u/Hairy_Wedding_4535

I’ve been thinking about this a lot with Avatar, especially after reading the Kyoshi and Yangchen books.

With past Avatars, it feels easier to accept that they lived in harsher times and were willing to do what needed to be done. Kyoshi and Yangchen were Avatars who understood that, in extreme situations, lethal force might be necessary.

But after Aang, it feels like the standard changed. Aang became such a strong moral benchmark that now it almost feels like future Avatars are expected to always find another way.

So my question is: do you think Aang’s no-kill mindset has basically become the moral standard for future Avatars? Or would you be open to a future Avatar who, like Kyoshi or Yangchen, believed that some people were beyond saving in extreme cases?

For example, take villains like Zaheer or Kuvira. If a future Avatar after Aang decided, after everything they had done, that they were too dangerous to be left alive, would that feel wrong for the Avatar? Or do you think even a post-Aang Avatar could still make that kind of harsher choice?

Y’all mind if I hate real quick?

Because I need to get something off my chest about Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl.

I saw this promoted, thought it looked cool as hell, and decided to treat myself to a theater anime screening. I walked in ready to have a good time.

Instead, I met Mr. Elegance.

I have disliked anime characters before.

Mr. Elegance made me understand AM.

I do not even need to paste the whole hate speech. Just know that every word of that monologue is the exact energy I am sending in this man’s direction.

And I’m not even being funny about it. This man hit a level of immediate, spiritual, full-body disgust in me that I usually reserve for stepping in something wet while wearing socks. Every time he appeared on screen, my soul recoiled.

What makes it worse is that the movie actually had me at first. The premise was interesting. The setup had potential. Ubu in her adult form had me way more invested, and I could absolutely see a version of this story that I would have been into. Then Mr. Elegance kills her adult body, has her put back into a body based on her 14-year-old self, and proceeds to be disgusting about it. That is the point where the whole thing started rotting from the inside out.

Because this is not just some tired anime perv gag that I can roll my eyes at and move past. No. This man is creepily fixated on her younger form, spying on her, taking pictures, acting disgusting, watching her while she showers, and every single scene with him felt like the story stopping and jumping off a cliff. It was not funny. It was not quirky. It was not edgy. It was just foul. Straight-up foul.

He did not make me more interested in the story. He did not make me curious to see where things go. He made me want him launched directly into the sun. And then the sun needs to implode because it’s now contaminated by Mr. Elegance.

And then the final insult: this was not even a complete story. The theater runtime made it look like I was getting a full movie, and then the actual anime portion was barely over 30 minutes with the rest being behind-the-scenes content. So not only did I get baited into a short incomplete story, but I had to spend that short runtime dealing with one of the most revolting characters I have ever had the displeasure of sitting through in a theater.

That man destroyed my interest completely. I do not care what happens next. I do not care if she kills him. I do not care what twist they reveal later. I do not care if the sequel somehow becomes the greatest thing ever animated. He poisoned this so thoroughly for me that I walked out wanting nothing to do with it anymore.

Maybe there are technically worse characters out there. I do not care. Mr. Elegance was disgusting enough to completely kill my interest in this story, and that is all I needed.

From the bottom of my heart, with every cell in my body, I hate Mr. Elegance.

No kill rule