Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The adventure just get better!!, 10 Jan 2008
In Book 2 we see the amazing story continue. New characters are introduced and we begin to see a different side to Zukos character as he begins a battle with his own destiny.
We follow Avatar Aang and his friends as he begins to learn earth bending.
Will Aang find an earthbending master?
Will Zuko sort his head out!?
This boxset is suitable for children and adults who enjoy anime will love this story. My daughter watches my boxsets with me and I am thirty something!! I watched nearly all mine in one night, they are great family entertainment.
The boxset has a cardboard cover and opens out into a 5 disc set. Personally I preffer the plastic cases as children tend to be a bit rough with them and we have had cardboard covers in the past that have been ripped. Anyway this includes a bonus disc (the animated shorts are pretty cool, my daughter loved them)
For those who love to watch animation with their kids then I would recommend getting into Avatar, great family anime.
|
|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent middle chapter to the story. , 4 Jun 2008
The second season of Avatar picks up where the first left off. The Northern Water Tribe has successfully defended itself against a Fire Nation invasion, with the help of the Avatar, Aang. With Katara having mastered Waterbending and now capable of teaching Aang, Team Avatar (as Sokka dubs the group) heads south into the Earth Kingdom to find Aang someone to teach him Earthbending. Meanwhile, Prince Zuko and his uncle, General Iroh, have been exiled and outcast by the Fire Lord, who has sent his daughter Azula to hunt down them and the Avatar. To this end she recruits two fellow female warriors to succeed where her brother failed.
Season 2 starts off with our heroes on a high after their victory over the Fire Nation and their securing of the Northern Water Tribe as allies. Their luck seems to hold up, with the Fire Nation apparently keener on tracking down the 'traitors' Zuko and Iroh than pursuing the Avatar, and they soon meet Toph, a blind girl who 'sees' through Earthbending and is the teacher Aang needs. However, no sooner has Toph joined the group then things start to fall apart: a valued member of the team disappears without a trace, the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se comes under attack by the Fire Nation and political intrigue within the Earth Kingdom weakens the allied forces as the Fire Nation advances.
Avatar's second season (or 'Book', in the show's own parlance) is a splendid follow-up to the first. It's the middle part of the trilogy, but if it adheres to an existing format, thankfully it's the original Star Wars trilogy: Earth is The Empire Strikes Back of this story, putting our heroes through the wringer emotionally, physically and mentally, and ending on a surprisingly downbeat note. The notion of 'mentorship' is investigated thoroughly, with Aang's mastery of bending now in the hands of two people barely older than himself, whilst Zuko's relationship with Iroh goes through some tough times. In fact, it's the internal war between Zuko's dual natures over his soul which forms the most satisfying through-line of the series, and Zuko's painting as a young man tortured by his own past with his own strengths and weaknesses rather than as a simplistic bad guy, or a bad guy who turns to good, is a surprisingly mature theme for what is apparently a kid's show.
Many individual episodes are of note, although Tales of Ba Sing Se is especially noteworthy. With our heroes forced to stay in the Earth Kingdom capital for a protracted stay, this episode doesn't feature a major crisis but instead follows them on several minor plot strands, from Sokka getting into a haiku-off with some poets ("That's one too many syllables!") to Aang establishing a zoo to an especially splendid instalment in which Iroh pays tribute to his late son. It's an extremely accomplished episode, as is Appa's Lost Days, in which the most under-explored member of the team gets his very own episode. However, there are far less stand-alones this season, with every episode linking into the main story arc and minor characters from the first season returning with larger roles.
With its second season, Avatar continues to impress, exploring themes of redemption, honour and extreme property damage in a consistently intelligent and amusing manner.
Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book II: Earth (****½) is available on DVD in the USA, but has not been officially released in the UK yet. Import Region 1 copies can be found on Amazon.co.uk. Season 3 returns to Nickelodeon for its final five episodes (also the final five episodes of the series) in mid-July.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Avatar only gets better, 16 Sep 2008
This boxed set includes all twenty episodes of the superb second season of Avatar the Last Airbender and despite the fact the first season was excellent it is still far outdone by this season.
Having begun learning waterbending in the previous season, Aang and his friends now set out to find an earthbender to learn from and finds one in an unexpected form. Complicating matters is a new and powerful foe in the form of Princess Azula, the younger sister of Zuko, and the young prince himself who in addition to fighting the Avatar is fighting his own nature. As well as this Aang and his friends come into possession of information that could prove vital to the war effort and travel to the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se but find the great city isn't as perfect as it seems.
Avatar just continues to improve showing great animation, writing and voice acting throughout. This season is far less episodic than the previous season with most of the episodes tying into the greater plot arc. The humour and action is also greatly increased this season with some truly brilliant fights in various episodes, the best probably being the one between Aang and Azula in the episode `The Drill'. As well as this there are also some great quiet touches this season with episodes such as `Tales of Ba Sing Se' and `Appa's Lost Days', both brilliant episodes that have slightly less action than the rest of the season but are still brilliantly written and greatly entertaining.
Avatar just continues to improve in every way and never ceases being anything less than exciting and greatly absorbing. Put simply, Avatar is probably the greatest American animated show ever.
|
|
|
|
![Avatar - The Last Airbender: The Complete Book 2 Collection [DVD] [2005] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PUmvFseUL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Avatar - The Legend Of Aang - Book 1 - Complete [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51UOrP5raiL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![AVATAR - The Last Airbender: The Complete Book 2: Earth Collection [2005]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31HdTa4Zt6L._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Avatar - The Legend Of Aang - Book 2 - Complete [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51elt%2BdfQSL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Avatar - The Last Airbender: The Complete Book 3 Collection [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S6IxTw4AL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Avatar - The Last Airbender: The Complete Book 1 Collection [DVD] [2005] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517PAR8EAKL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Zach Tyler
![Avatar - The Last Airbender: Book 3 - Fire, Vol. 1 [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51yBqJz9qaL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Avatar - The Last Airbender: Book 3 - Fire, Vol. 2 [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-6lXqKYVL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
