Last time I saw it I was a little kid seeing on the dvds with my older brother. It was pretty solid and got better episode by episode. It was one of those shows everyone had to go and see at least once. Didn't care, like, or ever could get into Kora.
Just rewatched Avatar again not to long ago and it held up very well. Almost every character had great level of depth even the ones that surprisingly you'd wouldn't expect. The characters and story was really good. Most of the jokes held up well. Some of them didn't (Sokka getting high on cactus juice) while others were even more funnier now (Uncle Iroh mistaken Smellerbee's sexual orientation).
Some things didn't held up:
-I didn't like how in the northern airtemple episode they treated Aang being upset at how the new occupants desecrating the place like a kid that's upset over seeing his old home being change by the people that just moved in rather than a kid seeing a foreign group of people destroying parts of a monastery of his genocided people once held. Sure they were looking for a home and fought the fire nation at the end but it still leaves a somewhat bad taste in your mouth.
-After some you explain what Zuko's mom was like in the comics that changes a whole lot of Zuko's "I want my mommy" issues. Azula is a lot more sympathetic for how she feels about her mom now If you accept that the comics where she abandoned her kids without a second thought. The flashback sequences in Zuko alone is forever damaged because of those.
-While not the show's fault but getting Mark Hamill to voice FireLord Ozai using his regular voice now in hindsight makes me only hear grumpy old Luke from TLJ every time the fire lord speaks.
-Jet's death was really dumb, I know it's a kid's show but they could've made it more convincing.
Some things did held up:
-Most of the humor still has it's charm.
-The voice acting, music and animation was as good as ever.
-Sokka is still the best character in the show.
-Uncle Iroh is still the most inspiring character on the show.
-The fight scenes still hold up
-The show is still emotionally compelling as ever.
-The world building is handled in in a very smart manner and is one of the best parts of the show.
-The spirits are still the most coolest and interesting part of the show (to bad Kora ruined them).
But Some things did surpassed what I remember as a kid and even managed to caught me off guard.
-The show does a phenomenal job with it's dialogue and using exposition wisely, There is no large unnatural exposition dumps and what we learn about the world and characters is only ever reveal gradually.
-All the major recurring characters are given a level of depth even if it's somewhat subtle. For example despite being an abusive father, Ozai still defended Zuko's life to the point of killing his own dad for his son.
-Zuko was never at any point in the series shown to be an unsympathetic villain. He is always somewhat a hero despite being somewhat misguided. In the show his redemption is only shown to be a matter of when is he going to turn and join Aang not if.
The worse he's ever shown was when he terrorized the southern water tribe and Kiyoshi island trying to get Aang.
-Sokka starts of as a serious fun hating character at the beginning and only becomes the goofy fun loving person once he begins to like Aang.
-Iroh's arch was set up a lot earlier than expect near the beginning in season 1. Iroh only ever helps Zuko against the avatar twice. The first time a duel fire attack against Aang in the second episode, and the second by sneaking Zuko abord Admiral Zhao's ship and then off to the north pole in the north watertribe arch. The later was probably more of a 4d chess move to get closer to Admiral Zhao to see what he's doing. Throughout the series Uncle Iroh has tried repeatly to get Zuko to be less obsessed of the Avatar.
-Aang thinking outside the box in order to defeat Fire Lord Ozai was hinted at all the way back at the fifth episode. King Bumi: "You must master the four elements and confront the Fire Lord, and when you do...I hope you will think like a mad genius!"
- I used to think the first season was the weakest because it didn't feature Toph but now I think the first two were the strongest and the third was somewhat of a directionless slog to get through during it's first half.
- The Fire nation isn't really based on Japan. The only similarities between the two are that they are an archipelago with rivers and volcanos, they industialized before their continental counter parts and they fight a war kinda but not really like the second sino japanese war with the earth kingdom but that war has also just as much in common with the hundred years war between France and England.
-The time constants on each episode of being 22 minutes long is both a blessing and a curse for the show. Some episodes feel quick and concise and doesn't drag, While others like the north WaterTribe arc feels rushed and come across like a plot summary clip show.
