Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the best kid’s shows to come out of its era. Deceptively mature and never speaking down to its audience, The Last Airbender is a show a lot of those who entered adulthood in the previous decade remembered fondly.
The show was made available on more conventional viewing platforms at right the onset of the pandemic, which caused a rise in its popularity, 15 full years after it finished airing on Nickelodeon. Grey DeLisle, the voice of Azula, might have some theories about why the series picked up steam as the world locked down.
Grey DeLisle believes it’s the comfort of The Last Airbender that made it peak again
Speaking with The Guardian, Grey DeLisle gave her two cents about why the hit animated show got the kind of attention that it did. She said:
I find it interesting that Avatar rose to the No. 1 spot when we were all so … well, hurting. It was such a tense time. And I definitely saw the Fire Nation in some people I know.
But I think we all needed Avatar. It’s such a comforting show. It has so many truly great lessons. I think if you take those lessons and apply them in your life, there’s something … good in you.
During the time when Avatar: The Last Airbender became more widely available, most of the audience was still figuring out how to work around the restrictions set by the government. This uncertain time was greased by the presence of a show like Avatar: The Last Airbender, which allowed audiences to take a nostalgic dive back into their past.
Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 needs to get a few things right
Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender worked better than what M. Night Shyamalan did, but still fell quite a bit short of the animated series. The first Season seemed more interested in mapping the greatest hits of Book 1, rather than giving its’ characters the time and space to mature into the the arcs that the story set for them.
The Last Airbender Season 2 should keep in mind that it will introduce some key characters and story points that are important for the overall narrative. Especially with a character like Toph Beifong, the show will need to focus on making its fight scenes better, which was a main point of concern for fans, despite the show doing it better than M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender.
