The Legend of Korra

[hells_half_acre]

I just finished watching S1 of The Legend of Korra.

For those not in the know, The Legend of Korra is a "spin-off" of Avatar: The Last Airbender. And by "spin-off" I mean "a separate and unique story placed 70 years after the events of A:TLA."

As for my review, well, let's just say: The writing and characters are so good that every other show you've ever seen pales in comparison (even the ones that you really really love). Okay, that might sound like too much praise...but seriously, it's SO GOOD. A:TLA/Korra and Sherlock are currently the best things written for TV in my opinion. I consider them equal in awesomeness.

There's very little to complain about...a few fart jokes that are obviously for the younger crowd, a finale resolution that might seem a bit deus ex machina if you are unfamiliar with the universe. But that's really it....oh, and it was a LITTLE weird to have a voice-actor from A:TLA voice a (related) character in Korra too, but it WAS nice to hear the voice again, so I can see why they made that decision. (It helped that it was the voice of my favourite character in A:TLA).

For those feminists amongst you (which, frankly, should be all of you), if you HAVEN'T watched A:TLA and Korra, you are missing out on what I think are the best female characters on television. No one has come close to writing women as well as the A:TLA writers do....they also really have a knack for heartbreaking father-son story lines, I have to say. 

So, yeah, I won't go into detail about spoilers and whatnot...but geez...such a good show. 

For those who haven't seen A:TLA and/or Korra YOU SHOULD! Also, there might be spoilers in the comments here, so be careful.

For those who have seen it - OH MAN! GUYS! IT WAS SO GOOD WASN'T IT? Being back in that universe makes me miss the original characters like burning, but it also made me fall in love with new characters and want to see more of them too!

I have to go purchase the complete Avatar: The Last Airbender on DVD now. It's blasphemy that I have not thrown more money at these people yet. Lord knows, once Korra's complete, I'll be buying that complete set as well.

Comments

[liliaeth]

Honestly, the only character in Korra that I didn't like by the end of it, was Mako. They pushed too hard with Korra's crush on him, and after the way he treated Asami...

The one good thing of all that, was that Asami never blamed Korra for what Mako did, she rightly put the blame on the person who deserved it. And even then she stayed on the side of good, showing she helped Korra because it was the right thing to do, and not just because her boyfriend was on Korra's side.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I kind of think that all things considered, he treated Asami fairly well. That isn't to say that the kid didn't mess up big time, but they're teenagers and they all kind of messed up their relationships in different ways.

Asami, I thought, was really well handled. They could have easily turned her into the petty jealous girlfriend, but they didn't. She handled her emotions just like a real person would - and, like you point out, was easily able to separate her hurt over the failed relationship and her loyalty to the Avatar.

It's in the 1920's

[alessandra-c.livejournal.com]

So I'm apart of Swing Dancing Club, and we all start squee-ing at the thought of Avatar characters swing dancing (because it's set in the 1920's!)

And that added to the smoothe movements EVERY character has? It would be glorious!

Anyway, love the show, just finished watching the season finale yesterday. All I could think of during the joint brother suicide was "Damn this is really deep for a kids show!"

<3

also I believe the whole Korra/Mako thing was because so many fans shipped fire/water zuko/katara.

Re: It's in the 1920's

[liliaeth]

Hell, I loved Zuko/Katara, still think they had more chemistry and a more interesting connection than Katara and Aang did. But that relationship would have worked, because it flowed out of the characters themselves.

Mako and Korra on the other hand felt forced, and just fell flat.

Re: It's in the 1920's

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I did think that they should have spent more time on Mako and showed the transition of his feelings better. In A:TLA they developed the relationships over a much longer period of time and so in comparison, this one felt rushed.

Re: It's in the 1920's

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Well, it's in the avatar'verse version of the 1920s...so, SLIGHTLY different than our 1920s. But, I know what you mean. :)

It's such a good show! I agree, that brother storyline was crazy dark for a kids show, but then, in the first one they had some pretty dark storylines as well.

also I believe the whole Korra/Mako thing was because so many fans shipped fire/water zuko/katara.

Ha! I never thought of it like that. You may have a point!

I'm really glad they had a hero named Mako, I think that was a nice tribute to the voice actor who did Iroh until nearly the end of the first series.

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

The AVclub pointed out something I hadn't noticed when I saw the finale: When Korra's at the cliff, they show that tear fall from her cheek...and straight down into the water. There's only one way for that to work, and it involves leaning pretty far over the edge. Which, you know, damn.

I think if anything, Korra suffered a bit from having to compress its story into such a few number of episodes. Which is not actually a criticism, because it was ridiculously fantastic...just that I think a lot of the rougher edges (like Korra/Mako, the giant bunch of Amon's family history info dumping, etc) were a product of having to get a lot of pieces in line very quickly.

Still, the sheer number of characters and relationships they DID manage to sketch out and sketch out so clearly in such a short number of episodes is nothing short of breathtaking.

In other news: I need to find a Lin Bei Fong icon. Lady is awesome.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

The Bei Fongs (starting with Toph) obviously have a gene for "awesome."

I agree about the story having a few rough edges because of being compressed. That being said, A:TLA had a few rough edges because it wasn't compressed (a few mostly-filler episodes that I could have done without.)

I totally got the tear-drop falling thing! That was yet another moment where I thought "Damn, this is dark for a kids show." But I had been thinking it too - wondering if there had ever been an avatar before that had "forced" a reincarnation when they'd been seemingly rendered incapable of doing the job.

I want to spend more time with General Iroh - and I want to know if Sokka and Suki ever had kids (assuming they stayed together.)

I'd also REALLY like to know how on earth they found more sky bison. :P

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

I want to see Old Man Sokka. I keep hoping for a flashback or a story from Katara or something because...well, I don't know, but it's just one of those things.