Avatar: The Last Airbender TV Show Review - Spoiler Free Beginning and End
Appa is the real hero
Spoiler Free:
Wow. I’m literally minutes from finishing this series. I’m well aware I’m a decade or 2 late to it, but gosh if only people could have convinced me to watch this sooner! It was so incredibly well-made. The characters have such rich story arcs, the art is so well done, and I haven’t even gotten to the storyline yet!
The storyline is superb. In a world where bending air, earth, water and fire exists, the way they portray certain natural events to effect the abilities of the characters’ bending was really well done. I can’t stand when shows make fake stuff up, or the science just doesn’t add up. But here, it does. And it does perfectly. I never felt as thought there were gaps in the show’s story, characters, or the science behind the bending and how it’s used.
There certainly were times where I invented my own ways to defend one’s self, like bending the earth to eat up an enemy, or flood them with water so they drown, etc. Obviously the show wouldn’t be as entertaining if everything was easy like that. But they certainly used amazing offensive and defensive uses of their abilities throughout the show, more than enough to shut down any notion that it could have been done better my way.
The build up towards the ending is well worth it. I did not know how it will end until I literally watched it. The show keeps you in suspense from start to finish.
All of the characters are lovable in their own way, the good ones, and even the bad ones at times. All of the characters are very rich in in their backstory, and the show offers the perfect amount of detail to show you why each character makes the [sometimes bad] decisions that they make.
This show is a perfect fit for all ages, if you’re young, or if you’re an adult. It’s enjoyable to watch, and well worth it.
Action, comedy, anime, can you ask for more?
10/10, S tier, must watch!
The entire series is available now on Netflix!
If you want to skip the following Spoiler section, skip to the END OF SPOILERS header below. I go over what comes next in the world of the Avatar!
Spoilers ahead! You’ve been warned!
As I explained in the spoiler free portion, the show takes you on a wonderful journey from start to finish. All of the characters in the gang are all lovable, even Zuko, who finally redeems himself towards the end. You were able to tell from the start that he was always conflicted. You knew that good will eventually win for him, but you didn’t know when or how.
Azula on the other hand, you can tell from the start that she never showed any remorse or care for good. Even near the end, when she sees her mother’s spirit in the mirror, who tells her that she is just confused, she still insisted that she can only rely on fear as a means to control the people around her. And then she went [even more] crazy.
And now let’s finally talk about Aang. He’s lovable from the very beginning. He starts off showing the scared Southern Water Tribe that they need a little more fun, and less fear in their lives. Obviously that turns to trouble, but not trouble they can’t get out of. Aang is over 100 years old, after hiding in an iceberg since the start of the now 100 year war.
Over the course of the story, Aang matures, ever-so slightly. But enough for him to get the job done. After all, he’s still a kid, with the responsibility of every wise old adult around him combined. He has to defeat the fire lord, and save the entire world. I doubt I’d be able to control my emotions with such responsibility. I wouldn’t be able to do it.
We do see some parts of Aang resisting his responsibility. But ultimately, he takes life head-on, never giving up. He works towards his goal, the goal to save the world.
And he achieves it. Boy, does he achieve it! In the final battle with the Phoenix King, we finally get to see an Avatar in their ultimate form, combining all 4 elements into one sphere of ultimate power that surrounds Aang while he’s in the Avatar State. Superb. The fight raged on, and, with Aang needing to choose between killing the Phoenix King, which all of the previous Avatars’ spirits agreed with, and not killing him, he ultimately finds a way, using the wisdom of a giant island-sized Lion Turtle that explained that he can bend the energy of the person, enough to remove their bending powers. He takes the powers of fire from the Phoenix King, making him the Phoenix King of getting his butt-whooped! Good one Toph!
Speaking of jokes, the whole show plays on them, and I enjoyed them a lot. I genuinely laughed out loud at plenty of them, and the rest of them kept the show upbeat and entertaining to watch overall.
All characters were special in their own way. Aang and Katara with their moral compass well-tuned, Toph with her well-targeted jokes, Sokka with his corny-yet-still-very-funny jokes, there’s jokes everywhere in this show and they pretty much all hit home.
You can probably tell how much I enjoyed this, I’ve had ATLA on the brain for the past month of binging. And it’s finally over.
Or is it?
END OF SPOILERS
There are comics that continue the storyline, and I intend to get to reading them!
I’ll start with The Promise series, as that seems to be the immediate continuation of the story.
After that, I’d probably finish the rest of the omnibus series’. Next being The Search, The Rift, Smoke and Shadow, and ending with North and South.
The world of Avatar is history-rich. And there’s entire series’ just for that! It’s called the Chronicles of the Avatar. Right now they offer The Dawn of Yangchen, as well as The Kyoshi Novels. Both look like extremely entertaining reads, but as they take place hundreds of years in the past, I’m probably going to read them after I finish the 5 omnibus series’.
I’ll eventually get to watching the Legend of Korra, it looks interesting, but upon looking at some reviews, many consider it not to be on par with the greatness of Avatar: The Last Airbender. So I’ll get to watching it once I reach that point chronologically; after I finish reading the comics.
In Closing
If you haven’t watched this show yet, go ahead and give it a watch. You’re going to love it. I don’t care how old you are, it’s a show everyone can enjoy.
It’s been 18 years since the show originally released, and I really regret not watching it sooner. I finally can understand all of the cultural references that come up all the time online, and I can finally get them :)
What’s another show I’ll regret not watching sooner? Let me know what to watch next!
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