Persephone-sails - Don't Argue With Me, I'm Right

Shine On  - Joe Webb , 2022.

British , b. 1976 -

Silkscreen with UV inks, gloss and glitter UV varnish , 70 x 90 cm.

I know Katara being a overbearing maternal figure to Aang who doesn’t really get her is used as comedy relief in the show, but it’s given an entirely new significance when she tells Aang that “I knew you wouldn’t understand” in the Southern Raiders. Again, this is Bryke taking characteristics of Kataang that were never presented as issues and turning them into unresolved conflicts. It just shows that when Aang denies Katara’s dark side and acts like she didn’t mean in that way (e.g. when she fought with Pakku and Toph), it actually impacted her. It reveals that she was long aware of the fact that she could never be fully honest or vulnerable with Aang because she would ultimately reject those not so pretty parts of her. As someone who has abandonment issues stemming from childhood loss, Katara likely ignored or suffered through this realization just to keep Aang by her side. Since she won’t defend herself, she simply plays it off.

With this in mind, it’s no wonder she was always so vague and ambiguous about her feelings towards him, save for a few instances. It seems like she loved Aang’s personality and what he stood for, but was hesitant to ever start a relationship to him because she knows that she can’t be her true self around him. This could also explain why despite Katara openly sticking up for what she believes in, she let Aang do whatever with their children. The fact that a one-sided relationship like this where one party explicitly states that the other does not understand them in canon still ended up being endgame is wild and nonsensical.

When I was a kid and watched Original Dragon Ball, Yamcha used to be one of my favorite characters back then.

Such underrated character. He's cute, I love him, and he deserves more love 🐺