TV Review: Avatar: The Last Airbender (Book 1)

 Well, after so much time committed to Japanese media, I figured it was time to talk about something to come out of the West for a change, and what better than a children's TV show openly inspired by various forms of Asian media? 

Avatar The Last Airbender is, flat out, one of the best TV shows I've ever watched, and it's incredible that even the first season, for what shortcomings it has, still manages to tell a compelling, tightly-packed narrative that feels as satisfying on the fourth viewing as it does the first. The characters are all packed full of energy, and it's clear just by the way they're performed that the voice actors are having a great deal of fun bringing them to life. A special shout-out must go to the late Mako, who brought a sense of world-weary jovial wisdom to the character of Uncle Iroh that greatly contributed to his position as one of the highlights of the entire series.

 Book one is not perfect, though, as the flaws in the animation became retroactively more noticeable as the series progressed and improved, minor as they are nonetheless. This first chunk of the series also contains what I would consider the only truly bad episode, as it requires the recently-established main cast to suddenly act wildly out of character in order to tell a "both sides" narrative that, unfortunately, does not hold up very well in our modern political climate, especially when the resolution to that conflict is to lie to everyone and just hope that they accept that new version of the story.

Overall, though, it manages to maintain a stride that never feels rushed while still packing in tons of world building, a staggering cast of side characters that are never just one-offs, and progressing the central narrative and character arcs without so much as stumbling more than a few times. Avatar truly set the standard for what animated media - even targeted at a younger demographic - could do, and it would only continue to shine brighter as it entered Books 2 and 3.

Side note: It probably goes without saying at this point, but I do not recommend even jokingly watching M. Night Shymalan's live-action movie adaptation of this series.