As the Nickelodeon network’s most sophisticated and probably most brilliant animated series of all time, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” set a standard for modern animated series and raised the bar. Pseudo-anime it surely was, but it didn’t pretend to be anything more than an American animated series with Eastern influences. As a surefire landmark in children’s entertainment for the US network, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is a remarkable fantasy series that is sprawling and absolutely mesmerizing. So it was only a matter of time until Nickelodeon in America would attempt to duplicate the success and branch off with a brand new spin off of the original series. Fans were almost expecting it. Nickelodeon has to be respected for having the guts to try and catch lightning in a bottle twice.
“Avatar” is amazing as a story, a character piece, a fantasy tale, and a series for both adults and children, would “The Legend of Korra” manage to do the same? Right off the bat, “The Legend of Korra” feels familiar and in many ways that’s a caveat and an advantage. It allows the old fans of the original series to ease in to it slightly while garnering new fans who have just been introduced in to this world. One of the major faults of the series immediately is that “The Legend of Korra” rushes in to its premise before we can really feel our surroundings. In the first few episodes of “Avatar” it took a while for us to get to know the land the principal characters, but with “The Legend of Korra” we’re shown the heroine Korra in an instant where she bashes a wall down and reveals herself to be the new Avatar. Korra is a character that will be presented to fans in three plateaus. New fans will love her because she’s bold, daring, and rebellious with faults that will be smoothed over time as she learns to master the art of air bending.
Old fans will like her because she’s a new direction in the series and is a polar opposite to Aang. Where Aang was immature because he was a young boy with a repressed childhood, Korra is a teenager with something to prove. She is more than willing to accept her role as the Avatar and holds no grudges about it. It’s just she’s so darn head strong she can’t focus on mastering all the elements. Finally old fans may choose to hate Korra simply because she isn’t Aang. Aang is probably one of the most sympathetic and complex heroes in modern pop culture and Korra is a breath of fresh air who is brash and sure footed. From the start she brags about her powers and boasts about her role. The conflict presented in this epic journey is that Korra hasn’t mastered the art of air bending. The reasoning for that is that she’s yet to accept the spirituality of bending and has to mature to where she can use the spiritualism of the art of bending to her advantage.
For now she appreciates bending but only as a show of brute force. This is Korra’s journey as a character. From here on in we’re introduced to a new foe named Amon who dons a mask and has plans for this new civilization and along the way the series promises to introduce supporting characters who can aide in Korra’s journey for completion of her skills. If there’s another fault is that the series should be quick about taking this new show under the shadow of the original series. In the pilot we learn what became of the original characters, and almost as an ironic bit of symbolism, the mighty statue of Aang looms in the background over this new peaceful civilization. I hope the show can at some point stray from the original material and find its own footing, or else it will just be regarded as a simple sequel. Production wise, the animation is gorgeous.
The character models are fluid and unique with this new civilization presenting a new world early twentieth century industrial atmosphere with cars and trolleys, along with blimps and assorted flying machines. The characters introduced are in the tradition of “Avatar,” with quirks and humor but deep down they’re as human as we are. Korra is a very likable character and I already am in love with her giant polar bear dog named Naga (voiced by the infinitely talented Dee Bradley Baker) who presents shades of Appa, but garners his own personality as well. I hope the series explores his personality as the original did Appa. Frankly, I hope “The Legend of Korra” covers the same grounds “Avatar” did but paves its own legacy allowing fans to be able to dive in to the latter without viewing the former, and vice versa. I’m very optimistic about “The Legend of Korra” in spite of my worries and the series initial faults, and I hope to be as engrossed in this new series as I was with the journey of Aang.