Avatar The Legend of Korra Review

To this day, I think Avatar: The Last Airbender was one of the greatest Western animated series.  It had great animation, great writing and a great story.  I was sad to see it end.  Then it was announced that there was going to be a sequel series detailing the adventures of the Avatar after Aang.  And I rejoiced.  But Avatar left some pretty big shoes to fill.  Does this sequel series, Avatar: The Legend of Korra fill them?  Yes, yes it did.

The series just concluded its first season and it was fantastic.  It had everything the old series had that made it great and added some of its own.  This was a darker, more mature look at the world of Avatar and it shows.  From Nazi-esque imagery, to scenes reminiscent of Pearl Harbor this series was like the old series had just discovered R-rated movies and wanted to be like them.   It’s a miracle that Nickelodeon allowed them to get away with all this.  But they did and we thank them for it.

Any series is only as good as its villain.  And boy is Korra’s villain good.  The main baddie Amon is the masked leader of a radical group seeking to end bending and to level the playing field for nonbenders.  To this end he uses his private army called “The Equalists” and his own amazing charisma.  Sound familiar?  Why is he such a great villain?  Because you kind of agree with him.  His goals seem somewhat noble, equality for the nonbenders, if his tactics are not.  The series shows that the nonbenders are more or less second class citizens at the mercy of benders.  Amon makes the tension and danger in this series great and is one reason for its darker aspects.  He’s the villain you’re not sure if you should sympathize with or not.  He’s definitely one of the best aspects of the show.

In addition to a great villain, the rest of the cast is fantastic.  All the characters are well rounded and go through some serious character development.  No one seems wasted or unnecessary.  Korra herself is fantastic from the first moment you see her.  Unlike The Last Airbender the characters in this series are basically young adults.  They’re not a bunch of kids running around trying to save the world.  They’re young people not only trying to save the city, but also deal with the hardships that come with their age like love, money, and knowing when to accept help.

One last word of praise for this series has to go to the animation and artwork.  This is a beautiful series.  The scenery, character and world designs, and overall feel to the artwork is a step up from The Last Airbender.  The Last Airbender focused mostly on nature scenes or grand sweeping cities looking like medieval China.  Korra is the Roaring Twenties with a touch of China thrown in.  The series is just great to watch and the last two episodes feature some of the best animation.

If this series had one flaw, it would be pacing.  Overall the series seems to move a little too fast with little time to stop and catch its breath.  Not every episode needs an action scene and not everything needs to be fast-paced.  A few more episodes would have been nice to show a little more character development.  Hopefully the next season will be a little more spread out.

Overall I loved this series and recommend to anyone who was a fan of the last series.  It’s beautiful, smart, and highly entertaining.

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