AVATAR - The Last Airbender

Anyone who regularly reads my blog knows I'm a geek. We're talking gunner's-mate, 1st class, Uber-Geek (get the reference, and you're one too. LOL)

Well, Dh and I stumbled upon a new vice: AVATAR: The Last Airbender.



You might have seen this cartoon on Nickelodeon every now and again and thought it was weird. True enough. But what Anime "isn't" weird? Now, let me be the first to tell you that even though I'm an Uber Geek (echo echo), I don't like much Anime. It's all gritty looking, and the animation kinda sucks. But hey, that's the genre, right?

AVATAR is an awesome show (yes, it's a cartoon) because the art is EXCELLENT. Not only that, but it's so original from other anime stories. Sure, you're thinking to yourself, "But Becka, most Anime *is* original." Princess Mononoke comes to mind. Another is Castle in the Sky. True, while these were original, they were also extremely WEIRD. Crazy spirits floating around leaving you thinking WTF? LOL Don't get me wrong, AVATAR has spirits in it as well (most Anime seems to have a spiritual side), but it's nothing that's really strange, leaving you to wonder if something was lost in translation. :P In fact, AVATAR was animated in English, so it's not originally *from* Japan. I believe it was created by a couple of American dudes.

Now, even though it is a cartoon and marketed to children, the show RULES. The "benders" in the show can "bend" the elements, so there's air, water, earth & fire. And they bend them by using various Kung Fu moves. They actually hired masters in martial arts to come in and help them not only animate the charactes, but to also help them figure out what moves would logically do what action.

Because of this, the show is given an "epic" feel, even though it's silly at times. It's still for kids, after all.



I highly recommend watching this show. Either rent it, Netflix it, watch it on You Tube (yup, it's on You Tube) or buy the DVD set off of Amazon.com. If you try to buy it in stores, they'll rake you over the coals in price, because they only sell a pack of 3 DVD's, instead of the whole set. Whose craptastic idea was THAT, anyway? GRRR Anyhow, if you buy it off of Amazon, you can get the full set. They're almost done with season 2 on Nickelodeon, and their cleared for season 3. DH and I just watched the first season this past week and finished it this weekend. We're going to start season 2 tonight with some friends, as we have it all recorded, that's how awesome this show is.

I'm really into it. An anime cartoon might not be for you, but I'm telling you the art is fantastic, the story is original and more importantly, understandable, and the Kung Fu and imagination behind the benders is just awesome. I wish *I* had an imagination as rich as the writers of this show. If I could write children's books, THIS series would be it.

Check it out for yourself. :)



~~Becka