Avatar the Last Airbender, Spectacle, Emotional Catharsis, and... Tik...Tok?

So I finally finished (re)watching Avatar the Last Airbender with my sister last night. After the fact, I apparently ended up spending over two hours sending her 50+ AtLA related TikToks. Whoops. In my defense, I had already liked them all, and I was just going through my liked TikToks trying to find one particular one that talked about the AtLA comics that continue the Gaangs post-TV series shenanigans. ...Okay, so maybe not the best excuse, but I view TikTok as a terrifying wormhole which obliterates any sense of time with its brilliantly designed interface that combines the infinite scroll of social media and near-brevity of Vines (RIP), with continuously looped videos and an alarmingly accurate algorithm with its "for you" curated content. One of my former profs, a media theorist and English professor at Northwestern named James Hodge, would probably also mention the haptics or touch involved in the swiping of the screen as well. It is truly the (current) apotheosis of social media. Anyways, in rewatching these AtLA TikToks (which, again, I had already liked over the past month or so), I noted just how much attention was being paid to Zuko and Azula's final showdown. (Spoilers for the last few episodes to follow.) I've always considered their showdown, their Agni Kai, probably the most spectacular and rewarding fight in the series, beautifully choreographed and animated that it is. Indeed, it's easy to get lost in the billowing flames and melancholic music here. Even with my training as a martial artist (I'm a first dan in Kung Jung Mu Sul), in previous viewings I always focused on the awesome and truly sublime firebending powers Zuko and Azula demonstrate here, both drawing on Sozin's Comet and dueling without reserve. But on this watch-through, I was struck by just how excellent the choreography is across not only this fight, but all the fights in the series. Certainly, no, these are not always feats that an irl human could accomplish (I'm especially looking at you, Azula), but, elements aside, much of the time, they actually are.

(@defnotrob has multiple TikToks on this!)

As someone who generally watches anime, I've seen a lot of animated fights over the years. Something like 95% of them, if I'm being honest, aren't especially well choreographed, and rely heavily on spectacle to win their audience over. Some have excellent choreography, but are obviously outside the material bounds of human physicality—when this is the case, it's often reflected (or rendered) in the animation. Perhaps the example par excellence of this is the infamous Naruto vs. Pain fight in Naruto Shippuden, animated by the legendary Shingo Yamashita (who, incidentally, also animated my fav fight: Hiei vs. Bui in Yu Yu Hakusho). Here's a brief interview with him, including some scenes from the fight:

In the anime community, scenes that jump out in terms of their animation are called sakuga (作画). What is interesting to me is that, in the context of most serial anime shows, these scenes are few and far between. With AtLA, however, basically every fight scene is exquisitely animated.

Okay, yes, great. So it's a brilliant fight—one of many in the show—both in terms of choreography and animation. Great. So what?

Something I'm ashamed that I hadn't noticed before (and I might mention this is maybe my fourth or fifth time watching the series in full... though I watched most episodes two or three times this go around 😅) was Zuko's growth as a bender, and as a human as reflected in this fight. The human element is at least partially obvious: Zuko's finally calm demeanor is starkly contrasted against his sister's now-manic personality. But how his growth as a bender further informs this is highlighted by users @noblek2 and @djsdigital in their respective TikToks:

@noblek2 draws attention to Uncle Iroh's lesson to Zuko in Book 2 (incidentally, when Iroh first tells Zuko he needs to defeat his sister—truly amazing writing and foresight), reflecting the philosophies of the Order of the White Lotus, a borderless ideology rooted in oneness (bonus TikTok). @djsdigital, on the other hand, overtly explains which techniques Zuko has picked up from his comrades. These techniques are simulations of real world martial arts: waterbending is derived from tai chi chuan, earthbending from Hung Ga kung fu (Toph aside [bonus TikTok]), firebending from Northern Shaolin kung fu, and airbending from baguazhang:

Okay, great! So Zuko also "mastered all four elements." Pretty cool! Yes, certainly, but that's not the end of this reading. This fight is the final step in Zuko's redemption arc: an absolutely transformative 180 in terms of his ethos from the shamed and emotionally turbulent Zuko we first meet in Book 1, to the Zuko who draws on the teachings and techniques of not only "others," but more specifically of his beloved friends and family. This fight is the apotheosis, the zenith of this transformation, especially with the mutual trust he and Katara share, and his eventual self-sacrifice to save Katara from Azula's callous lightning. With this electric branding, Zuko and Aang are further connected in their spiritual brotherhood, both having fallen to Azula's lightning and being revived by Katara's grace, both having mastered the ethos and philosophies of the four elements, and both sharing Roku as an ancestor.

This leads me to my last point: I've always wondered why this fight effects me more than arguably the most important fight in the series: Aang vs. Ozai. That the two fights happen concurrently (if not simultaneously) is no coincidence, and further strengthens the two's fateful bond. This mostly has to do, I think, not only with the narrative closure of the show, but, more importantly, the personal and emotional stakes for each character within their respective fights. Aang's fight against Ozai is, ultimately, abstract: it is clearly the primordial mythic battle of good vs. evil. Yes, there's the added weight of Aang's personal beliefs complicating how he is to defeat Ozai without killing him (bonus TikTok), but he does not know Ozai personally. Ozai was always a shadow surrounded by flames, sleepless nights before the Day of Black Sun, or a spaghetti rendering or melon-headed prop. It was impersonal.

Zuko and Azula, on the other hand, have a long, complicated, and very personal history. This history fuels their fire. As anituber Gigguk notes in his video essay 5 BRILLIANT Fight Scenes in Anime: "Of course, good fights are great spectacles and all, but they can be so much more than that. 'Actions can speak louder than words' and a fight is no different. A lot of the time, the story behind the punches is more important than the punches themselves. And the fights that really stick with us are the ones where we are invested in the emotions and story of what's happening on-screen." I can't emphasize just how defining their Agni Kai is to Zuko's relationship with his sister: their warring claims to the throne, the catharsis in finally facing each other properly (they've fought numerous times across the series), the conflict each has with the opposite parent, Zuko and his repeated failures against Azula as prodigy... the list goes on and on. Pair this with Zuko's redemption arc, with his growth as a character, with his closure. It's perfect.

Zuko has always had to struggle to get by. Contrast this to Aang, who is, to put it colloquially, OP af. This is why Zuko and Azula's fight is so poignant and why Aang and Ozai's fight ultimately falls flat. Aang's energybending is nothing but mythic spectacle, a gifted deus ex machina by a primordial entity. There is a history in Zuko's fire, forged as it is in experience, in failure... in redemption.

I cried on this viewing of AtLA probably moreso than I have with any other media in the past. I am not generally a crier. Perhaps it's because I am more in touch with my feelings than I was as a child. Perhaps it's because I have felt much more in general in life than I had previously. Almost all of my tears were related to Zuko and his struggles, especially those directly connected to his uncle, who is truly the paragon of unconditional love and support. I'm not sure I'll have such a strong reaction the next time I watch the show. This has been a stressful time, to be sure, so perhaps that has also contributed to my tender emotions. Regardless, I am thankful that this show provided me with an emotional release, that it provided me with an emotional—and (dare I say?) even spiritual—catharsis.

Sept 19 2020 UPDATE: Added a TikTok about Toph's unique fighting style. Also, an interesting YouTube video was released about a month after I wrote this blurb, arguing for a lot of similar points. The writer, "Savage Books," comes up with the terms "story-driven fight scenes" vs. "character-driven fight scenes" to describe exactly the same relationship between Zuko v Azula and Aang v Ozai I identified. I think it's a really brilliant way of framing these types of conflicts, and should be considered by any storyteller! Check out the video here.