You look at my blog over the last few months, and I think you'll see that I tend to post about the same things, over and over again. New recipes. New drawings. New little stories I've written. And, of course, cartoons. Lots and lots of cartoons. I don't want to say that all I do with my time is cook, draw, write, and watch TV, but to say anything else would likely be dishonest, and the Internet has no room for liars. Still, I've been thinking I need to make a more concerted effort to get out and socialize more. After all, I've really neglected a lot of dear friendships recently, and...
Wait, the sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender is on sale at Target for $10? Well, I can always make friends later...
So Avatar (no, not that one) was pretty awesome. I loved the beautiful, fluid animation. I loved the well-rounded, lovably human characters. I loved the fighting. BOY did I love the fighting. So I got all excited when I heard that there would be a sequel series, starring the next generation of heroes. Eagerly I awaited the series premier of The Legend of Korra, and then, when it finally arrived, I promptly ignored it for about a year.
What? I was busy.
Korra takes a lot of what I loved about the original series and improves it. The animation is even better - you'd be hard-pressed to find a better looking show on television. I can't think of anything that looks even half this good. Korra's got the same mysticism as the original series, now set against a steampunk backdrop. And that makes for some absolutely fantastic visuals.
And then there's the main character - Korra is quite possibly THE BEST.
I love this character design - she's got all the costuming of the arctic region she comes from, and yet it's stripped down to hang about her waist. This shows not only that she's a transplant, that she's moved to a warmer climate, but also that she's a bit of a scrapper. She's got swagger, 's'what I'm sayin'. Where the protagonist of Avatar: The Last Airbender was a peaceful (if somewhat goofy) monk, Korra's a bull-headed jock. She's stubborn, impatient, and often angry. It's a great contrast, and a really interesting character to watch.
The music of the show's pretty grand, too. You hear a lot of the same placid Eastern instrumentation that you had before, but with some early 20s horns thrown in as well to capture the more urban feel of the new setting. The world of Korra is a pretty rich one, and I'm hoping we see more of it.
It's not a perfect show, and time will tell if it manages to surpass the original. Not all of Korra's characters are as compelling as the lead - love-interest Mako is especially bland - and the end of the first season feels a little rushed, brushing over plot threads that could have led to some fascinating exploration of the purpose of mysticism/spirituality in a culture that, thanks to technological advances, has long since outgrown the need for mythology. Maybe that's a bit too heavy for what is still essentially a children's show - but let me tell you, the fanfiction I'm writing in my head is all SORTS of deep.
I can't say that people unfamiliar with the original Avatar series will be as fond of Korra as I am, but I'm certain anyone looking for a real-deal action girl will be reasonably satisfied by what they find here.
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