LogFAQs > #901734250

5. Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)
Zea (1/5)
https://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/avatar-header.jpg

Surprisingly, this was the only Western production with anime influence nominated. Well, I guess RWBY was, but I havent seen that. Avatar was among the first American-made animatin projects to take heavy influence from the overseas medium. You had some shows like Teen Titans that borrowed different animation and design from anime, but Avatars structure is entirely that of the typical manga-adapted anime, filled with worl-building, an ongoing plot at the forefront of the story, and sick animation for its battles. Its about a boy whos been unfrozen from an iceberg after a century, who happens to be the Avatar, a human chosen by fate to learn and master all four primary bending types: Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. He must do this all while the pressure of a nation attempting genocide continues its plot, and also seeks to kill Aang on top of it. Hes joined by Katara and Sokka, two Water Tribe citizens left behind as children during the war, and eventually Toph, a blind aristocrat who moonlights as an underground earthbending fighter.

Avatar is the kind of show thats so easy to pick up just because of how simple it is on the surface. It takes a lot of queues from shounen anime like Naruto, but adds a more Westernized spin so as not to turn off some viewers, so the humor is more in-line with a typical cartoon, and you dont get much of the weird sexualization that a lot of shounen like to put forth. The main plot to thwart the Fire Nation is kind of in the background until the end, focusing more on a personal coming of age story about this boy who couldnt accept his responsibility, and how he aims to fix that before the worst happens. The main cast of characters is one of the best out there. You have the main trio during the first season, who all have great chemistry. Sokka and Katara are siblings who argue a lot, allowing for Aang to act as mediator between them, but hes childish enough to poke fun at either one of them. The second season adds Toph, whos just great. Shes basically this total smartass who just shits on everyone. Its cool that shes also blind as well. She takes it in stride and is also one of the greatest earthbenders of all time. And on top of them, we have Zuko and Iroh, who are my two favorites. Zuko has one of my favorite redemption stories in fiction. Its played really well, because Iroh is the only positive influence in his life, but due to his gentle nature, hes also viewed as a bit of an outcast to the Fire Nation, which Zuko desperately wants to be back in after having been burned and exiled by his father, the Fire Lord. Its great because he views capturing Aang as his shot at redemption, but the audience sees how much it hurts him to do some of the things he does for the sake of the villains. It makes his final heel turn to the good side feel so much more special, because it slowly builds his story almost from the ground up. They couldve easily just made a show about Zuko and Iroh, and it wouldve been great. It is a shame that Irohs VA passed away. Not only because its obviously a tragedy in its own right, but Iroh is basically a side character all throughout the final season, which blows because he plays such an important role in Zukos development, but hes not really there for when Zuko finally gets things together. I guess in a way he was no longer necessary for the plot, but Iroh is one of the most underappreciated characters of all time imho.
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