Avatar: The Last Airbender - Suriprisingly good anamated serieis

[Equis]

@Ben Sones

There were two issues regarding the Avatar state that Aang faced in the end. The first was the matter of the physical block to his chakra path that was inflicted by Azula’s attack. That was sort of a “surface issue,” and was set up pretty thoroughly in previous episodes, and we knew that the scar was “bunching up his Chi” and that pressure could release it.

The second (and more important) issue, though, is Aang’s unwillingness to let go of earthly attachments, specifically Katara. He never really succeeds at doing this (even in the final few episodes, he is still professing his love for her), and the guru has told him that this will prevent him from ever being able to willingly trigger or control the Avatar state.

HOWEVER… We are also given two conflicting bits of wisdom from reliable sources that suggest that this may not be the whole story. While on the turtle, Yangchen reveals to Aang that the Avatar can never detach himself from the world, because the world is the Avatar’s sole duty. Even more to the point, I think, is the advice that Aang receives from Iroh when Iroh tells him that he thinks Aang is very wise to choose love over power, and that “Power is overrated.”

So with all of that in mind, here’s my reading of the finale: When Ozai throws Aang back against the rock, two things happen. The first is that he gets a whole lot of pressure right at the point of his old injury, which we know unlocks his Chi. The second is that he is on the verge of losing to Ozai, who is going to kill him and then ravage the world with fire.

So of course, this triggers the Avatar state. Not a controlled Avatar state, because Aang never mastered that. This just the regular old “Aang/the world is in mortal peril” version of the Avatar state. And you can clearly see that Aang is not in control, because he was dead set against killing Ozai, and yet this Avatar-state Aang is not holding back, and even pronounces a final judgement on Ozai and launches a final deadly attack… and then Aang regains control, stops the attack, and the Avatar state fades away.

And that’s the point where Aang finally “masters” the Avatar state–not by learning how to summon and control it, but simply by shutting it off, through force of will. In this scene, he follows Iroh’s wisdom and willingly turns his back on power, and instead embraces is earthly attachments, defeating Ozai with tricks that he learned from his friends. My personal reading is that it is this moment, and not being thrown against the rock, that was the truly important moment in the final fight. “The day was saved because the rock unlocked his chakras” is definitely not the message that I got.

This, I agree with.

I also thought Katara ending up with Aang was the logical conclusion. That she and Zuko had some chemistry was undeniable and the writer’s set it up that way for some bit of romantic tension, but I never saw them as a couple. Katara would never feel that way about Zuko, she’d regard him as the long lost brother. His betrayal of her trust at the end of season 2 sealed the deal away from them together, but it set up a much better arc in her learning to trust him again and him finally realizing what his destiny is.

I’m still in though, for Iroh and Toph solving crime through the power of their awesomeness.

[Matt_Perkins]

You guys are going into more depth than I will, but I will agree with those that say the ending wasn’t as good as the rest of it. That was the complaint of my entire family.

[AaronSofaer]

@Wholly Schmidt

Would have been nice to see Sokka get a little more time in battle at the end. Up until the Boiling Rock episodes when Ty Lee and Mai part ways with Azula, I thought maybe Sokka would fight one of them in the end. He did a great job crashing the airships and all, but I guess his arc kind of climaxed with stepping up and leading the raid during the eclipse. Shame that sword fighting didn’t come into play a little more.

The problem is that with swords comes blood, and that was verboten for the show.

He does, however, get the highest kill count of anyone in the series! So it’s all good in the end.

[balut]

@Equis

I’m still in though, for Iroh and Toph solving crime through the power of their awesomeness.

This is a spin-off series that must be made. Throw in The Boulder as a recurring humor character, as well.

[Andrew_Mayer]

@balut

This is a spin-off series that must be made. Throw in The Boulder as a recurring humor character, as well.

Team him up with the Cabbage Vendor!

[Anders_Hallin]

They get missions from King Bumi.

[Hawkeye_Fierce]

@AaronSofaer

He does, however, get the highest kill count of anyone in the series! So it’s all good in the end.

I dunno, Aang killed himself a bunch of motherfuckers at the end of Season 1.

[Andrew_Mayer]

@Anders Hallin

They get missions from King Bumi.

This would make a great comic-book.

“Avatar Adventures”

[AaronSofaer]

@Hawkeye Fierce

I dunno, Aang killed himself a bunch of motherfuckers at the end of Season 1.

I don’t count Avatar-state Aang as being Aang. He’s not in conscious control of it, and he obviously has recurring nightmares about it.

[Hawkeye_Fierce]

Fair enough. Certainly no one will dispute that Sokka holds the ladykilling title, anyway.

[strummer]

@Hawkeye Fierce

Fair enough. Certainly no one will dispute that Sokka holds the ladykilling title, anyway.

[LEFT]That’s right, I’m Sokka
It’s pronounced with an “okka”
Young ladies, I rock ya!
[/LEFT]

[OrfBC]

Thread necro AGAIN to gush about the awesomeness of the end of season 1 and the first episode of season 2 (especially the Zuko/Iroh bit at the end). My rewatch of the series bogged down a bit at the beginning. I forgot what a slow start the series has, but once it gets going, man, does it ever.

[lordkosc]

I finished season 1, and have yet to start season 2. Quite excited tho…

[CLWheeljack]

Finished watching this a little while ago.

I didn’t really like it at first. I didn’t want to like it, I’ve been burned by anime recommendations a lot in the past, and I was ready to write this off. So, I watched the first 4 episodes and then left it alone for a long time. But I started again on a whim, and the show really picks up after that, and by the end of the first season, I was really enjoying it. As everybody says, there’s a lot of surprisingly complexity to the characters, and most importantly, everything is just charming, I love the world. Especially by the end of the series, you see them using their bending in such creative ways, it really feels like a world and not just a series of combat arts.

For some reason, I can’t help but contrast with the Star Wars prequels (based on the RedLetterMedia reviews). Avatar is a pretty simple, basic story, but it is really well told, and you really care about the characters by the end. Just straight up good storytelling.

The most interesting thing to me is the ubiquity of themes of acceptance and abandonment from parental figures. It’s something that’s not really explored much in children’s literature, because it can lead to some dark places, but it’s something that undoubtedly weighs heavily on the minds of a lot of kids (and adults), and I think those universal themes are what are so successful, and lend such a sense of poignancy to the series.

Maybe it’s because I loved the world so much, but I felt like the series was in a rush to finish. Some elements felt like they needed more time to just expand and breathe. I understand why the made that decision (keep episodes mostly self contained, avoid bloat), I think I just wanted more. But, for instance, I felt like we didn’t get much out of the spirit world after season 1 finale, and Sokka’s training should really have taken more than 2 days. Even, for instance, Katara’s field trip with Zuko felt like it could have filled a two parter. But those are nitpicks, implementation details that really are just a testament to how good everything really was.

My only real complaint was with the occasional over-explanation, most notably in the beach episode, where they explicitly detail the villain girl trio + Zuko’s character traits. But again, I understand the need to a) keep it accessible for new viewers (in TV format), and b) keep it more accessible for young audiences.

The story really managed to surprise me several times (Mei and Ty-Lee’s face-turn especially), and for instance, Azula’s portrayal in the finale was simply brilliant. Azula’s entire character arc was great writing by any standard. I can’t imagine the guts it took to write that character in that way for Nickelodeon’s audience. I liked all of the finale, and as with much of the show, got the impression there were some long pent-up animator desires just being given free reign there and it has a wonderful playful quality to it.

Overall, really just a great show, and that’s coming from somebody who was dead set on hating it at the beginning. And while I do love the characters we know, I;m looking forward to the 100 years later follow up if it’ll just give us a little more of their world.

[theblackw0lf]

@CLWheeljack

Finished watching this a little while ago.

For some reason, I can’t help but contrast with the Star Wars prequels (based on the RedLetterMedia reviews). Avatar is a pretty simple, basic story, but it is really well told, and you really care about the characters by the end. Just straight up good storytelling.

Whenever I would see Zuko I would think “this is Anakin Skywalker done right”

Obviously they ended up in different places though.

Avatar completely nailed Zuko’s character arc. His redemption was realistic, hard-fought (and involving some major sacrifices), and truly earned.

[Matt_Perkins]

I’ll echo pretty much everything you said there, Wheeljack. Great series, love the writing, ending was indeed rushed. That’s my least favorite part of the entire series as a matter of fact.

[peacedog]

@theblackw0lf

Avatar completely nailed Zuko’s character arc. His redemption was realistic, hard-fought (and involving some major sacrifices), and truly earned.

Yes, this plus eleventy billion.

[Derek_Meister]

@CLWheeljack

Sokka’s training should really have taken more than 2 days.

I cannot disagree more with this statement. Sokka and Boomerang are the two most powerful characters in the entire series. 2 days is nothing.

“My first girlfriend turned into the moon.”

[Hawkeye_Fierce]

That’s rough, buddy.

[Quitch]

I’m writing this before reading the thread because I don’t want the opinions of others to shape my views.

I saw the movie and heard about the animation after. I don’t understand why people wasted so much breath complaining about this character being a different skin colour or that nation being based around a different Earth nation, it made no difference to anything. Plus, why complain about that when the wooden acting, action that felt too light and exposition scenes which were both plentiful and clumsy, are genuine problems regardless of whether you know the source material or not.

Still, I saw potential so got myself the animation and in a week I have watched all three seasons.

It reminds me strongly of a French animation from the 80s which was big in the UK but less so in the US: The Mysterious Cities of Gold. This was an epic journey where episodes flowed one into the next, there was an overall arc and timeline and characters revealed their depths as the plot progressed, many being more complicated than they first appeared. Its animation isn’t as good and sometimes the voice acting is rushed because it’s a dub, but anyone who enjoyed Avatar should check it out because it would be right up your street.

Avatar is really well written, and everything that was wrong with bending in the movie (the term “Are you a bender” is obviously a lot harder to take seriously in the UK) is fixed here, there is real weight to the action.

It’s a pleasure to watch how the characters develop, and while we obviously have the episodic stuff, it’s pleasing how many episodes aren’t one-off adventures but serve either to develop a character or the plot. It’s for this reason that I think the second season is by far the best season, I lost count of how many beautifully told character stories it had with the tale of Appa being a particular high point, the third season needed more Appa. By the end of the season nothing had worked out quite as I expected and everyone was different to how they started out, but in a way that felt like a natural evolution of their character; we went on the journey with them, watched them grow and change, and often-times struggle.

The third season was good, but never quite as good. I think the series lost its way a little once Zuko joined the team. At that point the writers seemed a little lost as to how to fill the space between there and the end, since there was no longer anywhere for the group to travel they filled it with individual missions which I felt were a little hit-and-miss, often feeling like a lot of filler for the one or two developments, developments which too often were not fully capitalised on. In fact I’d say that was a problem for the whole of the third season.

It got a little Dragonball-Z at the end, where “long” was confused with “epic”. That final sequence could definitely have been one episode shorter. And the problem with the final battle is that it suffers from Revenge of the Sith syndrome, a long and colourful display in which I have little investment. I know Anag is going to win, it’s a question of how he overcomes his enemy without succumbing to what he sees as evil… and a deus ex mechanica? Urgh.

Far more interesting was the development of Azula over this period, because it fit perfectly with her character. She had lied an betrayed everyone to get where she was, so naturally she expected the same from others so in her final moments there is no one to help her. When she and Zuko fight I care about this, partly because these two characters have interacted a lot so there’s a lot of personal history there, and also because the outcome is in doubt.

I also wish it hadn’t shied away from sacrifice. The heroes lose nothing to achieve victory and this lessened it for me. While The Mysterious Cities of Gold wasn’t afraid to not have every dream come true, in Avatar the worst that happens is a broken leg. I wish they had been bolder here, because twenty years ago that’s just what they were doing. Even the death of a single hero would have exponentially increased the feelings of tension, fear and danger because once a hero dies anyone is fair game.

It sounds like I didn’t like it, and that’s because I suck at praise. This was a great ride with a fantastic sense of humour, deep characters and a well plotted story which is the closest I have seen to a Babylon 5 sense of reaching back across the seasons to past events. Some of the stories from the second season will stay with me for a long time.