Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

The new episode of Avatar premiers tonight!! My sons and I are huge fans of the series. For those of you who have never seen it, its definitely worth checking out.

http://www.tv.com/avatar-the-last-airbe ... mmary.html

My kids love this series! I don't get to watch it often, but I think it's very well done. Great animation, writing and storytelling. I think it's the best animated show on tv right now.

I would definitely agree that it is the best animated series on TV right now. Great storytelling comic relief and fun for the kids. For the adults their are actually some deeper and classic themes throughout. Lots of Eastern religion and cultural aspects that make it very interesting to watch. The bending skills of the four nations are actually based on four specific martial arts disciplines. For those who are well versed in martial arts its a real treat to see them action.

From Wikipedia
Fighting styles
The fighting choreography of Avatar draws from martial arts, and the fighting styles and weaponry are based on Chinese martial arts, with each bending art corresponding to a certain real-world style or styles. The creators use Tai Chi for waterbending, Hung Gar for earthbending (although Toph employs a Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis style),[31] Northern Shaolin for firebending, and Ba Gua for airbending.[10] The show employs Sifu Kisu of the Harmonious Fist Chinese Athletic Association as a martial arts consultant.[32]

Each fighting style was chosen to represent the element it projected:

Tai Chi creates flowing energy, and fluid movements to represent water, turning an opponent's force against them.
Hung Gar was chosen for its firmly rooted stances, linear patterns, and powerful strikes to represent the solid nature of the earth.
Northern Shaolin, which has almost no defensive techniques, uses fast, aggressive attacks to mimic the power of fire.
Ba Gua's erratic, circular movements were chosen to represent air's unpredictability and cyclical motion.
Chu Gar Praying Mantis has distinguishing movements and unique footwork that are employed by Toph Bei Fong to complement her blindness, giving her an anomalous style of Earthbending.[31][33]
The flow of chi is the engine behind the bending arts. Benders require chi to flow from the breath as form of energy derived from breathing and oxygenation, and then extend that energy past their body to manipulate or manifest their element. This chi is stored in the abdomen of the bender, known among martial artists as the Dantian. Different choices of directing energy are referred to different kinds of Jing (Traditional Chinese: 勁; Simplified Chinese: 劲; pinyin: jìng), a system used to describe movements in sparring such as positive, or aggressive, negative, or defensive, and neutral, which is simply doing nothing.

The ability to bend stems from a compound of genetics and spirituality. As stated by the creators, all Air Nomads are benders as a result of their increased spirituality compared to other nations. Civilization reduces spirituality and thus every nation has a different percentage of benders.[34]