of Zuko's
armlock, but he actually throws him into the air despite his inferior position...sigh...Basically what this show is telling me is that even when Zuko catches Aang by surprise, even when he literally starts the fight by trapping both of Aang's arm, their fight will still end up becoming a curbstomp battle with Zuko getting thrown through the air
literally 10 seconds into the fight.

Just when I thought Zuko just might be becoming a competent villain for Aang...ok Zuko. I don't know what you've been trying to do for these past few battles, but it's not working. You need to stop, take your Uncle, and go off on an island somewhere. You need to go there, for about 6 months, spend about 10 hours a day doing nothing but firebending and martial arts with Iroh, every day of the week (well, maybe not every day), do about 100 pushups and situps a day, and drink plenty of juice. I don't care if you've already spent your whole life preparing for this day, whatever you've been learning, it's either B.S., or you're doing it wrong!!

By the way, two of the things I was going to complain about was how Zuko was all by himself, and how he managed to find the hidden door, but then I found an answer to both things. First of all, the Fire Sages were in a rush, so they probably didn't close the door behind them. Secondly, Zuko told Iroh to continue driving the ship to continue trapping Zhao in a wall of smoke, which was something I missed before. I assumed that they did that until they got on the island, but, this way makes more sense.

Actually, now that I think of it, just about every firebender has kind of sucked so far. Granted, besides Zuko and Zhao, we've just had a group of old men, and that egotistical Prison Warden, so, I guess I shouldn't be surprised but...still. It's odd.

Not too much to comment on from there, except, man does Zhao have a mean streak when he's frustrated. But, that's what the Fire Sages get when they betray the Avatar in favor of mortal men, especially guys like Ozai. And nice Firebending on behalf of Roku! He managed to actually melt off Sokka and Katara's chains without burning them in the slightest!

Although, I do have to question the wisdom of how early they revealed Sozah's comet and all that. Basically, the writers have now confined themselves to absolutely having to finish this story in only a years time, at most. And this is really early in the story to, so unless the writers have planned this whole thing out from beginning to end, they've left themselves having a much harder time of working in any cool or new ideas they have without having to rush things to fit under the time limitation they've given themselves.

I guess it gives the story a new sense of urgency (which was kind of needed when you realized how easily Aang has been able to evade his captors so far), but, it still doesn't seem wise to do that.

It almost seems like the writer had this and the discovery of the genocide of the Air Temple so early because they wanted a bunch of exciting stuff to happen to get viewers hooked, so that they'd have a better chance of getting more Seasons to finish their story with. Back in the old days, Ocean edited Dragon Ball Z to get to the exciting stuff right away, so, I started thinking of that when reflecting on this.

I don't know though. I guess more than all of that, I just love the charm of a nice long cartoon like Samurai Jack, or Dragon Ball Z, in which it's an epic journey where many years pass. It seems odd that everything happens so quickly here and...

Ah, who am I kidding? I'm just upset because I know that this show is going to be short and sweet. Still though, that would've been cool to have Aang end up like, 2-3 years older at the end than at the beginning, instead of him just constantly being the same age though. But, you can't have everything your way I guess. What do you guys think?

 

[The Mano Games VII]

Ahoy mateys, all hands on the poop deck for some more...Avatar: The Last Airbender!

And...I have to say, I'm really surprised by how harshly this Episode was slammed on the review page. I'm reading all this about the fight choreography not being very good, the pacing being off, the pirates not being especially interesting, the events in it being almost entirely irrelevant...

So, I'm looking at all that, and I'm like "Really? I thought it was pretty good!". As a matter of fact, I'd go as far as to say that this Episode was one of my favorites! Now, if you're gonna just look at it in terms of plot development, of course nothing much happened, but is that really such a big deal to begin with? Does every episode absolutely need to move the story along? I don't think so, and besides that, what it lacked in plot development, I thought it more than made up for with character development, especially with Katara. Because, I think if we're entirely honest, she was getting a little dangerously close to being a Mary Sue (basically a character without any real flaws). She wasn't quite there, but, she was walking the plank if you ask me. So, seeing a bit of what the lassie's like when she's not so shipshape was really refreshing to me.

Another thing I'd like to note is that besides the 5 minutes or so, there really wasn't anything to nitpick at all, and that, Sokka seems to have his Sarcastic meter turned up to 11 just for this Episode. Anyways....

Aang is looking like he's having a panic attack as he interacts with Sokka. But it's ok, because Katara's going to try to teach Aang some of the stuff that she knows! One wonders why they didn't do this earlier, like, say, Episode 4, but, that's cool. Sokka isn't so down with this though...

"Sokka: Great. What am I supposed to do?"

Well, you could train, do some pushups and situps, catch up on some of your Kyoshi Warrior techniques, practice some of your strikes, run around to build endurance, gather some more food for...

Aang: You could...clean the gunk out of Appa's toes.

...Ok, that works to. Why Appa can't use the water to get his own gunk, I don't know (he seems domesticated enough), but hey, if Sokka says he's willing...

Speaking of being willing, Zuko is again showing us how awesome he can be when he displays what has to be THE most impressive display of patience yet. Apparently, not only does Iroh not have much interest in capturing Aang, but the scurvy dog is literally willing to completely change course, for no other reason than...well, just listen...

Iroh: Even more urgent. It seems that I've, ugh...I've lost my lotus tile
Zuko: Lotus tile?
Iroh: For my Pai Cho game. Most people think the lotus tile insignificant. But, it is essential for the unusual strategy that I am employing
Zuko: You've changed our course for a stupid lotus tile?!
Iroh: See, you like most people underestimate it's value. Just give me 10 minutes to check the merchants at the (name I can't understand). Hopefully, they'll have the lotus tile in stock, and I can get on with my life.
Zuko: (Scream of frustration)
Iroh: I'm glad to have such an understanding nephew!

Iroh, that's putting it lightly. Trust me, I'm a powergamer, and I know what it's like to say, play Diablo II, and lose that really awesome Sigon's Set in Hardcore mode, but here's an idea, USE A DIFFERENT STRATEGY!! I'll admit that this conversation actually was pretty funny (if only because of the "get on with my life" line), but it's still...it's still...

Nope, I'm not even going to comment this time. Hmph, I'm glad this guy wasn't born in our time period. Reminds me of those parents that get hooked on World of Warcraft, he does...nyyeeehh!

Still, Iroh must be doing something right if Zuko's willing to put up with this at all. I can't imagine Zuko ever being this tolerant in say, Episode 1 or 2. Iroh is clearly having a positive impact on him, but, why is it that the show never seems to want to show Iroh at anything but his most abominably biscuit eating moments?

But whatever, back to Aang and Katara. Or rather, Aang making Katara look totally worthless as Katara shows us for the very first time, that there is an unhealthy competitive side to her personality. I have mixed feelings about that. On one hand, people like that always irritate me and cause stress to others, but, on the other hand, she was getting to be a little too much like a Mary Sue anyways. What do ye buckos think? Savvy?

I'll tell you what Sokka's thinking. Total exasperation as all their supplies get washed away, and maybe even a bit of frustration at the fact that, rather than Aang using that Air Orb of his, and actually retrieving the supplies with his newfound water bending abilities, he lets them wash away for some reason. I would think so, I'd be pretty irritated to.

I must say, I rather enjoyed the next 6 minutes of this. People say that the Pirates were really boring and not much more than archtypes, but, just what do you guys expect? Does every villain really have to be a bourgeoise rat, and unique? I don't think Zhao is particularly interesting or unique, but I'm not complaining about his personality (no, it's his inneffectuality that irritates me).

Besides, I thought the Buccaneer Captain had a certain...charisma about him. I guess it might just be his voice actor, who I could've sworn was the guy who voiced Captain Ginyu from Dragon Ball Z (but nope, he isn't).

I think I also kind of like the soundtrack that plays for the pirates, as it actually has human voices in them, which I thought made the Corsairs seem a little more intimidating and unique.

To top off those minutes, I like how the show doesn't sugar coat the fact that Katara put all them at risk of feeding the fish, that pillaging someones booty was wrong, and that Katara did royally screw up here. It's not like EPISODE FOUR, in which Aang apparently felt no obligation to defend the Kyoshi Village and give Zuko the ol' heave ho, and never seems to acknowledge that onscreen (although offscreen, I get the feeling that he did).

Ye know what the worst part is? As bad as Episode 4 was about that, about almost everyone being irresponsible and not getting their just deserts, that's nothing but a WARM UP, compared to one of those...other episodes...that I saw before starting this thing...in which almost every takes a sudden...I'd rather see Aang's Episode 4 showboating a million times over rather than...

Nah, happy thoughts! Yo ho ho ho! Yar watching an episode that's not that episode, happy thoughts! Let's think of something funny, like...

How hilarious Iroh was in these scenes, the way he acts like a lassie having her first shopping trip, and even imitating a monkey statue as the scene finishes (if you look closely in the background when Zuko asks about Aang's location, you'll see him). Or, Zuko, after he captures Katara. Does anyone else find him strangely funny after he captures Katara, starting from the way he's all...

Zuko: I'll save you from the pirates

...all the way to the end of the conversation, when he's trying to barter Katara's necklace for Aang's freedom. I don't know why, maybe it's just his voice acting, or the way he's talking into Katara's ear as he's listing his demands, or that smile he gets on his face after Katara rebuffs him for the first time, but, it almost looks to me like he's trying to get his mojo working, like he's trying to woo Katara. Like, he's trying to use his princely charms and wits to hornswaggle the information out of her.

Cor Blimey, he HAS gotten more patient, hasn't he? I was really shivering me timbers by how he didn't immediately get mad, or frustrated in the least. As a matter of fact, it seems like he's relying more on wit, and less on brute force as the show goes on, and I found that really interesting to watch. He's developing as a character quite nicely.

So, Aang gets captured, and the critics are right in that he does get captured a little too easily, but you know what? At least he actually did something this time, UNLIKE EPISODE FOUR, in which he stood around like a lamb as he let himself get captured. Plus, he had a good reason for not succeeding this time. If I had broken that net that that corsair had captured me with, I think I would've succumbed to it just as easily as Aang did. I seriously was not expecting even those shards of rope to be so fast even after losing so much momentum. Basically, Aang just happened to go up against weaponry he had no familiarity with, was specifically designed to counter his airbending abilities, and suffered for it.

I do dislike Sokka's biscuit eating after Aang got captured though.

Starting up after this was probably my favorite part of the Episode, and what I thought was the very best fight scene in the show, for a lot of reasons. Firstly, Aang doesn't immediately curbstomp his opponents, which is always nice. Secondly, for what I think is the very first time in the show, Katara and Sokka were actually vital to winning the fight and escaping from Davy Jones's Locker, from the way Sokka turned the pirates and Zuko against each other, to the way Katara and Aang had to work together to escape, to the way their constantly saving each others lives, it was all really cool to see. Besides though, these scallywags just kick a lot of butt, and I could actually buy them being a match for Zuko and his gang.

Zuko and the Pirate Corsair for example. If you look closely, you can actually see the Captain employing a very cunning strategy. Basically, he's rushing in and giving Zuko as little breathing room as he possibly can, so that Zuko's unable to use his firebending powers to their full extent. The smoke bombs were really clever as well.

Then, just to finish off a great Episode, Iroh again gets the comeuppance he deserves for causing Zuko so much trouble...or maybe not...I really do wish they'd show Iroh helping Zuko work out his problems onscreen.

I don't care what anyone says, this Episode was great! It provided some much needed character development to Katara, some subtle character development for Zuko, some of what I thought was the best action in this cartoon, very little to nitpick, and just had some all around great action!

This episode is definetly A- material if you ask me.

 

[Selodin]

That's it, after reading some of these i've decided to watch the whole series again.

But on the topic of Aang just "curbstomping" people he fights, while maybe slightly unrealistic It's not that surprising if you think about it. An airbender hasn't been seen for what, 100 years? The style probably hasn't been studied except by maybe exceptional benders.