Category:Avatar: The Last Airbender

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Avatar: The Legend of Aang in some regions) is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons (referred to as "books" in each episode's title card) on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. Avatar: The Last Airbender is set in an Asiatic-like world in which some people are able to manipulate the classical elements by use of psychokinetic variants of Chinese martial arts, known as "bending". The show combines the styles of anime and American cartoons, and relies on the imagery of various East Asian, Inuit, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and New World societies. Therefore, whether or not the series can be considered as an anime work is often discussed.

The series follows the adventures of protagonist twelve-year-old Aang and his friends, who must bring peace and unity to the world by ending the Fire Lord's war against the other three nations. The pilot episode first aired on February 21, 2005, and the series concluded with a widely praised two-hour episode on July 19, 2008. The show is obtainable from various sources, including DVD, the iTunes Store, the Zune Marketplace, the Xbox Live Marketplace, the PlayStation Store, Netflix, Amazon Video, and the Nicktoons Network.

Throughout its run, Avatar: The Last Airbender was universally acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. Praises went to the art direction, humor, cultural references, characters, and themes. It was also commercially successful, garnering 5.6 million viewers on its best-rated showing and receiving high ratings in the Nicktoons lineup, even outside of its 6- to 11-year-old demographic. The series has been nominated for and won awards from the Annie Awards, the Genesis Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Peabody Award, among others. The first season's success prompted Nickelodeon to order second and third seasons.

In other media, the series has spawned a critically panned, but financially successful, live-action film, titled The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan; scaled action figures; a trading card game; three video games; stuffed animals distributed by Paramount Parks and two Lego sets. An art book was also released in mid-2010. A sequel series, The Legend of Korra, aired from 2012 to 2014.

Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a world that is home to humans and hybrid animals, adjacent to a parallel Spirit World. Human civilization is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. Each has a distinct society, wherein people known as "benders" have the ability to manipulate and control the element of their nation using the physical motions of martial arts. The show's creators based each bending style on an existing Chinese martial art, leading to clear visual and physical differences in the techniques used by Waterbenders (tai chi), Earthbenders (Hung Ga kung fu), Firebenders (Northern Shaolin kung fu) and Airbenders (Baguazhang). In addition to these four types of bending, there are several minor subcategories of bending within them, including but not limited to: Metalbending, Sandbending (Earth); Lightning generation and redirection (Fire) and Bloodbending, Healing, Plantbending (Water).

At any given time, only one person in the world is capable of bending all four elements: the Avatar, who serves as an international arbiter. When the Avatar dies, the Avatar spirit is reincarnated into the next one of the four nations in the Avatar Cycle: the Fire Nation, Air Nomads, Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, in order. An Avatar incarnation is born male or female, and is required to master each bending art in seasonal order, starting with its native land's element. Additionally, the Avatar can enter a phase known as the Avatar State: normally a defense mechanism until placed under his/her control through mental discipline, wherein the current Avatar briefly gains the knowledge and abilities of all past Avatars. If an Avatar were to be killed while in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle would end and the Avatar would never again be reborn. Through the various incarnations, the Avatar maintains a relative equality among the nations while serving as mediator between humans and spirits. The origin of the Avatar cycle is revealed in the sequel series The Legend of Korra, as the result of a young man named Wan combining his soul with the spirit Raava to imprison her opponent, Vaatu. The sequel series also revealed that bending was originally bestowed by the immense Lion Turtles, before these giant creatures renounced their roles as mankind's protectors upon the creation of the Avatar.