Is Avatar the Last Airbender an Isekai Anime or a Xianxia Donghua?

[jabathehut]

Consider the following:

Under these definitions, we can state that avatar, the last airbender may fall firmly into the Xuanhuan category, being a system of cultivation empowered through learning martial arts and internal energy. Now, suppose that this postulation is factual; is Avatar the last airbender also an Isekai Anime?

Technically, when you time travel, you go to a different world. The world is totally different from the one that Aang grew up in. Consider the Isekai Steins Gate, this is also a time travel isekai. What category does AATL most fall into?

 

[jabathehut]

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

If you are a Chinese person, maybe. If you are someone else, your categorisation seems lacklustre.

The water tribe are clearly Inuit.

The air nomads are Buddhist monks.

The fire nation are basically imperialistic pre-1945 Japanese.

And the Earth kingdom is China and the punching bag for our fire Japanese friends.

So no idea why you would call Avatar Xuanhuan.

 

[K5Rakitan]

There's no reason why it can't be multiple genres.

 

[weakwithwords]

Anime, originally a french term, is a cartoon made by japanese. Just the dialogue in avatar and korra is a very big clue that they are not anime.

Steins; Gate isn't an isekai (a new world). MC's consciousness is traversing different timelines of the same world.


Whenever people get bored enough, they might start seeing zebras among a herd of horses.

 

[AliceShiki]

Avatar isn't Isekai, Aang is still in the same world as before. Not to mention he did not time travel, he just stayed frozen for some years.

Avatar is not Xuanhuan, that genre is a Chinese genre. Though Avatar is based on some aspects of Oriental culture, it has nothing to do with Cultivation.

Avatar is also not an anime in the Western sense of the word (In the Japanese sense of the word, all animations are animes), as it was made by Western Producers and was targeted at a Western Audience.

Avatar can fit into stuff like Action, Fantasy and Adventure I guess. But comparing it to Xuanhuan is silly... What's next? You gonna call Naruto and DBZ as Xuanhuan too? That comparison just doesn't make sense.

 

[jabathehut]

Avatar isn't Isekai, Aang is still in the same world as before. Not to mention he did not time travel, he just stayed frozen for some years.

Avatar is not Xuanhuan, that genre is a Chinese genre. Though Avatar is based on some aspects of Oriental culture, it has nothing to do with Cultivation.

Avatar is also not an anime in the Western sense of the word (In the Japanese sense of the word, all animations are animes), as it was made by Western Producers and was targeted at a Western Audience.

Avatar can fit into stuff like Action, Fantasy and Adventure I guess. But comparing it to Xuanhuan is silly... What's next? You gonna call Naruto and DBZ as Xuanhuan too? That comparison just doesn't make sense.

Yes, Naruto and DBZ are clearly Xuanhuan. Chakra and Ki? Internal energy? Xuanhuan.

Anime, originally a french term, is a cartoon made by japanese. Just the dialogue in avatar and korra is a very big clue that they are not anime.

Steins; Gate isn't an isekai (a new world). MC's consciousness is traversing different timelines of the same world.


Whenever people get bored enough, they might start seeing zebras among a herd of horses.

MC's consciousness transferring to different worlds? Isekai.

 

[jabathehut]

Avatar isn't Isekai, Aang is still in the same world as before. Not to mention he did not time travel, he just stayed frozen for some years.

Avatar is not Xuanhuan, that genre is a Chinese genre. Though Avatar is based on some aspects of Oriental culture, it has nothing to do with Cultivation.

Avatar is also not an anime in the Western sense of the word (In the Japanese sense of the word, all animations are animes), as it was made by Western Producers and was targeted at a Western Audience.

Avatar can fit into stuff like Action, Fantasy and Adventure I guess. But comparing it to Xuanhuan is silly... What's next? You gonna call Naruto and DBZ as Xuanhuan too? That comparison just doesn't make sense.

Naruto's chakra pathways vs taoist meridians

 

[Arexio]

Neither..?

I feel like you need to revisit these definitions again. Or watch ATLA again.

Yes, it's heavily influenced by JP anime (art, culture, etc.), but it's also influenced by many other elements, including martial arts (bending style), religion (spirit world, enlightenment), architecture, etc. from a number of other Asian cultures including Chinese, Indian, SEA countries, and others.

This is the product of Western producers intentionally choosing to create a narrative influenced by Asian cultures. And they said diversity was bad.

 

[jabathehut]

Neither..?

I feel like you need to revisit these definitions again. Or watch ATLA again.

Yes, it's heavily influenced by JP anime (art, culture, etc.), but it's also influenced by many other elements, including martial arts (bending style), religion (spirit world, enlightenment), architecture, etc. from a number of other Asian cultures including Chinese, Indian, SEA countries, and others.

This is the product of Western producers intentionally choosing to create a narrative influenced by Asian cultures. And they said diversity was bad.

xuanhuan isnt JP

 

[Arexio]

Wow this guy is worse than Scribbler.

Time to move on.

 

[jabathehut]

Wow this guy is worse than Scribbler.

Time to move on.

Who is scribbler?

 

[tiaf]

Who is scribbler?

Somebody who doesn't want to be mentioned, so drop it or this thread will get closed before others can grill you you can discuss further

 

[AliceShiki]

Yes, Naruto and DBZ are clearly Xuanhuan. Chakra and Ki? Internal energy? Xuanhuan.

That shows the problem of your argument. DBZ and Naruto are not Xuanhuan, they're Shounen manga first and foremost. If you wanna give them more genres, you can give Fantasy, Action and Adventure.

They are not categorized as Xuanhuan anywhere, so they're not Xuanhuan. It is plain false to make this statement.

Naruto's chakra pathways vs taoist meridians
View attachment 2847

Using references from their own culture does not suddenly make the manga as something of the genre you want them to be.

Following this line of thought, Naruto would be an adaptation of the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter because the final boss is Princess Kaguya.

 

[jabathehut]

That shows the problem of your argument. DBZ and Naruto are not Xuanhuan, they're Shounen manga first and foremost. If you wanna give them more genres, you can give Fantasy, Action and Adventure.

They are not categorized as Xuanhuan anywhere, so they're not Xuanhuan. It is plain false to make this statement.

Using references from their own culture does not suddenly make the manga as something of the genre you want them to be.

Following this line of thought, Naruto would be an adaptation of the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter because the final boss is Princess Kaguya.

Its a xuanhuan shonen.

 

[jabathehut]

Somebody who doesn't want to be mentioned, so drop it or this thread will get closed before others can grill you you can discuss further

@Scribbler

 

[AliceShiki]

Its a xuanhuan shonen.

That's plain nonsense. It is not classified as xuanhuan by anyone that was involved in its creation or the company involves in its distribution.

What you're saying is plain and simply objectively wrong. You can't call a something as something it is not to try making your point, you're building your argument on a lie. It's ridiculous.

 

[Ral]

This is just ridiculous.

I know that the definitions of genres can be quite vague, but this is just stretching things too far.

There is a clear difference between isekai and time travel. While yes, the character essentially travel from a different setting to another, but isekai is traveling into a completely different world/universe, while time travel is a character traveling through time. There is a distinct difference and that is all you need to separate the two.

There are similarities but the difference is important too; what sets them apart from each other. Seriously, your logic is like this: Dogs have four legs. Cats have four legs too. Therefore, Cats are Dogs.

And Avatar isn't xuanhuan. Xuanhuan has Chinese Mythology at its base with added foreign elements. Avatar clearly doesn't have the Chinese Mythology base. In fact, it is the opposite. It has a strong Western base (with the four elements, the bending and its story structure) with touches of Eastern.

 

[tiaf]

At this point I just think that crown fall is shitposting.

Let this thread get drown.

 

[jabathehut]

That's plain nonsense. It is not classified as xuanhuan by anyone that was involved in its creation or the company involves in its distribution.

What you're saying is plain and simply objectively wrong. You can't call a something as something it is not to try making your point, you're building your argument on a lie. It's ridiculous.

The creators don't define what they create, if they did then we would pronounce "gif" as "jif".

This is just ridiculous.
...
And Avatar isn't xuanxuan. ...

Whats xuanxuan?