Without faffing about, Avatar: Seven Havens was a return to form for the Avatar main series. As we just had a mixed reaction to the first film, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, Paramount+ and Nickelodeon Animation Studio did this series justice. Not to say the movie was abysmal, but it deserved to be in theaters. I was a little hesitant to see how far into the future this follow-up to The Legend of Korra was, but it was all worth it.
Set 225 years after Avatar Korra’s time, the world is mostly covered in storms because of some cataclysmic event that the world blames on Korra. This means the geographical world is different and is now known as the Harshlands, except for the Seven Havens. The Seven Havens are isolated fortresses that keep the storms at bay and are the last bastion of civilization. In Ellora, one of the havens, a timid 9-year-old orphan, Pavi, discovers that she is the next Avatar. Hunted by everyone and everything, she and her long-lost twin sister, Avatar Nisha, must uncover their strange shared backstory and save the Seven Havens from looming threats.
The first batch of three episodes of Avatar: Seven Havens provided a great introduction to this new landscape in the world that fans know. It tied into The Legend of Korra, with backdrops and explanations that were related to the events that happened 225 years prior. The pacing worked well, in that this whole season primarily took place in Ellora but still felt massive in the grand scheme of things. Even though we spend 13 episodes in Ellora, this first season allowed audiences to truly understand this Haven, its people, and some additional characters that help build out the entire world.
“Avatar: Seven Havens chose to draw in a style that blended its original blend of American animation and Japanese anime inspiration, but went further with a synthwave aesthetic tacked on.”
Sometimes, audiences who grew up with this series forget this is a children’s animated show, but never the writers. Yes, this franchise goes beyond themes targeted for kids, but I appreciate that the writers across all Avatar projects remember to keep the young characters true to who they ultimately are. All this is to say, the character writing for this series debut was near-flawless. I thought Kiyoko’s writing grew to be a bit one-note and comic book wacky as the series progressed. I am still not confident about how this world set Korra up to be an evil Avatar, especially knowing the Avatar fandom already spread some Korra real-life hate.
However, I enjoyed the character arcs for, I would argue, the three main characters: Pavi, Nisha, and Jae. You can throw in Geet and Ruhi in there too for being cute cat-monkey companions to the twins. It was not a one-to-one with the previous Team Avatar squad, but it worked perfectly for this cast. Despite Kiyoko’s writing, I found there were a lot of characters introduced in this first season—more so with tracking who is who in Jae’s Brigade crew. The coloured uniforms helped distinguish which Bending element they used, but I was a little lost in the first half of the season.
Behind the characters are their great voice actors; Saheli Khan, Aishu Devan, and Major Curda killed the voices of the main trio of Avatar: Seven Havens. Plenty of times, productions would make one VA voice both twins, but I thoroughly appreciated how Pavi and Nisha sounded similar—but also felt unique. I felt this decision allowed Pavi and Nisha to thrive as individuals, rather than the VA doing more work to come up with different voice styles for each twin. And while Jae is not the exact Sokka or Bolin comic relief, Major Curda nailed the voice of someone who was discovering his place in the world—while managing the turbulent responsibilities he has to bounce around this season.
You cannot mention an Avatar production without bringing up the animation and art style. Avatar: Seven Havens chose to draw in a style that blended its original blend of American animation and Japanese anime inspiration, but went further with a synthwave aesthetic tacked on. This was cool to see because it matched the era of the story, being set in the far future.
There had to be a vibe that this world was Mad Max: Fury Road meets Tron, and this show executed on that. In the beginning, I thought it was jarring, but then it matched the sky that The Legend of Korra watchers remember depicts the auroras as the Spirit World door remaining open permanently across the world. Much of the art style and aesthetics reminded me of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and Voltron: Legendary Defender.
The animation was not as fluid as The Legend of Korra, but it harkened back to Avatar: The Last Airbender to me. There were moments that felt out of focus, and actions where the frame rate felt choppy. But if you remember the original series, it was not as smooth as you think. Whether this was intentional or not, it is possible that it reflects the state of the world in Avatar: Seven Havens—a bit disjointed. However, the animation went crazy good when it showed the pseudo-Avatar State and the Chakras.
“With all three more seasons already greenlit, Avatar: Seven Havens looks to be building out an intriguing new world that feels familiar but distinct.”
To match this techno, futuristic art style, the perfect score has to match it. Hearing Jeremy Zuckerman’s score is always a fan-favourite delight. This time around, Zuckerman highlighted the kalimba instrument that Pavi plays, but he is not afraid to go hard on the synths for the overall ambiance of the show. This was a nice added touch for the timeline.
The sound design from Sound43 popped off throughout Avatar: Seven Havens Season 1, from the action set pieces to the small moments of nibbling kachoris. The bending sounds were fluid, making the rock sounds more pinpoint accurate since Pavi and Nisha are natural-born Earthbenders. I thoroughly enjoyed how creative they got with Earthbending this season, and I am very curious if the twins or one of them will learn metalbending. With the way Pavi can hear the ground, it may be likely for her to pick up metalbending like Toph.
With all three more seasons already greenlit, Avatar: Seven Havens looks to be building out an intriguing new world that feels familiar but distinct. Every element of this show was every bit as charming, funny, and shocking as its predecessors’ storylines. This continuation of the Avatar franchise honours what works from previous series, and finally is the most unapologetically LGBTQ+-forward, disability-aware, and culturally diverse iteration to date—for the better. The wait has been long, ATLA fans, but we are back, baby!
