I have decided to compare two famous television animated series, but really different between them.
These two animated series are Samurai Jack of Genndy Tartakovsky and Avatar: The Last Air Bender of Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko.
Both series have been created as TV cartoon show in 4:3 screen, Samurai Jack is of Cartoon Network and Avatar The Last Airbender is of Nickelodeon. Both cartoon shows have a story inspired by Asian culture and mythology, as we can see them, but if in Samurai Jack there is only one main character with no character support, except other people who meets in every episode during his journey, in Avatar the main character Aang has two friends who travel with him helping him and later other characters will join him and help him, like one of the villain who will becomes good. Both type of animations are really good but they are also very different, even if both of them are 2D animated series. Genndy Tartakovsky uses a more simple animation with Flash, simple in the design of backgrounds and characters, even if you can see that there are a lot of original and interesting designs, with flat colours and a flat perspective. He uses less textures and less details. Even when characters interact with objects the animation continues to look bi-dimensional and few shadows are applied to objects and people, besides it is used more black than grey scale for the shadows, therefore when they are not well illuminated you only see a silhouette. Even if the animations of combat scenes in Samurai Jack are really fast and not so fluid, they are in cinematic scope, and we can see it from the cut of scenes and most of the time from the position of the camera, it is like to see an action-movie. In this animation show there is a continuous different use of the timing, from slow movements to quicker, with long moments of silence and no dialogues all based only on the facial expressions. You can see in this video an example of fighting scene with a good use of colours, actions and sounds.
These two animated series are Samurai Jack of Genndy Tartakovsky and Avatar: The Last Air Bender of Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko.
Both series have been created as TV cartoon show in 4:3 screen, Samurai Jack is of Cartoon Network and Avatar The Last Airbender is of Nickelodeon. Both cartoon shows have a story inspired by Asian culture and mythology, as we can see them, but if in Samurai Jack there is only one main character with no character support, except other people who meets in every episode during his journey, in Avatar the main character Aang has two friends who travel with him helping him and later other characters will join him and help him, like one of the villain who will becomes good. Both type of animations are really good but they are also very different, even if both of them are 2D animated series. Genndy Tartakovsky uses a more simple animation with Flash, simple in the design of backgrounds and characters, even if you can see that there are a lot of original and interesting designs, with flat colours and a flat perspective. He uses less textures and less details. Even when characters interact with objects the animation continues to look bi-dimensional and few shadows are applied to objects and people, besides it is used more black than grey scale for the shadows, therefore when they are not well illuminated you only see a silhouette. Even if the animations of combat scenes in Samurai Jack are really fast and not so fluid, they are in cinematic scope, and we can see it from the cut of scenes and most of the time from the position of the camera, it is like to see an action-movie. In this animation show there is a continuous different use of the timing, from slow movements to quicker, with long moments of silence and no dialogues all based only on the facial expressions. You can see in this video an example of fighting scene with a good use of colours, actions and sounds.
The music in Samurai Jack is a bit anonymously, there is nothing memorable and it is not always present, when there is. It can remind some pop music or of '80s japan fighting movies with some exceptions that it can change from a soft music to a music used to describe dangerous situations, like in this episode that is one of my favourites called “The Four Seasons of Death”, this episode it is also interesting because for the most part of the episode there is no dialogue and still it is entertaining.
The Last Airbender has more 2D classical animation than Samurai Jack and where it is used CG animation it is well covered by the drawings. The perspective gives the sensation of three-dimensional, all the backgrounds are full of details the colours are not flats and have a lot of shades, like a Disney cartoon movie. The character design and the facial expressions of the series remind the Japanese cartoon animation style, especially in some facial expressions and in some comic situations and musics too. In this cartoon show there are really good fighting scenes where the movements of the characters are really fluid, natural and believable. For explaining this, first I have to say something about the story. It is settled into an Asian-influenced fantasy world, that is divided in four major nations and each nation bends one of the four elements: water, earth, fire and air. For giving a sensation of something more physical and tangible and dynamic than the classic concept of magic, where a wizard uses a wand and pronounces some words to use a spell, the two creators have studied specifics discipline of Chinese martial arts to assign to each element bending, so that each element bending and nation has its characteristics and helps to define the different cultures in that world.
For example the main character, Aang, is an air bender, and his people are very pacific and they do everything to not harm phisically the others. As the air passes around an obstacle, they do the same against an opponent using his/her strength against himself/herself unlike an earth bender who will oppose directly against it. Besides the water tribes use fluid movements that resemble water's movement.As told before, the music in Avatar have a lot inspirations from Asian music and it is enjoyable and likeable.
The two main protagonists of these two cartoon series are different. While Samurai Jack does not hesitate to kill and destroy his enemies, probably because most of the times the enemies are evil spirits or robots, in Avatar Aang has a kind disposition, he does not want to harm anyone trying to resolve conflicts in a peaceful way. These two different attitudes are probably based about their age and cultures, Samurai Jack is a young man whose reign has been destroyed by the evil spirit Haku and Aang is a young boy around the age of twelve, who has grown up between people who are a clear reference to the Buddhist monks from Tibet. Jack travels trough the world to find a way to go back in his time and destroying Haku, Aang travels to learn how to bend the other three elements so he can stop the war that has been started by the Fire's emperor who wants to expand his reign. While in Samurai Jack you just see his adventures hoping that he succeeds, you can find yourself more close to the characters of The Last Airbender, because during the episodes you find out their past, their reasons to do what they do, righteous or not and for that you can like them, because they have a complete background and personality. About Samurai Jack you know really few of his past, his name too is not really that and you do not find out in all four seasons. You only know for sure that Samurai Jack is an honourable, virtuous man who helps people who meets. The story arc in Avatar is a continuous of events that develop the characters taking everything to the final conclusion of the entire story. In Samurai Jack there is not a really conclusion and even if Jack's personality develops a bit more than before, most of the episodes are independents from each other so even if you miss an episode it is not really a problem, besides many episodes have a lot of references to other stories like: the graphic novel “300” by Frank Miller, or the movie “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly “ by Sergio Leone, or “My Neighbor Totoro” by Miyazaki ecc.
In conclusion, these two animation shows are really different between them but still really good and I suggest to watch both.
In conclusion, these two animation shows are really different between them but still really good and I suggest to watch both.