Why is Asami Sato So Popular? Part 2: The Five Man Band in One Character

[Winter]

A while back I wrote up a post here asking why Asami was such a great character and I got a lot of positive feedback on that one and with Valentine's Day just around the corner I figured I would yet again express my love for the great character once again.

So earlier this week Red from Overly Sarcastic Productions posted the last video in her Five Man Band Trope Talks and I went over to the Korra TV Trope Page and found out something rather interesting, Asami is a combination of the Lancer, The Big Guy, The Smart Guy and The Heart with the characteristics of The Hero. Yes, we have someone who actually manages fill the role of all five members for the Price of One.

Starting with The Lancer while Asami technically doesn't fill this role until Books 3 and 4 on the series as a whole she kinda fills the role ever since The Aftermath. Asami soon becomes pretty much the only person Korra can consistently rely on as she's the only person that's always there for her and the only person who literally never turns on her. So by Book 3 when she basically becomes Korra's #2 and the only one who can keep up with Korra.

While assigning her the role of The Big Guy may seem odd we see repeatedly that she more then earns this role as she's the only member of the consistently kicks ass and is kinda of a powerhouse onto herself. While she may not have powers we see that she is capable of taking on more then one opponent at a time and win within seconds. I honestly don't think she's ever lost a straight up fight which is impressive when you realize that she regularly helps take on armies and Benders alongside her girlfriend.

The Smart Guy is obvious as she's clearly the only member of the group with any understanding of how to not only operate but Build amazing machines. She helped rebuild Republic City TWICE, designed the Glider Suits the new Air Nomads use in place of their original gliders, continued to design Airplanes and built the humming bird suits.

As The Heart she actually shares this role with Bolin as she's the one who helps keep Team Avatar together and works to maintain a good working relationship with her ex even after he screwed her over. As I said in the original post when she broke up with Mako instead of trying to turn Korra against Mako she instead reassured Korra that things would work out and that they would still be friends with him, apologized for kissing him while Korra was away and has always maintained a healthy relationship with Bolin and Korra. She does everything she can to help people even when there's nothing in it for her because her heart is just that big and she continues to put everything she has on the line to do the right thing simply because it's the right thing.

And finally The Hero. Now Korra is the Hero of the story but Asami weirdly has a persona that is more like the Hero then Korra. As I said, she's selfless, fearless and has the strongest sense of right and wrong in the team. She goes up against those who could beat her into a pulp because she will not stand by and let them hurt others. Even those she's not fond of like Prince Wu she will do everything in her power to help save him because it's within her power to do so.

I've seen more then one person call Asami a underdeveloped character who doesn't really grow in the series. But, as I've shown, Asami is a LOT more then what some think of her. She's not just Korra's girlfriend she's, effectively, the second main character of the series and is so much more nuanced and deep then she might seem. Honestly, it would be a more accurate assessment of her character to say that the rest of Team Avatar is trying to reach the level of Depth she already has.

The fact that she has so much in common with all 5 members of the Five Man Band is, I think, the best evidence that Asami is a great character. She has flaws but she deals with them, she's a badass but her victories feel earned and she has heart. In many ways she's a lot like Toph from The Last Airbender, she doesn't get much in the way of screen time or development like other characters but she makes every moment she has count and as such leaves a greater impact on the series then even those who were meant to be break-out characters like Mako and Bolin.

Raava I love this character!

[Thebestoftherest]

She really is the Sokka of the team.