I've never been a huge fan of Anime, but over the last few years I've acquired a minor taste for it. I've learned that like most genres, there is as good available as there is bad. Having seen some of the more adult series, like 'Cowboy Bebop" (which is brilliant), I'm a little more open to checking out what is available. So when I first heard of "Avatar", I was only slightly interested. I immediately expected it to be like "Dragonball Z", which I absolutely detested. Speaking of that show, I have no idea how it lasted as long as it did or why it was such a phenomenon. There just wasn't much substance there. But after accidentally catching an episode of "Avatar" I was quickly proven wrong. It was nothing like "Dragonball Z." There was actually a storyline and characters that were well defined… and even more surprisingly… interesting. Heck, it was even quite funny.

The 'Avatar' of the story is meant to be a keeper of the peace between the nations of Water, Earth, Fire and Air. Each of these nations has warriors who can control the element of that particular nation. The Avatar is supposed to be able to control all four in order to keep the peace, but because he disappeared over a 100 years prior to the beginning of the series, the nations are falling under the control of the fire Nation. In the first episode, the Avatar is found to have been frozen in an iceberg. When he is found by two young members of the Water Tribe, we learn that he is but a child of twelve. His name is Aang, he is an airbender, and he is far from ready to become the savior of the people.

When Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation learns of Aangs's return to the world, he dedicates every moment to his capture. Zuko was exiled from his nation and he knows if he can capture the Avatar, he can win favor and return. Aang set off on a journey of self-discovery with the hopes of learning the art of bending the three remaining elements. He is joined by Katara and Sokka (who are brother and sister). They are from the Water Tribe, and were the ones who found Aang.

The series originally aired on Nickelodeon, and because they had a bad habit of running the episodes out of order, I only watched a few on the channel. But in January of 2006, Paramount Home Entertainment released the first of a series of DVD releases. The first disc had 4 episodes of which I had only previously seen one. I was actually rather shocked by how much I enjoyed the series. It was much, much better than a lot of the Anime titles I try out. The stories were very well-written and even the silliest of moments are extremely funny. I caught myself laughing out loud quite often. They have since followed up second, third and a fourth disc, each with four additional episodes. At first I wasn't sure why they didn't opt to just release a whole season, but at the time I knew beggars couldn't be choosers. The release of these discs have allowed me to catch up on the series, starting from the very beginning, allowing me to watch them in the order they were intended.

What surprised me even more about "Avatar" was that it wasn't until I was well into the second release that I found out that it was created here in the U.S. (with just the animation being shipped overseas). Two of the writers, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino have worked (independently) on shows like 'Invader Zim", 'King of the Hill" and "Family Guy." They've definitely earned my attention with this series and I will certainly keep an eye out for anything else that comes from this particular studio.

Throughout the year I checked out the rest of the releases, 5 in all. What I didn’t know was that Paramount was actually releasing a full season set at the same time as the 5th single disc release. While I'm glad they opted to go this route, I'd be willing to bet that those who bought the previous releases weren't so happy. Of course, they could always buy the 5th set and be done with it. The problem there, at least for hardcore fans of the series, is that the full season release includes a number of special features that are not available on the previous volumes.

So what's an "Avatar" fan to do? Admittedly, I'd probably complain to the studio about releasing the series this way. Don’t know what it would accomplish, but I thought perhaps they wouldn't do it that way again. Well, I don’t know if anyone ever did complain… but the studio handled the second season (or book) the same way. 5 single releases over the last few months followed by a full season set this month. Ah well, hopefully not as many people got caught off guard this time.

Anyhow, "Avatar, The Last Airbender: The Complete Book 2 Collection" is out this month and the story pretty much takes up where it left off. Aang is still working to try and master the rest of the elements, but the evil Prince Zuko's more powerful sister, Princess Azula is out to stop him at any cost. This season also brings with it the possibility of a relationship budding between Aang and Katara as well as a new character, Toph.

This new set also offers features not available on the individual releases. The most interesting, for me anyway, was an interview with the show's creators and film director M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense", "Unbreakable"). They discuss the style of the series as well as why Shyamalan wants so badly to direct a trilogy based on the series, but with live action (which I'm sure would be brilliant if it ever comes to pass). "The Essence of Bending" is primarily an interview with co-creator Bryan Konietzko and choreographer Sifu Kisu about how many of the bending styles in the show are based on real martial arts. There is also a set of three mini-episodes that feature the characters as if they were dwarves…. its quite odd… funny… but odd. Additionally, there is an animated graphic novel based on one of the stories from season 1. All of the features that were available in the individual releases are here, which mainly come in the form of commentaries on some of the episodes and one animatic.

It really takes a lot for me to get into an Anime series, especially when it comes to the ones with extremely deep meaning. "Avatar" doesn’t have any undecipherable messages, the humor is very strong, the action fun, and the animation is awesome.

EPISODES:
The Avatar State
The Cave of Two Lovers
Return to Omashu
The Swamp
Avatar Day
The Blind Bandit
Zuko Alone
The Chase
Bitter Work
The Library
The Desert
Journey to Ba Sing Se, Part 1: The Serpent's Pass
Journey to Ba Sing Se, Part 2: The Drill
City of Walls and Secrets
Tales of Ba Sing Se
Appa's Lost Days
Lake Laogai
The Earth King
The Guru
The Crossroads of Destiny

Extras: Interview with Creators and M. Night Shyamalan, "The Essence of Bending", Avatar Super Deformed Shorts, "Escape from the Spirit World"
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 9/11/2007
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Avatar: The Complete Book 2 a B+.