Avatar The Last Airbender Book One: Water Review
Major Spoilers are included in this season review. Please read with caution.
Avatar The Last Airbender is a historic kids’ show that aired on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. I watched this for most of my childhood and fell in love from beginning to end with the characters, their world-building, the plot, and the magic system. The series centered around a rookie Waterbender—Katara—and her older brother Sokka finding a young boy and his bison—Appa—frozen in an iceberg.
Katara and Sokka soon realized this boy—the last Airbender—was the Avatar, who went missing over a 100 years ago. His name was Aang, and he loved penguin sliding. He was also destined to defeat the Fire Nation, end the war, and restore balance to the world. This was a lot to put on a 12-year-old kid, but the show went with it anyway. Aang, Katara, and Sokka set out on an epic quest to help Aang master all four elements—Air, Earth, Fire, and Water—in order to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war.
While the storytelling was astounding and the animation beautifully styled after Japanese anime, the series also had strong protagonists in Aang, Katara, and Sokka. Katara was the motherly character who had a strong need to protect others, and she also had to deal with misogynic characters—including her own brother—throughout the first season. Aang was an innocent child burdened with an overwhelming destiny, and the first season really put him through the ringer especially with his origin story.
The show also took the time to develop Prince Zuko—the main antagonist of the first season—and his Uncle Iroh. As early as episode 3 when Zuko challenged General Zhao to an Agni Kai, the writers wasted no time in establishing there was more to Zuko’s mission to capture the Avatar than meets the eye. Uncle Iroh’s fatherly love for Zuko also shined throughout this first season, especially when we learned the origin of Zuko’s scar and his exile from the Fire Nation.
The first season brilliantly structured episode 12 “The Storm” around Zuko and Aang’s origin stories, showing these two boys were not so different after all. Episode 13 “The Blue Spirit” followed up on that concept when Aang asked Zuko if they could’ve been friends in a different life. Unlike most kids’ cartoon shows where there was little to no payoff with certain episodes, ATLA made every episode matter to some degree with its plot momentum or character development.
Overall, the first season—the whole series, to be honest—was a really fun ride that taught me a lot about war, oppression, peace, family, and love. There was likely more I learned, but I’ll save that for when I rewatch the rest of the series. Thanks for reading my review. I hope y’all rewatch this series soon given what’s going on in the world or start the series for the first time. I promise you won’t regret it.