After reading this thread I know how Athena feels.

Anicient Greek Facepalm!

There was a discussion a while ago about how the cost for making each episode of Naruto/Avatar was different. If I recall correctly, one episode of Avatar takes one million dollars to make while one Naruto episode takes two million dollars to make. If Avatar can be so well produced with that amount of money, well enough for anime fans to compare it to their shows, doesn't that make it respectable, at least? Besides, Avatar isn't anime, and there's a lot less support for an independent show like it here. Avatar still does well.

I think that the storyline was one of the discussion points, as well as plot progression and character maturity. One thing I'd like to say is that Avatar doesn't have a manga to base the show off of, so every episode is original and creatively written. The artwork and animation is great compared to other shows made popular in America, so it's a breath of fresh air. As for character backgrounds, tragic backstories aren't what's important. Who the character is now is the important thing. Despite having his entire nation wiped out (imagine you being the sole survivor of your country), Aang, the main character, still has a happy and cheerful disposition. That's better than brooding over something your entire life, in my opinion. Instead of angsting over his loss, Aang turns all his grief into determination to try to prevent the same thing from happening to the world. Yet, he's still a normal twelve-year-old, and even though he still goofs around at times, he still remembers that he has a job to do and people to protect. In the third season, this makes itself apparent when he runs away to face the Fire Nation himself so that he doesn't put his friends in danger.

The fight scenes are also pretty creative. Instead of having everyone be a "bender", there are also nonbenders that specialize in different fighting styles. Take Sokka, a budding swordsmaster, Mai, a knife thrower, and Ty Lee, an acrobat who blocks an opponent's chi by hitting pressure points. There's not just one "world domination" villain, and the Fire Nation itself is actually portrayed as being overridden by propoganda. There's an episode where Aang goes to a Fire Nation school in disguise, and the students are taught that what their nation has been doing is right. In fact, one of the reasons the war was started was because the Fire Nation wanted to spread their "prosperity" throughout the four nations, and they thought it was the right thing to do. It's not just a good/evil sort of thing, where it's all black and white. One of the best examples can be Zuko, who was one of the main villains in the first season, but started to see all the pain and suffering his nation had caused after being banished from the Fire Nation.

As for the villains, I think they're pretty creative as well. Take Fire Lord Ozai, the "baddest man on the planet", and his daughter, Azula, who is Zuko's sister. They both have different styles of bending. Azula's rivalry with Zuko is also one of the strong points of her character and allows for development in the end on Zuko's part. In the end of the second season, Zuko is finally starting to see that he is in control of his own destiny and can choose to oppose or support the war. Azula, being the Princess of her nation, manipulates her older brother and turns the season finale into a shocking betrayal in which Zuko turns his back on the mentor who has taught him that he's able to find his own destiny. In the end, however, Zuko sees that the war is wrong. Azula also has her own reasons for resenting Zuko, as her own mother loved Zuko more and shunned Azula, a Firebending prodigy.

I don't have a complete understanding of Naruto, so I'm not going to point out anything about the show itself. I'm just responding to some of the character development comments made a while back. I'm not trying to say that Avatar is the supreme awesome show of all time, but hoping that Naruto/Bleach/anime fans in general gain some respect for it.

Besides, it's not about which show is greater, right? It's about why we, as Avatar fans, like this show, and this is why I like it.

Look, I've watched Avatar, Naruto AND read the naruto manga. They're both good shows, and they both have thier merits and their faults.

But Avatar's got an over all better TV series. At least in America.

And Naruto has a better Manga series, mostly because Avatar's is written for twelve year olds, but still.

(Hey, at least I broke mine up)