To me, its rare to see something like this. A show that's 10 years old now, that many people has said it's aged well for its time, praise from everyone, viewers and critics alike, successful attempts at other mediums and a movie... that was awful, ok so it hasn't all been perfect. This is a show that has interested me more as I've grown up rather then at the time of its original air, as when I first saw it on live TV, it suffered from "Australian TV syndrome" and that it was nothing but out of order reruns, which to this day pisses me off, though that's more of the fact that people still insist watching them even though its a rerun they saw recently.... Moving on, let's see how this series is. Avatar: The Last Airbender.
So what's the plot of this series? In this world, there are people called Benders, these people can bend either base elements, being Water, Fire, Earth and Air, and some can even learn extensions of them like Metal, Lightning, Ice, and even Blood Bending. The Avatar is a person who is reincarnated all the time into one of the four base bending elements, in the pattern of Water, Earth, Fire, Air. When the last Avatar died, an Airbender named Aang was named the new Avatar, but... well there's a reason why the series is called The Last Airbender. For you see, the land is in a 100 year long war with the Fire Nation, and the Fire Lord at the time, knowing the last Avatar had passed away, ordered the death of every Airbender in order to try and stop the Avatar cycle. Aang survived this and was frozen in ice, not to be released until 100 years later. Now that he's free, he must learn the arts of Water, Earth and Fire bending and stop the Fire lord from taking over the world (because 100 years wasn't enough time to do it for some reason).
So yes, the plot is a "You are the legendary hero, take this sword and tunic" minus the sword and tunic, but the monk clothes (I can never remember the actual name) does come close. Though unlike my other main experience with that plot trope (not including the currently going on Earthbound Let's play on you Youtube channel), that being the Legend of Zelda, Aang has Link beat for one reason, he has a personality.
I love the personalities in this, the main cast is a joy to see in action, the villains are great, the side characters are delightful. I want to say that this is the best cast of characters I've seen, as there's not really any characters I hate. Are they some of the best characters I've seen? Some are in comparison to others who fill that role, such as Katara and Toph, however with the amount of characters I've seen, some are forgettable in comparison to other shows and even mediums.
I love the animation in this, its breath taking at times, it is a moving painting. The animation knows when to be serious, and when to laugh and the art style works for both. I can think of no better example of this then the season 3 finale, a four part animation masterpiece that handles everything perfectly. with the final battle being one of the best animated fights I've seen period. I don't have nearly the same amount of praise for the music, as I struggle to pay attention to the music, but I don't know if that's the music's fault, or the animation being too good for me to care about the music.
Should you watch Avatar the Last Airbender, YES. No questions asked, just watch it. It is worth every cent you pay, every minute you watch. Do I have the same level of praise for its sequel, The Legend of Korra? Find out next week, but in the mean time, check out my Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzfSzTanAeSCEsSjcBauzXA for both the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky and Earthbound Let's Plays along with other video content I haven't posted to here, so I do encourage you to subscribe for content like that. And also a reminder that the October comic poll is almost over. Click here: http://strawpoll.me/5360018 to vote on what the next arc you want to see is, as it closes this Sunday.
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