Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Complete 3-Book Collection [DVD]

First off, as for the actual show, I rate it 10/10. It's fantastic (and this is coming from someone who didn't even watch it until she was at uni, so there wasn't even nostalgia here). As for the DVDs themselves, I was a little worried because of some reviews about quality. At least with the set got, my quality was fine. There was a small "shift" issue at the start of the first disc, but this eventually cleared up - there were faint imprints of lines hovering a few pixels above the real lines, but unless you stand right in front of the screen, you don't really notice it. The quality of the animation is really good. It's not especially hi-def but that's because the show's about a decade old, and it looks fine on my TV. As for the "black bars" that some people complained about (really just aspect ratio) my TV didn't have them - I don't actually know if my TV is a 4:3 but that's neither here nor there. There're no subtitle options, which is a bit of a bummer, but you get four languages; English, German, French and Dutch. The French dub is great (I haven't listened to the others because, again, no subtitles). The sound quality is great, too. When the box arrived (I chose free delivery and it arrived a day early) I found a couple discs had dislodged from their place - the DVD cases are all fine, none of them are broken, but some of the discs are really easily popped off, so be warned. I don't usually keep cardboard sleeves but I make an exception in this case as the cases feel a shade on the delicate side. After the veritable "horror stories" of some other reviews of this product I was a little worried, but honestly everything's fine, as good as I expected, and I am very pleased to have this show on hardcopy. I'd recommend it - and this product - to anyone who's interested.

Enough has been written about how good this series is. True, it takes a while to get going in the first season, where there are more standalone episodes, but it really takes off in the second and third. I don't watch many animated series, and for the record some of my other favourite shows include stuff like The Wire, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Deadwood and Battlestar Galactica. Don't let the fact it's a 'kids cartoon' deter you from the frequently great storytelling, animation, and characters. The spin off 'The Legend of Korra' is a pretty great follow-up so far too, with even more impressive (and HD) animation. A note on the packaging. Previously each season was released in fold-out digipack packaging. A 'Complete Collection' was released with those cases inside a thin box, with a lid at the bottom, which post people found very cumbersome. This new release from September 2013 has each season in an individual DVD-sized case housed inside a slipcase with the same artwork. It's much neater, easier to access the discs and, at time of writing, is half the price of the previous release. If it's of any interest, the release appears to be disc-for-disc identical to previous UK releases, containing the same special features (or lack thereof) and 4:3 aspect ratio. Each of the individual seasons also name the show by its UK title 'Avatar: The Legend of Aang' on the cover/spines, whilst the outer case calls by it's original name 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'.

I watched this show when it aired on TV and loved it from the first episode. The story, soundtrack, characters, settings, everything about it is awesome! The protagonists and antagonists are great as well which made the show that much better. Humour, affection, sadness, anger, any emotion you can think of is in this show. Absolutely incredible! I've left a short text about the story but don't worry it doesn't contain spoilers, just background info and what the show is all about. The story itself is based around an avatar named Aang who is part of the Air Nomads which is one the four groups in this world. The others are the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, and Water Tribes (North Pole and South Pole). Moving on, Aang is frozen in an iceberg (I won't say why/how because of spoilers) and re-emerges 100 years after in a whole new world where the Fire Nation is the world enemy looking to take over. Only the Avatar (Aang) can stop the Fire Nation but he has a large task ahead of him to master all 4 elements. The show follows his path to do this with his friends Katara, Saka, Momo (Lemur), and Apa (flying Bison), whilst also attempting to stop the Fire Nation's dominance over the world. Now I'm just waiting to get all the "books" for Legend of Korra which is just as good as this.

Arrived a day late (black friday sales overloading deliveries?), undamaged and well packaged. I haven't opened it because its a christmas present for my kids. But the box looks solid enough (3 standard dvd cases in a thinish card box open on one side) and well illustrated under the clear wrap. They saw this series on TV. Twice. And loved it both times. All of them, from the youngest to the oldest (even if the oldest pretends to be too kewl for it now). And they'll be happy to see it again. I will too. Not many TV series I can say that about. Its a great series. A single overall story arc, split into self contained episodes. A consistent story 'world', Great animation. Good voice acting. Likable characters. Very good - I got them the almost as good (my opinion, some say better) follow-up/spin-off 'Legend Of Kara' series too.

A truly wonderful series that will entertain adults just as much as kids. It features some of the most well realised characterisation of any fantasy story. The world is inviting and incredibly thought out along with the "bending" disciplines which combine elemental powers with martial arts to create some exceptionally exciting and impressive fights without one drop of blood being spilled. For fans of Star Wars, Lord Of The Rings, Harry Potter or even funny ensemble pieces like Firefly, this is an absolutely essential series that deserves to stand alongside the aforementioned works in the pop culture zeitgeist. The one issue with the actual box set is that picture quality of Book 1 is not that great; there is a double line effect that is quite noticeable at times but it doesn't destroy the experience. It is disappointing that there hasn't been a re-mastered version done of something this popular and critically acalimed especially when one considers the picture quality of the Netflix version of this show, which was perfect.

So, for the most part, this has been great. Just finished the first volume of book 3, and the journey has been one I will never forget again. Tears, smiles, and laughs were had aplenty. However, there is just one problem which is confusing me slightly. For some reason, volume 1 of book 3 has episodes 1, 2, and 3. Pretty standard. But then volume 2 has the episodes 5, 6, and 7. So Episode 4 is missing. EDIT: I have found the missing episode(s). The scene selection menu has 2 pages, instead of the one from the first 2 seasons. However, whenever I clicked "play all", it only played the episodes on the first page, rather than all of them. So let this be a prewarning.

Very nice DVD box with 4 discs in each case, there are 3 of them since there are 3 parts of the series. Comes with the usual paper box that you can slip the cases into so you don't lose them. I have watched the whole series and absolutely love it. ( I watch A LOT of anime. ) Recommend the series to any action/fantasy anime lover. ( Both men and women. Young and old! ) Possible one of the best series I've ever watched. There are many strong and cool characters. The English voice cast was really great as well, something you don't see very often in these type of series. Since the series originated from the US and NOT Japan I guess it was given special treatment, luckily. Very affordable and collects the whole series. Perfect x-mas or birthday gift for anyone who loves anime or action cartoons!

You know why you’re here. The series is great. The DVDs work well. I thoroughly enjoyed this box set. It’s nice having all of the episodes. The visual quality and the aspect ratio are both indicative of the time in which the series was released, and I’m not bothered by it.

Una colección compacta en tres idiomas, con comentarios de los creadores, no se puede pedir más. La serie es una obra maestra.

Ok DVD box. The outer box was damaged during shipping, I suggest packing it more carefully next time. The episodes sometimes glitch, but maybe that's because the series and DVD's are on the old side, despite the DVD box set being new.

Pierwsze 5 płyt z całej kolekcji ma okropną jakość obrazu. Nie polecam.

C'est un dvd, qualité d'image moyenne, mais pour le prix, et vu que c'est une serie vraiment instructive pour les enfants sur le kung fu et même sur les rapports humains, je la conseille pour tous. Un produit se note sur son ensemble et il faut bien faire le pour et le contre. Ma fille s'éclate avec cette serie et je pense que beaucoup d'enfants et plus particulièrement les garçons pourront s'identifier à HANG le maitre de l'air.

Zu der Serie an sich braucht man denke ich nicht viel zu sagen, dass haben andere schon genügend getan und ich denke, dass es reicht, wenn ich sage, dass ich der allgemeinen Meinung, dass es sich hierbei um wohl die beste Cartoonshow handelt und auch ganz allgemein um eine der besten Serien, die, obwohl sie für Kinder konzipiert ist und daher auch ganz bewusst lustige und heitere Elemente einbaut, die übrigens sehr gelungen sind, es schafft eine Geschichte interessant, abwechslungsreich und auch durchaus kurzweilig auch aus mehr als einer Perspektive zu erzählen mit interessanten, sich gegenseitig ergänzenden Charakteren, die alle in sich stimmig und absolut dreidimensional wirken. Avatar ist also auf jeden Fall sehenswert und da bietet diese Box eigentlich ein sehr gutes Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis (habe selbst etwas über 20€ für sie gezahlt). Sie beinhaltet alle drei Bücher, vier verschiedene Audiospuren (es waren glaube ich Englisch, Deutsch, Niederländisch und Französisch), ein paar Extras (nur für Buch Drei), sind aber eher wenige, aber leider keine Untertitel. Sollte man die Show dennoch im Originalton schauen wollen ist dies ohne Probleme möglich, da die Aussprache meiner Meinung nach sehr gut, klar und gut zu verstehen ist. Auch die Synchronisation ist natürlich in Ordnung, habe da selbst auch ein bisschen auf Deutsch geschaut und fand nicht, dass sie irgendwelche Schwächen aufweist. Ich möchte noch kurz auf die Bildqualität zu sprechen kommen, die ein Einsternerezensent als sehr schlecht empfand. Vielleicht gibt es tatsächlich verschiedene Ausgaben dieser Box, das weis ich nicht genau, aber bei meiner war die Bildqualität mehr als in Ordnung, sicher nicht BluRay Standard oder dergleichen aber auf keinen Fall schlechter als wenn man die Show auf irgendeinem Fernsehsender sehen würde. Von Flimmern oder ähnlichem, wie ich in einer Rezension gelesen habe, kann ich nicht berichten, das Bild war in jeder Episode tadellos. Meine Empfehlung also, falls sie diese Show noch nicht gesehen haben, oder sie zwar schon gesehen haben, aber einfach noch einmal schauen möchten, was absolut verständlich ist, da es wirklich eine sehr kreative, witzige und intelligente Sendung ist, ist eine klare Kaufempfehlung.