Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Avatar: The Last Airbender, is one of the greatest shows aired by Nick - one of the best animated shows I have seen in a long time, and among the most original. It's beautifully animated, epic in scale, laugh-out-loud funny, genuinely moving, and surprisingly romantic at points.

The main plot is this - the world is separated into 4 nations based on the 4 elements; the Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. They distinguish themselves by their Benders, people born with the ability to manipulate one of the elements. However, there is one person who can control all 4 - the Avatar, a powerful being reincarnated again and again into the different nations, who is the bringer of peace. However, 100 years before the events of the show, the Avatar vanished when the world was on the brink of war, with the Fire Nation attempting to seize power. The show focuses on 12-year-old Aang, the Avatar and last of the Air Nomads, who was frozen in the ice for a century, and has been thawed out only to find the world in tatters. Now he must master the other 3 elements, defeat the Fire Nation, and restore peace once more.

The show is a serial - it continues the story rather than having a bunch of random episodes strung together in a season like so many other children's cartoons, which is wonderful. There are filler episodes, of course, but these are few and far between, and if they don't accelerate the plot, they do add little moments of character development that are useful as well.

It's also, as I have said, very funny - the primary "comic relief" is the character Sokka, but virtually every character, central or not, has their humorous moments. Despite that, the humour never distracts from what's going on, and never diminishes the dramatic and touching moments that also frequent the show. In fact, they enhance them, by giving the drama such a lighthearted contrast.

The show does have it's faults - some of the more overly-dramatic characters (*cough*Zuko*cough*) can get irritating at times, and there are moments where the newly discovered abilities of Aang and the other Benders seem a little too convenient, like they were thought up on the spot whenever the writers couldn't figure out how else to resolve the conflicts. But other than that (and I was really nitpicking there), there is virtually nothing wrong with it.

Overall, Avatar: The Last Airbender is a fantastic ride. I highly recommend either getting your hands on the Series DVD's, or watching the show online (try animefuel.com - just a warning, it's often busy and can't be accessed every now and again). I have never enjoyed a serial show - let alone one for kids - so much.