Let's talk about Legend of Korra

[Finaj]

I have just finished a rewatch of avatar (this is my first watch since the initial airing on TV), and I fell more in love with the show. Now, I have moved on the legend of Korra which I have never seen, and I am trying to figure out what type of show this is. I understand that they scaled it down (I'm only on episode 8 of the first season) to focus more on everyday life in the world, but I find it very strange that these episodes are feeling like a cross between WWE and SVU. It is really throwing me. One thing that is shocking me is how close the situation of Republic city is to our current predicament in the U.S. and how Tarrlock (in EP. 8) is basically Trump so far. I am liking the show, but I am trying to figure out how the show ended up like this and does it ever expand to see the progress in the rest of the world? Please no spoilers.

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Yes, further seasons explore parts of the world outside Republic City. Also, if the animation quality in season 2 doesn't look quite up to snuff, that's because a different animation studio (Studio Pierrot) handled most of that season. 3 & 4 are entirely Studio Mir (They did season 1).

 

[WrenchNinja]

I have just finished a rewatch of avatar (this is my first watch since the initial airing on TV), and I fell more in love with the show. Now, I have moved on the legend of Korra which I have never seen, and I am trying to figure out what type of show this is. I understand that they scaled it down (I'm only on episode 8 of the first season) to focus more on everyday life in the world, but I find it very strange that these episodes are feeling like a cross between WWE and SVU. It is really throwing me. One thing that is shocking me is how close the situation of Republic city is to our current predicament in the U.S. and how Tarrlock (in EP. 8) is basically Trump so far. I am liking the show, but I am trying to figure out how the show ended up like this and does it ever expand to see the progress in the rest of the world? Please no spoilers.

Click to shrink...

The creators wanted to make a self contained season focused on a mystery instead of an adventure. The sports angle is there because they like MMA. They like teenage romance love triangles so that's why theres that drama. They didnt have any experience telling a story within 12 22 minutes episodes with a huge cast of characters and one location so it's paced poorly. Those are the reasons why season 1 is the way it is. There was never supposed to be more but then Nick wanted more.

 

[Deleted member 179]

Let's talk about OG The Last Airbender because I just finished my first ever full watch after seeing plenty episodes as a kid and I need this world injected into my veins, I've already got Korra blu rays on the way and some TLA graphic novels bought on comixology.

 

[Gotchaye]

I thought it was fine for a kids' cartoon show but nothing special, and not something I'd generally recommend to people even if they quite enjoyed Avatar. Season 2 was painful.

Production issues aside, I think it suffers a lot from being less visually interesting. The fighting is more "punch elements at people" than the great choreography in Avatar, and the bending in general is just much less fun to watch.

It also aims a bit older than Avatar to its detriment. Season 1 and 2 go to the teen drama well for a lot of character work, like the love triangle. But even later it's just a pretty heavy-handed show because it doesn't trust its audience to pick up on subtlety. There's a weird donut hole where stories aimed at, like, tweens are very hard for an adult to watch because the target audience wants certain kinds of character work but can't appreciate the good stuff. Stories aimed at younger kids can entertain them with a solid physical story and then they're free to have actually-good writing going on in the background.

 

[Zaeia]

Trump wishes he was as suave as Tarlok.

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Lol true but the policy and situation in EP. 8 is like a literal mirror of reality right now. Maybe that's skewing my perception.

Yes, further seasons explore parts of the world outside Republic City. Also, if the animation quality in season 2 doesn't look quite up to snuff, that's because a different animation studio (Studio Pierrot) handled most of that season. 3 & 4 are entirely Studio Mir (They did season 1).

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I am trying not to judge too harshly so far, and unfortunately the Gundam reference is a loss on me. However one thing I have been enjoying is the animation. It looks beautiful most of the time (remember I just went through avatar in like 4:3). So I'm disappointed to hear the quality goes down. Excited to see the other kingdoms though :)

 

[N7Commander01]

Book 3 is awesome, and Book 4 is wonderful too - Korrasami for ever

Book 2 isn't great but has some incredible music. Probably the best music in the series:

 

[BDS]

Copied from another thread:

My proposed "big fix" for Korra's problems has been to have Asami be a recurring Zuko-style antagonist and foil for Korra rather than a good friend for the entire series. That way she's given something to do, there's a consistent villain over the whole show, you get that good redemption arc stuff and that great enemies-to-lovers dynamic

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but then she-ra would be super redundant.

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These posts have a whole new meaning now don't they

 

[Zaeia]

The creators wanted to make a self contained season focused on a mystery instead of an adventure. The sports angle is there because they like MMA. They like teenage romance love triangles so that's why theres that drama. They didnt have any experience telling a story within 12 22 minutes episodes with a huge cast of characters and one location so it's paced poorly. Those are the reasons why season 1 is the way it is. There was never supposed to be more but then Nick wanted more.

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This explains a lot about the show so far. I'll be honest and say I'm glad they asked for more because I love the world and I want to see if other references come up.

As someone else mentioned, the weird demographic angle is alienating me as an adult. The love triangle makes less sense than things in TLA. Also whose idea was it to make Tenzin's son a shin-chan clone?? It's very off-putting. Actually all the children are off-putting to me.

Book 3 is awesome, and Book 4 is wonderful too - Korrasami for ever

Book 2 isn't great but has some incredible music. Probably the best music in the series:

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Omg yes, I am already in love with the OST from season one! I noticed it immediately. I'm looking forward to more!

 

[Zaeia]

So I just finished season one. Lin is my favorite so far. I am a huge GITS fan and she reminds me Major. My least favorite is actually Tenzin. The story of season one was actually interesting and sad despite the predictable ending. It was nice seeing Aang. Was not nice hearing the shuffled voices. I also noticed in the end credits that the writers from the first season whose episodes that I liked are not involved? I am definitely continuing but this show is like the Fantastic Beasts to Harry Potter.

 

[m_shortpants]

Yeah same boat here. My wife has never really been into anything animated. She got interested in TLA when it went on Netflix and was so popular. I told her it was great but she might not like it. We ended up binging through it, she absolutely loved it, the story, the characters, everything about it.

We moved on to Korra and yeah, she doesn't like it lol. The characters can be so...unlikeable. Korra is a hothead who never learns, Mako is a two timing cheat, Bolin is ok but too dumb a lot of the time, Asami is the only character that's same and relatable.

I'm also not enjoying it all that much either. Season 3 and 1 are good, but 2 and 4....ugh.

 

[MDSVeritas]

I love the heck out of Legend of Korra. I'd put it on the same level as TLA (and I think it's highs felt higher for me personally). I think Korra is a show that takes more interesting risks, but doesn't always connect in the way TLA does. It's a rockier show but I love the villains and the added shades of gray to characters' motivations and morality, which TLA doesn't really try to dive into too much.

 

[azeke]

Season 3 of Korra is easily on par with ATLA's best. Season 2 is pretty stupid but man those 2 "Origins" episode are also fantastic.

The fact they're not continuing a line of cartoons in favour of live-action adaptation is stupid. Instead of trying to tell the same story for the THIRD time which was fine the first time around in ATLA, they should be doing NEW stuff, NEW canon instead of regurgitating and selling out to producers who feel "animation is an inferior medium and one have to be live-action to join the big boys".

 

[TheMango55]

I'd have to watch both again but I think I actually might like Korra more than TLA.

Aang is too much of a mary sue. His only flaws are basically like "He's just TOO compassionate!"

Korra is comparatively a cocky, rash, hothead. But these flaws make her more relatable as a protagonist to me.

 

[BrickArts295]

Way too much romance and spirits plot.
Season 3 was the peak of the show, take a wild guess why.
Kuvira was hype could have used more of her or build up from previous seasons.
Not a fan of the mecha.
Aside from that it was a pretty good time.

 

[Supermanisdead]

Varrick and the spirit tech from Season 4 was so shit. I get the world progressed quickly, but a giant fucking robot? Please... It was all so corny. I couldn't take it seriously. Season 3 is amazing.

 

[Omegamon]

This show has suck weird morality:

Korra literally tell someone "You are oppressing yourselves", the whole non bender plot never gets touched after season 1.

Of all the villains, the fascist one who had concentration camps gets to live and in the comic gets house arrest .

Varrick literally tried to cause a war for profit and stole stuff who never gets dressed and he gets a happy ending.

The whole way the love triangle was handled, we are supposed to rot for Mako cheating on Asami?

Talking about Asami, the whole war profiteer shit, this is never addressed again.

Korra is such a shitty abusive gf to Mako in season 2, he doesn't want to get involved in the whole war shit that Korra is making worse and she goes to his workplace and kicks his desk.

In one of the Beginnings episode, some people were hunting for food and the get attacked and get disfigured , Di Martino is vegan btw.

EVERYTHING about Suyin, how she tried to kill her adoptive daughter, how she scarred her sister when she was just doing her job and it's her sister the one that has to apologize, not to mention Toph backed her and not Lin, who got a permanent scar on her face. Just watch it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqZjYU2gQk8&t=1s, so infuriating.

How, when the Red Lotus kills the queen, riots happen and the main characters do nothing to help, not to mention the idea that if an authority gets killed=riots and looting happens.

Every single of Korra allies has some kind of power, money, cops, politicians, etc.

Katara's kids are like 55-70 years old? and they Kya and Bumi still held a grudge against Tenzin because Aang spend more time with him even if he had his reasons, Tenzin was the youngest and was an airbender.


Besides that, it has some really stupid moments:

Lin sacrifices herself to save Tenzin's family and loses her bending, this happens at the end of the episode and they get captured at the beginning of the next one, she gets her bending back in the same episode.

The mecha...

The op bloodbending shit.

OH and how Korra, a brown female characters, gets constantly tortured, she gets poisoned, faints a lot and lots of shots are very fetishistic. Trash series.

 

[SilentSoldier]

I actually enjoued Korra more than ATLA. The more serious stories, the morally ambiguous characters, everything involving season 3, it all felt more visceral if I can put it into words. I didn't even think the much maligned second season was all that bad. Sure, it probably could've benefitted from a few more episodes per season but I think what they were able to do with what they had was great. Also, did I mention how awesome season 3 was? Not sure if they would've done anything they did in that season during ATLA's original run considering the younger characters.

 

[Gifmaker]

As usual, I don't understand the common opinion about this show, as I think it is not only great, but Book 2 is actually its best season by far. It gave us the Wan backstory and it had absolutely insane stakes in the finale. And actual loss and sacrifice. And Iroh. People not liking it is completely beyond my comprehension.

 

[m_shortpants]

This show has suck weird morality:

Korra literally tell someone "You are oppressing yourselves", the whole non bender plot never gets touched after season 1.

Of all the villains, the fascist one who had concentration camps gets to live and in the comic gets house arrest .

Varrick literally tried to cause a war for profit and stole stuff who never gets dressed and he gets a happy ending.

The whole way the love triangle was handled, we are supposed to rot for Mako cheating on Asami?

Talking about Asami, the whole war profiteer shit, this is never addressed again.

Korra is such a shitty abusive gf to Mako in season 2, he doesn't want to get involved in the whole war shit that Korra is making worse and she goes to his workplace and kicks his desk.

In one of the Beginnings episode, some people were hunting for food and the get attacked and get disfigured , Di Martino is vegan btw.

EVERYTHING about Suyin, how she tried to kill her adoptive daughter, how she scarred her sister when she was just doing her job and it's her sister the one that has to apologize, not to mention Toph backed her and not Lin, who got a permanent scar on her face. Just watch it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqZjYU2gQk8&t=1s, so infuriating.

How, when the Red Lotus kills the queen, riots happen and the main characters do nothing to help, not to mention the idea that if an authority gets killed=riots and looting happens.

Every single of Korra allies has some kind of power, money, cops, politicians, etc.

Katara's kids are like 55-70 years old? and they Kya and Bumi still held a grudge against Tenzin because Aang spend more time with him even if he had his reasons, Tenzin was the youngest and was an airbender.


Besides that, it has some really stupid moments:

Lin sacrifices herself to save Tenzin's family and loses her bending, this happens at the end of the episode and they get captured at the beginning of the next one, she gets her bending back in the same episode.

The mecha...

The op bloodbending shit.

OH and how Korra, a brown female characters, gets constantly tortured, she gets poisoned, faints a lot and lots of shots are very fetishistic. Trash series.

Click to shrink...

Sums up my thoughts really well. Almost every character is unlikeable. War profiteering, cheating, being abusive/toxic in relationships, Bolin forcing himself on Ginger, like yikes bro. This show even goes out of its way to depict Aang as a shitty parent in some respects, and Toph as a corrupt police chief and bad mother. Ok the latter might be believable, and maybe they wanted to humanize Aang, but was it really necessary?

Amon was a hypocrite. Unalaq is a shit tier cartoon villain. Kuvira is monotone and her motivations about being an orphan are weak at best. The Red Lotus was pretty fantastic, and I really liked how dark season 3 got, and how that carried over into the beginning of season 4 with Korra overcoming her fears/depression/grief in rehab. That was probably the most interesting that Korra gets as a character.

As much as people like Beginnings/Avatar Wan...I actually kind of think I don't anymore? I didn't really need to know the origin of the Avatar other than that they were the manifestation of the world and spirits, the bridge if you will. It was fine when it was kept mysterious. I never asked anything more than what was in TLA. I didn't need to know that the Avatar gets her power from one half of a yin yang spirit kite. And that to me doesn't make sense either. They even said that neither Raava nor Vaatu could be destroyed forever, so doesn't that mean Vaatu is inside Raava and the Avatar now? Like...what? Doesn't that mean a Dark Avatar SHOULD be in existence...for balance? This whole premise made no sense to me. And don't get me started on Deus ex Jinora.

 

[WrenchNinja]

Interesting twitter conversation started by story artist of Hair Love

 

[ggdeku]

I truly do not understand how people can like season 4. It was so fucking bad. Felt even worse coming off of the only somewhat decent season before it.

The list of problems this show had is seemingly endless and i'm still just as dissapointed all these years later.

 

[Disco]

Having seen the first season again so shortly after a last airbender rewatch its a pretty large step down from that series

What really hampers it is that its so rushed at 12 episodes compared to the 22 of the prior show. The villain being so throwaway too with not much perspective given to him is a detriment to it as well. Less time devoted to character relationships as well so everybody is not as likeable as the prior series' cast

Also the bending action is worse too. Animation is still dope but all they did in here was punch and kick fire bolts and rocks whereas with the previous show i saw a lot more inventive moves with the elements

Its ambitious though with the equalist plot and the steampunk aesthetic but the show feels so half baked. I like Korra and Tenzin tho but i can tell that when i finish this series again i wont like any of them as much as the prior cast. Particularly iroh/zuko

ATLA might arguably be the best non-comedy western animated series. Korra is just another show among the rest

 

[RockTiddies]

Interesting twitter conversation started by story artist of Hair

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So my. whole "steampunk thing being a detriment" idea is something that other people also felt has been justified.

Odd linking of steam punk motiff to pop exclusion though.