It's been years since I finished the series, but as I remember it, the writing for the villains was this series' strongest feature. Most had believable motives and weren't just power hungry or evil for evil's sake. I found myself for rooting for characters like Amon and Zaheer far more than I did for Korra.
The show faced many hurdles with its uncertain future, possible cancellation and online-only release, so this may have played a role in some of its shortcomings. It seems clear to me that the creators wanted to push the envelope and flip all the previous tropes upside down, but at times it came at the cost of believability. I found Korra to be an unlikable character in general, even with the personal growth that came out of her traumatic experiences. Many of the other characters feel like soulless copies of archetypes that were successful from A:TLA, with nowhere near the same level of complexity or development as they had.
Aside from the characters, season 2 in particular seemed to make a real mess of things. The Avatar origin story was interesting and reasonably well done, but the Power Rangers style spirit battle at the end was just kind of stupid.
If you liked Avatar: The Last Airbender, then you're more likely to enjoy The Dragon Prince, which I find to be the true spiritual successor. It still tackles some sociopolitical issues and doesn't play it safe with subject matter, but it does it in a much more enjoyable and believable way.
A stunningly poor follow-up to the masterpiece that is "Avatar: The Last Airbender". While Korra has some fundamental consistency within a few of its seasons, it ultimately contains far too much teenage drama, poorly written characters (especially the villains), and lower quality animation as the series progresses (despite an uptick in quality for some strange reason in Season 3). It has less episodes than ATLA, but also does way less with the screentime. Serious moments are traded for far too many comic relief moments, and there must have been a dozen or so Deus Ex Machina moments to go along with this. I tried to enjoy this series more than I did, even restarting it after a long break, but it's just not that good. It really shows the weird anomaly where some artists are only able to create one masterpiece and can never create something great again - in this case, "The Legend of Korra" dropped the ball.
(+) Some good, even great moments in its 1st and 3rd seasons
(=) Inconsistent animation quality
(=) Not all episodes have a real purpose for existing
(-) Many, many moments where characters act illogically or show no growth from previous encounters
(-) Two extremely boring seasons (2nd and 4th) with massive amounts of narrative dysfunction, teenage love triangle nonsense, and Deus Ex Machina all over the place
Final Verdict: 6.42 (Above Average)
Spoilers
The Legend of Korra is definitely one of my favorite animated shows. The four seasons were a journey that I'm to have taken part in. LOK is one of the series that's worth sticking with in my opinion. I rarely tend to watch long tv shows, but this and ATLA make it easy to do. It's not perfect but there's still a lot to like. It has a mix of heart, humor, and action.
Main story and other arcs were amusing. Main character was likable yet complex and most of the side characters were interesting and likeable too (more so after their character growth). There were some arcs (such as the romance/love triangle) and seasons I didn't love, but still, nearly each episode was actually entertaining and good.
Art, animation, voice acting, and music were great! Amazing action and fighting scenes.
If you're a Korrasami shipper like me, it's quite bittersweet. I wish their romantic relationship were more explicit (just as the straight storylines) & fleshed out in the last season. I was hoping for that after the love triangle arc finally ended. Also wish there was a 5th season especially after that ending.
Overall, not a perfect show, but still very enjoyable and fun to watch! I'm glad this can be for teens and adults like me.
I finished Avatar sometime last year, and came away with the conclusion that it was one of the greatest shows I had ever seen. After finishing Korra, it isn't quite in that same realm, but really to treat it as an Avatar spinoff and evaluate it only by comparison is a disservice. I thought The Legend of Korra was great, and did its best to stand on its own, with only hints and small treats of fanservice occasionally past the first few episodes. It presents another compelling protagonist, again with a strong-minded personality, but a heart of gold. The supporting cast is quite strong, and a very solid set of villains. Each season is defined by a very distinct villain with a set of goals and particular motivation that is usually easy to empathize with. Our protagonists each have a journey they must go on, and they often are inter-twined, but much of the time they are separated and given room to breathe, and define their own identities. The themes presented here and the ideological challenges the antagonists present are far more complex than what is expected of a typical "children's TV show". Really enjoyed it, from its smallest character moments to its grandest action sequences, and it always managed to keep its characters in mind, no matter the circumstance.
"Do the thing!"
Back when I finished Avatar: The Last Airbender this past summer, I was certainly in agreement with many that it was simply one of the best stories told in an animated television series. But when I heard the mixed words of its sequel, I decided to hold out on watching it until I was ready to do so. Netflix had other plans, however, and decided to give me that excuse to check it out.
Just to put some of the criticism out first, yes I do think The Legend of Korra's weakness is its choice in plot structure. Rather than the one on-going plotline we saw in the original series, this time we have each season/book containing its own story arc. I definitely would've preferred a bigger, single story like ATLA sure...but later into this series did I realize this flaw was countered by its major strength: characters.
From the two brothers Mako and Bolin, to the wacky business man Varrick and his assistant Zhu Li, there are WAY more interesting characters this time around. Everyone is fleshed out and just feel more human to me! Even if it might just me connecting to these characters more because they're older than the original ATLA crew, you just can't NOT see the depth that these characters show throughout the four stories. Asami dealing with her father's business, Tenzin maintaining Aang's legacy through his own family, and Korra just straight-up learning about the suffering that her actions can cause. It's all there from the beginning, and it sure as hell feels very satisfying through the finale.
Of course, another aspect of this show that I enjoyed much more than ATLA was the way it handled the already-established "elemental" lore of that original story. With a unique industrial-inspired setting, I think it's absolutely badass to see more than just the bending of 4 elements. We see blood-bending and metal-bending evolve from just the brief teases we saw in ATLA, and they play some very crucial roles in the plot. It's a very fascinating expansion on the elements, and with that is some incredible storytelling. This world also shines with its obvious improvements in animation and musical scoring.
So, yeah. While it has its faults, The Legend of Korra is on-par, if not BETTER, than its predecessor. That's not to say any of these shows have their own issues. I just personally connected with the world and characters of this story more.
9.75/10
Review by Clobby ClobstersBlockedParentSpoilers2020-06-24T09:58:06Z— updated 2020-07-20T03:49:44Z
I really enjoyed it upon my first viewing. But once I started thinking about the plot, the characters and the world, I felt worse. And before you read any further, let me just say, don't watch this show. Because you might either like it (which hurts me) or you might hate it (which hurts you). I like it but acknowledge its flaws. If it wasn't the sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender, it would've held up a lot better.
Introduction
Unlike most of my friends, I watched the Legend of Korra after Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Avatar comics. The comics allowed me to settle into Korra's world helped me jump into this new world. I had really low expectations coming into this show, after being warned not to watch it by a good friend. But I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed it.
The illustrations and background art had improved. Its aspect ratio wasn't square. And I enjoyed myself (most of the time) throughout. Amon was compelling and looked badass. Unalaq was cool (before he turned evil). Zaheer is the best villain in the entire series. Kuvira seemed really contrived.
The Seasons
Season 1 took a while to get anywhere, and I'd give it a 4/10. It was up until the end, where Korra pulls off a deus ex machina and Amon is made less compelling, which left a bad taste in my mouth. [spoiler] If Amon was kept as a non-bender [/spoiler], he would've been my favourite villain hands-down. But he's a [spoiler] blood blender [/spoiler] who breaks the rules (and he's not the only one) and the non-bender revolution is made less compelling. [spoiler] I did feel sorry and sad when he and Tarrlok died though. [/spoiler] That was really emotional.
Season 2 started off okay. The first half was really compelling: two water-tribes put against each other, on the verge of civil war. Korra wants to learn more about the spiritual side of bending and Unalaq seems like the guy to teach it to her. But then we are introduced to Avatar Wan, who I thought was pretty cool at first until I started thinking into it more and realising how much it changes in the Avatar lore. If this show was by itself and didn't have ATLA behind it, even if it was better, this sequence would've been awesome. But it's not. It retcons everything known about bending. The spirit world is shown way too much and suddenly loses its intrigue and mystery. [spoiler] We're shown the origins of the Avatar, but all of a sudden, the Avatar doesn't seem like some all-time all-powerful being who has always been there for humanity and the spirits. We just see some punk kid who protects things because he thinks it's right (and who lets off chaos and darkness into the world). Finally, Raava and Vaatu. They look like carpets and are supposed to represent Yin and Yang (yet we had the Moon and Ocean spirit for that) and one represents "light and peace" while the other embodies "darkness and chaos". All of a sudden, spirits (and people) are either good or evil. And by letting Vaatu loose into the world, Raava starts to shrink. Why doesn't Vaatu shrink? How come he can turn spirits "dark" but Raava can't turn the "light"? Then Korra pulls off another deus ex machina: she becomes a giant spirit person and shoots a laser at Unavaatu. Also, Unalaq is evil and wants to become the first "Dark Avatar". [/spoiler]
4/10 It had potential.
Season 3 was cool. There's one scene where I actually found that Korra was a likable character. Tenzin tries his best to bring back the air nomads and we get to journey to the Earth Kingdom. But, the reason the airbenders have returned is that Korra left these "spirit portals" open. Which created "change" in the world, which also included bringing back the airbenders. Forget about the trauma and time it takes to heal the scars of war! Just open that spirit portal! Aang should've just opened those portals and he could've gotten started earlier! But here's the thing, Zaheer is the best villain in this series. He wants to bring about anarchy (which is a terrible idea, btw) and wants to remove the Avatar (for some reason he tried to kill Korra when she was young, which is pretty messed up). But here's the twist, he's one of those new airbenders! But instead of just making him some dude who discovers airbending, it turns out he's been studying air nomad philosophy for a long time. That's pretty cool. Compared to the other airbenders (except for Tenzin), Zaheer acts the most like an air nomad. And in the end, he has a plan to kill Korra while removing the Avatar cycle forever. Damn.
6/10 This season kills the least amount of brain cells.
Season 4 started off well but got progressively worse. [spoiler] Kuvira has been tasked with reuniting the Earth Kingdom after Zaheer killed the Earth Queen. We first meet her, giving an Earth Kingdom town food and supplies, but she threatens the mayor because he almost refused to sign the paper. Then, important people (I can't remember, Raiko, Tenzin and Sue?) said Kuvira was doing all of these cliche dictator things, but we're never shown it. We only see her help that town. She doesn't seem very evil. Then we see her threaten a group of Earthbenders who attack her, and it's framed to make her look bad, but really, they attacked her and she's been helping plenty of people. So...? In the end, Kuvira cuts off some "spirit vine" from the swamp (from ATLA) and gets Varrick to make a laser out of it by harnessing its energy? Then, when Kuvira declares she's bad and marches towards Republic City, it's with a giant (Voltron) mech, equipped with the spirit-vine-laser-cannon! Korra wins, democracy wins, the end.
4/10 Season 1 was better.
Characters
The only characters I care about is Tenzin, Varrick, and Zhu Li. Bolin was funny sometimes, but it's only because he's stupid. Unlike Sokka (ATLA), who actually has depth, is a character and goes through a compelling character arc. Korra has so many flaws/weaknesses that render her unlikable. She's hot-headed, stubborn, disrespectful and highly sensitive. She never takes responsibility for her actions, she gets a lot handed to her and her problems solve themselves. This show isn't more mature than ATLA but it does try to be edgier. The genocide of Aang's people and the dystopia of Ba Sing Se was pretty dark for a kid's show and wasn't there just to be dark and edgy. Why did I need to see the Earth Queen suffocate to death? Asami is a plot-device. Mako becomes boring after the stupid love-triangle in Season 1, and only really stays to look cool, follow Bolin and more love-triangle crap.
Animation
The animation in this show is appalling. It has nice illustrations, not animation. If you go frame by frame, you'll see this studio's laziness. You might also remember some creepy/disturbing shots (when Ikki discloses Korra's crush on Mako to Asami, or when she's being held captive in Season 3). I like the character designs and illustrations. The linework is phenomenal. But the animation itself is lacking. And the fact they added too much detail to their characters so they couldn't animate make each style of bending distinct, was sad. It kind of makes sense in-universe since they've been relying more on technology and less on bending. But come on!
TL:DR
TL;DR: Korra has no redeemable qualities. She might be flawed, but all her problems get solved for her. Does she have any strengths? Most of the villains are stupid. The illustrations are nice, not the animation. Tenzin, Varrick and Zhu Li are cool. This show isn't darker but it tries to be edgier. This show takes different elements of ATLA and make them less compelling. Watch ATLA, it's the original and it's better.
TLOK got rid of Aaron Ehasz and didn't even bother to find a replacement. This show still beats M. Night's The Last Airbender.
4.75/10