The Legend of Korra

Closeted lesbian learns magic kung fu.

I was going to write something lengthier about its animation, plotting, character arcs, mythology, and action scenes, but fuck it, BeeDub's review sums up the appeal just fine.

my score assumes someday I will receive a personal apology for season 2

The show acknowledges that Amon has a point-- that discrimination against non-benders is a problem. In season 2, a non-bender president is elected for the United Republic... and thus that issue is solved, I guess? Of course liberal democracy must naturally flourish and of course the villains must be defeated (they're craaazy after all). The world bends towards its telos. Why did they think it was a good idea to make Korra an extended political allegory when it's this monumentally stupid?

Even without comparing it to its superior predecessor, 'The Legend of Korra' disappoints due to its failure to capitalize on the tremendous amount of potential afforded it nearly every season. From the Anti-Bending revolution to the Harmonic Convergence, 'Korra' finds itself misguided and poorly plotted almost every time. The saving graces of the program are its score and breathtaking animation and art direction, all of which are without rival in the Western realm of animation.

It isn't quite as good as The Last Airbender, mostly because I feel that it suffers from a lack of focus, which each season seemingly going off in a different, unrelated direction (compared to TLA's strongly-connected three-act narrative structure.) That being said, it's still a better show than the majority of Prime-time network dramas, and features some amazing animation, world-building, character development etc.

One of the best animated series I've ever seen and easily the equal of The Last Airbender. The great strength of this show are the changing plotlines. Where TLA had only a single quest, Korra expands this to 4 accompanied by 4 unique villains. Through these quests, the writers explore a wide swath of topics, including anarchism/spirituality/family/revolution/etc. I firmly believe that the intelligent and enlightened Zaheer is one of the best "bad guys" ever created for children's TV.

Korra: the legend of an inconsistent avatar. Inferior to Avatar: the Last Airbender, this show has some interesting premises set up for each season only to see them crushed by banalities, deus-ex solutions, plot and character inconsistencies. Korra herself seems incapable of learning so we don't really have a character arch, outside of it being recited to us. Also, too many cheap screenwriting tricks, too many buildups with poor payoffs. PSI 84 on Criticker? Man, I wish I avoided this one :P

[through season 4]

A lot of weak moments but the good moments are really, really good

We gotta sell liberalism to the kids now that they're old enough!

Season 1 = 60, Season 2 = 40, Season 3 = 45, Season 4 = 65

takes too long to find itself. doesn't have the strong narrative thrust or tight plotting of TLA, and by the time it finally establishes its own identity it feels like it's over. Zaheer and the Red Lotus should have been the main antagonists of the show. Mako was completely useless. Varrick should get his own spin-off. the ending was a total cop-out and bone thrown to the fans, even if it did make a decent amount of sense

While using the same mythology (and characters) from TLA, LoK sets itself up as its own show almost immediately in terms of tone, structure and themes, which are all more ambitious and complex. The animation is a step-up from TLA, and there are a lot of strong female characters done correctly. Unfortunately, beside Korra and Varrick, the characters aren't as interesting, neither are the relationships. The cyberpunk aesthetic is nice, but some of the magic is lost. Korra's musical theme is great.

S1 63. her group+the sport was so meh. villain meh but cool idea, cool blood bending+bro shit. S2 69 cuz started typical meh then Wan was the best shit in either series. wish they made a whole show of that. dope myth villain. great spirit world shift that they went on to squander as far as world building/aesthetics, but still had good story from it. S3 70 cuz more consistent. cool jackie chan kung fu panda shit. S4 69.5 less consistent but better shit like time passing and ptsd. end wtf lol

S1; 60, S2: 45, S3: 75, S4; 68

First season 7,5/10, second season 6/10

i personally didnt care for it until the 3rd season.

Had to stop watching this at episode 4. I hate how the primary and some secondary characters tend to be depicted with more eurocentric features whilst tertiary characters clearly tend to look more ethnic. Secondly, no indication has been made for why we should care about Korra on an emotional level, let alone characters like Bolin and Mako who just seem to be there for the sake of being there.

Still not sure why I watched some of this.

I love Legend of Korra, but it is quite flawed. The plots can be rushed, and also somewhat unfinished. Sometimes the political theory can be shallow too. So why do I still love Korra? A lot of it is in the smaller details for me. From the introduction of "mover" propaganda, to Asami and Bolin learning that they play the same game differently, there's so many small nuances that add so much personality to the show. I also love most of the characters (Unalaq get out) and the steampunk environment.

It's difficult to make a sequel to avatar. Korra struggles mainly because of bad political analysis in a show that tries to showcase a political ideology in each season.

kinda good but constantly in over its head. poor plotting and breakneck character development that often feels neutered to hit the 7 year old target market. the combat animation was sick