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Episode 15 "Tales of Ba Sing Se"

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Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book 2 Episode 15

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Levi V

Leaves from the vine gets me everytime.

rrrebo

Regarding The Tale of Iroh: The final frame of the tale, with the text "In honor of Mako", was a dedication to Iroh's voice actor, legendary Japanese-American actor Mako Iwamatsu. Mako passed away from cancer shortly after recording Book 2 of Avatar. The song Iroh sang at his son's shrine, "Leaves From the Vine", was the last dialogue recorded by Mako before his passing. Iroh's voice in Book 3 is lovingly provided by Greg Baldwin, a frequent voice double for Mako. Greg refuses to sing "Leaves From the Vine" for anyone, in honor of and in deference to his predecessor. The Tale of Iroh covers the lifespan of a man, from the bloom of infancy (with the flower), the phases of childhood (the crying toddler and the adolescent ball-playing boys), young adulthood (the confused mugger), fatherhood (Iroh), and death (Lu-Ten). Iroh helped everyone that day, but could not help his own son survive the war. The drawing of Iroh's son, Lu-Ten, was taken from Mako's actual military service portrait from when he was a young man. Mako also voiced Aku, the main villain in "Samurai Jack". As an homage to Mako's old character, Zuko's meditation shrine in his room on the ship in Book 1 has a mask of Aku on the wall.

bunnytails

Especially after realizing the voice actor passed :(

bunnytails

I'm behind on responding to these, so prepare for a lot of inbox spam!! I did not know about Mako Iwamatsu, and that makes this whole thing even more heartbreaking. Thanks for the backstory and explanation. I think I'll have to go back and re-watch The Tale of Iroh with this added context.

Rich Cassou

One of my favorite episodes in the whole show. So many people who have gone through what Iroh did could have ended up bitter and detached. It’s an amazing testament to his character that he is still so full of love and lives a life helping others.