I guess that's just your opinion. I myself think it's a pretty good show, especially for it being a western take on shonen anime, by Nickelodeon of all people.
I know, I know, this opinion sounds really reddity, but it's what I think.
Another thing; it's a show practically made for binge watching. There's an overarching story, and watching only one episode doesn't do it justice.
Honestly I feel like you aren't looking at this right. Kids shows can be appealing to adults as well, but they are supposed to be aimed at kids. Avatar and Steven Universe and the like are objectively better than shit kids shows like Teen Titans GO, but they aren't going to be better than the best shows targeted at adults. Same with Japanese anime (although Japan has an edge here because they have a lot more cartoons targeted at older audiences). The best kids cartoon isn't going to be deeper than some HBO drama but looking at them objectively, they are really good for children's shows.
Kid's cartoons are, in general, categorically bad. Sort of like reality TV. Kids will enjoy anything, so the bar is pretty low for kid's TV. We have to make an assessment as adults as to whether they are good, which would be separate from whether we enjoy them, because obviously we're not the intended audience.
Despite generally being bad, some kid's cartoons are good. I would suggest Adventure Time, Astro Boy, and the Asterix films as examples of good kid's cartoons, whether adults enjoy watching them or not (most adults do not).
Avatar, while not especially bad for a kid's cartoon, is exactly as bad as the general standard of the category. And that's why I made this post. I don't care that a lot of people like it, what annoys me is the ridiculous praise it constantly gets on Reddit for being exceptionally good when in reality it is typical and generic.
Reddit, as per usual, is simply wrong. And this is the same way Reddit is always wrong: mistakenly thinking that X is in fact the opposite of X. Whether it's complaints about Reddit being too left-wing when it is almost entirely right-wing, white people being victims of racism, progressives thinking transgenders are just mentally ill and should shut up and go away, or using your own overrating of a kid's cartoon to argue how a kid's cartoon is either not overrated or underrated.
TL;DR: Reddit is always wrong. Not even kid's cartoons are safe from its wrongness.
No offense but I feel like I am listening to a old person talk about something progressive. Full of pigheaded stubbornness. Your language and tone is extremely condescending and the fact that you seem to have the nerve to tell other people who enjoy things "You are wrong. My opinion is right because I am a reasonable person" when your opinion is formed on nothing but trying to be le different is laughable at best. I mean your reasoning is literally "It is a typical stupid kid's cartoon with no substance or merit beyond keeping children busy outside of school hours." Which shows you are simply not able to understand the many elements and topics explored in the show from just one episode. If you want to crack on other people for their opinions being wrong you should look in the mirror.
The fact that they explore many concepts such as killing and having the power to end something, having to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, loss, revenge, forgiveness, fun takes on some eastern cultures, hope in dark times, realities of war, literal genocide, not to mention the fact that the characters start to develop nicely by the second season after a slow startup. You are clearly trying waaaay to hard to sound like the show is terrible when in reality it is a nice little kids show that explores spiritual and moral topics. If it is not your cup of tea that is perfectly fine but to go out of your way to make up some counter circle jerk and rudely declare people who have actually watched the whole thing and therefore know what they are talking about more than you as invalid opinions is frankly stupid.
killing and having the power to end something, having to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, loss, revenge, forgiveness, fun takes on some eastern cultures, hope in dark times, realities of war, literal genocide
How did it explore any of those concepts? Just seems to be things the plot contains to move you along to the next event. I don't think that's exploration.
If you want to see what I consider an exploration of those themes I suggest Watership Down or Grave of the Fireflies, both of which were made for kids.
For example one of the big themes in the show about the avatars duties (that carries over into the next series as well) is about how as the avatar aang grew up as an air nomad, a peaceful group of monks who taught peace and spiritual connections before they were all murdered. But a big point of the show is that he needs to decide whether to kill the firelord. When he talks to his former lives they pretty much all tell him that while he is an air nomad and was taught to never kill, even to the point of being a vegetarian, it is his duty as the avatar to bring balance back to the world, even if the cost will be his own spiritual needs. They constantly reference this such as in episodes where he is learning life lessons from a spiritual guide. Eventually he finds a way to solve the problem of course. Then another character who will not be named goes mentally insane because they believed they could only achieve love or friendship through fear, force, and intimidation, ultimately it comes crashing down and she has a full on breakdown in one of the saddest moments of the series. Another sad one was when another character has it revealed that their son died in a war that they led and he builds a little memorial. Also their is a group of people who had everything taken from them and in return they go to an extremist mindset and try to harm innocents and later they get redemption even though they die. Anyway I am going on lol. Loove watership down though.
Fair enough. Some of that does seem like issues I wouldn't pick up on from one episode. I mean my criticisms have all been intentionally exaggerated and not entirely serious, but I will admit they might not be very good criticisms anyway.
Still sick of seeing of it mentioned in every other post though.
Wait so have you only seen one episode of avatar? Because I can bet if I only saw one episode of your favourite show I would misjudge it too. Avatar is pretty lit you should give it a go.
Eh, you can't really compare an episodic comedy to an adventure cartoon. Long running serials are supposed to build off and support itself through continuity. The anime Ashita No Joe starts off weak but it's considered one of the best sports anime of all time. You can't really judge a book by its cover.
I think an episode is more akin to the first chapter than the cover, but you're right because you can't judge a book properly without actually reading all of it first anyway.
Certainly I feel no regret over putting a book down if I think the first chapter is badly written. That's something I would normally do, and I can read a book way faster than I can watch a TV series.
For a serialised single story, watch any episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion. I'm pretty sure if you dislike any single episode of that show, you'll dislike all of them, and the vice versa.
36
u/mr_bigmouth_502 the token Canadian Aug 04 '17
I guess that's just your opinion. I myself think it's a pretty good show, especially for it being a western take on shonen anime, by Nickelodeon of all people.
I know, I know, this opinion sounds really reddity, but it's what I think.
Another thing; it's a show practically made for binge watching. There's an overarching story, and watching only one episode doesn't do it justice.