Avatar The Last Airbender - Book 1: Water

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a older animated television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, which aired 2005 on Nickelodeon. It took a lot of time till it aired here in germany and even then i didn't watched it immediatly. I began to watch the whole batch a lot later in 2011 after seeing the promotion trailer on the comic con for it spiritual successor The Legend of Korra. The series are both different to the core, but more about that at a later time.

I really love Animes in several regards and it is undisputable a lot different than american shows, be it sitcoms or animated series. I think animes are the cheapest way to create a movie with unlimited creativity and stylish looks. Nothing is impossible and far easier to handle than a 100 million dollar Hollywood production, which leaded to many different kinds of anime each season. This quantity is a pool of so many unique stories unfound by most people. American show tend to keep it safe and show us similiar stuff each time like the casting and quiz shows. Even sitcoms are nearly the same with always the focus on sex and the difference between woman and man and their hardships with each other.

First I was skepctial if Avatar could be a great series, even though it isn't a anime and has a children friendly background. (short explanation: most kids orientated series tend to be easy predictable and boring for adults, so I normaly avoid watching them without kids.) It may is a american series but it doesn't look and feels like one, because the theme and style of the series is heavenly influenced by asia culture. In the end I didn't regrett watching one bit of it.

Summary of the Beginning:

In a lost age the world is divided into four equal powers: Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. In each nation there's a group of gifted people known as Benders who have the ability to manipulate their native element using martial arts and elemental magic. For thousands of years the nations lived together peacefully. But then disaster struck. The young ruler of the Fire Nation, Fire Lord Sozin, began a war of world conquest. The only one who could have prevented it was the Avatar. The Avatar is the human incarnation of the Spirit of the World, he alone can master bending all four elements. But, just when he was needed most, he disappeared.  Now, 100 years later, a young Waterbender named Katara and her older brother Sokka stumble upon the long lost Avatar, Aang, who was encased in an iceberg for 100 years. Now, they must help Aang master all four elements before summer when Sozin's grandson Fire Lord Ozai will use a comet to deal one last deadly strike against the other nations and claim a Fire Nation victory. But, all that is easier said than done with the Fire Lord's determined and hot-tempered son, Prince Zuko, hot on their trail. Summary on IMDB written by Melanie

The plot and story of the first season isn't the biggest point of Avatar. It's the world and setting that sucks you in and makes you love the story. The characters are funny to watch and the gags are hilourisly most of the time with a only few kindish execption, which was kinda expected in a show meant for kids. The series shows a lot of great fundamental concepts of budhism like equality, harmony, peace, living with nature and the bad side of human behaviour, which makes it a great series for children. The plot is episodic and has each time a little heart warming conclusion to the side story. The problems are simple, because of the limited time but most of the time varied enough. The real exciting parts are these in which the character grow in their characteristic. Be it the love life of Soka and the withcoming problems of getting a girlfriend and Aangs loneliness of being the last one of his kind. A greater plot is hinted all the time but fully executed at the end of the season, which kinda felt short coming and to forced. It would have been better to give it one more episode to stretch it more. The first season focus clearly more on the world and the growing bound between the group members. Next weeks post will be about the second season called Earth.

Did you watch this wonderful series and if you did, how did you discovered it? Tell me about your story with this story in the comment section. :)