Avatar: The Last Airbender is an exciting animated fantasy series starring Avatar Aang, the boy who will save the world from the Hundred-Year War. One of his greatest enemies is prince Zuko, the bitter exiled firebender who will capture Aang to restore his honor or die trying. That is until he got redeemed, that is.
While Avatar isn't anime in a purist sense, it is still remarkably similar, and in anime terms, it's a shonen series. That means Zuko is unofficially a shonen villain, and he can be compared to classic shonen bad guys like Orochimaru, Grimmjow, Hisoka, Tomura Shigaraki, and many more. However, Zuko isn't just a stereotypical shonen villain, and there is plenty that sets him apart from the crowd.
10 Zuko Doesn't Want To Rule The World For His Own Sake
Many of the most notorious anime villains want to rule the world or reshape it in their image, from the scheming homunculus Father to ex-Captain Sosuke Aizen and Meruem, among others. Zuko, however, has no particular interest in ruling the world, even if he is the crown prince.
It's not that Zuko objects to being the Fire Nation's heir to the throne. Rather, he doesn't identify much with power and authority, and deep down, Zuko is far more interested in personal validation and finding inner peace. That also sets him apart from his power-hungry sister, Princess Azula.
9 Zuko Joins The Hero's Team
From time to time, shonen villains such as Hisoka Morow or even Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez will actually cooperate with the hero or perhaps defend them from a third party. But very rarely, if ever, will these shonen villains formally join the protagonist's squad and become an official member.
Zuko sure did. Late in the story of Avatar, Zuko did more than make peace with the Gaang. When the time was right, he properly joined Team Avatar, and he never looked back. It felt odd at first, but Aang and the others soon got used to viewing Zuko as one of them.
8 Zuko Was Close To His Mother
Anime villains don't often get along with their parents, and these parents are rarely present in the story anyway. Meruem cared nothing for his ant queen mother, while Tomura Shigaraki despised his mean-spirited father, Kotaro. But Zuko's parents are both known, and he even gets along with one of them.
Zuko and his father, Ozai, are totally at odds, but his mother-son dynamic is totally different. Zuko always looked up to his mother, Ursa, and for good reason. She absolutely doted on him, and most anime villains wish they had a mom like her.
7 Zuko Doesn't Maximize His Skills
Anime villains tend to wield the most powerful and effective techniques found in their native combat system, and they might even cheat or use dark methods to gain immediate power. Orochimaru seeks to learn all jutsu and immortality, for example, while All For One has stolen hundreds of Quirks.
But Zuko isn't like that. He is powerful, but not that powerful, and he was never strong enough to defeat Aang. He never even learned to bend lightning, but a more typical shonen villain would learn lightningbending and perhaps invent another technique beyond that. They might even take the "this isn't even my final form!" route.
6 Zuko Limits His Monologing And Taunting
Prince Zuko does use some taunting in the story of Avatar, and he once had a short monologue about how his father thought he was lucky to be born. Aside from that, though, Zuko limits his psychological warfare in the story, and that sets him apart from chattier shonen antagonists.
This isn't an absolute rule, but shonen villains tend to be very chatty, boasting about their amazing plans or wrecking the hero's psyche with cruel taunts or chilling philosophies. Villains like Sosuke Aizen, All For One, Envy the homunculus and others keep running their mouths, but Zuko doesn't really do that.
5 Zuko Doesn't Belong To An Elite Team
On one hand, prince Zuko did have his own ship and a loyal crew to his name, but that doesn't really make for a shonen-style villain crew. Plenty of cool anime antagonists belong to a small, elite team with a unique theme, but that cannot be said of Zuko. In fact, he spent the entire episode "Zuko Alone" all on his own, as per the title.
Zuko would be reluctant to join famous anime villain squads, since he tends to rub people the wrong way or impulsively run off on his own. Groups such as the Phantom Troupe, the Akatsuki, the Espadas, and the League of Villains wouldn't be a good fit for the Fire Nation prince.
4 Zuko Had A Beach Episode
Having a classic beach episode is usually a privilege reserved for protagonists and slice-of-life characters. It would be weird to see the League of Villains having a beach episode, after all. Villains are usually too cool and too busy for seaside fun, but Zuko is an exception, and for that matter, so is his sister, Azula.
In Book Three: Fire, Zuko, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee all get their own beach episode on Ember Island, from volleyball and house parties to awkward but amusing romantic hijinks. Zuko has gone nowhere an anime villain has ever gone - the sunny beach, complete with volleyballs and beautiful girls.
3 Zuko Has A Proper Girlfriend
It's true that a few anime villains have their own love interests, but that is rare, and these villain love stories are rarely healthy, conventional, or happy. Most anime antagonists simply have no time or energy for a proper romantic partner, but Zuko sure did.
Zuko is committed to his girlfriend, Mai, and even if they got on each other's nerves, their relationship went the distance, and they became the very image of a loving boyfriend and girlfriend. Perhaps some shonen villains secretly wish they had a love life like that, too.
2 Zuko Changed His Hairstyle Several Times
Anime characters tend to have pretty wild hairstyles of different colors, and it often looks like they paid a pretty penny at the salon. That includes anime villains, who seem rather reluctant to change their hairstyle aside from growing their hair out like Tomura Shigaraki or slicking it back later on, like Aizen.
Zuko changed his hair more than that. He began the story with a bald head except for his ponytail, then grew his hair longer and longer from there. He had one particular style in "Zuko Alone," but later, his hair was more like a shaggy mop. Later still, he tidied up his hair in a formal style as the newest Fire Lord.
1 Zuko Lacks A Unique Power Or Ability
Most of the best anime villains have a unique ability, weapon, or energy system, such as The Legend of Korra's own masked villain Amon, not to mention Sosuke Aizen's perfect illusions, Orochimaru's snake-based powers, or Yoshikage Kira's time-reversal power, Bites the Dust.
Prince Zuko lacks the super-gimmick of a shonen-style villain. He uses conventional firebending, and he doesn't even bend lightning or wield blue flames like Azula. But he is plenty compelling without the use of a unique power or weapon.