@lesbian-suki the same could be said for kataang. the romance was completely one-sided. and strictly speaking in terms of platonic love, the odds are not in kataang’s favor, either. i, personally, do not see how the show proves there was any romantic link between katara and aang.
for context, my deepest friendship’s have been forged through mutual understanding of one another’s pain; the ability to empathize, to know what someone is going through and offer a haven of comfort/support or solutions. and imo, aang was not able to provide these things.
there were many times that aang lied straight to the gaang’s face, dipped out sporadically without telling them where he was going and knowingly putting himself and others in danger because of this, had a complete disregard to save the world in which his friends basically had to drag him through it via their disappointment in him or his own personal image - not out of a moral sense of duty, and even withheld important information containing the whereabouts of their father whom they had not seen in YEARS… and his excuse was that he had been afraid they would leave him - as if him staying with them was not an option? and to make matters worse, they had made huge detour’s off course… FOR LESS.
i don’t think people realize how big of a deal that is, trustworthiness considered. as someone who has lost a father, this was a huge fuck-up on aang’s part, of which he had never fully had to makeup for. they left, came back to fight zuko and june, then it was over. and it. was never. discussed. again. he never even apologized properly!
i think, because of aang’s past actions, this is why he was not the one katara and sokka turned to when it came time to make difficult decisions of helping/avenging their parents. he didn’t understand where they were coming from and he couldn’t give them the support they needed. instead, he used shallow avatar advice that he himself could hardly follow.
zuko, however, was right beside them, for better or worse. and even though it probably wasn’t the best of ideas or the best way to go about it, he knew it was something they needed to do, otherwise they couldn’t move on.
although zuko was an enemy for most of the show, he was honest about his intentions. he never pretended to be their friends, never lied to them, and he won all of his fights fair and square. he stayed with the group even though they hated him at first and he refused to walk away from their ridicule. and when he apologized, he actually looked like he felt deep remorse for his actions.
there were many ways for zuko to connect with not only katara, but everyone else in the group because of the suffering he had gone through, and was still willing to go through for them and the cause. he knew he had an empire on his shoulders from the very beginning and he chose to be the best he could be in order to serve his nation.
when i see these scenes that OP has given us, i see all of the times aang could have been a better friend, but wasn’t. he tried to pull the avatar card many times, yet when it came time to make actual hard avatar decisions, he flaked. if i had to choose a best friend, it certainly would not be aang. and i honestly don’t know how bryke thought they could base a relationship off of a friendship as weak as that. they were petty af and instead of ending a kids show with a group hug as would befit and sum up the entirety of the show, they ended it with a stupid kiss.