Last Airbender Martial Arts Reveal Makes Avatar Fights More Impressive
An explanation of the martial arts involved in Avatar: The Last Airbender makes its fights even more impressive. Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender series aired between 2005 and 2008. It has since become a cult classic, spawning a spin-off series, multiple graphic novels, and novels. Avatar: The Last Airbender's attention to detail set it apart from other shows at the time.
In Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Air, Water, Earth, and Fire nations each had their own unique bending styles and variations on them, which were based on real-life martial arts. Tai Chi's fluid movements and focus on controlling one's energy formed the basis for waterbending while Hung Ga's emphasis on external power and strong stances inspired earthbending. For the other bending, the Northern Shaolin's reliance on dynamic footwork and aggressive extensions of the arms and legs inspired firebending and Baguazhang, which focuses on light, circular movements, laid the foundation for airbending.
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Giancarlo Volpe, who directed 19 of its episodes, explained at a recent panel that the show's fight choreography was a big part of what made the series so unique at the time. To create the different bending styles, they filmed martial arts expert Sifu Kisu on digital cameras, and then animated what they saw. Volpe added, "We developed four different styles for every bending style, so we were very technically crazy on the show." How the fight scenes in Avatar: The Last Airbender were shot makes these bending sequences even more impressive. Their dedication to faithfully rooting each style in actual martial arts already warrants praise, but the limitations they encountered in
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