Is Avatar An Anime? 10 Things In The Nickelodeon Show Inspired By Anime
Avatar: The Last Airbender might not be an anime, but the Nickelodeon show takes a lot of inspiration from Cowboy Bebop and Studio Ghibli.
Avatar is one of the most critically-acclaimed cartoon franchises of all time, and decriers calling it "an anime" will have fans tearing them a new one. Essentially, being Western-made, The Last Airbender and The Legend Of Korra are by all means cartoons. And artistic style aside, The Last Airbender and its Korra sequel have some of the most compelling narratives for an animated series geared towards younger audiences.
Of course, the "is it an anime?" debate can immediately spark a war inside the fandom. However, people who love The Last Airbender and Korra can't deny seeing some show elements that may as well make it an anime from the West.
10 FLCL: Character Design, Animation
Anyone who watches an episode of Avatar would note its distinct "Westernized" character designs. However, eagle-eyed fans might notice that a few tweaks of Aang and the gang's character designs and animation styles may have them similar to a popular anime: FLCL.
Despite its short six-episode run, FLCL's slice-of-life narrative mixed with thrilling action proved to be enough to grab most viewers. In fact, creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino confirmed that FLCL inspired Avatar's animation and character design to some degree. Moreover, Avatar director Giancarlo Volpe claimed the staff had to watch FLCL during the show's creation.
9 Princess Mononoke: The Lack Of Villains
Granted, any fan asked to recall "a villain" of Avatar will name multiple characters and factions across the two series. However, villains such as The Last Airbender's Azuka or Korra's Zaheer are far from stereotypical cartoon bad guys. Interestingly enough, creators DiMartino and Konietzko confirmed in a magazine interview that this concept is intentional.
Moreover, Konietzko stated that Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke played a huge role in this narrative direction.
As fans recall, this film shows the perspective of both forest gods and humans who want to profit from said forests. Similar to Princess Mononoke, Avatar's villains only become as such due to their conflicting interests with the protagonists. However, some aspects of their viewpoints – even backstories – have a way of resonating with fans and realistic ideologies.
8 Spirited Away: Spirituality, Environmentalism
DiMartino and Konietzko also cited another Miyazaki work, Spirited Away, as an influence while conceptualizing The Last Airbender.
"The stories and emotional depth of Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke were big inspirations for us," they said. In Spirited Away, young Chihiro Ogino ends up working for the witch Yubaba after the latter turned her parents into pigs. She has to work and find a way to reverse the spell and go back to the human world.
Interestingly, fantasy and environmentalism stay as focal points in this Miyazaki film. Chihiro encounters individuals in her adventure, which turn out to be environmental spirits. In Avatar, spirits in the Spirit World also represent concepts and metaphors. Moreover, interacting with these spirits often serve as a way for Avatar's protagonists to discover new aspects of themselves.
7 Shinichiro Watanabe: Fight Scenes
Any otaku who asks for a driving narrative or a compelling story would most likely have recommendations in the form of Shinichiro Watanabe's Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop. After all, Cowboy Bebop's take on a neo-noir space western and Samurai Champloo's alternate take on Edo-era Japan are fresh takes on conventional anime setups. However, more notable are the iconic and fluid fight scenes of the two series.
In turn, it's no surprise that even Avatar's creators found inspiration in the two anime. Aside from their desire for grounded fight scenes, Avatar's way of making fight scenes as a fluid exchange between two characters can be considered a homage to Watanabe's signature style.
6 My Neighbor Totoro: Appa And The Six Legs
Appa is easily one of the most recognizable creatures from the Avatar universe. After all, no one could imagine any hero riding a six-legged flying bison-manatee, and somehow there's Appa. And to those saying Appa looks strangely like the Catbus from Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro, then they're right.
As per Konietzko in The Art Of The Animated Series, he just found himself a floating hybrid bison-manatee. This concept slowly evolved from Aang shepherding a herd of them to a family and then just trusty Appa.
5 Cowboy Bebop: Cabbage Merchant
Fondly called Cabbage Man, this innocent merchant's cabbage almost always ends up becoming a victim of fights between Aang's crew and their enemies. This recurring character comes as a homage to one of the creators' favorite series: Cowboy Bebop.
In the neo-noir space western, Spike Spiegel and his crew end up doing odd jobs to make do in a futuristic world. Thing is, three old men just keep on running into the crew across their adventures. Funnily enough, these old men don't add anything to the plots of the episodes. However, they're entertaining enough to become memorable side characters.
Thankfully, their influence transformed Cabbage Man into the iconic side character he is today.
4 Cowboy Bebop: The Case Of Jet
In Season 2, Jet and his Freedom Fighters try to fight the ongoing Fire Nation occupation in the Earth Kingdom. Jet's natural roguish charisma even gains the interest of Katara. Unfortunately, Jet meets an ambiguous fate near the end of the season.
Anime fans might compare Jet's appearance to Cowboy Bebop protagonist Spike Spiegel. While their personalities differ a lot, the ambiguous fates of both characters seem too similar to be just coincidences. Albeit there's no confirmation from the creators, Jet may very well be based on Spike.
3 The Tournament Of Power: Earthbender Fights, Pro-Bending Tournament
Tournaments are a staple in shonen anime, especially when there's a ton of characters with a ton of power to show off. When done right, a tournament is also a great excuse to help characters show "hidden power" or even evolve. At its core, a straightforward brawl becomes less confusing than a pure narrative arc. In turn, it makes sense for Avatar to take some cues with this trope.
Granted, it's Aang's journey to find an Earthbending teacher (before finding Toph) that brings him in a short stint in an Earthbender tournament. Moreover, it's The Legend of Korra that really had a formal tournament arc in the form of Pro-Bending. While creators have not specifically mentioned following anime for these tournament stories, the medium certainly has a history of following this trend.
2 The Recap Sequence: The Fire Nation Play
It's a common technique in television shows to have a recap sequence explain what's currently going on. However, some older anime have an episode or two entirely dedicated to summarizing the events so far. This usually happens before entering more serious storylines. For instance, Gundam SEED had two recap episodes explain the stakes before proceeding to the more climactic portions of its storylines.
However, Avatar didn't even need a strict recap episode per se. Rather, in Season 3, a Fire Nation play explained the way the world saw events happen across the seasons. In turn, this play demonstrated a hilarious parodied version of the character's personalities and their take on the stories, even Uncle Iroh!
1 The Beach Episode: Calm Before The Storm
Most anime deliver fanservice in the form of a beach episode. Somehow, protagonists – and sometimes, even villains – deserve a break from their constant battles. And in this episode, they unwind with a short vacation. Narrative-wise, this helps flesh out their characters and provide much-needed funny moments for the anime.
Granted, Avatar didn't follow the usual purpose of a beach episode. However, the show certainly delivered an impactful beach-centric episode for Zuko and his friends. When Zuko accompanies his sister and their friends on a trip, the show reveals the more human side of their villainous selves. In turn, viewers get more insight into their personalities, with this episode serving as an instrument to demonstrate Zuko's decision-making process.
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