Animated Character Database
Advertisement
17as
61

Asami Sato is the only child of the former wealthy industrialist, Hiroshi Sato. Although a nonbender, when she discovered that her father was working with the Equalists, she rejected his hatred of benders and actively fought against the Equalists as a member of Team Avatar. After her father's imprisonment, she became the new Chief Executive Officer of Future Industries, planning to bring the company back to the peak of economic dominance and restore its reputation. Two weeks after Harmonic Convergence, she joined her friends in the search for the new airbenders. However, their search stopped when the Red Lotus attempted to kidnap Avatar Korra in Zaofu and they worked to bring the organization down instead. Three years later, in 174 AG, Asami assisted in defeating Kuvira and began a romantic relationship with her best friend, Korra.

Abilities[]

Asami is highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat. From a young age, her father enrolled her in the best self-defense classes there were, so she would be able to protect herself. Her prowess was great enough to easily disarm the Equalists' Lieutenant and knock him out with his own weapon,and she was similarly able to evade attacks from five chi blockers before using an electrified glove to stun them. Asami has also proven herself to be nimble; she was able to jump over a speeding motorcycle while kicking the rider off, still managing to land gracefully, and also dodged an earthbending attack by a Red Lotus sentry before stunning him in one fluid motion.

Asami is an expert driver, having learned through testing her father's Satomobiles, and is fully capable of rivaling Equalist motorcyclists. She can also drive motorboats and sand-sailors, skillfully being able to escape and divert enemies during speed chases. Having assisted her father in operating their company, Asami is capable of controlling any other vehicle engineered by Future Industries, such as mopeds, forklifts, and mecha tanks, which she noted were operated similarly. As such, she has developed an keen eye on technology workmanship, being able to discern high-quality products from subpar ones, as evidenced when she criticized Cabbage Corp's airships for utilizing lighter materials, possibly sacrificing passenger safety.

Asami is a practical thinker and a capable engineer, able to repair and construct vehicles with limited resources, such as when she improvised a makeshift sand-sailer using materials from a destroyed airship.[23] She is also a skilled Pai Shoplayer, proving herself to be a good methodical strategist and can pick locks with her hair pins, able to free Tenzin through this method in the Northern Air Temple.

Trivia[]

  • The lineage of the Sato family can be traced back to the first Fire Nationcolonists.[38]
    • Despite being part of a family with Fire Nation lineage, Asami has green eyes, which are usually displayed by people of Earth Kingdom descent, instead of the standard amber for those of Fire Nation descent.
  • Asami is the sole surviving member of the Sato family.
  • Bryan Konietzko conceived her as a Hollywood Golden Age actress in the Avatar World, with her hair inspired byRita Hayworth.[39] Although having designed her before watching the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist, Bryan Konietzko stated he was fine with saying that Asami's design was influenced by Lust and is flattered by the fact that people would think so, as "Lust is such a killer design".[40] He did, however, say that he used Lust's lipstick color for Asami.[39]
  • Asami, like Katara and Sokka, lost her mother to a firebender at a young age.
  • Asami's femininity serves as a foil to Korra's tomboyish, aggressive tendencies.
    • Regardless, the two seem to convey a balance of traits; just as Asami is seen being bold and adept at combat, Korra is likewise shown to have a softer, more feminine side with a curiosity toward make-up and romance. Unlike Korra, Asami is shown to be more stoic and prefers to think before acting.[8][11]
  • Asami is the third character, after Zuko and Toph Beifong, to have joined the Avatar and to have a father who is antagonistic toward them and their allies.
    • Asami's relationship with her father and history parallels Zuko's such that both their fathers were a part of the series' antagonist. To begin with, they both had to live in the absence of a caring mother. Once Asami, like Zuko, realizes the cruelty of which her father is a part of, she had to choose between helping her father or joining the Avatar; Asami chooses to join the Avatar in ending that cruelty. The actions of their respective fathers led to a loss of their high social status for a period of time. Both Asami and Zuko become sickened by their respective fathers' goals. Both of their fathers wanted to kill their own children for refusing to help their respective causes: Ozai was willing to kill Zuko after the latter makes the Fire Nation's cruelty known, while Hiroshi wanted to kill his daughter for refusing to take part in his revenge. Asami and Zuko renounced their desires for their fathers' love: Asami because her father was consumed by hatred and Zuko because of his father's lust for power. A key difference, however, is that Asami almost immediately rejected her father, while Zuko strove for a long time to regain his father's love, impossible as it was. Also, Asami and Zuko both view their fathers as the worst fathers. Both children duel their own fathers as their fathers prepare to kill them for acts of defiance. Also, like Zuko, Asami assumes her father's mantle after his defeat and during his imprisonment. Moreover, Asami tries to restore the honor of Future Industries similar to how Zuko tried to restore the honor of his country.
    • Asami's relationship with her father is also similar to Teo's in the respect that they discover that their fathers were secretly building weapons for a cause that their children opposed.
  • Asami is the first nonbender to join the new Team Avatar, as well as the first nonbender shown opposing the Equalists.
  • Asami is the only member of the new Team Avatar to have a confirmed last name, and the fourth character overall in The Legend of Korra with a confirmed last name.
  • Meelo seems to have a crush on her, as shown when he called her a "beautiful woman" and when he asked for a piece of her hair.
  • The concept art for Book Two: Spirits at San Diego Comic-Con 2012 showed Asami wearing a pilot's outfit. This notable achievement as the only known woman to pilot an aircraft in the Avatar universe could be compared to Amelia Earhart, the first woman to pilot an aircraft solo.
  • Asami was originally envisioned as an antagonist, like her father, but after developing her character, the creators realized she would be better as an ally of Korra's.[41] Their plan was to make Asami an Equalist spy who would use Mako as a means to get close to the Avatar.[42]
  • Prior to confirmation of Book Two: Spirits, an early script for "Endgame" had Asami join the United Forces at the end of the episode.[43]
  • Asami is the second person to be mistaken for the Avatar;[24] the first being Sokka in the comic "Sokka the Avatar" and the episode "The Earth King".
  • Asami and her girlfriend, Korra, are the first known LGBTQIA+ individuals in the Avatar universe. The other known individuals are Kya and Aiwei.[44]
Advertisement