Avatar - The last Airbender
Recently I binge-watched "Avatar - The last Airbender". I never really gave it my full attention when I was a teenager when it first aired on TV (An American Cartoon in Anime-style/ influences of asian culture, can we even call it an Anime?)
Back then I only watched a few episodes from the end of the third season. Of course the show left me with questions instead of answers because I didn't know all the things that happened before in the story. So I stopped and continued to watch other Animes (such as Dragonball)
And now, after 20 years, I did finally give Avatar a try.
What can I say? It's awesome! This story has heart.
The first season of Avatar is a bit goofy and childish with all the slapstick. The second season has a more serious tone and IMO this is the moment when the show goes from good to great.
After years of watching Shonen-Anime made in Japan I have to admit: Avatar is just better.
Everything that get on my nerves in Shonen-Anime after a while isn't there in Avatar: The Last Airbender:
such as shouting the attacks (Avatar functions without it and the audience still knows what's happening during a fight)
characters standing at the side of the battlefield explaing the situation ("Oh my gosh, he is prepaing for attack Y, let me tell you what that means" followed by 5 minutes of flashbacks until the story continues*); after the fifth time I just skip such parts.
exaggeration: endless flashbacks of the tragic past of the main characters: yeah, we get it that Naruto did grow up in isolation and had a sad childhood because nobody wanted to play with him. We get it that he did grow up without parents. He does have my sympathy. But why telling the audience every other episode? In Avatar: Once (!) we see that Aang was not allowed to play with his friends because he had other duties. We see his teachers discussing how to educate him further and Aang putting on a sad face because he didn't have a say in this. - And it did give me feels.
basically all this explaining in Shonen-Anime: in western story telling there is this golden rule: show, don't tell and that works much better with the flow of the story. It's enough to tell/show things once or twice. If it's told well it will be remembered. There is no need for repeat
main character plot armor: Remember Goku and Yugi? They allways win... because...? Aang - as the Avatar - is the only one who can master all four elements. So it makes sense that in the end only he can win against the Fire lord. With Goku and Yugi I don't get it.
power of friendship: yeah, protecting your friends can be a much stronger motivation compared to only fighting for yourself. But that's not how it mainly works. In Avatar every character has his moment to shine. Everyone has their skills and brings something different to the table and together they are stronger than they could ever be alone. They listen to each other, take other opinions into account. They have their arguments but in the end they're there for each other, trust each other: A character jumps and there's another one to catch him. (no one fights on his own because...pride?) Friends aren't just there to give you a power boost
On top of that Avatar comes with a witty humor, Sarcasm and banter and self-irony I rarely experienced in japanes Anime (or maybe I just don't really get it in asian stories) I can definetely say that no reformed-and-now-good former enemy in Shonen-Anime ever had a dialoge like this: "Youn kind of burnt down my village" "Oh, sorry about that. Nice to see you again." XD -come on, that's brillant.
Don't get me wrong Dragonball (Z) will always have a special place in my heart. Every feature I mentioned is part of the charme of Shonen Anime. But I have to admit: After a while it does get tedious and makes me skip episodes (Name me one Anime-Fan who doesn't do that!).
Whereas I watched every single episode of Avatar (without skipping anything).
The only thing I have to critize is that there could have been a bit more gore or at least some more bruises in Avatar so the age restriction would have been higher. The topics became more mature (since season 2) so why not make the outcome of a fight a bit more realistic?
Apart from that, Avatar is great. And I say that as an adult who is way past his twenties. And I didn't even begin to talk about Zuko - the most profound character development I ever experienced on TV (only matched by Londo's and G'Kar's development from foes to friends in Babylon 5 - and that says something).
