The Legend of Korra, is it really worth exaggerating?
The Legend of Korra (TLOK) begins 75 years after the Last Airbender (TLA). Follow Korra (from the Southern Water tribe), the 17-year-old Avatar. The plot begins with Korra, having mastered Fire, Water, and Earthbending, moving to Republic City to complete her Airbending training. His teacher is Aang’s son, Tenzin. However, Republic City finds itself in the midst of an anti-bent revolution, led by the mysterious Amon. Along the way, he meets Mako and Bolin, orphaned brothers who lost their parents to the Firebenders.
TLOK, like its predecessor, has beautiful animation and takes you into a fantastic world. Having a stage, without detracting from the plot, allowed the animators to flesh out the city. Compared to the TLA, the characters were weaker but the plot was considerably better, ignoring the last 3 episodes. Unfortunately, the ending resulted in the series falling short of the high standards of its predecessor.
Korra was a huge improvement on Katara. She is strong, independent, and genuinely committed. Unlike Katara, she is not dominant. However, his characterization was poor. I found out that she was essentially the same character in the first and last episode. In fact, most of the characters were left undeveloped.
Tenzin was a good character given the right amount of characterization. It is quiet but fun. However, his children were quite annoying and were given too much airtime at the expense of the other characters.
Mako, the equivalent of Zuko, was melodramatic. He is initially cold and distant, but in the middle of the series he is emotionally volatile. He is a very advanced firebender, too advanced in my opinion. One of the themes of the show is the love ring involving Korra, Asami, himself, and his brother Bolin.
Bolin, the equivalent of Sokka, is an earthbender. Unfortunately, Bolin did not develop as expected and was completely irrelevant.
Other characters include Asami, Mako’s girlfriend, who proved to be one of the best characters. Once again, she was not developed enough. What little attention is paid to her leaves her as the most compelling character. Bei Lin Fong, Toph’s daughter, was a chief of police. She is also capable of bending metals and is generally cooler and less outgoing than Toph.
We finally get to Amon, the most interesting character, until the end. He believes that benders are oppressing non-benders. Having had his parents killed by Firebenders, a powerful revolution begins. He is the most advanced fighter on the show and develops deadly ability.
The plot was more complex than TLA. In Amon there is a villain whose goal, equality, is admirable. Your action to achieve that goal is questionable. The preparation until the last finish was excellent. The series was about to exceed all expectations. However, the final 2 episodes were garbage. In short, the ending undid all the good work before. Complex themes, performance sacrifices of the heart, and meticulous accumulation were wasted.
At the center of it all, TLOK aimed to integrate adult themes into a children’s story. This required a rosy finish which sadly detracted from the plot significantly.
6/10