I know it's probably cheating since it is technically an American-made cartoon, but I consider it an anime not solely for animation style, but of the great essence it has that makes it an anime: a flowing story, tremendous creativity, energy from great voice actors, great subtle messages, and overall, in my opinion, the best show that Nickelodeon has ever released on television ever.
In the world of Avatar, there exist four nations where it is capable to bend elements. These nations and elements are the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation and Air Nomads. Benders have the ability to bend one of these elements except for the Avatar. The Avatar has the ability to bend all for elements, but he or she also has the responsibility of spiritual connection to the world to maintain peace and balance. All of that is disrupted when the power-hungry Fire Nation decided to lead an attack against the rest of the nations to gain world power. While the Avatar is meant to prevent such wars from happening, he mysteriously vanished when the world needed him most.A hundred years passed and it appears victory for world conquering for the Fire Nation is inevitable. Our story begins with two siblings from the Southern Water Tribe named Sokka and Katara who discover the new Avatar trapped in an iceberg with his pet flying bison. This Avatar is a 12-year-old airbender named Aang, who's been trapped in the ice for a hundred years and without any knowledge of a war happening and the fact that since an airbender was next to become Avatar, his people were all killed by the Fire Nation. Together, this trio takes off to the Northern Water Tribe to begin Aang's journey to master all four elements and save the world from its imbalance, while facing threats of capture from the Fire Nations especially by the exiled prince, Zuko, who is seeking to regain honor from his father.
Everything about this series is just brilliant. The characters, the stories, the philosophies of the spiritual side of being the Avatar and the physical side with the different types of martial arts used in the different bending styles. Compared to some of the odd TV shows coming out at the time for kids in the mid-2000s, this was like a piece of art.Every single character on this show no matter their significance, if any at all, is unique and memorable. I probably could go on forever with Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, the list just goes on.
Something I kinda do appreciate about the series is that it has continuity and no matter how seemingly pointless an episode may be, it does serve purpose to a series whether it's character development or we see the same place or characters again in a later episode.
What else can I say about this series? It's just fantastic, the live-action movie adaptation sucks, and I'll do a separate review on Legend of Korra
