ZUKO & UNCLE IROH ARE ON THEIR OWN NOW! - Avatar S2E1

He's just a man with a boomerang, he didn't ask for all this flying and magic.

Travis Knopps

Azula is pretty much psycho Zuko on super steroids with lightning XD, easily the best villain of the whole franchise. Oh and the hair cutting means they seperate themselves from the Fire Nation, hell Iroh catching Azula with a surprise attack and throwing her overboard would be probably already enough to flee but they also realized that Ozai straight up send Azula on the hunt for them.

gunchar

Azula is so efficient and perfectly evil that you can’t help but be glued to the screen whenever she’s on it. She is FUN.

1yoyoyo2

Azula is a great character, even though she's pure unadulterated evil.

Straight White Male

Strictly speaking it is an anime. The terminology for any cartoon in japan is "anime" as thats their word. However the "anime culture" that has developed online excludes Western made shows. Thats why stuff like wakfu and code lyoko don't count despite the french word for cartoon also being anime

I mean. at least give Sokka a better weapon, come on.

Anciient

That's pretty neat, and it would seem air benders were all bald, at least the men anyway.

Anciient

I think azulas conversation with the captain tells you a lot. She shows remarkable skill at manipulating people and that she knows exactly how to get what she wants.

Miklar Sihn

But of course, Avatar is an American creation, so there's a lot of blending of cultures among the nations. Their top knots aren't the traditional samurai top knot, theirs are similar to what you'd imagine an aristocrat would wear. The way Zuko wears his is similar to an Indian top knot. I don't remember the name, but it's pretty common for them to shave every part of their head but the hair surrounding the top knot. Germanic people did it too. Pretty cool to look into.

I'm pretty certain that the relevance of them cutting their hair in the ending scene is because they have a top knot. During the Edo period in Japan, a top knot was indicative of status. Samurai would wear them as a way to keep their helmets on, eventually, it became a status symbol associated with royalty once the samurai took over. When the samurai would step down, they would be announcing the end of their life achievements. They would remove their top knot as a recognition of their status. Today it's only really relevant with sumo wrestlers and women. For women, long hair is usually seen on single women, and then they cut it short when they have children, usually due to impracticality. A young single woman who normally has long hair, if she cuts it short, she may have a negative social impact because of it. Sumo wrestlers still wear the top knot today and follow the same tradition as the samurai. When they retire, they retire their top knot or chonmage.

You can call this Cunt all the name calling you want, doesn’t change the fact that this bitch is one of the most Badass Character in all of Avatar with her demeanor and pure skills alone.

I mean he’s 8ish episodes ahead soo I certain he knows

Just to highlight how much of a badass Azula is, she barely used one tiny burst of fire right at the end of her fight with Zuko in this episode. Everything else was just her highly trained fighting capability. What's so great about this (compared to many other shows and movies) is that her skills aren't just "she's awesome because the plot says so"; we see her practicing forms over and over, enraged when literally a single hair is out of place. She is *obsessed* with being perfect in everything she does, and her skills reflect that.

Liesmith

Since you were wondering why they cut their top-knot and some here gives good hypothesis but not quite accurate, I will quote the wiki-page from Avatar to clarify: "The top-knot is a sign of honor in the Fire Nation. After becoming fugitives, Zuko and Iroh cut off their top-knots and threw them into a creek to symbolize their rejection of their homeland and the beginning of their true exile."

I love Azula. She has barely even begun her stint as this shows best villain. Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure you’ll hate her. But the good kind of hate her. Lol It is important to keep in mind though, she is only 14 yet already at worst the 3rd most powerful fire bender in the world.

Chris Peacock

I would imagine it's "basic physics": heat air enough to create plasma (ergo lightning)

V_VMat

The growing of their hair has as much symbolism to them for their nation as it does to real life nations, such as mine, it shows who they are and where they're lineage comes from. The Earth Kingdom Benders have a similar tradition in the sense of their beards, that I'm envious of, as well as the Water Tribe in the form of their hair loops.

The Gimpster 101

I would think Its quite a bit more 2 than anything, it means effectively severing ties with the fire nation but I dont know if theyre really thinking about allegience and the like, they need to hide so they get rid of what would prove their identities, but in doing so also getting rid of their identities. Also, strictly speaking Avatar isnt an anime :P Relevance here, I dont know how much Japanese symbolism and culture they are actually familiar with or would use. Actually I think culturally alot of the things in Avatar are closer to other Asian nations than Japan

Schmul Sjifris

HAha, I'm dying at the Rodney Dangerfield reference. To this day my favorite bit is , and I'm paraphrasing from memory, "My girlfriend told me to come on over, nobody's home. So, I went over and nobody was home!" I tell ya, Sokka gets no respect!

Jake from SF

To answer your question about cutting the hair, it serves two purposes. 1.) It symbolizes casting off both who they are and whos clan (or nation in some cases) they are allied to. 2.) It is harder for them to be found if their hairstyles are different from before. I hope this helps you and keep up the good vids.

Uncle Iroh is MVP, That lightning bending is fire tho Curtis 😁

Spookie Dookie