For Jim, if he comes back here.

Aang- With him you could easily get away with a white kid. He is pale skinned and has large round eyes. But don’t look at him in isolation. Aang was brought up by monks and if you look at both the temples *thgeir location in the four corners of the world) and other monks themselves there is a strong eastern influence such as Gyatso’s accent, and tibetan buddhist forms in his necklace, the temples, and the process of choosing the Avatar which is based on the process used to find the next Dalai Lama. Aang is seen to have dark hair but yes, he could be caucasian if you wanted.

Zuko- While Zuko is pale skinned this could be seen as a sign of his nobility (only peasants who would work in the sun would get a tan, so pale skin signified that you were rich enough not to have to work) Although eye shape is not significant he does have a more tapered eye which persists throughout the series despite personality alterations, so it is reasonable to assume that he is of a different ‘race’ to Aang. Ergo, if Aang is caucasian, Zuko is not. He most likely has an oriental background, and if you watch a few foreign films it quickly becomes obvious that being of Chinese (for example) origin does not necessarily denote dark skin.

Toph- Her tone is similar to Zuko’s and her surname, Bei Fong, is based around Chinese word structures. However, as someone pointed out, the Earth kingdom could legitimately have some European influence, as it covers a large central area on the map. So she can be up for grabs.

Sokka and Katara – Here there isn’t much of an arguement. Put Sokka and Aang side by side and there is a clear difference in skin tone. Out of all the main characters these two can definitely be described as having an ‘ethnic’ backgrounds. There has been some debate over whether that would make them Indian, Native American or Inuit (my vote goes with Inuit due to pure geographical location of the water tribes and their clothing, but Native American still sounds reasonable.) but they are clearly not caucasian.

With this in mind it’s easy to see why some people are disturbed by the fact that both are being portrayed by notably caucasian actors. The reason Avatar works is due to it’s global relevance. Unlike many films which talk about the destruction of ‘the world’ but only actually show the destruction of America, the Gaang travel all over the world. The variety of people they meet, from pseudo-Hindu gurus to mezzo-American sun warriors, is what makes their journey so interesting. Speaking as a white British girl, it was a breath of fresh air to see a show with such a global scope to it, and now my greatest fear is that apart from a few token ethnic actors (yes, Dev Patel, I’m looking at you) the ‘white’/caucasian nature of the key cast will reduce that breathtakingly global scope down to western civilasation alone and once again, no matter how many CGI iceburgs and pagodas are included, the story will show a white American boy and his white American friends saving white America from the ethnic fire nation.

I think we just landed back in the fifties, people.

*Air Nomands = Asians (probably of Tibetan descent)
*Water Tribes = People of Eskimo descent (though I don’t know how common blue eyes are for Eskimos)
*Fire Nation = Native Americans (we learn in the show that the Fire Benders are descendants of the Sun Warriors, who’s look and culture is modeled after the Aztecs and/or Mayans)
*Earth Kingdom = Pretty much a melting pot, but predominantly Anglo descent.

And Ken, keep in mind that Avatar is neither anime nor Japanese. It’s an American cartoon based on Asian lore and styled loosely after anime.

Look at how he’s dressed, his “monk” like inspiration for his appearance, training, and outfit, and of course, look at his name. Yes, Aang is such a caucasian name. What is that, South Boston?

Katara must be an Italian-American name huh? And Sokka sounds good ol’ Southern countryboy to me… [/sarcasm]

Watch any Anime, they are all “Japanese” yet they all look American. That’s just the way they draw them.

His movies, lately, have been less than just okay.

I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I actually like he has Dev Patel playing Prince Zuko, although I would have liked the original, Jesse.

In any case, I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Aang is clearly “white”:
http://www.freewebs.com/oreog/aang%20start.jpg

Katara is pretty non-Asian (Native American at the most):
http://herokids.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/katara.png

Sokka (ditto Katara):
http://www.quizilla.com/user_images/Z/ZA/ZAT/ZatchZenoBrago/1142057212_Sokka.jpg

etc.

The characters are not Asian (and certainly not Indian; well, accept for possibly Guru Pathik and a few others).

The characters act, eat, dress, and write Asian because the show is anime-influenced and set in a fictional, Asian-inspired universe. But it is not Asian, nor is its main cast.

Trust me, I would be fine with an Asian cast. It would not bother me at all. But, not only does the all-Indian cast for the Fire Nation not fit the universe already created in the show, but some of the actor choices are downright horrendous.