i have a lot of posters and art that’s what happens when i go to conventions
“I wanted to do it. I wanted to take out all my anger at him but I couldn’t. I don’t know if It’s because I’m too weak to do it, or if it’s because I’m strong enough not to.”
oh man
here we go i knew I reblogged something that made that parallel
Also what I think the most pertinent parallel between Winry and Katara is:
“I didn’t forgive him. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him”
“Don’t get me wrong. I’ll never forgive a monster like you.”
Winry/Katara Parallels
Jin: Hey. Well, look at you. You look so cute!
Zuko: It took my Uncle ten minutes to do my hair.Oh, Zuko.
Katara is the actual awesomest bender
(Source: avataraang, via sailorscooby)
Reblogging because of the excellent analysis.
I fully agree with this, but let us not forget that while FMA is a manga/anime, A:TLA/LOK is an american cartoon, and the narrative and concepts of heroism, epic, and badassness are different in both genre, in my humble opinion
I would say that’s not true, and even if it was, the rest of A:TLA/LOK is supposed be drawing from Asian mythos narratives. The very point of the Avatar is a heroic narrative based on Asian philosophies. As a shonen manga/anime FMA pushes far past the expectations of the prototypical shonen and instead gives us a heroic tale that also includes love, romance, family, and strongly developed female characters. FMA is already not entirely of the shonen genre mold, and A:TLA/LOK is arguably supposed to be taking from the very same ideas and philosophies that much of FMA uses (especially Buddhism).
Plus if “American heroic narratives” involves “less developed female characters who fall in the spectrum between really masculine or really feminine” that uh, is a big problem! And shouldn’t be part of the narrative. And then we should ask ourselves why Japan accepts this, but why the US apparently would not?
I would say the big difference here is that Arakawa is a woman who wrote good characters, and Bryke are men who tried to write female characters who were good because they were just like the boys.
[you don’t to reply but discussion is there. idk not attacking you just talking]
“Arakawa is a woman who wrote good characters, and Bryke are men who tried to write female characters who were good because they were just like the boys.”
![turdlewexler:
4fthechallenger:
missturdle:
Izumi Curtis is a wonderful, chronically ill, kind, friendly housewife who is also an alchemist who will fuck shit up if you hurt her family.
Courtesy of Arakawa’s: There’s no wrong way to approach femininity, womanhood, or asskicking school of thought.
Yet another of the many brilliant commonalities between Bryke’s (Avatar) and Arakawa’s (FMA) defining stories, which explains why they share so many fans in common as well and why I love the idea of crossing them over so much.
They don’t rely on just 3-4 types of characters, let alone 3-4 characters period. They showcase loads and loads of faces, with a very dynamic range of personalities. Aang; Edward; Korra; Izumi (as seen above); Ursa; Tenzin; Sozin; Winry; Sokka; Lan Fan; Greed (also seen above); Azula; Kimblee; Asami; Lust; Ozai; Scar; Toph; Hiroshi; Iroh; Father; Amon; Bumi; Alex; Hakoda; Hama; Pema; Olivier; Bradley; Zhao; Zuko; Mai; Alphonse; Bolin; Riza; Ty Lee; Jet; Ling; Lin; Roy. These names, and those are not even all of them, are those of figures who all share similarities yet differences which make them unique; just like real people.
When Michael Dante Dimartino and Bryan Konietzko created Avatar, when Hiromu Arakawa created Fullmetal Alchemist; they didn’t create stories that said you were unacceptable as a man or woman without a(n) [insert X here] personality or approach to life. Their worlds are a showcase of how any kind of person, with any way of going through each and every day or any great or terrible story behind them, can be weak and/or strong in soul.
RESPECTFULLY SPEAKING: the times Bryke does manage to do it right are the times they get out of their own ways and let their writers improve their story to become more like Arakawa.
Bryke aims for what Arakawa does. They don’t…they don’t always hit the mark. You can be any type of girl, of course, but ultimately and arguably the most important female main character of A:TLA (Katara) just ends up becoming a footnote to the male main character. The fact that the majority of the character development in Korra comes from Love triangles (Pema/Tenzin/Lin; Mako/Korra/Bolin; Asami/Mako/Korra) only really furthers my distinction between the two series, and why I ultimately enjoy FMA much more than A:TLA despite loving both series quite a lot.
Arakawa doesn’t waste time with unnecessary conflict. There are romances, yes, and they go through conflicts, and love and family are arguably the driving factors of the series. But these factors are part of the story, they don’t overwhelm the story, and they certainly don’t eclipse entire characters in favor of some romance triangles. The people who love each other love each other obviously, strongly, and display it through their actions and choices.
A:TLA/A:TLOK…is more concerned with love and lust over-writing the story rather than being a driving motivator. I think A:TLA is not as guilty of this, but certainly by Korra, even Katara’s entire journey was summed up as “she married the Avatar.” The relationships conflict with the actual conflicts and plots and let’s be entirely honest, any time Bryke has tried to characterize a villain, they’ve usually only been a villain, without any of the real nuances there. Which is a shame, Amon would have been the perfect nuanced villain to follow up the very non-nuanced Ozai, or Zhao.
A:TLA did well because of other writers. But Bryke and TLOK didn’t pull anywhere close to FMA for me in this area. It tried, sure, but I wouldn’t say it got there. Hell, we never get an Izumi character from Bryke: Katara’s mother is dead, Gran Gran has little screen time, Pema is only a housewife and an acolyte - it’s Lin who is Not a Housewife and Chose Her Career Instead of the Man who has to save her, Ursa was also essentially fridged/put on a bus for the entire series, leaving the ONLY motherly figure to be Katara who is never shown actually parenting in any flashbacks (or in flashbacks whatsoever at all - badass or otherwise).
So actually I would say that…didn’t really happen as much as we’d like to think it did in A:TLA/TLOK. The variations on women are definitely not as strong.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/38972b7ba41f4110e8625b1727b1f0bf/tumblr_mii0lwT3BV1qciqjmo1_500.png)
Izumi Curtis is a wonderful, chronically ill, kind, friendly housewife who is also an alchemist who will fuck shit up if you hurt her family.
Courtesy of Arakawa’s: There’s no wrong way to approach femininity, womanhood, or asskicking school of thought.
Yet another of the many brilliant commonalities between Bryke’s (Avatar) and Arakawa’s (FMA) defining stories, which explains why they share so many fans in common as well and why I love the idea of crossing them over so much.
They don’t rely on just 3-4 types of characters, let alone 3-4 characters period. They showcase loads and loads of faces, with a very dynamic range of personalities. Aang; Edward; Korra; Izumi (as seen above); Ursa; Tenzin; Sozin; Winry; Sokka; Lan Fan; Greed (also seen above); Azula; Kimblee; Asami; Lust; Ozai; Scar; Toph; Hiroshi; Iroh; Father; Amon; Bumi; Alex; Hakoda; Hama; Pema; Olivier; Bradley; Zhao; Zuko; Mai; Alphonse; Bolin; Riza; Ty Lee; Jet; Ling; Lin; Roy. These names, and those are not even all of them, are those of figures who all share similarities yet differences which make them unique; just like real people.
When Michael Dante Dimartino and Bryan Konietzko created Avatar, when Hiromu Arakawa created Fullmetal Alchemist; they didn’t create stories that said you were unacceptable as a man or woman without a(n) [insert X here] personality or approach to life. Their worlds are a showcase of how any kind of person, with any way of going through each and every day or any great or terrible story behind them, can be weak and/or strong in soul.
RESPECTFULLY SPEAKING: the times Bryke does manage to do it right are the times they get out of their own ways and let their writers improve their story to become more like Arakawa.
Bryke aims for what Arakawa does. They don’t…they don’t always hit the mark. You can be any type of girl, of course, but ultimately and arguably the most important female main character of A:TLA (Katara) just ends up becoming a footnote to the male main character. The fact that the majority of the character development in Korra comes from Love triangles (Pema/Tenzin/Lin; Mako/Korra/Bolin; Asami/Mako/Korra) only really furthers my distinction between the two series, and why I ultimately enjoy FMA much more than A:TLA despite loving both series quite a lot.
Arakawa doesn’t waste time with unnecessary conflict. There are romances, yes, and they go through conflicts, and love and family are arguably the driving factors of the series. But these factors are part of the story, they don’t overwhelm the story, and they certainly don’t eclipse entire characters in favor of some romance triangles. The people who love each other love each other obviously, strongly, and display it through their actions and choices.
A:TLA/A:TLOK…is more concerned with love and lust over-writing the story rather than being a driving motivator. I think A:TLA is not as guilty of this, but certainly by Korra, even Katara’s entire journey was summed up as “she married the Avatar.” The relationships conflict with the actual conflicts and plots and let’s be entirely honest, any time Bryke has tried to characterize a villain, they’ve usually only been a villain, without any of the real nuances there. Which is a shame, Amon would have been the perfect nuanced villain to follow up the very non-nuanced Ozai, or Zhao.
A:TLA did well because of other writers. But Bryke and TLOK didn’t pull anywhere close to FMA for me in this area. It tried, sure, but I wouldn’t say it got there. Hell, we never get an Izumi character from Bryke: Katara’s mother is dead, Gran Gran has little screen time, Pema is only a housewife and an acolyte - it’s Lin who is Not a Housewife and Chose Her Career Instead of the Man who has to save her, Ursa was also essentially fridged/put on a bus for the entire series, leaving the ONLY motherly figure to be Katara who is never shown actually parenting in any flashbacks (or in flashbacks whatsoever at all - badass or otherwise).
So actually I would say that…didn’t really happen as much as we’d like to think it did in A:TLA/TLOK. The variations on women are definitely not as strong.
Quick sketch of Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender) and Winry Rockbell (Fullmetal Alchemist)
OMFG YES. PERFECT PICTURE. I always said if ATLA had to be cast as FMA charas Katara would be Winry and vice versa. They are both angry and loving and hardworking and sensitive and tough HBICs who are rawly emotional! LOVE THESE LADIES.
(via avatarsnowy)
