Bryan has commented that some of his most cherished Watanabe fight scenes were the fight between Bebop's Spike Spiegel and a drug smuggler in 'Asteroid Blues', as well as the duel between Mugen and Sara in the Champloo episode 'Elegy of Entrapment (Verse 2)'. Other various studios from which inspiration was drawn include STUDIO4 ☌, Production I.G, and Studio Ghibli.

Īvatar draws inspiration from Shinichiro Watanabe's Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, as well as FLCL of Gainax. Īccording to an interview with the artists of Avatar, Appa's design was based on the Catbus in My Neighbor Totoro, due to the peculiar task of creating a mammal with six legs. Also, there's a lot of great animation.' According to Bryan Konietzko, Princess Mononoke inspired the idea of the abscence of villains in the sense that there were only people with competing interests, a perspective that he wanted to take in Western animation, which influenced the creation of Zaheer. Both movies deal with spirituality and the environment in an entertaining way. We love all the films of Hayao Miyazaki, especially Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. ' The best anime balances great action sequences with humor and emotion, something we try to do on Avatar. Avatar creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino confirmed a particular anime influence in a magazine interview:

The artistic and animation styles used in Avatar are clearly influenced by various forms of Japanese anime. Chihiro and Haku, two characters from Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, a major influence on Avatar.

Map of avatar the last airbender world in real life