Real Talk "The Legend of Korra"

A couple years ago a show on Nickelodeon called Avatar: The Last Airbender caught my attention when accidentally channel surfing. It's target audience was set below my age but somehow...it grabbed my attention. It was witty, full of character development and action, and had amazing sound and visuals (for a show of it's time). What made me so surprised was that it had this level of awesomeness for three straight seasons. Wanting more of the same thing, my wish was granted when The Legend of Korra started airing last year.

The new show promised and delivered everything I wanted. The target audience was for teens (myself and many other adults still thought it was age appropriate), the visuals had improved immensely, and the humor was not as childish but still had the same quirky charm. Set in the future where Aang died, the central character and focus of the story is Korra. Unlike Aang who had troubles learning to master the different types of bending, everything except air bending came natural to her. To learn air bending, she goes to the booming Republic City to learn from one of Aang's children.

Another great thing about The Legend of Korra is the setting. Republic City is set in an industrial revelation type economy. The city uses bending as a source of income with the pro bending matches. It is a great addition because these fights are very well animated and a blast to watch. We have cars that looked like they were modeled after the Model T, big skyscraper type buildings, and steel everywhere. There is also the overwhelming presence of people in the city. One thing that the first Avatar show lacked was the feeling that Aang and his friends were a part of a big and living world. Every scene that takes place in Republic City has many people in the background that really make you feel like the characters are part of the city. With so many people comes the conflict of the story; a group called the Equalist want to end bending because benders "apparently" suppress the non benders. The leader of this group Amon is a really well written villain because you actually feel for the guy. He has a realistic goal that makes this show more about one person's view vs. another and not the typical "Good vs. Evil" that is overused.

This show is the rare case where I think this sequel surpassed everything the original had to offer. If you haven't seen the first Avatar or this one, I STRONGLY encourage you sit down and re-watch them. You can at this present time watch every episode of the original Avatar on Nickelodeon's website.