Here’s an edited version of the infamous Kanye West exclamation: “I don’t know about y’all, but Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the greatest shows of all time!”
Now that that’s out of the way and now that Kanye is canceled, let’s continue.
One of my favorite shows is Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA). It’s a wonderful show that spans one year as a group of teenagers travel across the world to defeat Firelord Ozai. The show is unique: it has its own magic system, different stories for characters, and a world that is constantly changing and evolving. At least once a month you can find me binge-watching YouTube videos of people analyzing the show while I cry in happiness and say that I need to rewatch the show (I own every single episode on DVD).
Let’s note this right here: ATLA is a kid’s show. Marketed specifically for kids, this show is animated well and regularly appeared on Nickelodeon starting in 2005 and ending mid-2008. During that time, the show came to be one of my favorites. I still remember watching the two-hour season finale and fangirling over the animation and fight scenes, not realizing how much I loved the show until that very moment. When the finale came on a couple of days later and included fun facts, I watched that as well.
Here’s a quick blurb from Google describing the show:
The world is divided into four nations — the Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads — each represented by a natural element for which the nation is named. Benders have the ability to control and manipulate the element from their nation. Only the Avatar is the master of all four elements. The ruthless Fire Nation wants to conquer the world but the only bender who has enough power, the Avatar, has disappeared … until now. His tribe soon discovers that Aang is the long-lost Avatar. Now Katara and Sokka must safeguard Aang on his journey to master all four elements and save the world from the Fire Nation.
Now here’s a more in-depth summary from me:
ATLA follows Aang (the Avatar, master of all four elements), Katara (a Waterbender), Sokka (Katara’s older brother), and a host of other characters as they travel across the world to defeat Firelord Ozai, the Big Bad. Other memorable characters in this show include Prince Zuko, Ozai’s oldest, disgraced son who is searching for the Avatar to restore the honor he lost; Princess Azula, Zuko’s prodigy of younger sister; Toph, a tough blind girl from the Earth Kingdom; and General Iroh, Zuko and Azula’s uncle and Ozai’s older brother. These characters–with the exception of Sokka–can all bend (or manipulate) an element: Katara bends water; Aang bends primarily air although he has to learn to bend all four elements as the Avatar; Toph is an earthbender; and Zuko, Azula, Ozai, and Iroh can all bend fire.
The Avatar, Aang, had been missing for one hundred years and no one knew where he was. At the time, Aang had only been a twelve-year-old boy when he disappeared, although no one knew that. People only knew that the Avatar was lost and that the Fire Nation was slowly taking over the world by force. Sokka and Katara, two siblings from the Southern Water Tribe, discover Aang while on a fishing trip when Sokka angers Katara enough that she bends the water around her. Prince Zuko and his uncle Iroh are also in the area looking for the Avatar, and catch wind of the actions. Of course, chaos ensues and everyone discovers that the Avatar is, in fact, alive and well. This starts essentially a worldwide hunt for Aang.
One of the reasons that I love this show so much is because of the animation. I have long been a fan of 2D animation and I wish that it would make a comeback with more complex artwork (I’m not a fan of the animation style used on Cartoon Network for shows such as Teen Titans Go! and Ok K.O. Let’s Be Heros!). My favorite parts of the show have to be the sequences where firebending is involved. Of course, the other elements are good too, but there is nothing to me as cool as firebending.
Another reason (the main reason, really) that I love the show is because of the characters. A fan-favorite character is Zuko, whose character development is handled better than anything I have ever seen, and I also love Sokka although it took me a long time to realize why (he is a leader and the comedic relief, though his character development is much subtler than Zuko’s). The characters and relationships that they have are what make the show great, and it’s something that even adults can watch because of some heavy content and situations such as death, morality, abuse, imperialism, re-written history, and horrible parenting. This is all shown through a lens that children can understand, which is another reason that makes it so great.
This show has had a large impact on my generation and those younger than I. As someone who was born at the tail-end of the Millennial generation and the beginning of Generation Z, I always felt a connection with the two generations, and ATLA helps close that divide because I can move between the two groups and see both sides of what the generations are saying. Avatar: The Last Airbender is a beautiful show that I’ve never heard someone speak badly of, if that tells you anything.
It’s truly a family show that can affect generations–and probably has. Don’t let the fact that this is a kid’s show fool you.
Also, if you turn out to love the show, you’ll hate the movie based off of it. Most fans of the show pretend that it doesn’t exist.
For resources and ways to donate while protests continue and even beyond: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ and also https://dotherightthing.carrd.co/
kannaree.com 