Why is Asami Sato So Popular? (Spoilers Allowed)

[Winter]

In contrast to post on Mako and asking why he stayed in the series I want to go over Asami and ask the question, why is Asami so popular with the Avatar fandom? Before anyone post this I don't think that her eventual relationship with Korra is the main reason as Asami was already a pretty popular character even before she and Korra started to show an interest in each other.

Funnily enough Asami was actually largely hated by many fans before she even made a proper appearance in the show because she was an obstacle to Korra and Mako getting together and Mako was rather popular because many saw him as the spiritual successor to fan favorite Zuko. Then we got to know both of them and by the end of Air Mako was so disliked that TV Tropes supposedly had to lock off their YMMV page because it was getting flooded with hate on his character. By contrast Asami had become something of a fan favorite with many feeling that the show was being unusually cruel to her and many wanted her to find genuine happiness.

In fact many of Chuck's praises towards Asami are ones I have read/heard about Asami before and I would be lying if I said that I haven't said the same. In fact one of the biggest issues most people had with Spirits was how Asami kept getting sidelined throughout the series in favor of Mako which only got worse after Mako's dumbest moment of lying to Korra about their breakup so he could get back together with her.

And then we have Change and Balance where Asami not only continued to grow in popularity but was now the one most fans had wanted to see Korra hook up with mainly due to their great chemistry and the fact that they actually had a healthy relationship. It also helped that Asami was always given more to do in the plot besides be Korra's possible love interest as she also had her company and her trying to rebuild her relationship with her father which was, in my most humble opinion, more engaging then anything going on with Mako, Bolin or even Kuvira.

I think the reason Asami is so popular is for 7 reasons.

1: As Chuck said, because the writers couldn't use her in the story for whatever reason that much they needed to make every moment she had count and gave her as much development and nuance as they could.

2: Unlike Mako who had most of what he wanted just given to him without actually doing anything to earn it, Asami was forced to fight for everything she got be it her trying to save her company, her growing relationship with Korra and her rebuilding her relationship with her father. If there was something Asami wanted she would have to fight to get it and keep it which is much more compelling then just being rewarded with whatever you want with no questions asked.

3: Asami always allowed us to see her when she was at her most vulnerable with a good, if minor, example of this being at the start of Spirits when she puts on a brave face for her employees but when she walks away her face sadness to show that the pressure and failing of her company is getting to her.

4: While the pressure does get to Asami she rarely, if ever, complains about her bad luck and the few times she does she does so in a very mature manor.

5: She balances out Korra more so then any other character. Tenzin and Lin tend to find themselves arguing with Korra either due to ideological reasons while Bolin and Jinora tend to be a bit more passive. Asami is the only one who can get Korra to see reason when she's taking things to far but also knows when she just needs to let her vent things out.

6: Asami is every bit as awesome as Korra. Like Chuck said, she's basically Batman if had been better capable of coping with the loss of his parents. Just to give one examples while saving Prince Neelix/Wu Mako spends the whole episode either making the situation worse or being useless while Asami is shown to be as competent as Korra and without her Korra might not have been able to save the day.

And finally 7: She's a genuinely a nice person and while she can hold a grudge she is willing to forgive those who have wronged her so long as they are honestly trying to make up for their past crimes. Basically in addition to being Batman she's also Mr. Rodgers. She projects an air of genuine, unwavering, almost saintly pure-hearted decency. But when you look deeper, at the person behind the image ... that's exactly what you find there, too. She's exactly what he appears to be.

That's why I think Asami is so popular and while her being Korra's final love interest certainly added to that popularity that's all it did, added to something that was already great in it's own right.

[Lizuka]

Really for me I think it boils down to in season 2 she was one of the very few likable characters and they just managed to keep up the momentum beyond that. At least that's it for me; I honestly rather disliked her in season 1 but in season 2 she heavily grew on me just because she, along with Tenzin and Varrick, was pretty much an oasis in a desert of stupid assholes.

[Worffan101]

She's voiced by a good actress, is generally a kind and likable person, audiences LOVE "sad but kindhearted young woman from poorly-regarded family trying to make good", is intelligent and a woman who does tech stuff, and quite frankly she and Varrick are the only characters in season 2 who I can watch for more than 5 seconds without wanting to punch through my computer screen.

Essentially the same reason Lena Luthor went from "let's rehash Smallville on the side" to "well shit everybody loves this character now, she'd better be in everything" on Supergirl. Good actress, character is kindhearted and likable, intelligent tech woman, poorly-regarded family, needs a hug, and the main plot (with the all-powerful badass female protagonist and her jerkwad boyfriend who keeps getting rammed down the audience's throat even though he's completely intolerable) is a chore to sit through.

IIRC late season 2 was when Asami became a serious contended in the fan shipping wars. Season 3 was when the writers realized they inadvertently struck gold, and season 4 just plain rocked.

[Winter]

There's a really good article on why Asami is such a great character and while I don't agree with everything in it, (most notable being that Asami works best in small doses but as shown in Turf Wars Asami has been given a lot more "screen time" and is still as awesome as she was in the show proper) but it's still pretty good.

Here's the article in question.

https://www.thefandomentals.com/asami-sato-intensifies/

[CharlesPhipps]

She looks like an animated Kate McGrath and is a likable, sunny dispositioned, and always useful.

It helps she's also Batwoman to their Justice League.

[Sir Will]

I've only seen the first 1.5 seasons (plus Chuck's reviews of the end of season 2). She was my favorite character because she was the nicest character and fairly fleshed out. Bolin is decent but fairly flat. As has been said before, Sokka was comic relief but there was more to him than that. There isn't much more to Bolin or his stories. Korra was very abrasive for much of season 1 and was just horrible in early season 2 so she turned me off of her. And Mako... I liked him, but as time went on and he screwed up more..... I mean, when I like Asami more than Korra it doesn't help to see Mako leave Asami for Korra. I do think Mako gets too much hate though. I didn't realize until recently just how much hate he gets.

But Asami is nice and a badass. She's assertive. And when all this shit piles on such a character it makes you want her to succeed even more.

[Rodan56]

Given that I had no stake in the shipping game this go around, I never really was against Asami at all. In fact, I was unsure how to feel about her in general until she turned on her dad to help her new friends. After that, I was more or less down to follow her adventures more or less as a hotter, sexier, lady version of Sokka, the Non-Bender of the group with extra helpings of smarty smarts.

By season three, I feel like the writers had come around to my way of thinking that said "Korra and Asami are the best characters here, lets just use them more. In fact, let's put them on a team together and knock it off with the romance subplots involving the two of them for good."

So I don't know, I think I was more open to Asami than most of the characters because of her various actions, deeds and general coolness. She does seem a lot like Batman, well, Batwoman. In more ways than one in fact and I'm not just talking about how her orientation panned out.

So, yeah, I guess I liked her because she was the best written, most engaging and on par wit Korra. That's basically it.

[Winter]

I also think it helps that, even with the small amount of screen time she got throughout the series Asami was also given the most to do in the plot of every season with only Korra and Tenzin matching her. In season 1 there's her conflict with her father, season 2 has her trying to save her company, season 3 has her growing relationship with Korra, season 4 as her continuing growing relationship with Korra along with her rebuilding her relationship with her father and Turf Wars further focuses on her relationship with Korra and helping to rebuild Republic City. And given her involvement in her father's murder I suspect that Asami will have quite a few issues with Kuvira in Ruins of the Empire.

It also helps that Asami Does grow as a character throughout the series and that her relationship with other characters also grow and develop throughout the series. She and Mako go from lovers to Amicable Exes, she has a falling out with her father which she then tries to rebuild and her working relationship with Varrick also notably changes as he is able to easily manipulate her in season 2 to her making it clear that doing so again is something he will regret should he try it again. And you know how her and Korra's relationship grows over the series.

In fact the only relationship that she has that doesn't really change is with Bolin. The two meet, becomes friends and stay that way throughout the rest of the series which is fine but I do think that does add to the issues Bolin has as a character as it's less about him and more about the people around him. But aside from that Asami's relationship with the rest of the cast is really well written and adds to her character development.

I also think that the fact that Korra and Asami's respective inner circles nicely parallel each other. Case in point, while Tenzin and Hiroshi does care for their respective daughters (Tenzin being more of a spiritual father) Tenzin and Korra often ended up arguing with each other more often then not but in the end Tenzin was always supportive of Korra and her choices, even when they were really stupid. By contrast Asami and Hiroshi almost never argued at the start of the series but when his ties to the Equalists came out he was the one who expect Asami to be fully supportive of His choice and never really consider her feelings in the matter.

Another point of contrast is that Korra was the one who realized she was being a total twat and apologized to Tenzin for how she treated him while Hiroshi was the one who had a Jerkass realization and apologized to Asami for how he treated her. Both have their issues with their respective fathers but in the end they do love them and both help them grow as people.

There's also both women's relationship with Mako and while that deserves it's own post as there are a LOT issues there the long and short of it is, Mako often treated Korra as his "real" girlfriend while Asami was always someone he saw as second best (and had to have his arm twisted to even admit that he dated her). One of the reasons so many people hated Mako was because of his poor treatment of both women but especially Asami. He pretty much starts ignoring her the moment she loses everything that matters to her and then pretty much starts making the moves on Korra.

And here's where Asami proves herself to be the better of the two when she Rightfully calls Mako out on this and he tries to deflect blame onto Bolin and when that doesn't work and she starts giving him the cold shoulder he starts being more supportive of Korra RIGHT IN FRONT OF ASAMI!!! Asami makes it a point that her issue is NOT with Korra but with him and instead of taking 5 minutes to have a conversation Mako instead decides to Continue to focus more on Korra then on her. And then comes Season 2 where he rebounds to Asami and then dumps her a few episodes later just to get back with Korra which is then followed up by Asami NOT making a scene and instead doing what she needs to as the World is in danger and personal feelings can wait.

The fact that she was still willing to be friends with Mako and tried to assume Korra that things would go back to normal eventually after all the BS he pulled speaks volumes of what a good person she is. She's clearly still more then a little annoyed at him for breaking her heart TWICE but she doesn't try and turn Korra against him or rant about how poorly he treated her throughout the first two seasons, even though I'm fairly certain no one would blame her said rant.

Hell, Asami apologizes to KORRA for kissing Mako back in The Sting while Korra was away. Let me repeat that, Asami once again apologizes for kissing Mako for her lack of control in a moment weakness to the person who is the reason he broke up with her instead of trying to turn Korra on him. And the worst thing she does to Mako throughout the series is give him the cold shoulder and glare at him a few times. Korra? Marry That Woman!

[Steve]

There's a really good article on why Asami is such a great character and while I don't agree with everything in it, (most notable being that Asami works best in small doses but as shown in Turf Wars Asami has been given a lot more "screen time" and is still as awesome as she was in the show proper) but it's still pretty good.

Here's the article in question.

https://www.thefandomentals.com/asami-sato-intensifies/

I see someone else knows of Kylie on Fandomentals.

I think everyone's generally covered why Asami is popular. Not that there isn't dissent (over on Spacebattles the Korra media thread recently had a running discussion by people who either didn't like her or thought she was meaningless in the show), but I'm not one of them. Asami is... well, generally she's a good person. She thinks of others, usually, she's brilliant, and she wants to make a better world. She's my kind of character.