Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Podcast
      • Slice of SciFi 962: Escape Pod: The Science Fiction AnthologyFeaturing “Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology”
      • Slice of SciFi 961: BreachIndie SciFi Action: “Breach” takes on fleeing an alien invasion
      • Slice of SciFi 960: Hunter Hunter“Hunter Hunter”: When the lines between hunter and prey are blurred
      • Slice of SciFi: "Skylines" (2020)“Skylines”: Talking to Liam O’Donnell & Alexander Siddig
    • View all
  • Movie Reviews
      • Promising Young Woman (2020)“Promising Young Woman” and the harsh truths of trauma and justice
      • Review: Parallel (2020)“Parallel” takes on the mental and moral tolls of using parallel worlds
      • Review: I'm Your Woman (2020)“I’m Your Woman” shines with a different take on the mobster’s wife
      • Review: Archenemy (2020)“Archenemy”: Working with the Superhero You Find
    • View all
  • TV Reviews
      • "Project Blue Book"“Project Blue Book” explores the threads of UFO reports
      • Manifest Season 1: 5 Episodes In5 Episodes In: “Manifest”
      • 5 Episodes In: Reverie5 Episodes In: “Reverie”
      • 5 Episodes In: Marvel's Cloak and Dagger5 Episodes In: “Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger”
    • View all
  • DVD Reviews
      • The Dark and The Wicked (2020)“The Dark and The Wicked” and the Monstrous Weight of Grief
      • Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection“What’s Up Doc?”: A Look at 80 Years of Bugs Bunny
      • Batman: Death in the Family (2020, animated)“Batman: Death in the Family” makes alternate timelines fun
      • The Pale Door (2020)“The Pale Door”: A Weird Western Highlight
    • View all
  • Columns
  • News
      • TV News
      • Film News
      • DVD News
      • Interviews
      • Events
      • Geeky, Funny & Weird
      • Online Entertainment News
      • Music News
      • On Stage
      • Space News

Slice of SciFi

This is How We Geek Out: Interviews, Reviews & More

  • Writers, After Dark
  • Horror Happenings
  • The Babylon Podcast
  • SciFi Shop Talk
  • Slice of SciFi TV
  • Contact Us
5 Episodes In: The Legend of Korra

5 Episodes In: The Legend of Korra

November 20, 2013 By Gini Koch Leave a Comment

Editor’s note: Yes, this week’s upcoming episodes of Legend of Korra will be the Book 2 finale. It’s a DVR thing… you understand

I love me some animation, and I adored Avatar: The Last Airbender (the animated series — not the movie, which we will never speak of). So when the sequel — The Legend of Korra — showed up last year, I made sure to watch it.

Legend of Korra Book 2: SpiritsThis show follows Korra, the teenaged Avatar, as she comes into her full powers and gets trained in how to actually use them, as well as how to be the Avatar. Of course, things don’t go smoothly and there are conspiracies to thwart, intrigues and mysteries to solve, lots of martial arts and element “bending”, action, and romance.

As with Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, it was clear that the production team had no idea if this show would be picked up for a second season, so Season One had a very strong beginning, middle, and, most key, ending.

Almost all the action took place in Republic City, though the rest of the world was acknowledged and occasionally shown. It was really good — keeping the world that we’d seen in The Last Airbender and growing it, since we’re now a couple generations from Aang and his crew; excellent animation; martial arts fantasy with a lot of steampunk thrown in — and it deservedly was renewed for several more seasons.

Season Two picks up nicely after the events of Season One are completed — not too long a time lapse, but enough that our main cast of characters are legitimately now in a different location, the South Pole, at least to start, and also legitimately embarking on what will be a new, and presumably longer, adventure.

The action begins immediately, and, happily, it doesn’t feel like there was a long break between the Seasons — Korra and her gang are back, as good as before, and, in many ways, better. We’re following two main storylines that separate and intertwine as the season goes on. One is the civil war brewing between the Northern and Southern Water Tribes and the other is Korra and Tenzen’s student-mentor relationship and how it’s tested and altered as the storyline goes on.

Korra’s going through a lot of teenaged growing pains, which make sense, but also which aren’t drawn out so long that you start hating her. The characters are shuffled up, and we’re seeing a larger world — families, new enemies, new allies, new and changing alliances, and a character who’s both hilarious comic relief and could be much, much more.

Speaking of comic relief, there’s a lot of it in this show. At minimum there are three main supporting characters who are almost always delivering punch lines, but every character can crack, or be the butt of, a joke. There’s a lot of humor in this series, easily as much as in any Spiderman iteration.

The Spirit World is playing a huge role in this season, and it’s a blast to be there. The rest of the world is great, also, building on the world we saw in The Last Airbender, but showing the changes several decades have made everywhere. Old friends from The Last Airbender also show up, which is a nice connection to the first show, but won’t confuse newcomers, either.

The animation is, for want of a better description, Americanized anime (you can tell without issue which are girls and which are boys), which I like, and, as with Kung Fu Panda, there’s usually a mesh of styles used. The voice work is uniformly good — you know who’s talking even if you’re not looking at the screen — and all the voices really fit the characters. The characters are all Asian, and represent different Asian cultures as related to their homelands and bending talents, but all filtered through an alternate-Earth-steampunk filter. It’s a cool, cool world.

The big questions are these: Can you enjoy The Legend of Korra if you never saw The Last Airbender, can you enjoy Season Two if you never saw Season One, can you come in late and not be lost, and can you enjoy a “kid’s show” if you’re not a kid?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

The show is a sequel but it still stands alone and on its own. You can enjoy if it you have no interest in The Last Airbender at all. And Avatar: The Last Airbender is available on DVD, so if you really want to see what started it all, that’s available to you.

The show recaps prior happenings at the start of each episode, so it’s not hard to get caught up enough to know what’s going on. And while there’s a larger cast and slightly more complex storytelling than in Season One, it’s done smoothly, so you can follow the action and story even if you’ve never seen one episode prior. This is a show you can join midway and still enjoy it and not be lost. Compared to, say, Full Metal Alchemist, which I caught a lot of, but not all of, and so, while I loved its style, I still have no freaking idea what was going on with that show. And because it’s a kid’s show, there’s a lot of reminders of what went on before, usually done via dialog, and never done in a klunky way, so you won’t be lost tuning in late but also won’t feel like you’ve tuned into The Power Rangers.

Now, the biggie. “It’s for kids.” Yeah, kinda. It’s more of a Young Adult show than a children’s show, and, for example, The Hunger Games is YA also. The themes in Legend of Korra are universal regardless of your age, the animation is topnotch, the setting is unique, the fight scenes are really well done, the voice work is great, and the storyline is compelling.

Give it a shot. It’s second season is as strong if not stronger than its first, and The Legend of Korra delivers on its promise to take you on a wild, magical, moving ride.

WSJ Blogs: ‘The Legend of Korra’ Book Three Will be Titled ‘Change’
The Diamondback (University of Maryland): Students adapt game from The Legend of Korra to play on Mall

TwitterFacebookEmail

Filed Under: TV Reviews Tagged With: animation

About Gini Koch

Gini Koch writes the fast, fresh and funny Alien/Katherine "Kitty" Katt series for DAW Books, the Necropolis Enforcement Files, and the Martian Alliance Chronicles. She also has a humor collection, Random Musings from the Funny Girl. As G.J. Koch she writes the Alexander Outland series and she's made the most of multiple personality disorder by writing under a variety of other pen names as well, including Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch. She has stories featured in a variety of excellent anthologies, available now and upcoming, writing as Gini Koch, Anita Ensal, and J.C. Koch. Reach her via: www.ginikoch.com

Related Posts

LEGO Ninjago Movie (2017)
“LEGO Ninjago Movie” is a Fun, Emotional Tale
Star Wars Rebels S2
“Star Wars Rebels” Returns for Season 2
Slice of SciFi #281: Interview With Billy West from “Futurama,” Part Two

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in posts
Search in pages
Filter by Categories
Audio Productions
Awards News
Book News
Book Reviews
Columns
Comics News
DVD News
DVD Reviews
Entertainment Business News
Events
Fan Films
Fan Productions
Film News
Film Reviews
Gaming News
Geeky, Funny & Weird
Human Interest
Interviews
Music News
On Stage
Online Entertainment News
Science News
Slice of SciFi
Slice Video News
Space News
Specials
Technology News
TV News
TV Reviews

Subscribe to Podcast

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsAndroidiHeartRadioStitcherTuneInRSS

Listen to Slice of SciFi

iTunes
iHeart Radio
Player.FM
RSS
 

Keep Up With Slice of SciFi

  • Movie & TV Reviews

Recent Comments

  • Summer Brooks on “Near Dark”: Stacey Abbott on teaching vampire lore: “I hadn’t remembered until I was making the graphic for this episode that I own a copy of READING ANGEL…”
  • Joyce Gravino on “Near Dark”: Stacey Abbott on teaching vampire lore: “Thank you for this episode. I now have to to look for the reading angel book and the x-files one…”
  • Daniel M on Giveaway: “2067” on DVD: “back to the future”
  • jason f on Giveaway: “2067” on DVD: “I love Back To The Future, but also agree with Miguel. I remember seeing Star Trek IV at the movie…”
  • AEKZ2 on Giveaway: “2067” on DVD: “X-Men: Days of Future Past is my favorite.”
Tweets by @sliceofscifi
death to humans 160x600
Save 10-50% on in-stock toys at TFAW.com.

Slice of SciFi
1121 Annapolis Rd PMB 238
Odenton MD 21113
602-635-6976

Artwork:
Slice of SciFi spiral logo designed by Tim Callender

Theme Music:
Slice of SciFi music and themes
courtesy of Sci-Fried

Sister Sites:
Writers, After Dark
Horror Happenings
SciFi Shop Talk
Slice of SciFi TV

Copyright © 2005–2021 · Magazine Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in