I know I’ll get blasted for saying this but Korra just isn’t worth all the hype that it’s gotten. Avatar: The Last Airbender was very original with a lovable cast, an awesome story, and a very original world. Korra takes all that we loved about the last Avatar and throws it into a blender. I honestly gave the series a try, I really did, and I couldn’t stomach more than a few episodes. I honestly felt like I was watching a horrible fanfic. I wouldn’t be shocked if it came to light that the producers scoured the internet for the most popular fanfics and put animation to them.
For one- the setting. How you can go from a Feudal Japanese/Chinese themed setting into modern NEW YORK CITY is beyond me. There’s less than a hundred years between the shows. I understand they have bending and magic… honestly, you don’t go from pre-colonial to a near modern city in less than a century. You’d be lucky if you can do it in two centuries. It might be a little nit-pick but it’s one that’s constant in every episode. It just makes very little sense and it takes the expansive, massive ‘feel’ of the last Avatar and shrinks it down into a “Saved by the Bell” sort of a feel.
The main. Character. I hate her. I really, honestly do. From the moment she stomped onto the scene I was gripping my head. She was obnoxious, loud, egotistical, impatient, and stupid. That aside- she had no redeeming qualities at all. She was just a spoiled brat with no depth, no heroic side, and really, if you take away her -bad- qualities, she’d not have any qualities at all. Yay she rides a polarbear dog and can do bending sports (Seriously, wtf is up with that too?!). Good for her.
Bolin and Mako. I know this is the sore spot of the fandom but honestly…. they were the producer’s bad attempt to re-create what fans loved about Zuko and Sokka. And they failed at every turn. If I didn’t feel like they were trying to fill in a gap the other two characters left, I might have been more forgiving, but they were like fanfic versions of Zuko and Sokka. They were way over the top in “I’m the brooding, mysterious sexy one” and “I’m the goofy one with a heart of gold that makes really bad puns”. With Zuko and Sokka it worked. Repeating the same characters is a bad idea. Repeating them badly is a REALLY bad idea. I think it would have been better off with two different character types.
LURV TRIANGULZ. Honestly. Fanficy. The Last Airbender had some, yes, but they were subtle, drawn out, made sense, and it was never the center of the plot. Korra really has a non-threatening plot going on. It’s a small isolated incident with this world’s version of the Occupy Movement. Aang had an entire war to win. Korra has an isolated cult. So rather than expanding on the central conflict, you spend several episodes wondering who loves who and why. It’s like Twilight. But with less glitter.
I know the next season’s coming up and there may be some redemption but the first season was so weak I couldn’t sit through it without feeling like I was spitting on the original. Just had to get the rant out there.