Watching Korra for the first time (SPOILERS)

[♠Soul♠]

After years of having neglected the series (for...no real reason???), I finally went on Netflix and watched the entire first season.

It was fucking great. Felt like a very natural progression from the first series, and I really like how they changed the scenery to basically resemble an early 20th century setting. At first I wasn't liking so much the idea that metal and lightningbending is a lot more common now, but at least metalbending is limited to the police.

Stuff:

- Amon is an excellent fucking villain. Dude is a beast. He was basically holding back the entire time, and he was beating people without his real powers. They should really add him to Nick All Stars.

- Korra is...really hot. Like, wow. I knew she wasn't ladylike, but for some reason, she grew on me quickly. Maybe it's her personality?

- Naga is really OP for no reason. Why do we even need Benders, she singlehandedly took down three mechas at once.

- The series as a whole reminded me of when I used to watch Avatar as a kid. It really has the same feeling. Characters are fun with a lot of expression. They keep that feeling of knowing when to have comedy scenes and when to really get serious.

- Lin Bei Fong is an absolute badass and is totally Toph's daughter. Easily, one of my favourites.

- Amon and Tarrlok's whole backstory was tragic, and I wish they'd just start over in peace.

- The final scene where Korra regains her powers gave me chills, especially with the characteristic Avatar theme song.

Edited October 19, 2021 by ♠Soul♠

[Faellin]

One thing I dislike is people who ONLY judge a series based on "How good it was compared to something else" and refusing to acknowledge its own merrits.

Alot of people say Korra is complete trash purely because Avatar is better. Well duh. Avatar was a literal masterpice. Korra is still a good series on its own.

[♠Soul♠]

I haven't watched the first Avatar in a long time, but I feel Korra held up really well in Season 1. It does really well as a sequel (if you can call it that).

[Florete]

I didn't watch Avatar: The Last Airbender when it aired (I was growing out of Nickelodeon at the time) and ended up going straight into The Legend of Korra after completing it. While I don't think Korra is as good (which isn't saying much), I do like a lot of what it does. Every season explores a different part of what it means to be the avatar. I thought season 1 stumbled a bit but was overall pretty good, season 2 was mostly bad, and seasons 3 and 4 were both really good. It sets itself apart from TLA, which was the best option it had.

If you feel like continuing to explore the franchise, look into the Kyoshi novels, The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi.

[Brave Lance]

1 hour ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

It was fucking great. Felt like a very natural progression from the first series, and I really like how they changed the scenery to basically resemble an early 20th century setting. At first I wasn't liking so much the idea that metal and lightningbending is a lot more common now, but at least metalbending is limited to the police.

In general, they do a pretty damn good job of progressing the world to an industrial setting. The ATLA comics go more in depth into how this transition occurs, I'd suggest checking them out.

1 hour ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

- Amon is an excellent fucking villain. Dude is a beast. He was basically holding back the entire time, and he was beating people without his real powers. They should really add him to Nick All Stars.

I'm very pleased to say he's only the second best villain in Korra. Still really well done though, his confrontation with Korra at the Aang statue is one of the best scenes in Avatar period. Same goes for that ending scene with him. Being more of a threat with his ideals and rhetoric than his physical prowess (even though he's definitely super strong) makes him a perfect initial villain for an avatar who only wants to solve stuff with her fists.

1 hour ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

- Korra is...really hot. Like, wow. I knew she wasn't ladylike, but for some reason, she grew on me quickly. Maybe it's her personality?

Her design is top tier, and her voice actress does a great job too, but one of the things that stood out to me in season 1 was her expressiveness. They really did a great job of making her faces and body language feel dynamic. I also just generally enjoy characters like her who act first and think later, since a lot of the time it leads to them getting hard punished and forced into growing from their rashness.

1 hour ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

- Naga is really OP for no reason. Why do we even need Benders, she singlehandedly took down three mechas at once.

Not quite as versatile as Appa, since she doesn't exactly have flight going for her, but animal guides are pretty much always super helpful (as they should be).

1 hour ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

- The series as a whole reminded me of when I used to watch Avatar as a kid. It really has the same feeling. Characters are fun with a lot of expression. They keep that feeling of knowing when to have comedy scenes and when to really get serious.

Korra has the added bonus of having a lot more adult characters that they go in-depth with. Most people I talk to hail Tenzin as the best character in the show, and I can't say I blame them. His grappling with Aang's legacy is an excellent approach to his character, and JK Simmons absolutely helps with bringing him to life.

2 hours ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

- Lin Bei Fong is an absolute badass and is totally Toph's daughter. Easily, one of my favourites.

Once again, the majority of the adult cast is outstanding. I'm sure I could gush for hours about most of these characters, but you probably already know what she's about, judging by this.

2 hours ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

- Amon and Tarrlok's whole backstory was tragic, and I wish they'd just start over in peace.

Who would have thought that a concept that only appeared in two episodes of Avatar would become a central plot point in Korra? Not that I'm complaining at all, though. Bloodbending always has been and always will be chilling. I'm glad they repurposed it.

2 hours ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

- The final scene where Korra regains her powers gave me chills, especially with the characteristic Avatar theme song.

 

For those who aren't aware, Korra wasn't supposed to go past 1 season. This is why this season ends pretty neatly, with the majority of characters seeing closure in their small arcs, and probably why this scene was crafted to feel as meaningful as it was. That being said, Korra was treated like crap by Nickelodeon from this point onwards, and a lot of coorporate meddling and near-cancellations made it very difficult for them to plan out a cohesive story while still maintaining a sense of finality each time they thought the episodes they were making would be the last ones. It doesn't go unnoticed in the show, as there are a couple noticable dips in quality, but all the same, when Korra is good, it's really good.

The only other things I'd mention at this point would be choreography and music. Bending in ATLA was very stylistic, with each element feeling distinct, but Korra changes that up a little bit by introducing a more rough pro-bending style that's less stylized but can adapt to facing plenty of obstacles. It also makes a lot of sense that fighting styles would change now, since the nations have come together in a way they never did before and they've shared techniques and such. That being said, most of the older characters still display the type of styles that you'd be used to from ATLA, so there's fun to be had with both. Regardless, the new, almost MMA-like choreography does give way to a lot of great scenes that you probably would have only gotten a taste of in ATLA from Ty Lee. As for the music, the soundtrack is undoubtedly better than ATLA's, and I mostly attribute that to the fact that the music in Korra feels a lot less like background noise. I'm sure you noticed the jazziness of most songs in Republic City, but the credits theme of Korra is so serene I could fall asleep to it. If you're looking for scenes that specifically put the soundtrack to good use in season 1, I'd point you back to Korra's initial departure from the South Pole.

Alright, if you've made it this far down, congratulations, and I'll just leave you with what most people have already said to finish off:

Korra isn't perfect, but it's absolutely worth a second glance for anyone who's willing. And for those who have only seen season 1, the best is still yet to come.

[Anathaco]

29 minutes ago, Florete said:

If you feel like continuing to explore the franchise, look into the Kyoshi novels, The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi.

Seconding this, the first one has by far my favourite villain in the franchise and it’s just a really enjoyable read. Haven’t gotten to the second one yet tho.

And yeah Korra is very flawed as a show, which becomes apparent when you get to season 2, but the highs are pretty high in their own right. Overall I enjoyed it a ton, even season 2 had some brilliant moments.

[Parrhesia]

Honestly, I firmly preferred Korra to ATLA. Though the shift in target audience was definitely a strong part of that; my experience with ATLA was definitely held back by some of the Children's Television trappings which aren't actually a fault in the show itself. And of course, Korra's legacy - you almost certainly know this through osmosis anyway, but:

Spoiler

Korra and Asami held hands so that successors could kiss.

By the same guys, Dragon Prince is worth checking out as well, though the animation budget for the first couple of episodes appears to be about $12.

[vanguard333]

I remember watching Avatar: The Last Airbender for the first time several years ago, and then watching Korra not long after that. Despite not growing up on Avatar: The Last Airbender, I ended up enjoying it a lot; quickly becoming a fan of the series and re-watching the show multiple times. Korra, by contrast, I've watched twice.

I enjoyed Korra the first time around, largely with my brain turned off, so to speak. After a while, however, the more I thought back on the show, the more different issues I had with it, and I just kept having more issues with it, and my opinion of the show slowly soured as a result. When I re-watched it, it ultimately confirmed a lot of those issues I had with it.

In short, I still look back fondly on Avatar: the Last Airbender, but I went from someone who liked Legend of Korra to someone who doesn't like Legend of Korra.

 

2 hours ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

- Amon is an excellent fucking villain. Dude is a beast. He was basically holding back the entire time, and he was beating people without his real powers. They should really add him to Nick All Stars.

- Amon and Tarrlok's whole backstory was tragic, and I wish they'd just start over in peace.

Amon was easily one of my favourite characters in Korra as well; I liked that he was a very different kind of threat than Ozai, I liked how eerily calm he was in almost every situation, and he seemed like a natural fit as the villain for a follow-up to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

However, in hindsight, I really don't like the reveal that he was a bloodbender the whole time. I liked it at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I found myself wishing he had actually been a non-bender. I couldn't help but think that it made a lot of his pre-reveal feats seem less impressive in hindsight, I kept thinking about moments pre-reveal where he was alone and easily could've achieved what he wanted by bloodbending without being discovered but didn't, and I just couldn't help but feel that he was just overall more interesting pre-reveal, and that the reveal was also a way they could have him lose without actually having to address the issue that was core to his revolution; yet another example in TV of, "Oh, we don't actually want to discuss the issue, so we'll make it that the heroes win through the villain being a hypocrite."

They still easily could've had him turn out to be the firstborn son of Yakone; they could've had it that he was unable to bend and, as such, was passed over as his father's intended successor, while Tarrlok became the groomed product of vengeance that Yakone wanted.

 

12 minutes ago, Parrhesia said:

 

By the same guys, Dragon Prince is worth checking out as well, though the animation budget for the first couple of episodes appears to be about $12.

1. "By the same guys" well, yes and no. Avatar: the Last Airbender was created by Mike and Bryan, and its chief writer was Aaron Ehasz. Legend of Korra didn't have Ehasz; it was created & written by Mike and Bryan until they assembled a writing team sometime around season 3, but that team was ultimately still subservient to Mike and Bryan. The Dragon Prince, meanwhile, is created and written by Ehasz.

Basically, Korra and Dragon Prince were made by different parts of the team that made ATLA, and it is easy to tell with both shows which team members are missing (not saying that as a good or a bad thing; just that it's noticeable).

2. If, by the animation budget, you're referring to the frame rate, apparently, that was actually a stylistic choice. The Dragon Prince, unlike ATLA and Korra, is CG animated rather than traditional 2D animation, but they wanted it to emulate 2D animation, so they flattened the character models, added outlines, and arbitrarily reduced the number of frames in places. That last one turned out to be a poor choice due to the inconsistency, and they apologized for it and fixed it for seasons 2 and 3.

[♠Soul♠]

1 hour ago, Brave Lance said:

Her design is top tier, and her voice actress does a great job too, but one of the things that stood out to me in season 1 was her expressiveness. They really did a great job of making her faces and body language feel dynamic. I also just generally enjoy characters like her who act first and think later, since a lot of the time it leads to them getting hard punished and forced into growing from their rashness.

Yeah, it's a mixture of all those things that won me with Korra. I mostly knew her from her appearance. She used to be "she's pretty i guess" to "Why am I crushing over this reckless tomboy girl". The voice definitely helps, too. I was going to say the voice actress did a great job, from being able to portray her vulnerable side, and her obvious reckless side. The expressions of characters are definitely there, and Korra has a lot of them (the funny smug ones):

You got a chick who is dropdead gorgeous like Asami, but somehow I still like Korra better.

1 hour ago, Brave Lance said:

Not quite as versatile as Appa, since she doesn't exactly have flight going for her, but animal guides are pretty much always super helpful (as they should be).

She can't fly but it doesn't change that she's saved the team like 3 times in S1 alone. She is too powerful. : D

1 hour ago, Brave Lance said:

Korra has the added bonus of having a lot more adult characters that they go in-depth with. Most people I talk to hail Tenzin as the best character in the show, and I can't say I blame them. His grappling with Aang's legacy is an excellent approach to his character, and JK Simmons absolutely helps with bringing him to life.

I mostly see Tenzin as this funny guy that's basically Korra's babysitter, and you end up finding it funny how he always has to clean up Korra's mess. He's definitely a character I'd much rather have on the show.

I find it weird how he always addresses Aang as "Avatar Aang" and never "my father"...

1 hour ago, Brave Lance said:

Alright, if you've made it this far down, congratulations, and I'll just leave you with what most people have already said to finish off:

yeh I made it

28 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Amon was easily one of my favourite characters in Korra as well; I liked that he was a very different kind of threat than Ozai, I liked how eerily calm he was in almost every situation, and he seemed like a natural fit as the villain for a follow-up to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

However, in hindsight, I really don't like the reveal that he was a bloodbender the whole time. I liked it at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I found myself wishing he had actually been a non-bender. I couldn't help but think that it made a lot of his pre-reveal feats seem less impressive in hindsight, I kept thinking about moments pre-reveal where he was alone and easily could've achieved what he wanted by bloodbending without being discovered but didn't, and I just couldn't help but feel that he was just overall more interesting pre-reveal, and that the reveal was also a way they could have him lose without actually having to address the issue that was core to his revolution; yet another example in TV of, "Oh, we don't actually want to discuss the issue, so we'll make it that the heroes win through the villain being a hypocrite."

I felt something similiar, but very briefly. Think about it like this: Even though he could've just used his powers from the start, he stayed true to his ideal and conviction and fought with his raw skill and hand to hand.

[vanguard333]

4 minutes ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

I felt something similar, but very briefly. Think about it like this: Even though he could've just used his powers from the start, he stayed true to his ideal and conviction and fought with his raw skill and hand to hand.

I'd agree except for the fact that he really doesn't. It even gets pointed out that he subtly uses bloodbending to win fights by making his opponents' attacks miss. What before seemed to just be him being fast, skilled, calm and prepared, was actually him nerfing his opponents' accuracy through bloodbending.

 

Anyway, since you're watching the show for the first time, I'm not going to talk about everything I dislike about the show; I just thought I would point out the Amon thing both to illustrate what I was talking about regarding my opinion of the show slowly souring, and because I figured that one wouldn't be a scathing criticism and would more be a case of personal preference, if that makes sense.

[♠Soul♠]

12 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

I'd agree except for the fact that he really doesn't. It even gets pointed out that he subtly uses bloodbending to win fights by making his opponents' attacks miss. What before seemed to just be him being fast, skilled, calm and prepared, was actually him nerfing his opponents' accuracy through bloodbending.

 

Anyway, since you're watching the show for the first time, I'm not going to talk about everything I dislike about the show; I just thought I would point out the Amon thing both to illustrate what I was talking about regarding my opinion of the show slowly souring, and because I figured that one wouldn't be a scathing criticism and would more be a case of personal preference, if that makes sense.

But is that really case, or is that mostly your theory? To me, the only time he might've used it is to counter Tarlokk's own using it against him. If run of the mill chi blockers are trouble to most benders, I can't imagine what Amon can do.

[vanguard333]

7 minutes ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

But is that really case, or is that mostly your theory? To me, the only time he might've used it is to counter Tarlokk's own using it against him. If run of the mill chi blockers are trouble to most benders, I can't imagine what Amon can do.

They outright mention it in the show shortly after the reveal; the firebending guy, Mako, deduces that Amon uses bloodbending to make his opponents' attacks miss.

[Etrurian emperor]

I've never quite got as attached to this one as with TLA. Its not really Korra's fault. Nickelodeon did nobody any favors by airing the sequel series at really strange times that kept changing to boot. And it doesn't help that unlike the the original series the Dutch dub could be really questionable at times. 

I have mixed feelings about team Amon. I like Amon, that he ended up being voiced by Patrick Star kept him consistently amusing and he's a fairly interesting guy in his own right. I also liked his corrupt politician brothers. However the plot point about non benders becoming so incredibly powerful that they repeatedly trashed master benders wasn't to my tastes. In general I never really like muggles beating up superhumans 

Standout characters were easily Tenzin Lin Beifong. I liked how Tenzin tries to be the typical air monk but that it really doesn't take much for the facade to break and that deep down he's anything but. And Lin very nicely works as an iron baddass with her heart in the right place. Kora's nice too. She's a good contrast to Aang in just about every way and her more haughty behavior can be quite enjoyable. 

But Kora's direct supporting cast is a bit lacking. I don't like the brothers. They seem really conventional and boring, and Mako's an asshole to boot. 

Edited October 19, 2021 by Etrurian emperor

[kradeelav]

9 hours ago, Parrhesia said:

Honestly, I firmly preferred Korra to ATLA. Though the shift in target audience was definitely a strong part of that; my experience with ATLA was definitely held back by some of the Children's Television trappings which aren't actually a fault in the show itself.

Agreed. Far, far better animation and the more mature characters (Lin Beifong and her whole arc being an excellent example) gave it some much-needed subtleties that "Avatar" did not.

OP - S2 of Korra was the weakest, personally, as another animation studio took over briefly and it shows. S3, however, is my favorite, and I've found you can safety skip S2 and go straight from S1 > S3 > S4 and still hit the high beats. 

[Jotari]

I you're that stoked on the first season, you might be the handful of people who actually enjoy the second season (personally I thought both the first two seasons were pretty bad, the third and fourth seasons were pretty good though).

[Florete]

5 hours ago, kradeelav said:

you can safety skip S2 and go straight from S1 > S3 > S4 and still hit the high beats. 

Unfortunately, I don't think I can agree, as there are some important events in S2 that impact the rest of the series (big spoilers below):

Spoiler

Korra breaks up with Mako.

Avatar Wan episodes.

Unalaq permanently severs Korra's connection to the past avatars.

Harmonic convergence results in the portal to the spirit world opening and a collection of non-benders obtaining the ability to airbend, directly leading to the events of S3.

For all the ways in which the writing gets awful, S2 probably has more impact on the rest of the series than any other season.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Florete

[Brave Lance]

7 hours ago, Florete said:

For all the ways in which the writing gets awful, S2 probably has more impact on the rest of the series than any other season.

Completely agree, I might really dislike some aspects of season 2 but they took what they did and turned it into something interesting instead of just trying to ignore it. Plus, there are some characters introduced in season 2 that you absolutely have to see before 3 and 4.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

I don't have much to say, other than generally agreeing with what most people have to say here. Korra was one of the rare series I made sure to tune in for the premieres, a feeling that hasn't come back to me until this year with The Owl House. My advice is, keep watching - even the one "bad" season has some serious high points, and it all plays into building up Korra, and her comrades, as characters.

[♠Soul♠]

I'm one of those guys that rarely notices anything bad with a series until I go online and apparently it was "bad" and I had no idea until others nitpick on it.

[Jotari]

13 hours ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

I'm one of those guys that rarely notices anything bad with a series until I go online and apparently it was "bad" and I had no idea until others nitpick on it.

So has there ever been a series you've considered to be bad on your own?

[♠Soul♠]

On 10/21/2021 at 1:26 PM, Jotari said:

So has there ever been a series you've considered to be bad on your own?

At the top of my head, there's only one that comes to mind, and it's Diabolik Lovers. And it wasn't like I hated it, it's more just realising it wasn't really...good.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, ♠Soul♠ said:

At the top of my head, there's only one that comes to mind, and it's Diabolik Lovers. And it wasn't like I hated it, it's more just realising it wasn't really...good.

Seems you just have really low standards for quality. And I really have to stress that I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I just can't really think of any way to phrase it without it coming off as kind of judgemental. But really I think it's great. You enjoy pretty much everything you see. Sounds like a wonderful way to be. I criticize to death basically every piece of entertainment I consume. I hope said people on the internet nitpicking series don't actually convince you to stop liking things. While critical analysis is great for dissecting the inner workings of a show, people should stand by the feelings they have for something and not change their mind just because someone else has told them all it's faults.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 10/22/2021 at 4:56 PM, Jotari said:

Seems you just have really low standards for quality. And I really have to stress that I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I just can't really think of any way to phrase it without it coming off as kind of judgemental. But really I think it's great. You enjoy pretty much everything you see. Sounds like a wonderful way to be. I criticize to death basically every piece of entertainment I consume. I hope said people on the internet nitpicking series don't actually convince you to stop liking things. While critical analysis is great for dissecting the inner workings of a show, people should stand by the feelings they have for something and not change their mind just because someone else has told them all it's faults.

Maybe instead of "low standards", you could frame it as a "high capacity for appreciation"? Or "ability to draw enjoyment, or discern quality, where others cannot"? Just a couple considerations.

TBH I feel in-between you two. Sometimes I find only things to enjoy, other times it's just things to be critical of. And sometimes my assessment varies depending on when I watch it, even with multiple instances of the same work. But then again, I guess reassessment isn't so unusual, either on personal or broader social scales.

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Maybe instead of "low standards", you could frame it as a "high capacity for appreciation"? Or "ability to draw enjoyment, or discern quality, where others cannot"? Just a couple considerations.

TBH I feel in-between you two. Sometimes I find only things to enjoy, other times it's just things to be critical of. And sometimes my assessment varies depending on when I watch it, even with multiple instances of the same work. But then again, I guess reassessment isn't so unusual, either on personal or broader social scales.

I suppose I should clarify that, while I do criticize things, I don't lack a capacity to enjoy things. It's just that even things I absolutely adore I will notice flaws and (if anyone will listen) complain about. The one exception seems to be comedy. If I really like a good comedy show it'll be just simple enjoyment, since idk, it's like music, it's almost so subjective why certain things work as jokes and other things don't. And now to relate that back to Korra to stay on topic, Varrick is pretty much the best thing about the show in its entirety, and is reason enough alone to watch Season 2.

Edited October 25, 2021 by Jotari

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

I suppose I should clarify that, while I do criticize things, I don't lack a capacity to enjoy things. It's just that even things I absolutely adore I will notice flaws and (if anyone will listen) complain about. The one exception seems to be comedy. If I really like a good comedy show it'll be just simple enjoyment, since idk, it's like music, it's almost so subjective why certain things work as jokes and other things don't. And now to relate that back to Korra to stay on topic, Varrick is pretty much the best thing about the show in its entirety, and is reason enough alone to watch Season 2.

Varrick was certainly among the stronger introductions in Book 2, no question. I was also very impressed by the Wan-hour special, disjoint as it was from the rest of the season.