Legend of Korra: A Worthy Successor To Avatar?

Do you remember Avatar: The Last Airbender? A few years back, A:TLA was one of the most popular shows on television, and fans of all ages eagerly tuned in to watch Avatar Aang and his friends travel the world so that he could learn all four forms of super-powered martial arts (called ‘bending’) and free the world from the insane Fire Lord Ozai. It was a brilliant, well-written show with an engaging story, and many a fan expressed deep regret when the show ended, despite it’s exciting four-part finale. Pleas for a sequel show began almost immediately after. Now, after years of waiting, those pleas have finally been answered in the form of The Legend of Korra. Does Korra live up to it’s predecessor’s lofty reputation, or is it doomed to the ignoble fate of so many sequels, remembered primarily for being ‘not as good’?

 

Comparing Avatar with Korra is actually a bit more difficult then it sounds, because despite taking place in the same world they are actually quite different shows. Korra takes place seventy years after the conclusion of the original show, and follows a new Avatar, a teenaged Waterbender named Korra. Korra is very different from Aang in many ways, not the least of which being her bending abilities – she mastered all he styles of bending very easily, save for Aang’s signature Airbending, which she remains unable to use. She is significantly more aggressive and confrontational then the pacifistic Aang, and she lacks his social skills; while Aang had friends all over the world, Korra’s only friend for the majority of her life was her pet polar bear-dog, Naga. She has great difficulty with the spiritual aspects of being the Avatar, something Aang mastered very quickly, but is shown to be a far more capable combatant in both the physical and social arenas.

The differences aren’t just limited to the Avatars, either. Where Avatar took the characters in a far-ranging adventure through a medieval-era fantasy world, Korra

takes place solely in Republic City, a heavily industrialized center of commerce that shows how much the world has developed since Aang’s day. Instead of a power-mad tyrant who rules through bending like Fire Lord Ozai, Korra faces a masked revolutionary named Amon, who despises bending and all who practice it. It’s really a big change from the old show, and many die-hard fans began decrying The Legend of Korra for it’s massive shift in setting, tone and characters almost immediately after the show’s premier.

Does Korra deserve the disrespect it’s been receiving? I’m not so sure. One major complaint about the show is the technology. While nothing compared to what we have today, Republic City is significantly more advanced then what we saw in Avatar, with cars, electric lights, indoor plumbing and radio. Many fans feel that this is disrespectful to the original show, and that Korra should have remained technologically primitive. But isn’t that a bit silly? It’s been seventy years since the conclusion of Avatar, and even then we saw some advanced technology in the Fire Nation’s arsenal. With peace between the nations allowing for the spread of ideas, and seventy years in which to expand on them, it would be unrealistic to expect Korra to lack the technology is has. What’s more, the technology lends Korra a much grittier, more mature feel, which fits well with the show’s new tone.

The shows more mature atmosphere is another point of complaint, and one I find even sillier then complaining about the technology. Many fans of Avatar complain that the show has gotten too ‘dark’, but I see it differently. Korra is older then Aang was in Avatar by about five years, for one thing. It makes sense that her problems are heavier and more mature. Furthermore, the fans of Avatar have grown in the intervening time between shows; asking that the show remain ‘young’ while we grow older is not only foolish, it’s counter-productive. If the show had kept the goofy atmosphere of it’s earlier incarnation, the fans likely would have complained all the harder.

So, is Korra a worthy successor to Avatar? Well, it’s hard to deny that Avatar was a one-of-a-kind show that will never be truly repeated. Still, the people who are complaining about the drop in quality are likely blinded by the nostalgia filters covering their memories of the old show. It might be better not to ask “is Korra a worthy successor?”, but to ask “is it a good show, worthy of Avatar’s memory?” The answer, in my humble opinion, would be yes. While it may not quite measure up to you memories of Avatar, it’s a great homage, a logical evolution, and a brilliant, entertaining show in its own right.

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