PREFACE:

I am an unrepentant, rabid fangirl of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Yes, I am one of those fans that spend weeks sewing and slaving over a costume in order to wear it to a convention panel. I was a costume contest finalist at Comic-Con ’07 with my Toph costume and my dedication went so far as walking around the San Diego Convention Center completely barefoot for two of the four days that the convention lasted (I can be seen in the Comic-Con special feature on stage during the costume segment). 

THE SHOW:

My glee at finding this package in my mailbox is not to be underestimated—even though I still have the series finale on my DVR list, my euphoric state at having the DVDs in my hot little hands was near overwhelming.

Given that this is the final Book in the series, I don’t expect that anyone reading this review will be completely oblivious to Avatar (and if you are—I suggest that you watch Book 3, Chapter 17. It’ll bring you right up to speed). But, nevertheless, I will restrain myself from adding any spoilers to this review, as tempted as I might be. To spoil this season as a whole or even any individual episode for any current or future fan, I feel, would be a travesty. By not watching the episodes in their entirety so much is lost in the feel and complexity of the story that merely summarizing several plot points could never fully compensate.

The program itself is almost beyond description. Anyone who has tried to describe Avatar to friends or family might have a hard time of fully articulating the sheer epic scope and intricacy of its plot and characters. At its simplest, Avatar is a show about Destiny (yes, with a capital ‘d’) and the fulfillment of it as it is perceived by its various characters. Aang is destined to save the world as the latest in a long line of Avatars; Katara is destined to guide and teach the Avatar waterbending; Toph is destined to be a BAMFing earthbender; Sokka is destined to be the comic relief who, in the end, managed not to make a mess of things; etc.

Everyone in the storyline has a purpose and even the side/flavor characters often reappear. No character is left undeveloped in some new and interesting way by the end of a season (except, perhaps, for the much beloved Cabbage Vendor). Like most shows of this kind, there is a driving, underlying plot, but what sets Avatar apart is that each episode manages to be intoxicatingly beautiful and alluring in its own right. We have all seen or heard of shows like Dragonball Z where there is so much exposition in each episode that the viewer can actually forget what’s going on in the larger plot. Not so with this or any other season of Avatar. While there is deviance from the overall story arc, it is always there in the background, like the various and assundried villains in this plot line—lurking

I have, on more than one occasion, cried while watching this show. This is of note for me as there have been funerals at which I’ve failed to produce tears (see Book Two and the episode entitled “Tales from Ba Sing Se” for details). Everything here  is heartfelt and genuine. The writing team, headed by show co-creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko as well as Aaron Ehasz, has done an amazing job making the deeply complicated plot accessible to children (to whom the show was/is primarily marketed) as well as their parents and older siblings. Nuisance may be lost on children but there are plenty of eye rolling moments to keep kids entertained.

The final Book of this series delivers on the promises of the first two: an amazing plot, further development of characters, and new friends and foes. The animation is absolutely stunning.

The bulk of Avatar is hand drawn with the backgrounds and some effects done on the computer.  Looking especially at the battle sequences (and there are many) this is an impressive feat in and of itself.

The character design has only improved since the first season and I find myself both disappointed and satisfied by the end of this series. Disappointed that there will be no more adventures for me to watch with now-familiar characters, but satisfied that the series and plot have rightfully run their course and have come to their long-promised culminating event in true Avatar style.

There are still unanswered questions in the Avatar universe—and that’s okay. I’m more than willing to speculate about the perhaps ill-advised pairing-off of characters in the last few episodes or about just how the Avatar world could possibly heal after near total domination by the Fire Nation.

I have seen parents show reservation about this show because of all of the violence in the fight scenes. And there are a lot of fight scenes. While there is violence, there is virtually never any blood (if ever) and the violence itself is not glorified. On more than one occasion, characters realize that fighting is not the answer to life’s problems and those characters who rely on violence and manipulation for sadistic gain do get their comeuppance.

There are many positive role models in this show, not all of whom are male. There is, in fact, a special feature about the Women of Avatar that highlights the contributions by females to the plot. The special features (including me flailing around like an idiot) are all very well and good, though I would have liked to see less of Avatar Mom, however sweet and adorable she is, and more of the opinions of the creators, producers, talent, etc.

The packaging itself is wonderful and neat. My only hesitance in loving the cover image is that it features only the main character, Aang and a pair of mysterious eyes that, I assume, belong to Firelord Ozai. The other box sets at least showed a couple of other characters from the cast but, given the composition of the image, I just can’t artistically see Sokka smiling dumbly in the background on this cover.

CONCLUSION:

I highly recommend this DVD set as well as the Book One and Book Two of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is genuine, quality entertainment and despite repeat viewings, there’s still more nuance and subtlety to pick up on. The Avatar universe is a rich one that has not yet yielded all of its secrets. I hope for more from Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko in the future and as long as it maintains the high standard set by Avatar, it will not be a disappointment to anyone, fan or newcomer.

As for the live-action movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan… I can only hope that the co-creators were able to rein in enough control to keep the film as true to the complex and amazing storyline as possible. As for me—I’ll stick to the original, animated version.

A minus