[Avatar: The Last Airbender] is a story about hope, bravery, and the fight against oppressive, violent powers who aim to homogenize the world around them. I adore that it is youthful. I adore that it featured an entire animated cast of people of color. I adore that it dealt with such difficult things in a medium that people unfortunately write off as something that can’t be serious, on a network that probably had never addressed some of these themes before.

But I must praise what shines brighter than anything: the writing. From Sokka’s warm humor, to Katara’s hopeful speeches, to Toph’s no-nonsense attitude, to Aang’s moral crises, to giving animals who can’t speak a full characterization, to respecting character development and giving us a reason to care about the people on the screen, Avatar explicitly respects its audience. And I love that.