I was recommended by a colleague to watch this show. To put it bluntly I was sceptical - it seemed just like a kids cartoon, and I am in my mid 30s - but I decided to give it a go, mainly because he kept saying "trust me"!

Over the past month I have watched the entire series and must say I was quite impressed. While it definitely is aimed at a younger audience, like all good children's stories it appeals to parents and children alike. If anything, it appeals to adults because it reminds them of what they loved about children's stories as kids.

The first season took a few episodes to get going. It took me a while to get into it and embrace the characters. The early episodes tend to be generally self-contained stories, however towards the end of season 1 the story takes off, and the story become much more serialised. From then on out it is a really enjoyable ride all the way through to the series 3 finale. If anything it gets better from season to season.

The animation is first rate for TV. I have never really watched any anime (or anime-style, in this case) series before so I was definitely going into this green, but I found the quality to be first rate. The characters were also very well written, and the constructed world of element benders was believable within its mythos. I highly recommend this to kids and adults alike. Better still, watch it with your kids.

At the end of the day, they are just telling good stories, and who wouldn't enjoy that?

I need to shout into the void a little about this show. Sure, it's aimed at kids, and that comes across occasionally. Sometimes there is comedy that is obviously aimed at that age group. Sometimes an episode will have too neat a conclusion or an overly obvious moral. But as a whole, the show has more depth, of character, of theme, of everything, than most shows I've seen that are supposed to be for adults.

The characters are brilliantly written on the whole. Sometimes an arc will seem slightly rushed, but it's hard to avoid considering each episode is only around 20 minutes long. The characters all pretty much make sense - OK, there are a couple of complete evil lunatics, but I think some are needed for the telling of this kind of elemental (no pun intended) story.

The show looks gorgeous - some of the best fighting I've ever seen, really. And there are some beautiful moments in the show. There is a lot of emotional turmoil in here.

I don't think this show really feeds my nostalgia of childhood. Something like Adventure Time is great at that - I feel like that is a show about childhood. And there is nothing wrong with that - Adventure Time is amazing after all. But I think this is just an amazing story, that gives one a lot to genuinely think about. It's seems remarkably not like a story for children to me... there are incredible cruelties enacted on heroes and villains alike, there are some complex lessons about the banality of evil, the nature of revenge, the nature of destiny, and of pacifism.

Of course, that isn't to say that it isn't a story for children... just that it manages somehow to treat both audiences with respect. It is for children without pandering overly to them, and works for adult simply because it is a great story that doesn't become overly simple or obvious.

I think everyone should watch this show. It is fantastic, and I truly think one of the best shows I've seen, animated or not, aimed at children or not.

Still holds up almost 20 years later. The animation is still so rich and impactful, and perfectly matched to the sound effects. Even the story and jokes hold up like a fine wine. It would make sense to reboot/remake this if it had aged poorly and needed a refresh, but why attempt to mimic perfection? The only acceptable remake I still hope for would be a 1:1 remake with even higher quality animation, but I don't think the industry has any intention of staying true to the original work with all these remakes. If only they might have the original thought of telling a different story inside the avatar universe, instead of trying to re-tell perfection with Aang's story.