Various writers and directors
Studio: JM Animation, DR Movie, MOI Animation
Completed viewing on 04/04/20
***SPOILERS***
I enjoyed the hell out of Avatar. There was a whole lot it got wrong in my opinion but I could never say I didn't have mad fun watching it and even get a bit gassed at certain parts like I actually was a 10-year-old watching it for the first time. The ending disappointed me so much that I had to write an entirely separate rant about it. However I am pretty particular in what I like, so the fact the ending didn't do it for me really shouldn't detract from what a great watch Avatar is.
One thing that's quite nice about A:TLA is that it's a good length. Definitely could have been streamlined a bit but the creators used their 3 seasons (61 episodes) pretty well, really growing and developing some of their characters, building an immersive, intricate world and even creating an elaborate history for it. You feel like you're really on a whole journey when you watch it. They also got to have a whole bunch of fun with character designs as characters and situations changed, like when the MCs have to wear Fire Nation outfits for most of season 3. It was like a timeskip but you actually went through it with them, so it felt even more rewarding.
The characters are the best thing about the series. They have strong, clear personalities but they're also visibly moulded by the events and experiences of their journies. The series' major characters are also suprisingly multi-dimensional from the start. My favourite character by some distance was Toph. She's a tough as fuck girl with a disability but she isn't a token - the writers didn't use these things in place of her personality but instead used them to add to it and make her genuinely interesting. More importantly though, she's just very well written. She brings contrasting attitudes and opinions to the group, which creates complications and conflicts. She's a master earth bender but she can only fight when her feet are touching the ground. She's powerful and she's tough but she also has flaws and limitations. She serves as a fantastic example of how to write diversity properly - it never ever feels forced. Avatar also blurred the line between goodies and baddies with Iroh and Zuko but showed they did not forget where that line was with the introduction of Azula - three truly great characters, who play their respective roles perfectly. Zuko's character arc is also sensational. Lastly, it does sadly need to be said that Sokka was really under-developed throughout. I didn't feel like he suited almost exclusively playing the 'comic relief' role and as one of the main characters, he should have got much more than just romances and his 1 pity episode of actual story.
Character design is also great. I say Azula, you instantly imagine her two little side-bangs; Katara, 'hair loopies'; Aang, arrow; Sokka, that terrible middle bun. The best example of this is Zuko's design, which changes as he does - they even include plot points to drive these changes. He becomes more likeable as the series progresses and his hair and outfits change to reflect that, however his original season 1 design, whilst definitely unlikeable, is still very appealing and distinctive. They did a top job.
This leads into another great aspect of the show, which is its animation. Again, this isn't perfect - the CG tanks and airships are a bit disappointing to see and there are all the hallmarks of a cartoon produced to a deadline - but the general art and animation are solid and the action sequences are absolutely phenomenal. Watching the show, you get the impression that including at least one proper fight in each episode was something the producers agreed right from the jump. I also appreciate how much thought and consideration went into every character's fighting style - even for characters who only appeared once. The show's artists and animators did a good job creating great drawings and poses without burdening themselves with too much detail and light/shadow. One thing I definitely didn't like however was the use of anime styled faces (particularly eyes and noses). In my opinion, these felt borrowed and didn't really agree with the rest of the art style. Sadly the borrowing didn't stop there.
My biggest criticism of the series is definitely its heavy use of Asian symbolism, cultures, belief systems, names, architecture etc. I think it was a cheap way of making the show seem cooler and a shortcut in terms of world building. It was also just pretty cringey to watch an american TV show use the Japanese symbols for the elements and have characters named things like Zhao and Chan. The creators showed that they were capable of coming up with great original material when they chose to, so it's a shame they took this route.
The storyline for the most part was nice and straightforward, whilst still providing depth and complications. Season 1 was a bit 'monster of the week' but they found a good balance between the main story and side plots as the series went on. The introduction of loads of unimportant side characters would have been a little bit annoying by itself but I think they actually made this worse by having some of them return randomly for one or two episodes later on. I won't get into my dislike of the series' ending but ultimately, I was very disappointed by the fact that a lot of the interesting plotlines aren't really concluded very well. The worst example being the main overarching storyline not being honoured at all: Aang doesn't master the 4 elements. If the series had had a running theme about how your destiny isn't what you think it is, that would make sense but the show's actual theme is pretty much the opposite. I also felt like there were definitely issues with pacing and inconsistent ideas between different writers and directors (both of which were particularly noticeable in season 3).Still not a bad plot though.
So in conclusion, the show's a whole ot of fun and its problems can be glossed over because of that. I'd recommend to anyone who grew up on DBZ, Pokémon, Digimon, Beyblade etc. 7/10
Other random thoughts: the Earth Kingdom WWE episode is fucking brilliant; I liked how Toph's addition to the group almost made it feel like a D&D party; after taking inspiration from a lot of anime and manga, the show did pay its respects to a lot of them, which was cool - they even did Star Wars; I know they did a lot of research on fighting styles etc., so they get credit for that but coming back to the Asia thing, they really could have looked at world martial arts.
