Hey Avatar: The Last Airbender fans, this one’s for you! If you have two minutes and want a good laugh, you won’t want to miss out on watching this delightfully funny short. It revolves entirely around Sokka drinking cactus juice. Inspired by “The Desert” episode released in 2006—which is widely regarded as a memorable episode of the series—this short gives you the live action version of that episode.
Brought to you by the folks over at the RE:ANIME YouTube channel, this Avatar live-action short follows Sokka as he searches the desert and stumbles upon some cactus juice that he drinks (via Geeks Are Sexy). It’s a questionable decision. Sokka, played by Jonathan Tanigaki, then hilariously hallucinates various things as he waits for the effects to wear off. Tanigaki brings a lightness to the role and really delivers on the scene.
For those unfamiliar with the origins of cactus juice in the series, let’s break it down. The juice exists within certain desert cacti in the Si Wong Desert. It will apparently give hallucinogenic side-effects to someone when they drink it. The character will then perform comedic and nonsensical activities until it wears off. See exhibit A: the scene in the animated show:
RE:ANIME has over 300K YouTube subscribers and is no stranger to Avatar: The Last Airbender. “Sokka’s Cactus Juice” is the sixth video in their Airbender series, although the only one with Sokka at the forefront. The remaining videos seem to largely revolve around Agni Kai. They also have videos revolving around various anime characters, Batman, and a Naruto live action series.
According to their channel, RE:ANIME was created by producer Nik Shaw. Shaw started the channel because he felt frustration “born out of the frustration with the way Hollywood misrepresents the culture and characters of Anime in their live-action adaptations. RE:Anime hopes to be the bridge between the anime and live-action world.” With the popular channel growing, they also have a Patreon for those who want to support them in that way.
Featured Image: RE:ANIME
