After the episode wherein Katara and Zuko run off together to exact vengeance on her mother's murderer, I was plagued (blessed?) with the fantasy of Katara as a ninja pseudo-heroine with Zuko as her stoic, lieutenant-esque bodyguard. It was SO COOL.
Zuko as her servant/soldier/guard/minion/leuitenant/interrogate-people-for-her/ninja-buddy was practically my FAVORITE thing about that episode! =D I love how they work so seamlessly together, too. Such great partners. It was like seeing everything I'd postulated (from way back at the season 1 finale) that their relationship *could* be as two people who are very similar at their core, played out in front of me exactly how I imagined it, possibly better.
Would you say that Hawkeye kind of mirrors Katara as a female bodyguard to a man, Mustang? Of course, Katara was far more independent than Hawkeye and not motivated by romance at all until the very end, so "mirrors" isn't right.
I'm tempted to say no. I've only seen the first anime, so I don't know why Hawkeye joined the military or what exactly her relationship is with him in the manga; in the first anime it's pretty clear that she believes in him politically and that they're kind of absently in love, a la Donna to Josh in The West Wing. Very much like J/D, actually. I think the reason it doesn't translate to ATLA for me is that Roy/Riza and J/D exist as full-grown seasoned adults who work in a very structured environment with a clear definition of their work relationship. Aang will never be a king or a general, never be part of any structured environment like work, government, or military, so he and Katara will never relate to each other in that manner. They won't have those divisions. And, as you said, Katara is independent. Given that she stands to have high status as the only born Southern Waterbender and brother to the future chief (possibly the Chief herself if something were to happen to Sokka), there's little reason for her to choose a life with Zuko or Aang besides love. Unlike Hawkeye, whose career is in the military. Katara's profession normally would not involve her working for either Zuko or Aang. So it comes down to love or politics. From a political standpoint, she could better help her tribe economically by being with Zuko or another sovereign leader, because marrying the Avatar, while good for bragging, doesn't actually get your people anything tangible. If the airbenders were alive and if Aang was a centralized leader, maybe. But as it is, the only reason Katara would follow/serve/marry Aang would have to be love, because when with him it'd be harder for her to advance professionally or politically on her own merit.
what made this one unique was that the DUDE was the bodyguard and the woman, Chacha, was the pirate chief.
I guess the difference is that this woman Chacha was the militant leader? I've seen/read plenty of shows where the queen/princess/priestess falls in love with her male bodyguard. That's old hat to me. I've almost never seen stuff where the female is bodyguard to the male figure, and loves him. Or in the case of SM, is woman guarding woman.
(by the way, I am endlessly amused by your choice of icon. Kyon as Haruhi's romance-motivated bodyguard?? LOL, it's true, in its own way!)
LOL, I like to think of Kyon as the accidental high priest to a chaos demon.
Re: girls like explosions too
Zuko as her servant/soldier/guard/minion/leuitenant/interrogate-people-for-her/ninja-buddy was practically my FAVORITE thing about that episode! =D I love how they work so seamlessly together, too. Such great partners. It was like seeing everything I'd postulated (from way back at the season 1 finale) that their relationship *could* be as two people who are very similar at their core, played out in front of me exactly how I imagined it, possibly better.
Would you say that Hawkeye kind of mirrors Katara as a female bodyguard to a man, Mustang? Of course, Katara was far more independent than Hawkeye and not motivated by romance at all until the very end, so "mirrors" isn't right.
I'm tempted to say no. I've only seen the first anime, so I don't know why Hawkeye joined the military or what exactly her relationship is with him in the manga; in the first anime it's pretty clear that she believes in him politically and that they're kind of absently in love, a la Donna to Josh in The West Wing. Very much like J/D, actually. I think the reason it doesn't translate to ATLA for me is that Roy/Riza and J/D exist as full-grown seasoned adults who work in a very structured environment with a clear definition of their work relationship. Aang will never be a king or a general, never be part of any structured environment like work, government, or military, so he and Katara will never relate to each other in that manner. They won't have those divisions. And, as you said, Katara is independent. Given that she stands to have high status as the only born Southern Waterbender and brother to the future chief (possibly the Chief herself if something were to happen to Sokka), there's little reason for her to choose a life with Zuko or Aang besides love. Unlike Hawkeye, whose career is in the military. Katara's profession normally would not involve her working for either Zuko or Aang. So it comes down to love or politics. From a political standpoint, she could better help her tribe economically by being with Zuko or another sovereign leader, because marrying the Avatar, while good for bragging, doesn't actually get your people anything tangible. If the airbenders were alive and if Aang was a centralized leader, maybe. But as it is, the only reason Katara would follow/serve/marry Aang would have to be love, because when with him it'd be harder for her to advance professionally or politically on her own merit.
what made this one unique was that the DUDE was the bodyguard and the woman, Chacha, was the pirate chief.
I guess the difference is that this woman Chacha was the militant leader? I've seen/read plenty of shows where the queen/princess/priestess falls in love with her male bodyguard. That's old hat to me. I've almost never seen stuff where the female is bodyguard to the male figure, and loves him. Or in the case of SM, is woman guarding woman.
(by the way, I am endlessly amused by your choice of icon. Kyon as Haruhi's romance-motivated bodyguard?? LOL, it's true, in its own way!)
LOL, I like to think of Kyon as the accidental high priest to a chaos demon.