You must be registered for see images
General Info:
Series Name: Avatar: The Legend of Korra
Year of Serialization: 2012
Author(s): Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Artist(s): Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Comedy, Romance, Drama, Psychological, Martial Arts, Supernatural
Current Status: Completed
Moment of Reviewing: End of the series (4 seasons; 52 episodes)
Other Formats: /
Year of Serialization: 2012
Author(s): Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Artist(s): Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Comedy, Romance, Drama, Psychological, Martial Arts, Supernatural
Current Status: Completed
Moment of Reviewing: End of the series (4 seasons; 52 episodes)
Other Formats: /
Series Summary:
After Avatar Aang's passing, the next avatar in the cycle reincarnated into Korra, a rebellious overconfident hot-headed girl from the Southern Water Tribe who doesn't want to do anything else other than proving her worth as the new avatar and in particular by showing off her bending skills. Seventy years have passed since the ending of the 100-Year War and the new avatar has already mastered water, earth and fire. To master air however she needs Tenzin's help, Aang's youngest child and currently the only airbending master in the world. The problem is that Korra has to remain in the Southern Water Tribe for her own safety, but Tenzin is too occupied with governing Republic City, the capital of the United Republic of Nations. The UNRN is a sovereign state that has its origin in the former Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom and is now one of the most technologically advanced and prosperous regions of the world where benders and non-benders from all nations live and interact with each other. Korra, as the rebel she is, decides to go to Republic City and Tenzin on her own. After having caused a ruckus in the city, she is able to convince Tenzin to not send her back to the Southpool and to teach her airbending in Republic City. Korra soon learns the hard way that airbending will not come as easy to her as the other three elements and that being the Avatar is not all fun and games, quite the opposite. Her relocation marks the beginning of a journey that will not only change her as the Avatar, but also as a person, her view on the world and her own view of the Avatar.
The Legend of Korra is a peculiar series. It received quite a lot of negative feedback from fans of the original TLA series, most of it however seems to be some kind of an automatic retaliation response against LoK simply because it's not TLA. The reality is that the series is trapped inside a paradox. On one side LoK owns its existence to TLA. If the latter wouldn't have been such a major success, they would have never made the first. It's also impossible to understand the depth of this series and its characters without watching TLA first. On the other hand the two series are vastly different and have to perceived differently. This of course results into a contradiction as you need to watch one to understand the other, but by doing so it becomes much more difficult to assess their worth individually. If you watch the LoK the same way you watched TLA, you are bound to be disappointed as you are watching something with expectations that never would have fit in the first place.
If I would make a list of all my favourite animated series, TLA would definitely be a strong contender for the first place. The reality is though that it follows the rather traditional recipe of good vs evil with the fate of world at stake. The goal was already set during the very first episodes and remains unchanged during all three seasons. Aang learns a new element each season and comes closer to beating the Fire Lord and ending the war each time. There's little ambiguity here and the plot is linear. LoK is completely the opposite. What is good and what is evil is far more ambiguous and relative. All four seasons also have their own plot. The first season doesn't even have any real ties anymore to the other three and these three are only loosely connected with each other. The last two seasons are also separated by a three year gap. The targeted audience is another point of difference. TLA can be enjoyed by all ages, but the intended audience is still very well children and teenagers while the LoK is more suited for young adults who understand the underlying themes. So it's not really a surprise that many TLA fans don't like LoK as for people that are too young it's too complex to take it all in, but personally I find that the series is a jewel in its own right. It of course still has some flaws though.
First I will discuss the positive aspects. Because the four seasons are so different they should be analyzed separately, but because this would be too detailed and would spoil too much, I'm going to try to restrict myself to an overall analysis. One of the most prominent features is of course the animation quality, which is out of this world. Despite the fact that they had to trim down during the course of the series due to money issues, the overall animation is simply breathtaking. Combine this with the concept of bending and you have visual entertainment of the highest order. The creators also have investigated and implemented a lot of different martial arts and fighting styles, both traditional and modern, into the bending arts. Compared to this the bending in TLA almost looks mundane. There's also much more elaboration on the different sub-bending forms of the four elements.
Secondly many characters are much more complex and so are the underlying themes of the story. Some people might have already read threads about this here on NB or somewhere else, but each season seems to have been centered around a certain ideology like communism, theocracy, anarchism and fascism/nationalism. Neither of these concepts are easy to understand, hence why the series is more suited for a more mature audience. These concepts then were represented by several antagonists in each season. I don't think many people will question that most of the LoK villains are awesome, charismatic and can't be considered to be truly evil. Ozai and Azula in TLA seemed to have been born pure evil, but characters like Amon and Zaheer are not so black and white. They firmly believed that their actions would be better for the world. This relative perception of what "evil" is, is much more realistic and easy to relate to in the modern world.
Thirdly, and this is my personal favourite, is that it gives a surprising image of a parallel world. TLA appeared to be mainly a medieval world. So accepting something like bending elements is rather easy. LoK however takes place in a time reminiscent of the 1920-1030. Michael Dante and Bryan did a really good job at investigating that time period and adapting it to a world with bending powers. People often see history like a deterministic process because it already happened, but the reality is that history is an endless chain of decisions and possibilities each that could have led to a different future. I love it then how the LoK shows a world that we recognize all to well, but is centered around the question "what if we had elemental powers?". A modern world, but with inherent unique aspects and problems that are eery familiar to our world, but have taken a different shape in the story. I find it intriguing to see bending criminals dressed up like the Italian mobsters in red, green and blue; have a sports commentator using witty remarks and bending-puns on probending matches or have an entire season centered around friction between benders and non-benders. The latter issue was something that I didn't even consider in TLA, but is actually a very heavy existential question in a modern avatar world. What place does bending indeed still hold in the current society? Bending unfortunately does not exist in our world, but our society continuously had and has to deal with similar matters.
Fourthly because it doesn't follow a linear story line, the results of the character's actions become much more accurate. TLA only lasted a year and was centered around ending the war. Though the aftermath is explained in the comics, in the series itself it all seems to be all peace now. LoK is the opposite of this as Korra, and other characters, have to deal continuously with the results of actions they undertook; the time frame of the series is also much longer. Korra's final deed in season 2 directly lead to the rise of the villains of season 3 and one of the things they did then resulted into the situation of season 4. This is again something that's also very recognizable for us as often many problems have been dormant for years and then suddenly need to be solved immediately. This becomes particularly visible with the Avatar's duty of maintaining balance to the world. TLA they always gave the impression that balance is some kind of absolute law of nature, but in reality it is in a continuous state of motion that has to be dealt with differently each time. Korra learned this the hard way by making choices to solve one issue and then had to solve different new issues that originated from her original choice. This perception of what balance now is also gets mentioned a few times later on in the series. Korra even undid an act of a preceding avatar from 10 000 years ago because she deemed it now better for the balance for the world, while all those millennia ago that avatar thought the opposite. To me this also underlines the important role of the avatar. The avatar is reincarnated indefinitely to moderate the ever changing balance of the world, but in doing so remains the only constant in the chaos of time and space.
Lastly you got to give credits to the creators for daring to make a series like this where they touch very sensitive themes and topics. TLA already had some strong female characters, but in the LoK the main protagonist is a female heroine. Other contemporary topics that get touched are racism, wealth gap, clash between ideologies, clash between tradition and modernity and even gay couples. I mean this is a series that could be used to educate people.
On the down side then to be honest Korra annoyed me the first two seasons. She acted arrogant, obnoxious and ignorant while frequently hiding behind her status as the avatar. This changed in the last two seasons, but she had to learn it that hard way and that's putting it gently. So you could say it evens things out, but in the end I can't shake of the thought that Korra got to easily manipulated all the time and that most of her accomplishments have to be credited to other people. Yes Aang also had help, but in the end he still did the crucial parts on his own. I think Korra lacked as a character. They also were too excessive in all the sub-bending skills. It's not so much that I don't mind them, but the fact that for most of them no reasonable explanation was given as how for instance it's not possible to bloodbend while that was a skill unique to Hama and Katara.
Another thing that bugged me was season 2. Despite that we learned about the origins of the first avatar, that my favorite character Verrick got introduced and that Bolin went from a pseudo-Sokka into a character in his own right, I can't really like this season because it was severely blown up. All the other seasons center around human and worldly problems, but in the 2nd season everything went bonkers. I couldn't accept either some of the few permanent changes the Avatar went through. This season was disproportionate towards the other seasons and TLA.
The most irritating thing however was the excessive amount of romance and in particular the triangle on and of relationship between Korra, Mako and Asami. In the end everyone was with everyone, so I never understood how the new Team Avatar was ever able to function properly. IMO it undermined the evolution and credibility of their team and especially Asami's and Mako's characters. Both of them seemed to have been side-tracked due to all that romantic stuff. Bolin, the only one who fell largely out of it, became the only non-avatar of their team to seriously change during the course of the series.
As a final point I think everyone who loved TLA should at least give LoK a chance simply because of all the references, some more subtle than others, to TLA. For some reason though Sokka's family, if he had any, was the only one that remained unclear. Aang's and Katara's family and also Toph's family played a prominent role, both Zuko's daughter and grandson made a few appearances (Iroh, his grandson, even has the same voice actor as Zuko), only Sokka is left out.
If I would make a list of all my favourite animated series, TLA would definitely be a strong contender for the first place. The reality is though that it follows the rather traditional recipe of good vs evil with the fate of world at stake. The goal was already set during the very first episodes and remains unchanged during all three seasons. Aang learns a new element each season and comes closer to beating the Fire Lord and ending the war each time. There's little ambiguity here and the plot is linear. LoK is completely the opposite. What is good and what is evil is far more ambiguous and relative. All four seasons also have their own plot. The first season doesn't even have any real ties anymore to the other three and these three are only loosely connected with each other. The last two seasons are also separated by a three year gap. The targeted audience is another point of difference. TLA can be enjoyed by all ages, but the intended audience is still very well children and teenagers while the LoK is more suited for young adults who understand the underlying themes. So it's not really a surprise that many TLA fans don't like LoK as for people that are too young it's too complex to take it all in, but personally I find that the series is a jewel in its own right. It of course still has some flaws though.
First I will discuss the positive aspects. Because the four seasons are so different they should be analyzed separately, but because this would be too detailed and would spoil too much, I'm going to try to restrict myself to an overall analysis. One of the most prominent features is of course the animation quality, which is out of this world. Despite the fact that they had to trim down during the course of the series due to money issues, the overall animation is simply breathtaking. Combine this with the concept of bending and you have visual entertainment of the highest order. The creators also have investigated and implemented a lot of different martial arts and fighting styles, both traditional and modern, into the bending arts. Compared to this the bending in TLA almost looks mundane. There's also much more elaboration on the different sub-bending forms of the four elements.
Secondly many characters are much more complex and so are the underlying themes of the story. Some people might have already read threads about this here on NB or somewhere else, but each season seems to have been centered around a certain ideology like communism, theocracy, anarchism and fascism/nationalism. Neither of these concepts are easy to understand, hence why the series is more suited for a more mature audience. These concepts then were represented by several antagonists in each season. I don't think many people will question that most of the LoK villains are awesome, charismatic and can't be considered to be truly evil. Ozai and Azula in TLA seemed to have been born pure evil, but characters like Amon and Zaheer are not so black and white. They firmly believed that their actions would be better for the world. This relative perception of what "evil" is, is much more realistic and easy to relate to in the modern world.
Thirdly, and this is my personal favourite, is that it gives a surprising image of a parallel world. TLA appeared to be mainly a medieval world. So accepting something like bending elements is rather easy. LoK however takes place in a time reminiscent of the 1920-1030. Michael Dante and Bryan did a really good job at investigating that time period and adapting it to a world with bending powers. People often see history like a deterministic process because it already happened, but the reality is that history is an endless chain of decisions and possibilities each that could have led to a different future. I love it then how the LoK shows a world that we recognize all to well, but is centered around the question "what if we had elemental powers?". A modern world, but with inherent unique aspects and problems that are eery familiar to our world, but have taken a different shape in the story. I find it intriguing to see bending criminals dressed up like the Italian mobsters in red, green and blue; have a sports commentator using witty remarks and bending-puns on probending matches or have an entire season centered around friction between benders and non-benders. The latter issue was something that I didn't even consider in TLA, but is actually a very heavy existential question in a modern avatar world. What place does bending indeed still hold in the current society? Bending unfortunately does not exist in our world, but our society continuously had and has to deal with similar matters.
Fourthly because it doesn't follow a linear story line, the results of the character's actions become much more accurate. TLA only lasted a year and was centered around ending the war. Though the aftermath is explained in the comics, in the series itself it all seems to be all peace now. LoK is the opposite of this as Korra, and other characters, have to deal continuously with the results of actions they undertook; the time frame of the series is also much longer. Korra's final deed in season 2 directly lead to the rise of the villains of season 3 and one of the things they did then resulted into the situation of season 4. This is again something that's also very recognizable for us as often many problems have been dormant for years and then suddenly need to be solved immediately. This becomes particularly visible with the Avatar's duty of maintaining balance to the world. TLA they always gave the impression that balance is some kind of absolute law of nature, but in reality it is in a continuous state of motion that has to be dealt with differently each time. Korra learned this the hard way by making choices to solve one issue and then had to solve different new issues that originated from her original choice. This perception of what balance now is also gets mentioned a few times later on in the series. Korra even undid an act of a preceding avatar from 10 000 years ago because she deemed it now better for the balance for the world, while all those millennia ago that avatar thought the opposite. To me this also underlines the important role of the avatar. The avatar is reincarnated indefinitely to moderate the ever changing balance of the world, but in doing so remains the only constant in the chaos of time and space.
Lastly you got to give credits to the creators for daring to make a series like this where they touch very sensitive themes and topics. TLA already had some strong female characters, but in the LoK the main protagonist is a female heroine. Other contemporary topics that get touched are racism, wealth gap, clash between ideologies, clash between tradition and modernity and even gay couples. I mean this is a series that could be used to educate people.
On the down side then to be honest Korra annoyed me the first two seasons. She acted arrogant, obnoxious and ignorant while frequently hiding behind her status as the avatar. This changed in the last two seasons, but she had to learn it that hard way and that's putting it gently. So you could say it evens things out, but in the end I can't shake of the thought that Korra got to easily manipulated all the time and that most of her accomplishments have to be credited to other people. Yes Aang also had help, but in the end he still did the crucial parts on his own. I think Korra lacked as a character. They also were too excessive in all the sub-bending skills. It's not so much that I don't mind them, but the fact that for most of them no reasonable explanation was given as how for instance it's not possible to bloodbend while that was a skill unique to Hama and Katara.
Another thing that bugged me was season 2. Despite that we learned about the origins of the first avatar, that my favorite character Verrick got introduced and that Bolin went from a pseudo-Sokka into a character in his own right, I can't really like this season because it was severely blown up. All the other seasons center around human and worldly problems, but in the 2nd season everything went bonkers. I couldn't accept either some of the few permanent changes the Avatar went through. This season was disproportionate towards the other seasons and TLA.
The most irritating thing however was the excessive amount of romance and in particular the triangle on and of relationship between Korra, Mako and Asami. In the end everyone was with everyone, so I never understood how the new Team Avatar was ever able to function properly. IMO it undermined the evolution and credibility of their team and especially Asami's and Mako's characters. Both of them seemed to have been side-tracked due to all that romantic stuff. Bolin, the only one who fell largely out of it, became the only non-avatar of their team to seriously change during the course of the series.
As a final point I think everyone who loved TLA should at least give LoK a chance simply because of all the references, some more subtle than others, to TLA. For some reason though Sokka's family, if he had any, was the only one that remained unclear. Aang's and Katara's family and also Toph's family played a prominent role, both Zuko's daughter and grandson made a few appearances (Iroh, his grandson, even has the same voice actor as Zuko), only Sokka is left out.
You must be registered for see images
- Reviewed by Caliburn
Last edited:
