Avatar The Last Airbender - Book 1 Water, Vol. 1 (2005)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
One of the best in a long time, April 11, 2006 By Thomas E. Tweedel (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

Avatar is without a doubt one of the best all around shows to come down the pipe in a very long time.

I don't have cable so I haven't seen much of it on TV. I first found out about it when I was at a friends doing some work and it was on as background noise for the kids. It was somewhere in the middle of the season so I didn't know the story but I was really impressed. I though, wow, the Japanese have done it again. But having watched a lot of anime in my younger days some stuff didn't add up. The style was different, the sight gags and most importantly the body language of the characters was different.

I was really surprised when I found it was an American production! I wanted to see more. I was wondering if it was worth buying, my kid only being 2 ? so I figured what the heck, its not that expensive for one disk.

I ordered it and it was an instant hit at the house. My son loved it goes running around with a stick saying he's going to save the world. My wife loved it and I loved it. The show is written to a good middle ground between kids and adults. The kids will follow the story without issue and the adults will see deeper into the world. Its not too deep mind you but deep enough to feel there is more going on than whats immediately on screen.

I was really impressed by the creativity of the series and just how well done it was. The producers pulled together a lot of elements from Asian culture and tradition and blended them together into a credible setting in a way I've not really seen done very well outside of Asian works.

They've got a lot of gags and elements that are not exactly original. Strong liberated female figure in male dominated culture, chauvinist/clueless/useless guy, obligatory cute pet/sidekick, reluctant hero, ruthless villain etc. But they are well done and not overdone.

Many of the sight gags revolve around bad things that happen to the hapless/clueless guy. But they were well done enough to be funny without being tired. I was particularly glad they didn't give too much screen time to the cute pet/sidekick which some kids shows seem to devote about 1/3 of each episode to the antics of that creature. He (A flying lemur like creature) pops in and pops out for some good comic relief but never eclipses those involved in the story.

We also begin to see some depth in Character development and hints that some may not be exactly as they seem. Particularly with the apparent villains of the series. They actually have motivation and character beyond just wanting to give the hero's a bad day or ruling the world.
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