Spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender warning!
People who like Mai; wha-how? Sheβs not that interesting of a character. Sheβs literally just there for Zuko to have a girlfriend. (This is my opinion, donβt come at me.)
Okay, so tell me Maiβs backstory. βSheβs royalty! And she has parental issues!β Okay? Why does she have parental issues?
Also, she just doesnβt get enough screen time. Thatβs the main thing. We donβt know enough about her to be actually interesting. We donβt know her motives, we donβt know a lot about her! When she says, βI love Zuko more than I fear youβ to Azula, literally, girl, fear? You show absolutely no sign of fearing Azula in the first place! Sheβs not that motivating, too! I do believe that if they went a little more in depth about Mai, she couldβve been so interesting! We just know her as a cool, chill girl.
And then Zuko x Mai. Whereβs the appeal? I mean no offense, but they LITERALLY get together again after breaking up on multiple occasions. Like, thatβs already bad enough! Then they get back together after Zuko leaves Mai for dead????????? Is NO ONE gonna question that? I really donβt get it! HE LEFT MAI FOR DEAD. This has a lot of potential for a toxic relationship, especially since they do argue a lot, and donβt have too many romantic moments. I need more chemistry, for them. Until then, Iβll just wait here, confused. I also havenβt seen the adult series (I think that thatβs what it is), and I do believe that Mai and Zuko should break up during it. They just donβt fit right to me.
Okay, letβs compare Mai to Ty Lee. Ty Lee? She gets a LOT of screen time, and we get to see her fear Azula. Mai? Not so much. She doesnβt get a lot of screen time, we donβt get to see her fear Azula like she claimed she did (βI love Zuko more than I fear youβ was one of her lines, and she was talking to Azula), and we donβt see Maiβs personality like we see Ty Leeβs. We see Ty Leeβs hopes and dreams, but not Maiβs. What does Mai want in life? What does she hope for? Because right now, it seems like she doesnβt want ANYTHING in life, except to be in a relationship in Zuko, who LITERALLY left her for dead (which showed his character development). But for Ty Lee, we discover that she wants to be in the circus, she wants to be happy. But then she joins the Kyoshi Warriors, which shows HER character development.
Speaking of character development, whereβs Maiβs? From what we see of her, she doesnβt change at ALL. Aang? Gets character development. Katara? Gets character development. Sokka? Gets character development. Ty Lee? Gets character development. Zuko? Gets. Character. Development. Mai? Gets absolute, zero percent character development. I really donβt understand how people can be so attached to someone who barely changes at all.
Iβd love to hear your opinions, but this is mine. Thank you for reading my rant about Mai and how I personally think of her! Eat food, drink water, stay healthy, and gβbye!