So... Did Netflix FINALLY Get Avatar Right? - Netflix's Avatar The Last Airbender Season 1 Review
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- Опубліковано 17 чер 2024
- Today at the Mystery Shack, we take a long hard look at Netflix's attempt at Avatar The Last Airbender Book 1 to see whether the movie that shall not be named can truly be forgotten.
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Further reading & links:
www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/ava...
variety.com/2018/tv/news/avat...
www.cbsnews.com/news/are-atte...
ew.com/avatar-the-last-airben...
avatarnews.co/post/7066461781...
LEMMiNO - Cipher
• LEMMiNO - Cipher (BGM)
CC BY-SA 4.0
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Timecodes
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00:00 - Introduction
00:54 - Good - Sozin
02:20 - Bad - Pacing
04:24 - Bad - Individual Friction
06:36 - Good - Worldbuilding
08:38 - Bad - Worldbuilding???
09:39 - Bad - Pakku, The North & Sexism
12:11 - Good - Spirit World
13:38 - Bad - Aang's Visions & ROKU?!?!?
16:33 - Good - LORE LOTS OF LORE
18:23 - Bad - Lore... lots... of lore
19:00 - Bad - Ty Lee & Mai
19:30 - Good - Iroh & Zuko
21:12 - SO GOOD - Ozai
23:58 - The....Interesting - Bumi
26:53 - SO GOOD - Momo & Appa
27:10 - Good - Soundtrack
27:49 - Good/Bad??? - Bending
29:39 - Good Rapid Fire Round
30:09 - Overall Thoughts
33:51 - Outro
#avatar #avatarthelastairbender - Розваги
The irony behind the fact that the 3D adaptation of a 2D show is lacking mostly in depth is amazing
I'm gonna have to steal that. That's a great take
😂
Add to that that they have a lot of animation in it as well. I mean just look at most of the more complicated fight scenes. So in the end you still had to resort to animation? Tell me why did we meed a live-action again?
The problem is in the writing. Simple. They neeed better writers for books 2 and 3.
The dialogue was painful most of the time. They had points A and B, but didn’t know how to build a solid bridge between them
Agreed. Dialogues in the Live Action was telling, not showing. We didn't need every single person to scream at a 12 year old kid about responsabilities. Aang understand responsability, he's just scared of it, and with obvious reasons (HE'S FREAKING 12 YEARS OLD!!!). In the original, all those episodes that seem to "acomplish nothing" actually serve to show how Aang feels, seeing how the world changed without the Avatar. That's true storytelling...
Idk if it is just the writing it’s scene choices too not having jeong jeong is a wild decision no water bending is another and many other less important scenes that are major and most of book 1 is just the gang messing around. In season 2 and 3 I expect much more will be missed given how many more important moments there are
They are not going to change the writers, they are picked because of gender + race + political views cuz they really don't care as long as a lot of people tune in
Netflix isn't know for improving their shows as they go on. The first season is the best season for a lot of shows lol. And the writers for this show have little experience in writing for shows like ATLA and worker on shows that are more like the teen drama type of shows. They have a lot more their writers that have more experience for a show like this working on Netflix's animated content.
@@BabyBounceProductionsyou are mostly right, but obviously there are exceptions: BoJack (best season is between 5-6), stranger things (s2), umbrella academy (s3), F is For Family (s5) but overall you are right
Aang doesn't bend a single drop of water in this show, which is annoying. Especially since he only talks to Paku in one scene and the conversation amounts to Paku telling him he should have practiced waterbending during his journey and... deciding not to train him?
He didn't even train Katara so how is she gonna train aang in waterbending
@@jordanvance1657 He's going to master water bending off screen
@@LuisSierra42lol and If that actually happens, you know for sure the diehard fans will defend it regardless
erhm pretty sure they're doing a time skip where the gaang will be spending time in the northern water tribe.
@@iamai_iggshopefully
They went into the spirit world to find Hei Bai and then completely forget all about him.
Yesss i was so annoyed how Hei Bai was just shown in his monster form to scare & separate the gang & then he's just gone & they shift the entire focus to Koh for the rest of the 2 eps? & i guess they spent the cgi budget on Wan Shi Tong's unnecessary cameo, when he's not even relevant til season 2, instead of showing Hei Bai turn back into his panda form when he healed🤦♀️
Made NO sense
To me the best part of atla has always been the characters. In the remake, they all felt completely flat, and with the writers insisting to split up the gang, I didn’t think there was enough of a relationship built to call them “family”
The cast looked like the characters, but they weren't the characters.
Well, I totally bought Zuko, Iroh, Zhao, Ozai and Azula and also Sokka later on
I thoguht zuko and sokka nailed the characters. With the other characters, its hard to convey the same style or personality when the writing is so lackluster. With better writing and dialogue, Katara and Aang should come across less bland.
@yanavavrinyuk257 definitely agree with you on the actors for zuko and sokka doing great jobs, and given how iconic the og versions are, that was no easy task. Dallas James Liu and Ian Ousley are their names, I was curious and looked them up. And yea, they need to find a way to weave the exposition into the dialogue/visual storytelling so that the dialogue can develop the characters instead of them giving the audience a crash course in lore.
They were like them in the interviews. It gave me hope. But somehow not a single ounce of that happened on screen. Its such a careless miss its really suprising how "professionals" missed so hard.
The cast looked nothing like the characters besides jet
A flawed beginning but a bright future if they get this right it could honestly be amazing
Let's hope Netflix gives them more episodes for the next two seasons.
On my first watch I really liked how the Air Nomad annihilation was portrayed, but upon second look, there shouldn't have been a battle at all. The fire nation was OP because of the comet. Ozai alone laid waste to a whole forest in the last episode of the ogs. The firebender soldiers shoulda bended fire like they themselves were flamethrowers. Ozai at least should've electrocuted some monks.
They did Azula, Mei and Ty dirty. Azula's relationship with Ozai is more like a toxic boyfriend that a narcissistic parent.
Eh, we see multiple dead firebenders in episode 2 of the og so there was some amount of resistance. But you are right they really didn't feel like they had a comet amp.
I thought there was too much Ozai in the live action version, and that the original decision to keep Ozai's actual appearances to a minimum before Book 3 made him feel like much more of a looming threat who rarely takes his own actions, like Sauron in _Lord of the Rings_ or John Hurt's high chancellor in _V For Vendetta._ I also thought there was too much Ko without Ko stealing someone's face.
Also, the Firebending looked more Dragon Ball than Avatar. People constantly gathering energy into a ball in their hands, rather than directly using it as a punch or kick. The Waterbending was great though, Katara vs Paku was *chef's kiss.*
The suicidal Bumi thing didn't mesh with me.
Fun fact, this is originally what firebending in the show looked like. You should check out the alternate pilot for Avatar. Its insane! It starts with aang already traveling with sokka and katara!!! The serpent from book 2 is in the first episode!
Anyway, they didn't have the ship catapults in this alternate version. Instead, multiple fire benders would use their combined bending to form a fireball and launch it into the air. Kind of like what zuko and iroh do in the second episode but more dragonbally
Not saying I prefer it at all, just pointing out the coincidence aha
I had fun sure but the stuff they changed is horrible the writing is hilarious and from ep 1 to 8 it feels like our main 3 has no realationship at all I actually struggle to name good things other than some casting, cgi and some story elements
If they eliminated like 60% of the exposition the run time would probably be around 215 minutes lol
This is one of the shows where a s2 could improve this show drastically. The bending, the cast, and the backgrounds were great (except for Omashu imo lmao). The MAIN problem was the writing which really hinders the show sadly. There were some good editions like zuko platoon, the water Godzilla spirit lore, and zuko notebook. But the bads were just very apparent especially as a fan of the og. With a s2 they can improve the writing and maybe just maybe we can get the og creators back. Also I kinda dislike how they don’t make Katara as passionate as the OG Katara was.
"This is one of the shows where a s2 could improve this show drastically."
Assuming Netflix doesn't trigger happily cancel the show for no reason; seriously, this feels like Russian Roulette where you have no idea what will happen regardless of the presence of safety nets.
Honestly disagree about the Ozai part. I think we could have definitely used more Ozai in the cartoon too, especially towards the latter half, but showing Zuko's and Azula's "corruption" this early takes a lot out of their stories. Learning what happened to them as the story went along made it much more meaningful in the cartoon. I just feel like this whole idea of well its okay to change this when it just makes it worse overall just doesn't make much sense. For the most part most changes in the One Piece live action didn't really make anything "worse" and they kept character traits and stories very much the same, whereas here change for the sake of change is extremely common.
I don't even get the point of Sokka in Kyoshi island in this one. He is just annoyed about seemingly nothing because they took a whole plot point out. The whole point of the show is Aang must learn all four elements one by one to be ready as the Avatar, they don't even show this a single time, it's the thing the entire show revolves around. A whole lot of things are being said, but noone is actually doing anything, all they do is talk. Extreme levels of "and then" writing.
My biggest issue is the dialogue, too much dialogue, i don't want a hope speech from aang, i want him to learn childish lessons while saving the world. Everything is a speech, not enough action, and it reminds me of the play from book 3, half the show is bleeding heart hope speeches, and people talking about their feelings, not what i want from a show. Show me lore, don't tell me it like im 5. It doesn't help that the writting sucks to all hell either.
Yep, a lot of the live action is force feeding exposition and character monologues of their inner thoughts and feelings, like come on guys this isn’t a Shakespearean theatrical!!
You can get away with katara, it makes sense that katara, or even sokka would do speeches. But aang should be growing into that. @@montenegroafro4454
The show for the most part of the example of breaking the rule "show, don't tell"
The exposition is too much, especially in the first ep.
The bending felt slower and less interesting, felt more like telekinesis than a martial art at some points.
Azula was butchered along with mai and tie lee, Anng was a pretty plain protagonist, katara got good at water bending way too fast and her personality is pretty plain along with sokka.
Team avatar doesnt have that family bond they had in the animated show. Thats something key that is seriously missing
I don't like ratings either but it gives a general idea where i stand with the show.
4/10
Below average, despite the good i found it quite boring unless zuko or iroh were on screen.
To me, Its another dull, inferior remake of another beloved piece of media, thats it
I would've loved if the paku story would've had the female water benders be combat medics instead of trotting them out to strictly fight, that way Katara learns that their culture has relevance in both sides of the fight, and to make the paku lines make sense would be moving Zuko and Katara outside and have him try to interfere in her fight and she has to protect him
On your point about newcomers and mega fans being the ones most receptive to the live action Avatar and the more casual fans being the biggest critics, I feel like the same could be said about Star Wars fans. Both are incredibly imaginative universes with brilliant ideas that (especially recently) have had flawed writing, acting, production, etc. For me personally, I'm just excited to be back in a universe that I love despite their flaws. I think people can forget that these stories are fundamentally entertainment. I don't go into a show or movie with a critical eye because I'm trying to enjoy myself. Sure, I notice the issues and often immediately point them out to my partner, but I can jump back in and have fun again. Not to mention I recognize that a LOT of factors go into making entertainment and you will never be able to accomplish everything or please everyone and I know I certainly couldn't do much better myself. We can play the "well they should've done it this way" game all we want but at the end of the day this is their project and their story. I'm still excited to watch seasons 2 and 3 and see where they take the story!
Speaking as a fellow "superfan," not a "nostalgia watcher," I really have not been enjoying it. I haven't even finished, because I had to take a break. The pacing and dialogue and characterization is just so bad in my view. Yes, I enjoy a lot of the positives you brought up, but even with the visuals and the more realistic medium, everything just feels like it's been flattened out.
You talked about all the ways they took away aspects of characters, while leaving behind the "core elements." Well to me, that just feels like being presented with flat, directionless characters that are only there to say and do the next thing that will move the story along. The characterization in the original was legendary, and the main reason I loved it. Every single character had nuance and depth, with unique interactions with each other: even background characters were full of flavor. With this remake... what's the point? Just checking boxes. Sokka and Suki glance at each other, and boom, they're in love. There's no character development, no chemistry.
I think the most egregious for me is just how blatant they are with pushing the plot forward. Katara doesn't get jealous of how Aang's natural talent allows him to outpace her in waterbending, leading her to get desperate enough to steal a scroll, go through character development, reckon with herself as who she is, etc. She's just... handed the scroll, with a note from Gran-Gran telling her "Oh btw, I've had this thing your whole life. Thought you could use it." And now she's a waterbending master. Because of the scroll. Or the whole Kyoshi vision thing that makes Aang speedrun getting over his reluctance to take on responsibility. There's no goofing off, no avoidance, no character development. Just... The Mission.
Pieces being pushed around a game board. It feels hollow. The Marvel-ization of media.
My main gripe with this first part is that since there's some base lore that there is no time to explain, there are a number of scenes that are just a framed character info dumping for a while without it even being a conversation with another character that knows less, you know, to make it at least seem a bit organic.
I did like A LOT of what they did, in general, for the fire nation characters. Zuko and Iroh's storyline is ON POINT and I found it to be more touching than even the original series. Ozai's storyline with his sons is great, I mean, he actually has one on screen this time around.
In my opinion this felt like a really well made youtube project that had a big movie budget
I agree
I agree on literally everything whether it is Good or Bad, with the important caveat that for me the Bad outweighs the Good in episode 5. That said, there's no question regarding Gyatso in the spirit world: He clearly waited around for a century to absolve Aang of his guilt and then moved on.
They need to improve the writing, acting, and pacing
I join the others with bad dialog. But I was ready to accept a different story. But as you said as well removing the reason to go to the north to learn waterbending, just to replace it with random visions (spoilers). It just not make sence. Breaks the story. And its not the only example the whole spirit section is wierd. Why Koo? It felt like they mushed several stories together while having almost the same runtime and losing the emotinal beats and lessons of most of those stories. I felt like we got less happening. When it takes the same time. Not good
This first season is huge mixed bag. Parts are fantastic, a lot feels awkward. It also felt rushed in some ways that made it hard to follow. There IS a good series buried in here, I just hope they are able to dig it out.
I would give them an 💯 for effort however. You can tell portions of the production were inspired and teams were giving it their best. I wish the costumes look more lived-in but overall they are fantastic representations of the show designs. They also nailed the locations, creatures, and some of the bending depictions.
I found it thoroughly mediocre. I don't even mind the lore/story changes. I do dock some points for the bad fight choreography, but even that's a comparatively minor complaint. What really gets me is the writing and acting of the characters. Zuko and Ozai are great. Sokka started off rough, but improved as the season went on and ended as fine for me. Everyone else fails horribly for one or the other.
We skipped so many amazing moments to get where we are… was it worth it?
dialogs , dialogs , dialogs , dialogs
teleporting , teleporting , teleporting from point A to point B all the time
I liked the change that Paku didn’t change his views because of finding a necklace that belonged to his old gf. The war coming up is a great reason to let the women help the fight because it’s all hands on deck even if they aren’t fighters. It’s more realistic but could’ve been handled a little better
In animated show Paku changed his view of life when he saw the necklace not because it belonged to his love, but because he finally understood why the love of his life left him. She couldn't live with him under the rules, especially when he is very supportive of them. Chances of people coming to realization and change, are so low in real life, but they are more realistic than a man letting a woman (especially a child) join a fight (be it she has a gun or martial arts)
Not a bad change, but an unnecessary one
@@Eh......... Yep. They removed all type of subtlety from the story, cause they actually think that the newer generations are dumber (this is confirmed btw)
"Even if they aren't fighters" i have to disagree with that. Sending doctors with no fighting training/experience in the battlefield is the last and the most desperate move in the war. It's kinda more sexist/dumb to say that doctors/medics are less important than the soldiers on the war situation.
@@Eh......... Exactly!!! Something this show will never understand... The nuances.
For the most part.. I think they missed the mark, and it comes down to a combo of clunky dialogue and mish-mashing abridged versions of multiple stories together as clumsily as possible, with the show rushing from point A to point B.
However, with that said, the changes made to Zuko's backstory were masterfully executed, with episode 6 in particular being so well done that it almost justified the existence of the entire show on its own merits. Im also glad the show captured the tone of the original, but was able to show more of the violence rather than implying it, which is exactly what an Avatar adaptation not bound by the censorship of typical kid shows should do. Couple that with how good the casting was and how excellent the choreography, visual presentation and music was, and I'm happy that this show exists, though more as a companion piece to the original show than as its own body of work.
About paku and katara sending the woman to fight. The feeling I got from the scène was that they were sent to safe areas they COULD help protect the city and Fight for their people.
IMPORTANT to notice that In a their view (and in certain circumstances rightly) sending the woman to combat its what killed their sister tribe. Woman got captured, they lost future benders… and possibly healing. In time things only get worse etc… Off course the North has a stronger foundation and could benefit from healers in battle but sadly this wasn’t touched. It would have been cool to see this mater developed in a modern and mature way.
If it ain't broke don't fix it. Most of the changes actually make the show feel less mature! So many problems I doubt I'll be coming back for a season 2.
Yup, definitely a bit weird that they dumbed quite a few things down despite having the same runtime.
_I will absolutely be back for season 2 though_ 🗿
yeah for another video 🫠
@@Korotoits beyond my mind how people are defending the show by saying the show-runners didn't have enough time. It baffles me how instead of adding something entirely new, and adding important episodes/ scenes from book 1, they snatched episodes and moments from book 2 and used super smelly glue on it, threw at the wall (season 1), and hoped it would stick. It did stick, but at what cost?
@@Koroto especially considering they wanted to make a more mature show. They actually think "modern audiences" are dumber
It's great to hear your take on the 1st season of the live action. I had to bookmark your video since it took me ages to find the time to watch the Netflix series!
It had potential, and some of the changes they made make sense for a different medium, but the writing was so bad.
My take with people who’ve only seen the original cartoon and not Kora or the comics and then don’t like the live action is that, well, all they’ve seen is the original cartoon and that’s all they have to compare it to. In a sense Kora and the comics were kind of like remakes of the original in themselves, expanding on different aspects of the world and looking at it from different angles, exploring different themes, and giving a different look at the personalities and later lives of some of the original characters. Even for people who didn’t like those additions to the canon, by watching/reading them their minds have at least been open to the idea of seeing a different take on atla and even finding a few new aspects that they do enjoy, so seeing things done differently in the live action is a bit more palatable to them. Those who’ve only seen the original cartoon on the other hand are seeing a different take on their beloved childhood cartoon for the first time, and it feels like a complete bastardization of the original to them because it’s hard to imagine the world of atla in a different light. Any little change is disrespectful and any one for one adaptation can only be inferior to the original.
If it gets people to ewatch avatar, good.
Through seriously korra would make so much more sense to adapt.
While I do very much appreciate the inclusion of cabbage man in the live action, it would’ve been legendary if they included the excited fan foaming at the mouth on Kyoshi Island! Or at least have him in one of the other episodes like ep.1 of the Southern water tribe just overwhelmed with excitement of witnessing the power of the avatar!! I mean this picture was just asking for it 4:42 😂😂
I feel like one of the good components that deserves a highlight is Zhao: The way he was portrayed as this plotting and backstabbing weasel who gets massive overconfidence due to what is basically a very lucky break. It just.. fits the character very well and the actor did a great job with it. Thaaat said I heavily dislike how they offed him, considering the originals death by spirit felt much better of a 'fall' to his pride and hubris. Especially since this would fit Zhao's arc even more in the live action version due to his portrayal. (also it gave Zuko a great moment to show his compassion in the original which is now missing and while not a big deal it doesn't help the scene either).
@Korotos Mystery Shack: I fall in the category you were curious about. I only recently rewatched the original with my girfriend but we didnt follow any other ATLA material. We watched the first episode and couldnt bring ourselves to watch more. Our reasons were:
TL;DR:
1. Essence of Characters lost (Katara, Iroh)
2. Bad dialog (Exposition over showing, didnt take audience serious, hollywood clichee lines)
3. Bending
Detailed:
1. The characters and their relations dont feel like themselves (perhaps bc of what you mention in the individual friction part)
- Sokka commanding Katara around without her standing her ground felt completely wrong (her giving him contra was strong enough to split the iceberg Aang was in! In the live action I didnt understand she split the iceberg until sb explained it to me 😅)
- Iroh's lines felt out of character and him offering tea felt forced instead of him enjoying it deeply resting in himself
2. Adding to the first point was the bad dialog with several problems:
- exposition/telling over showing
- on the nose monologues - we didnt felt taken seriously by the show
- A lot of corny hollywood trope lines, which just felt completely out of place in ATLA and for the characters ("Can I pretend to be your friend", "Only when we lose everything our true strength shines through", "You only know what you have when its gone", ..)
3. The bending:
- unearned power growth: Katara learning by an Aha moment with Aang and going from not lifting water to lifting a ton of water from 20m under her in one hour is a polar opposite to the kung fu, master by practice approach of the original.
- Logical Problems: Aang can fly without his glider (in his opening scene), but then has to rely on it on Zukos boat. Those things just took our immersion away really fast.
One of this shows biggest problems is that it felt like someone watched a lore summary of Avatar, took a few notes, and then wrote this show. There are little lore drops and pieces of world building that feels incredible, but more often then not also feels out of place. Ignoring my own bias (I firmly believe recreating a property 100% opens it up for comparison to the original) there are changes that not only don't make sense, but also cause problems further down the line.
Kyoshi introducing the visions and establishing that the avatar can only visit their past selves near a statue is going to make aspects of Aangs spiritual journey as the Avatar difficult as now they have to rely on a statue being nearby. Then the pushed Sozin's comet forward and had that explained immediatly, removing one of the important parts of Aang being pushed into the spirit world and the hanging thread of "what is this comet?" You already touched on Roku, so I'll leave that out.
Then theirs the moving Wan Shi Tong forward and taking out Zhao discovering the library on his own, which was a cool mystery point behind his character. Koh having beef with multiple Avatars is fine, but he felt like less of a looming threat. Like this ancient spirit, despite it's appearance, was intimidating by both it's knowledge and the terror of what would happen if your face was stolen. This also created a problem in how Aang discovers the names of the Ocean and Moon spirit, how Zhao knows about the spirits, and the solution around that.
The biggest miss for me is Irohs character. It felt like he was the butt of the majority of jokes and very much demeaned. Far more than in the original show. It was like he was this old man that couldn't stop talking about food or was always getting hit. His greatest character moment, being his connection with Zoku and great arc of why Iroh cared so much for him, was tossed in early for an easy tear jerk moment rather than letting the story build on itself till the climactic point in Tales of Bah Sing Sei.
My point is, the nods to the show are cool, but expected. It's still a remake so references to the original is expected and greatly appreciated. There was world building that felt off because it seemed like the writers struggled with whether they wanted to tell their own story or do a retelling. Aspects were needlessly changed for the sack of it. I really believe this show would've succeeded if it wasn't a retelling, but rather told it's own story.
I hope they don't ever actually sing leaves from the vine though. That song is for one man, and one man only.
I'm curious on your thoughts on episode 5 as a whole. I persobally thought it was the weakest, as they seemed to remove a ton of the Hyebai and Koh storylines. I was excited to see both resolved, especially Aang doing the "stone faced" scene with Koh, and it was a big disappointment to miss that. For Hyebai, it seemed they just added him in there for a spooky monter effect, as opposed to actually fulfilling the story arc.
My absolute least favorite was ep 7. 5 was a bit hit and miss for me, it had a lot of interesting ideas, but I wish they had done a better job tying all the spirits together instead of just having Koh as a single overarching foe.
@Koroto they also included Canon lore from the Mobile game. That were the name Wolf's clove comes from. The game is chalked full of lore from before and during the war.
I guess I fall in the 3rd category you mentioned. I have watched the Korra series but was never really a fan of it. And I dunno man I don't think why I don't like this show at all, doesn't really have everything to do with the lore. It has more to do with bad dialogues, bad writing and extremely bad character development. The characters was what made the original so great. The Zuko arc is perhaps one of the greatest character arcs of all time at least in my opinion (not saying they ruined Zuko in this one but just to say how great the original characters were). I totally get where you're coming from with how they tried to add more lore to the series and I'll admit that they do respect the original material even though they change some critical parts of it. But the biggest issue for me was the execution. It's painfully bad and you don't even have to compare it to the original to say that it's bad.
The live action got my parents into watching the animated show because they liked the live action so much, so it's a W for me. Been trying to get them to watch it with me for years, got through a good bit of season one with them after we watched the live action together, next thing I know they are halfway through book two, I blink again and they are already on book 3.
Masks was easily my favorite episode, my favorite scenes are tied at the funeral scene with Leaves From the Vine and revealing Zuko's crew is the one he spoke up for. Zuko fighting Ozai was also a very solid scene for me, I'm surprised at how intimidating Ozai ended up being with how early he was shown, but that certainly felt like it was made up for by showing how manipulative he is with his own family. I might be scratching my head at some of the writing choices but I enjoyed it and it's getting new people into the show, so that's enough for me. I'd give the show a solid 7/10.
thank you for this video, i really appreciate someone talking about this so honestly & going over things they liked/look forward to as well as the bad. as a hardcore fan i got a lot of enjoyment of the show and it saddened me a lot to see so many ppl Only talking about the negatives or generally talking about the show like it’s the worst thing ever made. refreshing fr!!
I couldn't watch it. My brain cannot stop comparing to the animated series. So I am going to let others enjoy it. Glad people are liking it!
I‘m in that boat as well.
In the 4th episode I’m feeling like this as well
Honestly, I don’t see why people wouldn’t compare it to the original. It’s an adaptation, seeing what they did with the original story is kinda the whole point. That and showing new people the show.
@@ikeking6797 I showed my kid the original, and she loved it.
There’s also nothing in it that could have aged, that’s kind of the beauty of cartoons. What CGI there is fits into the artstyle, and thus doesn’t really age as well. It was obvious the first time the series was aired, and nothing has changed about it.
My fear is they won’t make a season 2 and 3 because fans are “mixed” on the show. It was flawed yes. But I hope they writers take this experience as a learning opportunity and make effort in the writing room. I also know this show gets like, stranger things money, so I hope they stop using the volume for filming so often, all the best scenes are filmed on a location and for some reason their volume has a very hard edge light on everything in scene but it doesn’t match the background.. I think the cast is stellar, and the design of the world and show is perrrfect. I can’t wait for book 2
Love ur perspective!
Great breakdown. I feel exactly the same as your conclusion.
I can genuenly say that I enjoyed the show despite the painful parts.
Katara was butchered completly IMO. Not only did they erase her temper they also erased her motherly qualities. She didn't even learn healing, she should have learned it and then realized they never ment to teach her how to battle. Then she just IS a master? Ridiculous. Just ignoring the culture. Thats like saying a mid street fighter is the same as a blackbelt. I don't hate this new Katara, but it's disrespectful to original Katara. Also her getting the spirit water is usless unless she knows how to heal.
The acting and dialogue was horrible at the begining. But the frozen faces slowly got expression over time.
As someone who trained kyokushin karate instensly, I believe the forms shoud be stronger and firmer. They are bending but it should take effort, precision and power. For airbending and waterbending more fluency and grace but in the end you want that grace to hit something with power.
I really enjoyed Sokka, they took away the mysoginy but they gave him other stuff to work trough. Suki is a compleatly different character but it aligns with the story much better. Yue finnaly has some personality, because of this I'll forget that horrible wig. Original Yue was just so boring to me, she was nice, pretty and blushed around Sokka (never really got the hype around Yue, she literally had no personality). This Yue is a much more well rounded character.
Aang not bending other elements at all???? Complete miss.
Zuko and Irohs relationship is top noch. As well as their individual stories.
Azulas trio alrealy being with her robbed us of some amazing scenes.
Ozai was perfect, he has a soul but it always chooses evil.
Omashu has a lot more depth then the original but just like the whole story, it doesn't give character time to breathe and really let those relationships settle.
The evil forrest spirit was ignored because Aang buried an acorn? Like they could have at least watered it or something.
I really hope next season the show settles in but they've butchered Katara because of that I'm scared of what they'll do to Toph.
True, like at the end of the day her realizing she needs to learn to fight and say thanks and who will go to master paku to train to fight and bring some along. If she leads healer into battle, teach them how to fight and them following katara is as good as any.
just add that scene, skip time and, like how the hell learns she to fight that well, before the battle.
Else you get the fairr criticism, they are healers, logistical they arent trained to fight, minus katara, why.
Bumi was one of my favorite changes to the show. I thought his “Let it fall” speech was so impactful
I give it a 6/10. I enjoy it, but feel is it only a little above average.
It is common for "story money" to be advanced before an official renewal. Hopefully, that will speed things up.
Interesting perspectives, and some got me to rethink some of my earlier negative feelings on some scenes.
Still, I can shake the unpleasant feeling everything felt horribly stuffed, condensed and force fed in the Omashu arc.... It's like they tried to stuff as many characters and plots in the same context, and that didn't work for me....
But I absolutely loved the water tribe of the North arc ! Only regret is Katara not being angry enough. But that's nitpicking
How can you have more time to tell less story, like I literally cannot fathom it. They had a perfect blueprint right there. You need to have no ego in this. It isn't theirs. They need to be doing everything to honor the original and its creators, NOT try to "make it their own." Its not theirs.
1:20
Well, my kids are definitely not desensitized to animated violence, which is why the show hits my oldest just the way it should. We‘ve had a lot of interesting conversations, especially about how f-ed to feudal system is, and how messed up Zuko‘s entire life has been. I mean… his DAD burned his FACE off. I cannot stress this enough.
We just finished S2, and I‘m sooo excited for her reaction on his turn-around story.
(Obvious favorite character is obvious.)
The cabbage man? Iroh?
@@marocat4749 We‘ve finished it now. I think she missed out on the cabbage merchant (that’s what rewatches are for), but Iroh and Zuko‘s reunion made her cry ugly tears. It’s such a great moment. 🥰
It's good. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but it's still well done considering how bad the Movie version was.
I'm willing to wait for the Book 2 and 3 to be released and see if they could raise it's quality to new hights or will it go down.
I'm a die-hard fan, Ive also consumed a fair amount of canon material outside of the cartoon, or at least informed myself about it through secondary sources. Yeah, the pacing issues *are* there, and especially the Bumi- and Spirit World-Eps could've really done with one story line less cramped in there, at least. But, as you said: It gave me sth new and I felt like it always approached the base material with love and respect, even if that didn't turn out successful sometimes. It expanded certain aspects, it gave me excellent expansions on my favourite uncle-nephew-duo, the changes to Ozai's motivations / feelings about his kids are quite interesting and make him seem less like a black-and-white big bad evil guy and more like a character raised to be an absolute abomination of a human, but a human no less. If they play it right, live-action-Ozai might very well become more interesting as a character than OG Ozai who just wanted to burn the EK because he could ...
All in all, I agree that I felt like I wanted to see where this is going. What I sure hope they do is maybe hire someone who isn't a die-hard fan of the original to counter-check some of the decisions on what to include from the original. While as a fan, I love inclusions like the hippies and Secret Tunnel or Roku, as someone whose job it is to coach people on their writing, I did not see any need for these points to be included, at least not in the way they ended up being presented in the show. Like, if I read over it as someone not extensively knowledgeable about the lore and fandim and just go "??? Why is this here, why are we wasting so much precious run time here that *could've* been used to give other moments more breathing space", it's generally a good indication that here, a writer might've been a bit too much of a fan and just tried to shoe-horn one or their fave moments from the original in.
I really don't understand why they felt the need to move Azula to this early in the story. If she's not chasing Aang and/or Zuko, then what purpose is she serving in the narrative?
It's a lot like Gloria in Season 3 of Fargo (which is a show I *highly* recommend if you like Coen Brothers movies) who isn't a bad character, but it feels like she's just there to fill the obligatory protagonist police officer role whereas 90% of Season 3's main plot has nothing to do with her even when you consider the filler episode when she goes to Los Angelas. It's the same vibe I get with Azula showing up while we're still dealing with Book 1 stuff.
I have a similar feeling to Netflix One Piece. It`s noticeably an adaptation and to me would otherwise be rather medicore if not obscure.
It`s entertaining enough, but it also gets dragged down a bit by it`s exposition and overall Live-Action problems (clean cosplay outfits, CGI creatures that barely exist because Budget etc.).
While I am happy its not a failure, I just dont see myself recommending it to anyone over the Animation yet. I hope the S2 can improve some shortcomings and maybe take its time with the characters more, but I am doubtful my general feeling will change much. Time will tell.
I honestly always found the necklace thing with Pakku was a lazy cop out way of fixing sexism.
My biggest problems was them not practicing bending and not letting the kids get distracted on having fun.
But I do enjoy the darker tone for the older audience. I rate the show 6/10. Maybe bad day 5/10.
31:00 Bolsonaro showing up shocked me a bit hahahah
The show was enjoyable as an avatar fan that really appreciated the soundtrack as well the writing was overall solid if a bit clumsy but I think they did a really good job in the omashu episodes, they fit perfectly with one another (except the cave, it kinda felt unnecessary) but I rate it 7.8 out of 10 compared to the cartoons 12 out of 10
I speak as a new fan. I've never watched the original beyond episode 1 and the old movie was... well... a turn off haha! But I still wanted to give this a shot so I watched it. And I totally agree with your assessment at the end. I loved it, although I can see its flaws. Of course I can't make all the comparisons with the original, so I'm not even gonna try to talk about characters, changes and all that, but I could definitely feel the writing issues. Especially the pacing. I didn't know that the runtime was actually the same, but for how rushed some sections were I definitely got the feeling that there was something missing there (which is, in a weird way, good? I mean, it's more motivation to go back to the original, right? Haha). And yes, the didascalic nature of some of the dialogue was very apparent. Everyone can immediately understand and vocalize their own feelings, no matter how complex, which is completely unrealistic, and they explain established lore and legends that every character should know already as if it were the first time. Show, don't tell, I guess?
But overall, it was a fun ride. I'm definitely gonna watch the original now (and maybe dive into the extended material as well, if I still like it), and I'll wait for season 2! If their goal was to bring in new fans, they definitely succeeded.
i think the cast actually seems pretty fitting and i like their chemistry in interviews, but the writing in the show sadly just doesnt highlight that
I liked most of it but they did Aang so dirty in his dialogue bro was talking more like if Iroh was serious ALL THE TIME than any sort of kid and that kept throwing me out of my immersion
I like how positive this review is compared to others
I couldn't watch more than two episodes...the acting's (aside from Zuko, Sokka, and some veteran actors) pretty bad and the show's obsessed with telling rather than showing. So much of the characterization relied on characters either talking about themselves or others describing their character traits. I want to see our characters grow, not listen to them being described. For example, if a character is a glutton, I'd rather see it for myself by them pigging out rather than them going on a monologue describing themselves or others doing it for them.
Also, there's no chemistry between our main trio (Sokka, Aang, and Katara) and their entire relationship was rushed. It's like the creators just assumed we watched the original animated series and will project our preconceived love for the characters onto their show, so they didn't develop their rapport/relationship at all. They go from meeting each other to practically instant family members who act like they've known each other forever. It's so jarring and unbelievable!
I really wanted to like this adaptation too, but sadly, I can't pretend it's a well done series that captured the spirit and essence of the original. If anything, I would say that the showrunners missed by a mile and failed to understand what made the original animated Avatar so beloved.
It's like they chose to prioritize surface level aesthetics, lore, and "grittiness"/action over character development. All of the major characters were either watered down or had core personality traits removed. Lol, they wanted to appeal to Game of Thrones fans without realizing that it's the complex and morally grey characters that's the heart and soul of that show.
It's ironic that an animated series made for kids featured much deeper characters than this live action counterpart. All of the character flaws were either removed (Sokka's sexism is practically nonexistent, Katara's no longer fierce or headstrong, Aang's no longer goofy nor does he crush on Katara, and Zuko is much less villainous) or heavily toned down.
The creators are so determined to make the characters instantly likable that they watered down any of their supposed "problematic" traits. But forgot that in doing so (without adding new traits), you end up with much blander characters who are no longer as interesting as they could have been. This makes it even harder to build natural rapport or insert conflict between characters. Katara, esp., has zero personality and all of her scenes are excruciatingly boring to watch.
By far, it's the characters and their relationships/growth that made the original ATLA so unforgettable and yet, the showrunners don't seem to understand this. If they did, they wouldn't have skimped on all the relationship building and character work. Everything's rushed to the point where none of the emotional beats feel earned and it's like the characters are just going through the motions because the director says so rather than experiencing it all organically.
I really don't understand why the showrunners didn't prioritize their characters above all else and make sure they're all well developed enough for the audience to fall in love with them. After all, people will forgive anything as long as they care about your characters...
And despite all the bad writing, I could've at least stayed engaged as long as our cast had amazing chemistry, but alas, it's just not there...I'm bored to death.
Overall, the writing and acting just isn't good enough to hold my interest...One Piece Live Action is still the gold standard when it comes to adaptations -at least they concentrated on character writing and relationships above all else.
Watching the live action was slow to start but, by the end I found myself really enjoying it. As a Netflix show its better then most but, in the beginning ,I had a hard time watching it because, I was comparing it to its original however, once I could overlook that aspect it really wasn't that bad of a show. It needs some improvement but, where it stands it was ok
I'm surprised you didn't mention Aang straight up flying in the adaptation even without the glider. Since flight was a core plot point in the legend of Korra during the Zaheer arc (with the whole abandon your earthly tether thing), these scenes seemed at least odd... But, i guess, it should've looked fine for the newer audience
I didn't mention it, because he doesn't fly, he falls with style.
Until I saw people fuming on twitter, I would've never even considered that someone might interpret that as flight. 😂
@@Koroto then, i guess, there's a thin line between flying and falling with style😅
i Agree with you, I didn’t watch the animation, i really enjoy watching the netflix version.
I have a big problem with the voice over monologues in the lasts episodes. Maybe I was too high when I watch it, but I felt like it drags and doesn't make much sense
i enjoyed it. but i hope they fix some acting and writing errors in later seasons
This is probably going to get me shot. I like animation of most kinds, but (by and large), I don't care for straight-up Japanese anime. And before you call me racist, not all Japanese people like it either. I don't care for the herky-jerky movements, mouths that don't articulate properly, pans of still images, the fact that too many people seem to have hair in their eyes...what's up with that? I'm in my mid-fifties. When I was young, the only Japanese anime we had access to was a show called _Speed Racer._ That's when the TV went off...or I found my mind wandering. I guess I like more fluid motion and properly-articulated mouths in my animation.
That said, I _love_ _Avatar: the Last Airbender._ The mixture of Western and Japanese influences hits the sweet spot because it fixes the things I hated about anime since I was tiny. The character design draws heavily from Japanese anime, which is fine. In fact, it's fantastic. Character design (aside from those characters who always have hair covering their eyes) is usually very well done. For some reason, it's important to me that characters aren't static, move fluidly and speak with properly-articulated mouths. Just call it a personal preference. (As for Toph, it makes sense that she has hair in her eyes because she doesn't use them.)
_Into the Spider-verse_ and _Across the Spiderverse_ are two of my favorite movies. That was quite a feat to pull off in my case. I'm not a huge fan of comic books or superhero movies; I don't care for rap / hip-hop. Graffiti makes me want to gouge my eyes out. But the Spider-verse movies are so fantastic, they transcend genres. Some of the animation is "crunchy", but there are reasons. The jerkiness of anime, the pans over still images, the non-articulated mouths: These all seemed like rather lazy storytelling to me. And so far, I haven't found an anime show that transcends genres like the Spiderverse movies did.
I get it if you feel differently, but "not liking anime" is not the same thing as "not liking animation," depending upon how you define anime. It just doesn't blow my hair back. Usually, there are some songs / movies / books in every genre that speak to me, but I haven't found any Japanese anime that actually appeals to me.Yes, I've seen _Death Note._ It just ain't my cup of tea.
It makes little sense that Zuko's crew is the 41st. It's not because he disagreed on the plan to sacrifice the 41st that they wouldn't get sacrificied anyway.
Unless either Iroh made arrangement for them to get assigned to Zuko or Ozai did (which is quiet unlikely in both case)
I thought it was okay, great points this video
I feel That they missed things that we werent expecting them to and perfected things we were not expecting them to
Was this boomi a mad genius tho? 🤔. Also leaves from the Vine as iroh's score had me crying every time 💔🥹
Thank you for pointing out Aang never Waterbending!!! That had bugged and annoyed me so much!!!
They said they were doing less Aang solo journeys which honestly I couldn’t even think of that many from the og but that was a lie anyways! Aang goes to visit Bumi by himself, goes to Rokus temple by himself, people have said the gaang seemingly develop their connections offscreen and it is so true! Sokka is with the mechanist and katara is with jet with minor scenes in between! What is going on?? I genuinely enjoyed it but they need that pacing and writing up to par.
I can’t help but mourn the absolute character assassination of azula in book one. I don’t mind her being there earlier than the original, but they portray her as a whiny teenager crying for her dads affection. It absolutely kills the genius, emotionless, killer teen in which the gravity of her actions absolutely betray her real age and lack of time on this earth. Even though she is evil, she was always one of my favorite characters to see on screen because she was so clever and calculating. They wrote her in this version to literally cry and throw tantrums to oppose her dad. Feels like a complete character assassination.
I absolutely hate they made Koh an "evil man-eating" monster instead of... You know, what spirits are supposed to be? Almost extra terrestrial beings who act outside of morals, nor evil, nor good.
It’s alright but it kinda feels rushed…. Not much time to see the gang and other characters develop relationships… also I didn’t like the Bumi scene I was looking for it to look just like the show when Aang fought him…. I hate when they change stuff around and don’t stick to the main plot of the show from the beginning…
ive been waiting for the nerve gear for over a decade...someday...someday
Yes it has flaws but I was honestly genuinely surprised by how good it was. It was fun! They nailed the cast, costumes, creatures and especially the bending. I hated the bending in the movie and I find they finally nailed that part which makes the action exciting. It made me hopeful that season 2 will be even better and that they will fix a lot of the season 1 issues.
I definitely wasn't expecting Brazil's ex president on a Koroto's videokkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Great to watch as an additive of having watched the original material, prolly terrible if you know nothing about it, but overall, entertaining enough and reminded me of a modern Spy Kids, but with more budget.
I watched with a friend and we both brought up Spykids at the same time during the Zuko vs Aang fight in Omashu. It’s frustrating because they occasionally hit the perfect balance of camp/quality and then the scene changes and they can’t maintain the energy. Really hoping they get the hang of it as the cast and team mature with the series.
@@KuldesacMedia I think the main take away for me relating it to Spy Kids were shots of amazing looking background sets (which were fine on their own) but then displayed behind the actors was just, not great looking green screening... I didn't experience this in the slightest when it came to the One Piece live action, and I know alot of their sets were practical, but I'm sure plenty of green screen must have been used. Hmm, upon actually looking it up, it seems like One Piece live action was very against using green screens, and I guess that's why it never looked bad lmao
You spitting facts
The perfect? Appa and Momo? They were barely in it at all. I was left wondering about there existence some of the time. Or like where they vanished to. Like Appa I can get it but Momo should have had more. I really don’t know where either were for so much of the show
when i was watching i would legitimately forget about their existence until their next appearance 😭 it makes me wonder if they're going to cut the Appa's lost days arc from the next season, cause we have not spent any time with him so far to form the emotional connection that makes that arc so impactful and sad.
we've also already seen wan shi tong here so I'm assuming we won't get the library episode at all ?
@@mglemsom if they were to cut both of those then I don’t even know what season 2 is at that point. Toph and Bossingsai. Also Azula involved.
Yeah though Appa and Momo were such an after thought in this. Every time they were on screen I was like “where have you been!?!” And then they go to a location and Appa just is no where to be seen. How the frick can I not spot a giant buffalo!?! Yeah it just could have been handled better. Honestly the more I sit on the series the more things bug me and don’t make sense. Makes me appreciate the animated series all the more though
I just watched the whole series in a day. It was PAINFUL waiting for all the eps to drop but I made it. What's my opinion of it? I liked it. There were some great additions and I like they took things from ALL the lore including Korra and the comics and books. This all wasn't around in the OG run and made the world feel bigger. I don't mind that Kyoshi was the first Avatar Aang met because she has ALWAYS been my fav besides Aang. I agree they must be planning something for Roku and I'm here for it. Paul as Iroh was BRILLIANT! Gordon was PERFECT! I wasn't a big fan of Katara until eps 7 and 8 when her spark from the OG series finally came alive. Momo and Appa were ADORABLE! The visuals were GREAT! I like they had to learn HOW bending looked so all the motions looked the same regardless of who was doing it. Don't get me started about Yue's hair but otherwise, I liked her.
My take is that the graphics are great but please they don't need to rush the storyline
We recently watched Percy Jackson and the Olympicians and they did the same thing with pacing ... Dont change too much about the characters, you can change somethings but not this many
22:25 intresting statue
After watching the adaptation, I realized all I ever want in terms of a remake/reboot is for the animators of Arcane to remake ATLA keeping the original dub, and change nothing else.
As for the latest release, visuals and set design were stellar, but other than that they took great characters and made them worse. They took a perfect story and threw it into a centrifuge and got out a jumbled mess.
13:38 Kiyoshi showed the attack of North tribe to Aang bcs unlike original the comet was the time limit, within that time period Aang had to master all elements which is relatively very short time , few months.
But Netflix can't do 6 months journey bcs of how long it takes to shoot and cast growing up.
26:40 Idk why people are mad at Bhumi's different characterization. Okay I haven't watched the original so I really don't get it but as a new viewer I totally understood what Bhumi was trying in Netflix.
He was very bitter and tired of the whole war and hurt to see how the Avatar is still carefree when he has to choose b/w "who to feed the the last portion the soliders or the public"? He was depressed and hopeless. Even encouraging Aang to let the rock fall so it can end , atleast for him. 😞
But Aang shows him he isn't alone anymore and gives him hope back. That episode whole theme was team work makes the dream work.
I think if Aang gave a wiser response to Bhumi instead of simple "together with friends we can make it" then it would hv elevated the show.
Bcs Bhumi's concerns were legit , terrifying and heartbreaking but Aang just gives a very child like response.
I think the obvious issue throughout the show is that it's not trying to be wise and you can only do that with effective dialogues. But this shows dialogues r too straightforward. Especially with Aang.
He is a kid but he needs to have the maturity to be an Avatar . Which is hardly reflected in his any response.
Overall the show is good as it's own story. Comparing with original you will find it short but for new audience it's nice place to start. You get zest of everything.
Definitely will say original fans need to chill on hate bcs it's definitely not terrible or bad as they think.
Avatar fans .. please watch Scott Pilgrim vs the World!!!
And tell me ….. that Edgar Wright should of directed the live action Avatar series
I dare you to say I’m wrong
I DOUBLE DARE YOU
🫵👍👍👍👌
Love this review,because it's very balanced and doesn't unecessarily hate on the show,but does point out it's flaws. Overall I enjoyed season 1 and I'm confident season 2 and 3 can improve.
Also have you watches The Walking Dead: The ones who live. I had negative thoughts on this series l, but after watching the first two episodes actually enjoyed it.
Haven't seen the 2nd episode yet, but my full reaction and initial thoughts on ep 1 are on my second channel 👍
I have an issue and a fear: Issue
Issue:
The things that are good in this remake are good because the source material was good and they followed the blueprint. The things that are bad, are bad because they changed/diluted/ignored the source material with their own flair. That being said, there are some creative wins as well. The intro was brilliant and I like how they built upon the Fire Lords narcissism and desire to dominate people including his children. Now for the not good. I could pick more than a few times this comes into play but lets run with Katara in the north: I think they shouldn't have given Katara so much support when she rebelled against the patriarchal system of the North. The reality is that many women who are in that system would not have supported her even if they wanted to. It's not like they're being mistreated in this system. It's that the North has gender roles that Katara does not fit into. It would have been more mature to show these women acting as field medics during and after combat then training to be warriors as that's a more realistic outcome and still a place for growth for the North. It would have been a way to show that the system isn't perfect and needs to adapt (water bending value) to this changing world if they want to win this war. But it also would validate that there's value in order and that things that work function because they work even if they're not ideal. Gender equality isn't something that can happen over night. I wish these writers would not have tried to make it look like it does...
Fear:
There's many other things that I could argue that I do not love about this adaptation. But that's just one thing. I'm mostly just nervous about this show. The animation's most valuable moral, is that we should seek to grow from one another and find balance by building on what we each bring from our backgrounds and values. Our current generation really needs that lesson and I really hope that balance and harmony isn't high jacked to shoehorn more modern values in their place.
rn I only watched the first episode. And i liked it, it is to fast but my biggest problem is that ang can fly. I just have a feeling it will make problems in the future
That's not flying, he's falling with style
I see there's good and bad stuff in this first season but This is enjoyable and a lot of easter eggs for the fans. I definitively wants a season 2 and 3 and some improvements. I think (I hope actually) that this will become a great series overall.
I didn't like the way they jumped around in the sequence of things. I found it confusing, and it altered some other parts of the original. It probably wouldn't be a big issue for someone who has never seen the animated series, but it made me want to rewatch the original series to make sure I wasn't imagining things. If that was the point, then they were successful as I have recently started rewatching the original now, thanks to the live action version.
Overall, I found the live action a bit boring in some parts, and it certainly felt rushed. I'd like to see more of the lightheartedness from the animation that seems to be missing and, as others have said, the character flaws.
I will say, though, that one of my favorite scenes from the live action version was when that soldier lays into Iroh after capturing him. That part felt much more real than his capture in the animation. I'd expect them to be that harsh to the Dragon of the West if not even worse. Soldiers often hold a lot of resentment towards enemy forces, especially if they feel like that person was directly responsible for the death of someone close to them.
My two least favorite changes were the owl being in the spirit world instead of the library and the "secret tunnel" scene being pushed so early in the show. Maybe we'll see the owl again though, who knows.
Congrats to them for taking out pieces of the story everyone loves and replacing it with pieces of the newer “lore” that no one loves.