Avatar: The Last Airbender

I just started watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. And so far, I'm pleasantly surprised. I generally lament the death of American cartoons. And while you may think that American cartoons never died, I suggest you ask yourself something. Whatever happened to cartoons like Transformers, Ninja Turtles, X-Men, and Exosquad, amongst many others.8 Most cartoons these days are aimed at a very juvenile audience, and while every so often something like Spongebob or Invader Zim comes along that appeals to an older audience, it is few and far between. There are few action oriented shows that have mature adult themes. It is also interesting to see current cartoons starting to incorporate influence for anime and asian cultural influence.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a Nikelodeon cartoon about a world in which there exist four nations, each aligned to, and able to manipulate, or "bend" an element. The four elements are Air, Water, Earth, and Fire, and generations they lived in harmony, but at a point the fire nation decide to attack, eliminating the air nomads, and laying seige to much of the earth and water lands. Only one airbender survived, frozen in ice, a young boy named Ang, who just happens to be the avatar. Possessing the souls of a line of previous avatars, he is charged with mastering all four elements and restoring order and balance to all four lands.