By Staff Writer Tighe Ratcliffe.

Chances are that when you grew up you might have watched the show Avatar: the Last Airbender, on Nickelodeon. Chances also are that if you did watch the show, you were amazed by the stunning visuals, heart-pounding plot, and some of the best character development for an animated children’s show. Well, everything that you loved about Avatar, you will love about The Dragon Prince.

Without giving anything away, in this new show created by one of the co-creators of Avatar, Aaron Ehasz, we get the amazing and magical world of Xadia. In this fantasy world there’s an ongoing war between humans and elves and dragons.

The humans were driven off by the dragons for using dark magic, which is an abomination of the various other forms of magic that rely on nature. Dark magic on the other hand involves stealing the life force from creatures in order to use magic. Humans are born without the capability to use pure magic, so they resorted to using dark magic, which the King of Dragons and the elves didn’t take to kindly to.

The King of Dragons somehow ends up being killed before the series starts, and the heir to his throne, the dragon prince (aka an egg) goes missing. It was suspected that the egg was destroyed during a conflict between the 4 human kingdoms (sounds familiar right?) and the elves.

The series starts out with a group of elves sent to assassinate the human King Harrow, and his son Ezran. One of the elves, Rayla, is the first main character that we meet. Soon we get to see Prince Ezran and Prince Callum going through their daily lives in the castle. Prince Callum is voiced by Jack DeSena, the same person who voices Sokka in Avatar. But the similarities between the shows don’t end there.

Season one of The Dragon Prince is called “Book 1: Moon,” and season two “Book 2: Sky.” If you’re not familiar with Avatar, the seasons are divided into books based on the elements. It seems like in this new series created by the same person, the seasons are following the same winning formula.

So, our three main characters meet after the king gets assassinated, they find the missing dragon prince egg, and they start a journey together to bring the egg back to his rightful home. The first season follows them as they start their journey. It’s so hard writing a review without spoiling anything, because this series is just so good.

But just like in Avatar: the Last Airbender, and its follow up series, Avatar the Legend of Korra, The Dragon Prince has some of the best characters ever created. Like in these two other great shows, there are some characters that have physical disabilities that they don’t let stop them from following their passions. One character is deaf, and this is the first time that I’ve ever seen sign language be used so much in an animated series. In season two, the two queens of one of the kingdoms are in a very obvious romantic relationship. It’s honestly so refreshing to see characters like this in a show for children portrayed in such an epic way.

Like in Avatar the main villains are incredibly well developed. King Harrow’s chief advisor, a dark magic mage named Viren, gives you such mixed messages. At times he seems like a good guy, and at other moments he seems like the most evil villain in the history of villains. He is such a complex character, and such an integral part of the main plot.

Hopefully this review didn’t give away too many spoilers for this amazing show, because it is a noteworthy series to put into your binge-watching list. So, if you’ve been missing quality cartoons and animated series like Avatar, then seriously check out The Dragon Prince.