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He doesn’t have that light-hearted, sweet little kid look that the animated version has. Probably because anime can give you larger eyes and narrower chins, which are associated more with children and women, which makes us think cute and sweet.
Just an observation.
Edit: also bad lighting in the live action photo
I don’t know anything about Avatar but curious why it seems to be based on East Asian cultures (I’m guessing mostly Chinese) but the name “Avatar” is Indian? Like I get why James Cameron’s Avatar is called that but any reason why here?
Edit: lol looked it up, Aang literally reincarnates. Makes sense. Also - https://in.mashable.com/entertainment/39388/desi-twitter-is-upset-about-avatar-the-last-airbender-live-action-casting-heres-why-it-makes-sense
There are definitely themes in ATLA based on Indian cultures, such as the name of the show itself, but most of the characters are more based on East and Southeast Asian cultures. Dunno why things ended up that way. Lots of the characters are lighter skinned like the actors but Katara and Sokka are definitely exceptions. Both actors are indigenous North American but their animated versions were much darker. As a fan of the show, I think the actors seem like good choices so far but I can see it being seen as lightwashing for sure. Having more South Asian looking characters would feel very normal in-universe so they could do that in later seasons.
I tried to edit a blue arrow onto caillou before but the episodes are all so insufferable I couldn’t get even a quarter of the way done.
“My name is Eeng”
It seems like they really are going for a 1:1 adaptation. So, unlike other IPs that have had unfaithful (and shitty) live-action adaptations, this one will live or die by how well it manages to create the magic and heart of the original. It might come off as soulless, because things like “heart” are so intangible (unlike plot points and character lines) that it’s incredibly difficult to replicate.
