Milford, Connecticut, U.S.A. – Since its premiere on Nickelodeon 15 years ago, Avatar: The Last Airbender has become a wildly popular television show and one of the greatest shows of all time.
The show takes place in a world made up of four nations: the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Certain members of the four nations – known as benders – have the ability to bend one of the four elements which usually corresponds with their nation of origin.
One individual, known as the Avatar, has the ability to bend all four elements, with a new Avatar being reborn into a new nation after the previous Avatar’s death.
But this individual is tasked with making sure the world stays in balance at all times and stopping anyone or anything that can cause imbalance.
But as the Fire Nation began a war to take control of the world, the Avatar vanishes and nobody sees or hears him for 100 years, giving the Fire Nation the opportunity to conquer the other three nations and allowing them to kill anyone who stood in their way, including all the Air Nomads, to prevent the next Avatar from foiling their plans.
When two siblings from the Southern Water Tribe find the Avatar – a young immature Airbender named Aang – the Fire Nation begins to go after him.
When Aang realizes that he has lost his entire culture to the vicious Fire Nation, he quickly finds his destiny. Aang must master all four elements, defeat the Fire Nation and save the world. If he succeeds, the world can recover from the scar left by the Fire Nation. If he fails, there will be no world to save.
This show is amazing. It gets very emotional at times and honestly, hard to look away from. Its character development is perfect.
Avatar embraces the different cultures of the world with the four nations. Each of the nations represents a different culture in the real world.
The show is also relevant, as a lot of the issues we see in Avatar happen all around the world today.
Avatar is funny. It really captures a little boy with imagination, humor who also carries a huge responsibility.
There are practically no weak points in the show. An exception is introducing one of the most beloved main characters long after the first few main characters made their appearances. But this is no way ruined the show. It was great for the plot and even led to an unexpected twist.
Simply put, Avatar: The Last Airbender is the perfect combination between a sweet humorous kid’s show and a more serious show for young adults. It’s absolutely thrilling, and I totally recommend it.
Gemard Guery is a Junior Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
