Legend of Korra

Well, well, well. I just saw the two episode preview of the new season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra. Check them out on Nickelodeon's website: http://www.korranation.com/

SPOILER ALERT!

I don't know what exactly my thoughts about it are yet. Two episode in and you can already tell that the feel of things are a lot darker. The last few seasons with Avatar Aang were all about returning hope to a land who's lost sight of it because of a long war. My kind of theme. This season looks more in line with recent serious themes: totalitarian governments, equality, new versus old. It also has a different feel to it. Gone are the days where the cast are traveling to new places, surviving in the wild, making spiritual connections with the world, and desperately trying to help Aang master the other bendings so he can restore the world to it's natural order. The world exist now and it's a modern city, with all it's skyscrapers, technology, and diversity of people. But there is a rebellion going on. Anti-benders feel they are being treated inferior to benders. And that is where the plot lies. The city does not feel spiritual at all. There are now bending battle tournaments, similar to a maybe a YuGiOh battle or something, for enjoyment not survival. Legend of Korra definitely feels more like recent anime, where the setting is of an alternate reality of the real world where bending is possible instead of a past reality.

I definitely miss the old characters. Aang's free spirited personality and innocence are greatly missed. You can see the traits slightly in his grandkids, which are just the best characters thus far. But they're kids and minor characters. I am interested in the role Aang plays in Legend of Korra though, since during Aang's time, he frequently talked to Avatar Roku. You do also have a brooding character, who seems more of mix of Zuko and Sokka's personalities: sarcastic and serious. But so far, he lacks the emotional damage and complexities of Zuko. Zuko was a good souled person brought up in an awful environment. You don't have a character yet that doesn't know which side of the battle he is on. Zuko was my favorite character. I have a thing for characters who are "bad" and then rise from it and become good. You have a new character who I can't really find an analogy to from the old season. He is nice and friendly. Katara actually is still alive. But of all characters, she was my least favorite and she is still as annoying as ever. The new avatar, Korra, actually has Toph's personality: strong, self-determined, and rebellious. Tenzin, Aang's son and the main adult character, is no where as awesome as Uncle Iroh.

I am really interested in how the new versus old plays out. Harry Potter (and so did Avatar Aang) did equality, we know: no one group of people is better than another. Hunger Games did totalitarian, we know: governments can't control everything. And old spiritual tradition versus industrial new technology? Hmm, to my knowledge, there's no big name franchise out there with that theme. Although with Avatar Aang, the more industrial fire nation falls to the Avatar, a spiritual entity.

Legend of Korra has a lot of potential. We'll see how it unfolds.