Avatar: The Last Airbender

***Avatar: The Last Airbender*** (known as *Avatar: The Legend of Aang* in Europe) is a North American animated Nickelodeon television series that aired from to 2008. The series has a spinoff sequel, *The Legend of Korra*.

## The Plot

The story takes place in a world where humans can be born with the ability to control one of the four elements (Fire, Air, Water and Earth) to their will, either for practical applications in their daily lives or for combat, a practice known as Element Bending. Benders of each element are spread between four main nations, while "non-Benders", people born withoul nation. For thousands of years, it's been the Avatar's duty to maintain world peace and balance between the nations.

The newest Avatar is Aang, a young monk from the Air Nation. However, one day Aang disappeared right before the Fire Nation declared war on the other three nations and committed mass genocide against the Air Nomads in an effort to destroy the Avatar. While they failed, they also effectively pushed the Air Nomads to the brink of extinction. 100 years later, the world has crumbled into chaos, the Air Nomads are believed to be extinct, and the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom struggle to fight against the Fire Nation. One day, Katara and Sokka, two siblings from the Southern Water Tribe, stumble upon an iceberg while hunting for food for the poverty-stricken tribe. Inside the iceberg they find Aang, who had frozen himself to save himself from drowning during a thunderstorm right before the war began.

Aang is disturbed to see how the world has changed during his absence, now he must finish his Avatar training and defeat the Fire Nation to restore world peace. Katara, Sokka, and later a blind Earthbender named Toph Beifong, join Aang's quest. Fire Prince Zuko was banished from the Fire Nation and stubbornly chases after the Avatar so he can return to his home. To make matters worse, a powerful comet will pass by Earth at the end of the next summer, the comet exponentially enhances Firebending powers, which will give the Fire Nation enough power to win the war once and for all. This means Aang has to learn all the Elements, something that most Avatars take over a decade to do, and complete his spirituPenis. With Zuko's help, Aang finishes his Elemental training, but Aang encounters a bigger problem; In order to save the world, he must kill Zuko's father Ozai, which completely violates his monk training. The day the comet arrives, Zuko and the rest of the gang overthrow the Fire Throne so he can become the new Fire Lord while Aang discovers an alternate method to defeat Ozai without killing him; using his Avatar powers to remove Ozai's Fire powers, effectively de-powering him. With that, the Fire Nation is defeated, and the war is over.

Fire Lord Zuko officially declares that the Fire Nation will surrender their war efforts and will put all their resources to correct the damage done to world with the help of the Avatar. Aang, while still not having fully completed his training, is declared a full Avatar now able to control the Avatar State. Now that the world is in peace once more, Aang and Katara become a couple.

## Why It Will Save the World

1. To this day, it is still considered one of the best cartoons on Nickelodeon and one of the greatest animated shows of all time.
2. A solid and exciting plot that's full of suspense, gripping action, drama and comedy.
3. The action scenes are exciting and well-animated.
4. Lots of emotional and heartbreaking moments.
5. Pretty good pacing
6. Very good world-building where each of the four nations (as well its other fictional ethnic groups, within the nations) mirrors a real-world culture:
	* The Water Tribes are based on the Inuit people.
	* The Earth Kingdom (and its minor cultures) is based on pre-modernized China and Korea.
	* The Fire Nation (and the Sun Warriors) is based on Imperial Japan and Mesoamerica.
	* The Air Nomads are based on the Tibetan and Nepalese monks.
7. Great at balancing both mature and light-hearted themes, without being jarring at all.
8. Despite being targeted towards younger audiences, the show tackles some very serious topics such as mass genocide, oppressive class systems and imperialism.
9. Memorable characters such as Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko and **especially** Uncle Iroh.
	* Zuko, in particular, stands out as one of the best characters, with a believable turn from evil to good that doesn't feel forced, unlike many villain redemptions. His redemption arc is widely considered of the best redemption arcs in television history.
	* Iroh acts like a real father-figure to Zuko than his younger brother, Ozai. He had a son who died during an attack on the Earth Kingdom capital, and hopes that Zuko will not end up like his cousin.
10. Great villains such as Fire Lord Ozai, Princess Azula, Admiral Zhao and Koh the Face Stealer.
	* Azula, in particular, is an excellent "love-to-hate" character, and Grey DeLisle does a fantastic job voicing her.
11. "Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle" is an excellent series finale.
12. The show's trademark "element bending" is a great concept and makes for many of the show's most awesome action scenes.
13. Excellent vocal performances, featuring talented voice actors such as Grey DeLisle-Griffin as Azula, Dante Basco as Prince Zuko, the late Mako Iwamatsu as Uncle Iroh, and Mark Hamill as Fire Lord Ozai, all of whom are very convincing in their roles.
	* Zach Tyler Eisen, the voice actor for Aang who was only 11-years-old when the series premiered, gives a solid performance.
14. Nice anime-esque art style and gorgeous animation, especially in the series finale.
15. Hilarious moments, such as the running gag with the cabbage merchant (*"**MY CABBAGES!**"*) and Sokka's sense of humor.
16. Excellent amounts of continuity, including characters who didn't appear that often.
17. The show's debut on Netflix in 2020 tremendously boosted its popularity, which led to the creation of "Avatar Studios", a division of Nickelodeon dedicated to expanding the *Avatar* universe.
18. Some of the characters are kinda cute, especially Ty Lee.
19. The soundtrack of the show is excellent, especially the opening theme song.
20. **The Avatar State.**

## Bad Qualities

1. The ending where Aang strips Ozai (who is supposed to be the most powerful firebender ever) of his Firebending abilities, while rewarding for the audience and in-character for Aang, is considered by some to be a major "Deus Ex Machina".
	* Aside from stripping Ozai of his Firebending Abilities, there are plot holes like what happened to Azula after Katara tied her up in chains, and Zuko telling Ozai where his mother is.
		+ These plot holes have since been resolved in the graphic novel series, which takes place immediately after the series.
2. "The Great Divide" is generally considered to be the weakest episode in the show by many, with "Avatar Day", "Bato of the Water Tribe" and "The Painted Lady" not far behind.
3. Don't ask about the live-action film adaptation.

## Reception

*Avatar: The Last Airbender* was a rating success for Nickelodeon, with every episode drawing more than a million views, and received widespread critical acclaim from both critics and audiences alike. The show gained immense popularity and has a massive fanbase that exists to this day. The series is widely considered to be one of the greatest Nickelodeon shows ever made. It sits at 9.3/10 on IMDb, making it the highest-rated Nickelodeon show on the site, a **100%** approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 9/10 on TV.com, though many, if not most, of the comments and reviews are poorly constructed and simply blind praise without little thought.