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Posted by  TheArtrix on 10/08/2006, 22:21 CET (@889 BMT) |
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/10
Let's face it, anime is a successful genre that we just can't ignore. Personally, I think it's because it's exotic to most people in the West, and because it's a border-style between life-action and cartoons. When anime was pretty much settled in the West, it was only a matter of time for popular broadcasters to release their own anime.
One of those networks is Nickelodeon, a network known for airing mediocre shows except for Spongebob Squarepants, the Fairly Oddparents and Danny Phantom (the latter to a certain extend). When I heard that they were going to release an "American anime", I thought it was going to be crap. When I actually saw it, I thought "Well, actually, this ain't all that bad".
Avatar, the Last Airbender takes place in a fictional, Asian-style world that's devided into 4 superpowers. Nations that derive their power, culture and wisdom from one of the four natural element. Gifted people have the ability to "bend" the element that their nation represents.
When the story begins, we learn that the rather aggressive Fire nation has conquered the entire planet and that a person referred to as "the Avatar", pretty much failed at preventing this. Two kids from a water-tribe discover why: the 10-year old Avatar called Aang was trapped in a big sphere of ice for a hundred years. That kinda explains a lot.
Even though he's a full century late, Aang is determined to set things straight. In order to do so, he must master all four elements, which the Avatar is capable of. Unfortunately, the Fire Nation discovers him and thus, he lost the advantage of "being dissapeared". Fortunately, the two sibling kids, Katara and Sokka, join his quest to restore the world's natural balance.
Now, does that make a good foundation for a good TV series? Yes, it would bomb as a movie, but it's a classic but effective plot device for a TV series. Each episode presents it's own mini-quest while still contributing to the storyline and keeping a steady pace.
Action and adventure are the main pillars of this series, backed up by a steady dose of humor. There's some drama and romance, but not as much as the Internet community wants you to believe. The fight scenes are actually interesting to watch, because the makers were not soley relying on the elemental bending. The show displays a great effort to accurately display Asian fighting techniques.
Where other series have the tendency to sneak in "Love episodes", Avatar does not. There are episodes where the subject's more evident than the other, but it does not control the show. All these elements are relevant to the story, people fight for a reason, a relationship serves a purpose, there are plot twists and it's funny too.
Animation wise, it's impressive, but not perfect. Some conversations have been animated in a lively and funny way you don't see very often. Other times, the framerate drops to the point that it can barely justify itself as animation. Like most anime, the animation is most impressive in the fight sequences. There's even some CG, but not as evident as in Invader Zim.
Voice acting is much better than average. It's not annoying and it's not mechanical. It really fits the overal theme of the series and doesn't get on your nerves at all.
Score: 8.4/10.0
Avatar, the Last Airbender is a good, entertaing show for a broad audience. It's entertaing, it's visually apealing and it one of the few highlights Nickelodeon has to offer. Sometimes, the show feels a bit repeative and dumbed down, but don't let that stop you from giving it a try, I recommend it!
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