Avatar: The Last Airbender

[Sandman]

While in Anchorage I saw something I almost didn't believe, a anime series made by Nickelodeon!!!! The name is Avatar the last Airbender, here is a summary:


In a lost age, the world is divided into four nations: Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. Within each nation, there is a remarkable order of men and women called the "benders" who can learn to harness their inborn talent and manipulate their native element. Bending is a powerful form combining martial art and elemental magic.

In each generation, only one bender is solely capable of controlling all four elements. That bender is the Avatar. The Avatar is the spirit of the world manifests in human form. When the Avatar dies, it reincarnates into the next nation in the cycle. Starting with the mastery of his or her native element, the Avatar learns to bend all four elements. Throughout the ages, the countless incarnations of the Avatar have served to keep the four nations in harmony.

Then, the firebenders attacked. Just as the world needed the Avatar the most, he mysteriously vanished. A hundred years later, the Fire Nation is near final victory in its ruthless war of world tion. The Air Nomads were destroyed, the Air Temples ravished, and all airbender monks eradicated. The Water Tribes were raided and driven to the brink of extinction. The Earth Kingdom remains and fights a hopeless war against the Fire Nation. Many believe the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and the cycle is broken.

In the desolated South Pole, a lone Water tribe struggles to survive. It is here that the village's last remaining waterbender Katara and her warrior brother Sokka rescue a strange 12-year-old boy named Aang who has been suspended in hibernation in an iceberg. The tribe soon discovers that Aang is not only an Airbender--the extinct race no one has seen in a century--but also the long lost Avatar. Now Katara and Sokka must safeguard the child Avatar in his journey to master all four elements and save the world from the Fire Nation.

“Avatar: The Last Airbender is a truly unique comic adventure with rich animation and incredible martial-arts choreography. Creators Bryan Konietzko and Mike DiMartino designed a fantastical Asian world with compelling characters and interesting creatures that will capture kids’ imaginations and spirit.”
-- Marjorie Cohn, Executive Vice President, Development and Original Programming, Nickelodeon

Production usually takes about $1 million and 9-10 months per episode. Because of this, the staff will often work on several different episodes at a time. The show is currently on hiatus after its first season has completed, and the second season is currently expected to return between March and May if production stays on schedule.

Anyway I have yet to see it, can anyone credit or discredit if this is a good anime??

[Gundam_Bobcat]

I've seen a few episodes of this show, its a little childish but somewhat fun to watch. I really wouldn't consider it to be a true anime, more of an american clone.

The entire story isn't that bad with the whole war going on, and there has to be some sort of fan base out there because i think its on like its second season.

[Quest]

any links?

is it really an anime in japanese or just an american cartoon?

edit: typo

[ryusenka]

This is Nick's first try at an american cartoon with anime-style graphics(think Teen Titans) and they did one hell of a good job with it. The storyline is well done and believable and the characters are very good, but they are a bit too childish for a comic effect; the animation isn't too shabby either.

The only thing that puts me off this show is that it's a G rating, the fights are really well done, but it would be so much more great if they would put a TV-14 rating on it and made the whole show a bit more serious. Actually, this is kinda like a better version of Naruto with all the kids and comedy in it.

[Fuji Nagase]

i saw it a while back and it has been a guilty pleasure ever since. Aang, kitara and sokka are all okay characters that work well as a team.

although, i dont like do-gooding kitara that much, but its one of those things where you have to have that kind of character to pull the group of three together.

i like the ideas about element bending and the avatar. the "villains" who aren't really bad, more or less, they are just the opposing side.(something you tend to see in anime more than american)

the animation is a pretty good i think and the character designs, while i don't love them, they fit well.

i agree about the G rating. perhaps many of us are used to watching things not associated with nick. therefore often the uncut, not for television. given where it comes from, i'd say that it's all we can expect. for nick, i think its very good. ill watch it, but i don't think id pay to go see it in a theater or rent it or anything.

the style is again, a little too simplified for me, but it is very smooth. the anime effect was worked with to my liking, while i think we have all seen american shows/comics that tried to use some anime or manga style and failed. badly. so much that it hurt. so im happy to find an american anime that (isnt teen titans, and) i can at least watch.

however, i don't think i will ever like the idea of americanized anime.

american influenced anime tends to take back from japanese culture of the anime itself.(ex: tokyo godfathers, tokyopop's american comic artists...ect.) the whole culture of anime and manga is rooted of course in japan. so when that style is used for american shows or comics, it gets lost. Sometimes, artists can use the anime style because its popular, maybe not thinking about the significance of it.

okay, sorry for the tangent-

so now i have a little more hope in nick and support the last avatar. i think you can tell that the artists and writers worked hard on this and like the story as well as the animation and characters.

[Damien]

Yeah, I seen this show a while back its pretty decent.

[SarahofBorg]

It's honestly not bad and is a whole lot better than most horrible kid's anime. It's not techniquely anime in any way as far as I can tell, just pretending to be.
I wouldn't call it unique, but it's not evil.

But THIS looks much, much worse (but it could be funny as all hell)
Kappa Mickey
http://www.nicktoonsnetwork.com/shows/kappamikey/

Check out the preview trailer. This show is intentionally paying homage to anime. The big joke is that the main character is an American cartoon, while the rest of the show is pretending to be anime.

*checks TV Guide* it's actually on tonight at 11pm, on Nicktoons (digital cable channel.)

[Fuji Nagase]

my reaction as the page is playing:

what? (funny looking main character appears)
what?! ( sexy side kicks enter)
WHAT?!! (evil demonic purple man rises from background)

(fluffy sidekick floats in)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!


so..much...katakana!!!! BLINDING!

sigh.

::shakes head:: ill probably end up watching it.

[Sandman]

I acutally watch an episode and wanted more, its pretty good humor and characters.

Edit: I was just it anchorage for a meeting, and I picked up book 1 Vol 1-3 for ten dollars a peice... not bad in my book.

Edit2: I have fallen in love with this playful yet serious "Anime"... I cant wait for the Season Final Ep.

[The Herald]

I know this isn't technically an anime, but it's in the anime section at HMV, so here goes.

The official air date of Avatar the Last Airbender episodes 310 and 311 is supposed to be November 30th. Though, someone at Nickelodeon has leaked these episodes and they've been out there for a week or so. Any of the Avatar boards won't talk about them because they don't want to admit there is a leak and fall under the wrath of Nickelodeon, and therefore Viacom. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[War Machine]

Yes, who watches that crap?

[Aetherfukz]

[The Herald]

Um, you guys should actually watch Avatar before you compare it to Teen Titans. Teen Titans is crap, I agree. But Avatar is a completely different thing and isn't like one of those crappy attempts at North American anime like Marvin Mysteries. The animation is better than anything else out there and the story is so thick and complex that calling it an anime doesn't do it justice. The world of Avatar is like a fantasy oriental type of thing, but if you've been in a west coast city like LA or Vancouver lately Chinese culture has really melted into white culture. The voice acting is awesome and very professional. Jason Isaacs and Mako are only a few. It may have even been nominated for an emmy. So, watch it before you piss on it, it's nothing like Teen Titans.

[War Machine]

I wouldn't compare it to Teen Titans, but the episodes I've seen were pure crap and obviously aimed at kids (I've seen several because my 10 year-old cousin watches them). Voice acting is good for a cartoon of its type, certainly above average, but the main story is nothing special and the characters themselves seem copied from your every day anime (we have the mysterious one, the the enraged one that always seeks to surpass the main character, etcetera). Teen Titans is on a whole other level of crappiness though.

[The Herald]

At least Avatar has taken a different route with Iroh and has evolved his character into a very independent storyline, instead of the goofy mentor he started out as. I do agree, there are stereotyped characters with the anti hero and the girl that wants to prove herself to boys, but there are other great characters like Toph who is blind and can see with her earth bending. At least the show keeps with a correct and coherent episodic structure, which very few animes (and I mean in their original unedited japanese) hold on to.

[War Machine]

No, stop asking!

Nah, I'm just kidding... I'm bored.

[Eldo]

I feel like an idiot for not finding this thread earlier. PM guys at Evil-Genius please delete my other one, or do whatever you will to it. Does anyone have any thoughts on the recent leak of new Avatar footage?

I've merged your previous posts with this topic, making it the only thread here. I've also deleted your post so it doesn't seem overly awkward to first time viewers of this thread. And it seemed like you were double posting...

[The Herald]

It's not that I was double posting, it was that this thread was way down the list and I didn't see it at first. My intention was not double posting, but sorry if I did. Anyways, has anyone watched the new episodes of Avatar?

[Amazing Amanda]

I have! I am so happy Prince Zuko finally stood up to his ass whipe father! I alos think its great that he wants to join the Aang. There are many theories about Aang learning fire bending from Zuko, what do you think?

I LOVE the Avatar. I know I know I'm a loser! I was grounded for a week and had nothing to do. So I decided hell why not give this a chance. Now I'm checking everyday for updates! I think its the best thing Nickelodeon's came out with since its old shows, Pete and Pete, Rockos Modern life, Are You Afraid of The Dark... you know the originals. I think the characters being directed towards kids appeals more to our younger sides. Its nice to break from reading stuff like Gantz and Berserk and sitting down to watch some nice kid friendly fun. Plus the animations not half bad. I'd have to say that at the end of book one at the water temple when Aang went all Avatar and knocked out the fire nation, I actually sat back and noticed how beautiful some of the animation really was. I dont think Avatar gets enough credit cuz its on Nick.

Give avatar a chance!!!!

[The Herald]

Up here in Canada it airs within hours of Naruto and Death Note, so we take it seriously up here. But I first saw it in a big New Years jumble of new shows they do every year on YTV and I was hooked from the get go. Of course I thought that Katara and Sokka were Inuit, but who can blame me for falling in love with the continuity of the midnight sun?

The animation is always stellar whenever Zuko is fighting, so keep your eye out. Avatar is also voiced by some of the best voice actors of the day, like Mark Hamill. Say what you will about his career fizzling out after Star Wars, he's a good voice actor. And Mako, Avatar was the last thing he did before he died, and that says a lot.

About theories, Zuko will teach Aang firebending and because of that he will be able to lighting bend because his heart is at peace. Soon after he'll fall for Katara and won't be able to lightning bend until he tells her. This will create a rift between Zuko and Aang, but they won't fight. Elsewhere Iroh is searching for Ursa because he should know where she is. Sorry, Avatar just has so many stories going at once it's easy to get side tracked.

[War Machine]

Avatar is also voiced by some of the best voice actors of the day, like Mark Hamill. Say what you will about his career fizzling out after Star Wars, he's a good voice actor.

He did the voice of The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, that is proof enough of his talent. I would've loved if they had cast him for the role of The Joker in the new Batman movie, but they gave the role to Heath Ledger instead.

[The Herald]

Heath Ledger can do that creepy smile thing, so that's why he's the Joker. Same reason they casted Jim Carrey as the Grinch.

Was anyone else sad to see Jason Isaacs leave the Avatar show through his character's, Admiral Zhao's death?

[fujinsan]

It's a decent anime clone, now I have hope for my comic, also witchblade helps. It's on it's third season and the storyline is progressing nicely I enjoy watching it but I dont remind my self to watch whenever the devil it comes out.

[The Herald]

Yeah, that's a problem right now with Avatar, it's taking forever for the new eps. They'll probably air in April, which is pissing off a lot of people, because it's been three years since the show started. It was possibly delayed by they writer's strike, but more likely Nick was working with the theatrical adaptation and all of that stuff.