The reason I'm not calling it 'Avatar' or 'The Last Airbender' is because people always think I am talking about something else. I didn't think I had come into this cartoon phenomenon so late no one remembers what it fucking is, but I guess I did.
This is a general rant on the first two seasons mainly because I just finished the second season yesterday and the third isn't released in my country for another month or so, shit sucks dude. But enjoy!
Unless you live under a rock you should know that The Legend of Aang tells the story of surprisingly...Aang. Aang has been frozen for a hundred years thanks to a defence mechanism for he is the Avatar. Why is he the Avatar? It's never made clear. What is that Avatar? The Avatar is a 'bender that controls all four elements. a 'bender? Pfft! No not a puff, a 'bender is a person who can manipulate an element, which element you can bend depends on your surroundings. Why? This is never made clear either. And not everyone can bend, this is also never made clear.
Aang awakens to a world of war thanks to the Fire Nation deciding (seemingly random) that they wanted to take over the whole world. He also finds he has been cryogenically frozen for a hundred years. The whole hundred year thing seems a wasted plot device since a hundred years really hasn't done anything for the universe (aside from the Fire Nation taking over) Aang is never surprised by technology and a lot of his friends who weren't killed by the Fire Nation are still alive and kicking, they just look old.
Aang now has until the next summer to master all the elements and take down the Firelord during a solar eclipse when Firebender's can't bend because in this elemental powers come from existing sources rather them creating it. (like Waterbender's are stronger at night for example thanks to the moon and even stronger during the full moon).
Hell that was the longest sum up I've ever written and that's barely scratching the surface.
And as much as I hate to say this...here goes. As a kids TV show it's pretty damn good. I know I normally go against saying something is good because of 'insert reason here' but it'd be wrong to give this a negative review simply because American shows for children are always so restrictive and adult American cartoons are so hard to market.
Yeah the main reason I guess a lot of people haven't watched this is probably the same reason I stopped watching multiple times and that is the assumption of a child's TV show.
If you have watched anime straight from Japan (rather than the dubs) you know even the stuff aimed at 12 year old children is full of gore, tits and fbombs. Imagine that over here! God the country would be up in arms. Going to a cartoon from that is often really really disappointing finding the writing over simplified to suit American's condescending view of it's children, the action watered down and heavily censored to the point where no one actually really hits each other and no one ever really gets hit and normally sporting generic retarded episodes where characters get stuck in a videogame or some shit. Honestly The Legend of Aang isn't anywhere near to what an anime features however it's hell of a lot adult than most cartoons, even if it's aimed at 6 - 11 year olds. People get hurt, injuries maybe rare (but they are crucial) but here to tell how hurt someone is you just have to look at the state of their clothes, the cartoon features heavy 'adult' themes like war, death and betrayal (and it doesn't reword them to make it seem kid safe, so if someone died they say so, they don't say he got knocked out or something) and the story itself is a lot more adult than other cartoons being that it's centralised around war, death, the falling of nations and chock full of martial arts (people actually get hit!) and weapons battles (where people actually have blades, they don't all have clubs or 'safe' looking weapons) and best of all people fight EACH OTHER none of this powerful energy blasts aimed safely at a cliff so it falls on an enemy so it looks safer.
The show does borrow heavily from 'Shounen' anime. Aang plays the part of the young and goofy hero who hides a huge power (Naruto). Katara the morally left wing, calm and loving girl who exists to keep Aang in balance and heal everyone but can also fight too (Sakura). Sokka exists to give us someone to relate too, he has no 'bending' powers and is simply a weapons fighter (Zoro). Zuko plays the part of banished Prince carrying a scar to forever remind him of his dark past and the death of his mother (Sasuke). 'Uncle' who is the gentle and kind old man who hides a past of violence and is incredibly powerful (Master Roshi). Toph the insanely cute girl who happens to be incredibly boy like, she also fills the category of the blind character who goes all daredevil on her enemies. (Tousen).
Over the course of the show Aang is in the end the most disappointing character, his arcs just loop but never stick (but this is true to his Shounen counterparts too). Aang is carefree and loving, something horrible happens (normally something lose and indirect like someone he just met gets hurt, this is true to his shounen counterparts also) and he flips into a fit of rage goes into 'Avatar Mode' innocent people get hurt, Katara calms him down he says sorry and rinse and repeat.
Zuko proves to be the most interesting character. His past is a generic shounen one but aside from that, perhaps down to fan popularity, he goes from being a villain to a sort of antihero across the two seasons, but the transition is slow, gradual, smooth and it feels natural. But I'm sure most children won't notice. He (well his voice actor) gives a truly fantastic performance as he screams at the heavens, beginning for lightning to hit him with everything it has because he claims life always has.
There is also an occasional supernatural moment which seems akin to Studio Ghibli (just like Appa's character design) and one particular spirit is genuinely frightening even if his title 'the face spirit' is totally retarded.
The only thing The Legend of Aang really lacks from its Shounen counterparts is battles. I understand The Legend of Aang is full of small skirmishes, chases and lord of the rings style fights but what I'm talking about is two 'bender's smashing their elements together in an all out fight to the death (think Goku VS Freiza), the first season probably has none of these at all. The second has three main villains (which are interestingly all female) step into the frame and it becomes more about one on one battles and less about lord of the rings wars, which is nice, but it never goes all the way. I guess I'll wait and see for next season.
And it's a shame about the only American thing it really does have is the inconsistencies of a serial. Especially in the first season (which acts more like a wikipedia article to the Aangverse) where animation randomly and regularly drops and episodes are a lot more episodic and seem to be of a lower quality. And then finally leads to war where an evil Firebender seeks to destroy the moon, it's really badly written, seriously. When the show hits the second season however the animation picks up and becomes a lot more consistent and being a series the writing seems to be more consistent too.
But should you watch it? Don't be so sceptical, okay? I know it's a 'kids TV show' and I know that makes you judge it from the word go because of the assumptions a kid show has. This cartoon will never be as good as something like 'One Piece' or 'Bleach' (the japanese originals) but it's hard to find a cartoon of this quality elsewhere. Also Momo is the cutest creature since Pikachu.
Think about it!
-Locke.
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