Azula & Unpopular Fandom Opinions

[redbrunja]

Okay, so I'm doing avatar_contest because I want to get back into the habit of writing for Avatar and honestly, I'm sorry I broke up with that show the way I did.

The last couple of prompts have both reminded me of Azula and you know, the more time goes by the more I realize I am really, really disappointed in how her arc turned out. Even thought I know that she was going crazy because of Mai and Ty Lee betraying her, it still read a lot like another women losing her sanity when when she got power.

I think that Zuko leaving Mai (what was presumably) a really thoughtful letter is a good way to break up with someone in general. Additionally, I think telling her face to face would have been dumb and given Azula a chance to stop him.

It is okay that Ozai was really a faceless villain. That was his role and we didn't need to know/care about his motivations the way we did Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee.

Also, you know Zuko's scar? That is not a symbol of Zuko and Katara's love and when Zuko looks at it he's not going to think about saving Katara; he's going to think about how two of the four members of his family have tried to kill him.

Comments

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yes, but Ozai's very clearly in control of himself; he was very effective in his madness while Azula is lounging around in her robe and not even been clear about who she's exiling.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The voice actress acted the hell out of crazy Azula (possibly one of the best voice performances in the show, IMO) but the differences in male/female insanity and handling of power are the one major strike against the show for me. (Even I admit that I'm somewhat petty when I comes to Jet. I just don't like him and find him a boring cliche.) Also, the Ba Sing Se convo you mentioned may have been in my post, not cofeeandink's.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

*nods*

Oh, yeah, the VA was amazing. But I really think Azula's breakdown would have played better if:

1.) it had been handled differently

2.) it had occurred at a different point in the series.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of ways it could have been handled better and, IMO, not many ways it could be handled worse.