I was pleasantly surprised when I watched the show Avatar: The Last Airbender.
What I originally thought was a show just for kids turned out to be a fun, inventive and thought provoking show that is now one of my favourites.
So, naturally after loving it so much, I had to check out the follow up series The Legend of Korra’s fist season, Book One: Air.
Book One follows the new Avatar, the titular Korra, on her adventure to bring balance to the world.
When I talk to people about both shows most people agree that Avatar: The Last Airbender is fantastic.
However, opinions on The Legend of Korra are rather mixed.
Some love it, some hate it and some just think it is okay.
Personally, I really enjoyed Book One of The Legend of Korra.
It is certainly no Avatar but, as long as you go in expecting that, you will have a really great time with it.
Over 12 episodes we are given a very real world scenario, instead of the basic save the world plot from the previous show.
I was amazed with how far the show went to talk about real world issues like bigotry, terrorism and radicalization.
It made it a very relatable story, since this stuff happens so often in our real world.
Another thing I really liked about the story was when it is set.
The Legend of Korra is set 70 years after the previous show and since then the world has entered an Industrial Revolution and is now in the timeline somewhere around the late 1800s to early 1900s.
This allowed the audience to get reintroduced into the world through its new technology, which lead to some very interesting concepts.
Then there are the characters who, although not having the depth or layers that the characters of Avatar had, are very likable.
We not only got new characters like Mako, Bolin and Asami but we also got to see what the old characters were doing in the 70 years we missed.
We even got to see some of these characters’ descendants, like Tenzin, the son of Aang, and Lin, the daughter of Toph, both of which are very relatable.
My favourite of the news characters though, would have to be Korra.
Korra is essentially the mirror opposite of Aang and actually wants to be the Avatar.
She is confident and relishes in her identity.
Her first line in the series is literally ‘I’m the Avatar, you gotta deal with it!”
However, even though she loves her position as the Avatar, she is a flawed character, which makes her all the more relatable.
She has fears, weaknesses and the pressures of being the Avatar sometimes get to her.
Korra was definitely the most developed character.
I also really liked the villain Amon, who creates a terrorist organisation to get equal rights for those who do not have bending.
Amon’s goals are good and do seem like he has the people’s best interests at heart but it is the lengths he takes to achieve his goals that make him a villain.
This makes him a very interesting villain because we have not seen one in the Avatar series that wanted to make the world better yet, instead of just wanting to take over the world.
Now although I do think a lot of this content was great but could not surpass Avatar, there are two elements added to The Legend of Korra that most certainly did.
These elements are the animation and the music.
The animation has only got better since Avatar and it draws you in to every fight scene.
Even better is the music.
I could not count how many times I found myself in awe of this music because it was so good.
It fit the tone and style of the show perfectly.
However, not everything was done perfectly because there was one element of the show that almost ruined it for me.
What was this?
The love triangle.
I am going to be completely honest, I cannot stand love triangles.
I usually find them to be just a really contrived way to create drama.
That being said, I could have accepted it and pushed it aside to enjoy a lot of the show… if the love triangle had not driven the plot at times.
The story constantly stops dead so it can beat you over the head with this love triangle and it is aggravating every time.
Worst of all, one episode is entirely driven by this love triangle and somehow expands it by turning it into a love square briefly.
This was episode five The Spirit of Competition, which is now the worst episode I have seen so far in the entire Avatar series.
Yes, it is even worse than The Great Divide from Book One of Avatar.
At least that episode had some enjoyable moments.
Here, I was unable to enjoy anything because it was all driven by the stupid love triangle.
It drove me nuts.
It is such a shame because if this love triangle had not been in the show then it would have been almost just as good as Avatar, but with it in there it it falls short.
Thankfully though, they seem to have wrapped up the love triangle by the end of Book One so, hopefully, I will not see it again when I watch Book One.
Overall, The Legend of Korra Book One was a great way to start the show.
It had a great story and setting, relatable characters and fantastic animation and music.
If it was not for the love triangle this would have been a fantastic start.
THE REVIEW MONSTER 