Such a double standard in fandom. Katara is old enough to die, she’s old enough to take revenge on her mother’s killer. BUT MY GOD HOW DARE SHE FALL IN LOVE.
Oh, God, okay, whatever, LET’S JUMP IN: people like to complain about how ~unrealistic~ it is that Katara (who is fourteen for most of the series) should fall in love with Aang (who is twelve for most of the series), because blah blah fourteen year old girls are only ever attracted to older guys and twelve year olds are so immature and blah blah in my experiences as a modern USAmerican girl—
Except Avatar: the Last Airbender is not set in 1990s USAmerica. They are not in a USAmerican middle school. They live in a wartorn world where they literally live together, where an age difference of two years is not a significant age difference in terms of life experience. Aang is not notably less mature than Katara. They engage, recognize, and respect each other as equals from the first day. Katara never condescends to Aang. She does not think him a child and she the comparative adult, and she does not treat him as a child. He is her peer, narratively, emotionally, with regards to their relationship and their respective identities. She turns to him for comfort, for advice, for support, for affection and assurance and occasional needed criticism. When she dresses up she goes out of her way to ask Aang, specifically, for his opinion; from the first season, she is curious about and invested in what he thinks of her—if, particularly, he thinks she’s pretty. She is intrigued by him romantically, again from the first season. She likes him, as he likes her. She respects him, as he respects her. He is her best friend, as she is his best friend. I don’t think it’s at all surprising or strange or unbelievable that she should love him.
Katara is not a world weary adult. Aang is not an immature child. Good day.