Many anti Zutara arguments cite Zuko and Kataraās obvious discomfort when the play depicts them behaving romantically together as a sign that they could never be in a romantic relationship, which is funny because two young people becoming extremely uncomfortable at the suggestion of them as a couple is itself a romantic trope, and itās one that pops up several times with Zuko and Katara.
Itās kind of amazing when you look back and realize that the show was doing this from the first book.
Zuko: I need you to find someone. [Cut to Kataraās necklace.]
June: [Sarcastically.] What happened, your girlfriend run off on you?
Zuko: Itās not the girl Iām after, itās the bald monk sheās traveling with.
June: [Unamused.] Whatever you say.
At this point when I watched the series, I was definitely not thinking of the idea of Zuko and Katara as a couple, so I was surprised that the show was making this kind of joke about them. Itās easy to write it off as just a one-off joke, but then the show keeps doing it.
June: [To Zuko.] So this is your girlfriend.Ā No wonder she left, sheās way too pretty for you.
Like, this episode is full of innuendo about Zuko and Katara which was kinda ????? to little old me, who knew nothing about the fandom or what was going to happen later between these two characters.
Katara: [Takes the necklace.] Aang, howād you get that?
Aang: Zuko asked me to be sure I got it to you.
Katara: Aw, thatās so sweet of Zuko. Could you give him a kiss for me when you see him?
Katara is clearly being sarcastic, and her behavior here is in contrast to her embarrassment while watching the play, because at this point in the narrative, she and Zuko do not have a relationship, theyāre not friends, they donāt know each other personally, theyāre just enemies. Similarly Zuko is unfazed by Juneās teasing, partly because he is singularly focused on his mission to capture Aang and only sees Katara as a means to accomplish this, but also because he doesnāt have any sort of relationship to Katara other than as an enemy so he doesnāt care what somebody thinks about her in relation to him. Here, theĀ āshe is not my girlfriendā moments have no effect on them because they donāt care about their relationship to one another.
Contrast this with ZukoāsĀ āshe is not my girlfriendā moment with Jin, who he isĀ on a date with, where the suggestion makes him incredibly embarrassed because he does have romantic feelings for her, which he is incredibly nervous about expressing.
Then, in the third to last episode in book 3, Zuko and Katara get a literalĀ āshe is not my girlfriendā moment.
This time theyāre both embarrassed at Juneās teasing because now they doĀ have a relationship. Now, before anyone accuses me of tinhattery, Iām not saying that at this point in the narrative Zuko and Katara have a romantic relationship or that they totally love each other. And of course, two teenagers like Zuko and Katara would definitely be embarrassed in the same situation even if they were just friends. What I am saying is that the fact of them being embarrassed doesnāt rule out a romantic relationship between them, and is, in fact, part of an established romance trope in fiction, especially for young characters. Itās also something that happens a lot in animation, specifically, so the use of this trope is kinda baffling if the fans were never intended to see Zutara as a possibility.
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