I remember very clearly watching the atla finale when I was 8, and being genuinely surprised when Zuko and Katara didn't kiss after the lightning bolt scene.
Genuinely I was confused.
I didn't even ship them at the time, I didn't know anything about shipping, or fandom or any of that. I didn't care a whole lot that it didn't happen, but I was confused.
That whole scene and everything leading up to it was so romantic-coded, and it's crazy to me that anyone claims that it wasn't or that they don't get why people we're expecting or wanting a zutara end-game.
If you showed anyone on planet earth the sozins comet arc without any prior introduction to atla, just going in blind to the finale, I guarantee you they would be shocked by the Kataang and Maiko scenes in the end. I was shocked and I DID have all the context.
In all 4 episodes making up the finale Aang and Katara only barely interacted in the very beginning and their final conversation (literally their last on screen conversation!) was an argument. There was no set up for a romantic ending between these two whatsoever.
If we go back an episode "the ember island players" actually seemed to be setting up the exact opposite.
Their final interaction that had anything to do with a potential romantic relationship between them, was Aang getting upset at her for not returning his feelings, her letting him know that she wasn't comfortable having a relationship with him at that time and then being reasonably upset when he kissed her anyway despite her clear discomfort.
Meanwhile Zuko and Katara spend almost every second of their screentime after she forgives him in "the southern raiders" at eachothers side.
Each of their individual character arc climaxes are intertwined and you couldn't seperate the characters from eachother without drastically changing the ending of their stories. The same can't be said about Aang and Katara, or Mai and Zuko.
I've seen Kataang shippers criticize zutara by saying things like "they only have 3-5 episodes of screentime together."
But I don't understand how that is criticism?
If anything it only proves that they have incredible chemistry, and importance in eachother's storylines.
After only a handful of episodes a huge portion of the audience, including myself and my whole family (none of which were into shipping/fandom at the time) were convinced the two should've ended up together.
The writing of their relationship was just that good.
If the kataang and maiko scenes at the end had been cut out, I'm sure that many people (probably most people, and most certainly myself) would've assumed that if any romance was implied to form after the series ending, it would be between Katara and Zuko. (As I said, I was genuinely surprised when they didn't kiss.)
