The 'Arts and Leisure' section of Sunday's New York Times included an article on page 19 about the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender.  Writing for the Times, Mark Lasswell noted that historically the Nickelodeon cable network has by and large eschewed anime series, which have garnered considerable airtime over the past few years on its rivals such as the Cartoon Network, Fox Kids and the Kids' WB.  Last February, however, Nickelodeon premiered Avatar, an anime-like series created by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, two graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design who had worked on the Family Guy series. 

 

Avatar isn't just related to anime in terms of style (like say the Teen Titans animated series).  DiMartino and Konietzko have attempted to include elements of Eastern philosophy in the series' scripts and actually hired a martial arts expert, Sifu Kisu from the Harmonius Fist Chinese Athletic Association in Los Angeles, to ensure that the fight scenes were authentic and avoided as many of the cliches of animated martial arts combat as possible. 

 

According to Neilson Media Research, Di Martino and Konietzko have achieved a remarkable success.  Avatar has become the most popular show on TV for boys ages 6-11, a fact that Lasswell attributes in part to Avatar being easier to follow than real anime series where knowledge of the characters' history and culture may be required.  Although it proceeded cautiously at first with an initial order for just six installments, Nickelodeon has now ordered 20 episodes of Avatar, seven of which are new and will be aired this fall.  Upper Deck is preparing a trading card game based on the series  (see 'Upper Deck's Full House for 2005'), which, according to the Times, will be out in January 2006 -- and a video game is also in the works.