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 slighlty 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, 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.

The final disc of 'Book 1' is being released this month, but what I didn’t know at first was that Paramount was actually releasing a full season set. While I'm glad they opted to go this route, I'd be willing to bet that those who bought the previous releases might not be 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 perhaps they won't do it that way again.)

On the bright side, Paramount did include quite a number of extra features on the previous releases, which are all included here. Almost all include behind the scenes footage, some of the best offering interviews from a majority of the cast. Anytime I have a favorite animated series, I love seeing the faces behind the voices, especially if it includes a look at them behind the microphone. There is a look at the style of Kung Fu used in the series, a question and answer session with the creators and some audio commentary by the cast and crew.

As for the features you will only find on this full season set, there is a much longer look behind the scenes of the making of the series with the cast and crew, the Pilot episode of Avatar with added commentary and a look inside the Korean animation studio. All are exceptional special features, so if you can get the full set, I'd recommend it.
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 Boy in the Iceberg
The Avatar Returns
The Southern Air Temple
The Warriors of Kyoshi
The King of Omashu
Imprisoned
The Winter Solstice, Part 1
The Winter Solstice, Part 2
The Waterbending Scroll
Jet
The Great Divide
The Storm
The Blue Spirit
The Fortuneteller
Bato of the Water Tribe
The Deserter
The Northern Air Temple
The Waterbending Master
The Siege of the North, Part 1
The Siege of the North, Part 2

Extras: Behind the Scenes Kung Fu, The Making of Avatar - From Real Life to Animation, The Voices of Avatar, Ask the Creators, Original Uncut Animatic, Audio Commentary by the Creators, Cast & Crew, Behind the Scenes with the Avatar Cast & Crew, Avatar Pilot Episode w/ Commentary, Inside the Sound Studio, Inside the Korean Animation Studios
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 9/26/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Avatar: The Complete Book 1 a B.