The show is set in a timeless place where four factions had existed in harmony for eons. This balance was upset generations ago when the ruthless Fire Nation waged war and destroyed the Air Nation, the home of the then powerful Avatar. Apparently, each faction could learn a type of magic based on the martial arts that allowed them to manipulate the elemental forces of nature (the Fire Nation folk could "bend" fire to their will, the Water Nation could do likewise with water, etc.) with the Avatar being the only one who could bend all four elements to his will at a given time. This being would reincarnate into a different faction in a rotating cycle and the world was at peace.

At the start of the initial volume, a couple of youthful water benders, Sokka and Katara, were fishing in the frozen wastelands near the South Pole. They came across a large iceberg that contained a small boy and a larger animal inside. One thing leads to another and the iceberg melts, revealing Aang, a boy that appears to be the lost Avatar (and person the Fire Nation pursued even as a myth to insure their dominance over the remaining two tribes). Inside the iceberg with him is his huge flying bison, Appa, and soon enough the group is flying around the world. When reports of the returning Avatar hit the Fire Nation, Aang gives himself up since his mere presence endangers those around him. He escapes after damaging the ship of his captors, including a disgraced Fire Nation Prince, Zuko who then begins a series long chase of the characters.

Avatar: V2 really got the big picture underway. Without revealing too many spoilers, the ending premise after Aang conversed with his long dead previous incarnation was that a dark time was before him and he had limited time to master the other three elements. If he did not do so in time, all hope would be lost so it added the dynamic of a time element to the show. This was quickly appealing since the initial path the show took was the overdone "bad guys chasing the good guys as the good guys restored community after community to the right path". By setting such a limit on the characters, the storyline started to move along faster and that helped propel it in the right direction.

The episodes this time were 9) The Waterbending Scroll, 10) Jet, 11) The Great Divide, and 12) The Storm; each of which actually had some improvements of the characters as they learned to cope with their circumstances. Initially, Katara steals a scroll from a pirate merchant (okay, I wasn't aware that pirates, by definition, had merchants) that outlines some advanced waterbending techniques. Knowing that stealing is wrong, she justifies her actions because "the pirates stole it from someone else" and pointed out how such a scroll might assist Aang in learning to master the art of waterbending faster (she had taught him earlier in the day and got miffed that he picked it up so fast, revealing her true motivations as being more selfish). This leads the pirates, and more importantly, Prince Zuko and his gang, to them, causing the usual fighting. The band then comes into contact with a youth named Jet who lives in a forest on the outskirts of a small village dominated by firebenders. He has led raids on their outpost and his group will stop at nothing to seek revenge, including misleading our band of heroes into doing things that ultimately endanger a lot of innocent people. In the following episode, the trio come to the mouth of a large canyon (much like the modern day Grand Canyon) and are prevailed upon to assist two groups cross the dangerous divide on foot. Both groups hate each other over a series of misunderstanding that took place 100 years prior, and both groups fail to obey the warnings, causing Aang to have to not only mediate between them but also fight the ravenous hordes of canyon critters that attack them. In the final episode, we learn more about Prince Zuko and his fall from grace. Knowing full well that a two dimensional enemy is less satisfying, the creators of the show detail his descent from power as they establish some parallels to Aang's life.

If you've watched the show thus far and paid your dues, your payoff is at hand with this one. The characters may still be written to a child's level and the weekly morality plays might be a bit repetitive, but the quality jumped up a couple of notches this time too. The animation style itself still came across as low budget, Saturday morning cartoon level, but the writing is always more important (especially when the animation was good enough to convey the thematic elements so well). That being the case, I thought a rating of Recommended was in order though you'll still want to see the previous volumes (Avatar: 1 and Avatar: V2) to keep everything straight. I've been avoiding the episodes on Nickelodeon so I won't spoil the storyline for myself but the DVD serves as a good way to archive the episodes if you've been watching as religiously as so many children seem to be doing.

Picture: Avatar: The Last Air Bender: Book 1: Water V3 was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame color as it airs on the Nickelodeon cable television channel. The animation style showed all the limitations you'd expect of a lower end show (static backgrounds, panning of the characters to show movement, stock positions) but unless you pay more attention to the technical aspects than the story, you probably won't care a whole lot. The DVD itself had no compression artifacts or visual flaws that really stood out but there weren't a lot of extras to clutter up the disc and push the envelop in order to force any compromises either.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of a 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo signal in either English, French or Spanish. I spot checked the other two languages but the English language track was fairly pleasing with some separation between the channels and a decent dynamic range. The best effects came during the fighting sequences but the vocals were reasonably good (I liked hearing Mako as Prince Zuko's advisor) and the music pretty decent too. It was better than the show sounded when I checked it out on cable but not that much better if you catch my drift.

Extras: There were some trailers on the DVD advertising other series as well as the usual paper insert (also used for advertising) but the best extra was a short clip of the voice actors playing their roles in an extra titles Behind the Scenes: The Voices of Avatar. I wish it lasted longer or allowed for some interviews of the cast but it was still something extra to enjoy for fans of the show.

Final Thoughts: Avatar: The Last Air Bender: Book 1: Water V3 was closer in spirit to Japanese style anime mixed with the limitations of American Saturday morning cartoons than darker depictions of the format like Fire & Ice or Rock & Rule, but that is largely due to the type of audience it seeks to acquire. If I had a bunch of kids running around the house, I'd still want to have full season sets of shows like this one but as this volume showed, the series has some quality writing behind it, albeit geared to the level of smaller children and getting them individually will keep the rug rats in line ("behave or I'm not buying volume 4"). Thematically, the series is about growth and facing up to responsibilities thrust upon us, and the fantasy genre was well served by the lighter approach the show took. If you're into anime or animation, give the show a look and I think you'll be happy.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVD Talk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, and Best of Anime 2005 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.