The Legend of Korra

I’ll spare you my usual white text shenanigans, because I don’t intend to blind you.

Art/Animation: What can you say, I think it’s a gorgeous-looking show. One of the few things it has going for it, but we’ll talk about that later. The action largely takes place in a fairly detailed, lively city and no expense is spared in bringing it to life. The overall design has a rather unique flavour to it and is instantly recognisable, much like its predecessor. Unlike said predecessor, Korra feels a bit contained and static in term of the places we get to see, which is a shame, considering how pretty it looks. It makes up for it somewhat with sharp action sequences, which are few and far between for an action-oriented show, I feel.

Sound: Spike. Fucking. Spiegel. Oh, sorry about that. Since we’re already on that path, however, let’s talk about the voice acting. Aside from the aforementioned Space Cowboy and Cave Johnson himself, there aren’t any big-name actors who lend their voices as far as I know. The acting is solid across the board, but it feels a bit rigid at times and I simply could not get used to Korra’s voice. I’d touch upon the music if I were to remember any of it. I can’t think of a specific tune or theme that I liked or that I could easily associate with the show. As a last note, it’s obvious a good amount of effort has been put into the sound effects, which really help get you into the atmosphere and the action.

Story/Characters: Despite Korra being a sequel, the story is quite removed from Avatar, which is a positive thing, I find. They tried to move on and give us something new. Too bad it failed. Barely anything works when it comes to the story and characters. The setup is fine and serviceable, but the execution is simply awful.

For one, the show cannot seem to decide whether it’s still a children’s cartoon or something for more mature audiences. You’d think the latter would make more sense, considering the cast and the themes it has going for it, but you’d be wrong. Our mains are a couple of teenagers who act nothing like teenagers. They even go as far as toning down the humour in order to make it seem a tad more serious; that, or it just failed to be funny. It wouldn’t be that troubling of an issue if the characters were even slightly likable or relatable. They seem to be mere inferior expies of the previous cast for the most part.

The one guy I wanted to see more of was Amon, because he was fairly interesting and mysterious. Okay, being voiced by Steve Blum lands you about a million extra points in my book, but still. It doesn’t exempt you from having your character completely fucking botched, however. A general concept about having masked characters is that you’re supposed to have them be related to the main cast in some way, so that all the buildup to the reveal and the reveal itself aren’t absolutely worthless. Which they are in Korra, unfortunately.

A fair amount of people will latch onto that final boat scene and point to it when they try to make an argument for the show being darker. It’s a dark moment, to be sure, but it pales in comparison to the stuff that goes on in Avatar. And it’s just that one moment. It feels so out of place and it only comes off as a feeble attempt at giving the show any sort of weight. The gravity which Amon’s plan is treated with is rather baffling, as well. There would be no other consequence to it other than people not being able to bend anymore. That’s it. No tyrannical rule, no war, needless violence or discrimination, only people just sort of being normal people. Oh no, what a nightmare.

Final Thoughts/Overall: Best anime in years that isn’t even an anime? Sure, if you’re out of your goddamn mind. Let me go on record saying that I don’t hate it, by any means. I was looking forward to watching it in fact, but it was such a letdown that I can’t help feeling bitter about it. What’s more, it seems like a lot of people take this show’s “quality” for granted and barely question anything that goes on in it. It’s plagued by very obvious flaws which are hard to miss unless you’re willingly being oblivious.

All-in-all, it’s a fairly poor show only made worse by just how many people think it’s good, or dear lord, even better than Avatar.

Additional Notes: I am aware of the fact that the creators weren’t entirely sure if the show would get renewed, which explains some of the decisions in terms of story and the way everything is very neatly wrapped up at the end, but that’s hardly an excuse.

I am not Avatar’s biggest fan, but it’s a solid, entertaining show and much better by quite a great margin, even if you only pit the first seasons against one another.

This review was in the making before the whole “make reviews for moneyz” thing, so I don’t need AFDs, I’m not a whore, thank you very much.

At least this is a more realistic view with the show's error. So far I liked The Last Airbender, but not quite sure about Legend of Korra, but given the chance I will check it out.

The trailer for the show was too good, it gave me false hope.

Still, I thought it was better than the Last Airbender's first season.