Mini Review #108: Avatar: The Last Airbender 1X1/1X2 "Aang" and "Warriors" (Patreon)

My most anticipated show of the year! I am in love with the cartoon and have seen it maybe a dozen times. Decided to do a special reaction as well with my younger brother as we both love the show and we wanted to watch it for the first time together! Also, before we get into the review, on my weekly schedule it says that episode 3 is coming out on Friday but it'll probably be more like Saturday for you Extra Early Access people as we probably won't watch it until tomorrow (you know life and all). I will also try to keep these reviews spoiler free as much as possible but I may go over general events of an episode.

Anyways, Episode 1 "Aang" was in my opinion, a pretty good opening to the show! The first 30 minutes were epic and detailed a part of the show we had only heard of before. It was action packed and the bending was superb to watch. Fire bending especially looked so good and the fighting was very well executed. The second half of the episode was just the start of the show with some minor differences here and there. While there was some change to different characters, I overall did not mind them. Sokka is much more serious but he is still the sarcastic warrior at heart and his some funny moments. Katara is definitely the mom of the group and already has had one of her many motivational speeches. The kid playing Aang though is so perfect for the role. He is so young and sweet to look at and you can really see how the weight of his responsibilities must have been so scary to him. Zuko was also pretty good and Uncle Iroh was also pretty top notch. The music was a mix of new and old soundtracks which was nice to hear. Overall, the first episode was a fun, and more serious, introduction to this new show. It has some changes but overall sticks decently close to the original cartoon. If you open your mind and don't compare the two shows, you will have a good time.

Episode 2 "Warriors" was not as good as the first in my opinion but that is ok. The episode felt a little more like one of the many side quests the group would go on in the cartoon. Even though there was actual plot unfolding and lore being spilled, the episode had a fairly lighthearted nature towards it until the final 15 minutes. Kyoshi island was a beautiful location and the Kyoshi warriors looked so good in their makeup. Suki was casted perfectly in my opinion as she looked her part in and out of the makeup. The relationship between Sokka and Suki is very different than the cartoon but the outcome remains the same. It was fun watching that romance blossom and sad that Sokka had to leave. We also got some water bending training and I really like how the show is pacing Katara's training. She is good but she is slowly becoming much better. There was also a pretty cool fight in this episode which I will not spoil as it was not in the cartoon but it was very epic.

Overall, a decent start to the series which I expect will get better soon as the cartoon also starts kinda slow before picking up halfway through the season.