Avatar 2x15: Tales of Ba Sing Se

[timepiececlock]

Since the episode is divided into miniature tales, it seems fitting to break up the reviews by the given titles.

The Tale of Toph & Katara

Predictable, but cute. We haven't seen much friendship between these two, and it was nice to see them bonding. I'm also amused that Toph's hair is even worse than mine in the morning-- she looked like a feral child. The spa maid's attempts to scrape her foot callouses were great. And the best thing about this skit is that I'm pretty sure Toph is going to go back to her normal attitudes the next day anyway.


The Tale of Iroh

Oh, this is splendid. I figured right away that Iroh's was going to have less of a 'plot' than Toph and Katara's tale, and would be more of a 'one day in the life of' thing. And what a day he had! He cheers up babies, talks criminals into living a better life, passes sage advice to neighborhood children, takes picnics, and helps the flowers grow. As if we needed more reasons to love his character. I liked that they tied the anniversary of Iroh's late son with a tribute to Mako, Iroh's recently past Oscar-winning voice actor. Unfortunately, because of the audio on the comp I'm at right now, I couldn't tell if they'd switched voice actors on us yet. It didn't sound like it, but who knows when these were recorded. Mako could have already finished through the season before he passed.


The Tale of Aang

Poor Aang. Poor absent appa. Poor armadillo tiger. (ARMADILLO TIGER! HA!)

Aang let all the animals loose! Foolish but good-hearted. Just like a boy his age.

Heh. The shot of Aang in front of the animal mob looked like it was plucked right out of Ranma 1/2.


The Tale of Sokka

Haha. AHHAHAHAHA.


The Tale of Zuko

She has a crush and he thinks it's about them being itty bitty international fugitives. >D

Oh god! The hair! My eyes! They doth burn in agony! Not the part, never the part!
...and Iroh did it. Of course he did.

"How do you like the city so far?"
"It's okay."
"What do you do for fun?"
"Nothing."
::Rashaka dies:: He is like, the worst date ever. This is probably why I've never really written "first date" fics for Zuko & Katara.

But he's trying. Once he realizes that he's being an ass. The fact that he realized it on his own is a step up for him.

"Close your eyes, and don't peek." Oh Zuko. I'm proud that you're showing iniative, but I'm sad that you're being so stupid. You could just do something smaller, maybe, to impress her?

Aah, the hair swish of bravery. I know it well.

Poor kid. I guess the hypothetical bet about him being a virgin while living as royalty is settled for good now-- that was probably his first kiss. And he can't even enjoy that because of his own angst. Boy needs to lighten up. Hm...Iroh called him Prince Zuko again; how long has it been since he's done that?

The Tale of Momo

Momo gets his own tale! ...He's dreaming of Appa, how sweet.

Yes Momo! Go Momo! Go search hi and lo for your true love!

I actually feel kinda sad for the little guy.

No! Nobody captures Momo!

....Ahhh, and here we have a very strange mirror of episode 1x13. So... the lemur is Aang and the threat alley panthers are Zuko? Odd, but it works.

Sad ending. Good thing to end the episode on, though.



I like that while this episode was mostly cheerful filler, it did let some of the more solemn undercurrents shine through.:

-Toph is not always as confident as she appears.
-Sokka's troubles really *are* mostly self-inflicted.
-Iroh may appear happy, but a part of him is heartbroken still, even after 7-8 years. Which, in the span of one's life, isn't that much time at all.
-Aang is foolish, but he makes up for it by being resourceful. He misses Appa dearly.
-Zuko is not a total hermit, but basic youth activities like dating and puppy love are as alien and difficult for him as channeling lightning. Even if he looks content, inside he's still a fucking mess.
-Appa is gone, and Momo misses him. Momo also has Aang-like powers of friend-making.


I'm a little disappointed we didn't see Jet, though. He neither had a tale, nor did any of the characters meet him. I'm dying of curiosity to see what he's like after the brainwashing.

All in all, a good episode. Filler, but decent quality filler. We didn't really learn anything new (which is what separates shows like FMA from shows like Avatar... in FMA even the filler has a plot purpose somehow, though you might not see it for a long time), but it was still nice to have more personal looks at each character. I liked the structural style of the episode as well.

Now I'm off to go look at the after-effects, see if katara_zuko exploded. (EDIT: It didn't.) And then I have to finally, maybe, write some more for Our Cartography.

Comments

[fani.livejournal.com]

I find it hilarious that they really did a Moppa episode. Does this mean Zutara is canon now? LOL. The Toph/Katara plot reminded me of Azumanga Daioh, pointless but cute.:)

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Zutara is not canon, nope. He went on a date with an earth kingdom girlnamed Jin.

so not even semi or remotely canon. yet.

[chantalthespy.livejournal.com]

I think it's weird over at katara_zuko, they're saying zutara is kinda canon cause of a game. Giant question mark and lack of a lot evidence I say. (at least for now ...)

Re: so not even semi or remotely canon. yet.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

They don't seriously mean it as canon, they're just making jokes about their wishful thinking, because there was a thing in the avatar magazine that teased at the idea (which also doesn't count as evidence) and because in the game Zuko kidnaps Katara. Which is more like saying that the plot premise of fanfic is now canon, not actual Zutara being canon.

Sometimes a few members might have thought that there was canon, if they misread people's reactions and jumped to conclusions.

Re: so not even semi or remotely canon. yet.

[chantalthespy.livejournal.com]

Aaaah ok! Thanks for clearing it up!

[crzysheelf.livejournal.com]

YES!!! The return of OUR CARTOGRAPHY!!!! Yeah... I didn't see it, I was babysitting and it pretty uch sucks!

[clodia-risa.livejournal.com]

I thik that after the pain of the last episode, it was very well timed to do this episode. Let the kiddie heads time to heal, and then show the brain-breakage of trying to find Appa/seeing Jet again next week. I think that if they had gone for another plot episode it would have been very dark, which is fine, depending on your audience, but they made the right choice for theirs.

Such a good episode.

[jakia.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the new conspiracy theory posted on Avatar_fans that Jin is actually a Dai Li spy sent due to Jet to find out if Zuko is really a firebender or not? As far-fetched as it sounds, it's actually sorta plausable, and the person makes a lot of good points on why she is, including the fact that the whole fountain-at-night-with-no-fire being a complete setup.

I myself am torn on the theory. On one hand, it's brillant and would mean the episode wasn't just a filler and would be one of those awesome cool things we overlooked. On the other...Zuko already has enough angst, he doesn't need anymore added on because his first kiss was just trying to use him. Kinda hits below the belt, you know?

Just figured I'd point you in that direction.

(I thought the whole date was brillant, myself. We have Zuko spot-on characterization wise in fanfics! Dreamroyale is a seer!)

(Also, Rebirth. Next section almost finished. And it's a doozy.)

jak

*lurk lurk*

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

Filler, indeed. It wasn't bad (not close to it), but I didn't have the heart to actually journal about it. It might've caught me in the wrong mood; the transition from episode 2x14 to this one was something I found irritating. They didn't even include Jet this time. :(

But this isn't a universal complaint. *shrugs* AtLA's plot had *really* pulled me in this time, and I suppose I'm just incredibly impatient. A filler episode makes for good balance, though.

I truly enjoyed the Tale of Iroh, though, and seeing this side of Iroh was refreshing. Someone has to mourn, and this time it isn't Zuko.

Odd that you would bring up Full Metal Alchemist, for I have just completed the series TODAY and... *explodes* GOODNESS, I did NOT journal about that one either but for entirely different reasons; its undiluted brilliance hasn't quite sunken in yet. ((But for now... THERE IS A MOVIE))

And YES, it has meaningful filler. I love it so. The problem that I saw with Escaflowne was its lack of filler, and I did love the characters but not as much as I would've if I could've seen more of their mannerisms. But FMA... oh, FMA. OH, FMA. *weeps quietly*

Re: *lurk lurk*

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Go to my LJ memories under "anime reviews" and you can see all my episode reactions to FMA. OH, FMA. OUI.


Escaflowne is right below FMA as quality anime, though of course its animation isn't quite as 2004 glistening. I loved it so very dearly. But not as much as I love FMA. It's entirely possible I will never love an anime as much as I love FMA.

Actually, the movie is supposed to air dubbed pretty soon on CN, I believe. I think it was recently released on DVD.

But oh my GOD, the finale of FMA. I've watched it so many times. I just about had a heart attack at the 9 minute mark when the Chopin piece kicks and Hawkeye is screaming... okay she didn't scream in the dub, but if you watched the sub she lets out this SOUL-CUTTING SCREAM OF AGONY and then there is the CUT-AWAY OF DOOM and then there is EDWARD AND AL OH MY BOYS MY BOYS MY BOYS


...yeah, still madly in love with that show. Even though I've seen every bit of animation there is to see for it.

Re: *lurk lurk*

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

YES, EPISODE REACTIONS. I need to squee with someone *has just rewatched the last few episodes, evidently, to prepare for Anime Movie Night with friends - in other words, 'the FMA movie'*

Escaflowne is my second favorite; it was just incredibly, incredibly done. I was worried throughout the beginning and the middle, though, that I wouldn't come to love the characters enough to appreciate any sort of emotional climax, but I didn't have to be. ^_^ The VanxHitomi ending earned multiple viewings.

I don't think I'll find anything as amazing as FMA either. Just... GAH! It had me grabbing my monitor and on the edge of hyperventilation; maybe it's a bit unlucky that I'm finding an anime like this so early in my otaku phase. It'll set *standards.*

After considerable persuasion *cackles*, I found out my friend has the movie on DVD and she's bringing it over tonight! YES! She told me it actually continues where the series leaves off, and I can't tell you how relieved I was when she told me this; the Escaflowne movie is actually almost completely unrelated to the series. T_T

ITS FINALE... KDJFLKDSJFSLDf. It screams for a sequel. It just chucked ALL of my theories/expectations/predictions right out the window, and I crossed my fingers and told myself that It's Ed, Ed never dies, HE WON'T DIE.

And then Mustang "died", and I lost it. Because this guy wasn't Ed and thus the show would have zero qualms killing him off and it was Hughes all over again and I loved Mustang; who doesn't?

The guy just wanted redemption, dammit.

I remember Hawkeye screaming, but I also remember my cousins storming in with a paper machete donkey. Needless to say, it killed the moment. And it killed them too.

ED AND AL ED AND AL

They ended up with less than they had at the beginning, but then again, not really. Ed, at least, has retained the wisdom of years. THEY'LL BE TOGETHER AGAIN, I KNOW THEY WILL. THERE'S NO WAY THEY WON'T. THE MOVIE WILL NOT FAIL ME.

And the ending in general. I. LOVED. THE. ENDING. It just exceeded EVERY STANDARD it set for itself, which is saying something.

BUT THEY LIVED. OH MY GOD.

I thought they'd ALL die. Like in Hamlet.

But they didn't!

OH, FMA.

[misora.livejournal.com]

I loved this episode. Love, love, loved. It made me cry, though---at least, Iroh's and Momo's segments did. ;___; But laughing at Aang and Sokka more than made up for it, and Toph/Katara's and Zuko's segments were sweet enough to make me smile. Did I say how much I freakin' love this show?!?

I too can't wait to see the brainwashed Jet---and maybe his interaction with Katara?