Claim: Avatar: The Last Airbender's main character was Aang.

Avatar : The Last Airbender -LRB- Avatar : The Legend of Aang in some regions -RRB- is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons -LRB- referred to as `` books '' in each episode 's title card -RRB- on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008 . Avatar : The Last Airbender is set in an Asiatic-like world in which some people are able to manipulate the classical elements by use of psychokinetic variants of Chinese martial arts , known as `` bending '' . The show combines the styles of anime and American cartoons , and relies on the imagery of various East Asian , Inuit , Southeast Asian , South Asian , and New World societies . Therefore , whether or not the series can be considered as an anime work is often discussed .   The series follows the adventures of protagonist twelve-year-old Aang and his friends , who must bring peace and unity to the world by ending the Fire Lord 's war against the other three nations .  The pilot episode first aired on February 21 , 2005 , and the series concluded with a widely praised two-hour episode on July 19 , 2008 .  The show is obtainable from various sources , including DVD , the iTunes Store , the Zune Marketplace , the Xbox Live Marketplace , the PlayStation Store , Netflix , Amazon Video , and the Nicktoons Network .   Throughout its run , Avatar : The Last Airbender was universally acclaimed by audiences and critics alike . Praises went to the art direction , humor , cultural references , characters , and themes . It was also commercially successful , garnering 5.6 million viewers on its best-rated showing and receiving high ratings in the Nicktoons lineup , even outside of its 6 - to 11-year-old demographic . The series has been nominated for and won awards from the Annie Awards , the Genesis Awards , a Primetime Emmy Award and a Peabody Award , among others . The first season 's success prompted Nickelodeon to order second and third seasons .   In other media , the series has spawned a critically panned , but financially successful , live-action film , titled The Last Airbender , directed by M. Night Shyamalan ; scaled action figures ; a trading card game ; three video games ; stuffed animals distributed by Paramount Parks and two Lego sets . An art book was also released in mid-2010 . A sequel series , The Legend of Korra , aired from 2012 to 2014 .