Being the nearly perfect animated masterpiece that it is, Avatar The Last Airbender is a pretty tough act to follow for a potential sequel. While Legend Of Korra doesn't quite reach those heights, especially not at first, its first season is still a really strong animated show in its own right.
Legend Of Korra is about the next Avatar after Aang, the water-bender Korra. This first season has her arrive at Republic City to be trained by Aang's son Tenzin, while also joining a Pro-Bending game and trying to stop an anti-bending terrorist group called the Equalists. Personally, I love the Equalists storyline. This is the first time we really see how non-benders deal with the fact that they can't bend, and its leader Amon was such a mysterious, compelling, and morally gray character, at least at first. Eventually we learn Amon is a bender too which is a neat twist but it does remove some of that moral complexity. The Pro-Bending storyline is a bit weaker however, as it doesn't really accomplish much outside of kickstarting a love triangle between Korra and her friends Mako and Bolin. I don't necessarily hate love triangles, but this one just seems to take up so much of this first season, which is especially jarring given how low-key a lot of Avatar's romance arcs were. Thankfully, the majority of the season is still focused on the Equalists, which is far darker and more intense than anything Avatar ever put out.
As for the characters, I do really like Korra's cast, but they're not as well-developed as Avatar's cast yet. Korra is a great protagonist, serving as a perfect parallel of Aang, and I really like Toph's daughter Lin (What can I say? The Beifongs are awesome!). Asami is an awesome "non-bender" of the group due to her nice personality, interesting backstory, and generally just being a badass character. Bolin is an adorable goofball, Tenzin is a compelling character in his own right, but I'm not a fan of Mako and never have been. Mako has always been a boring and uninteresting character to me, and I find him to be a weak link of the cast. The world-building isn't as strong as Avatar's either, mostly because of how the entire season takes place in one location: Republic City. Thankfully, Republic City is still a really cool place and perfectly shows how the world of Avatar has evolved since the original show. Korra's first season is also noteworthy for being pretty much just one complete story since it was originally planned to be the only season of the show. While this does mean the finale is a bit on the rushed side, I do like how self-contained and small scale it is.
Despite the season's shorter length, it's packed with exciting episodes and strong plot twists:
And The Winner Is: I've always admired how dark this season is compared to pretty much any other show in Avatar, with this episode resolving the Pro-Bending storyline by having the Equalists attack the arena. Yes, this children's show actually has a terrorist attack in it.
The Aftermath: This was the episode that made me love Asami, as despite my belief that she would turn bad and join her father and the Equalists, she had the guts to electrocute her own dad solidifying her place in the new Team Avatar. Even outside of that, it's a strong episode in its own right, containing the emotional fallout of the aforementioned terrorist attack and a bunch of cute character interactions.
Endgame: Despite the somewhat rushed resolution, Endgame does a great job of wrapping everything up into a satisfying final battle with Amon. It has some crazy twists like Korra getting her bending taken away, shocking moments like Amon's suicide-bombing (yes, this show has a suicide in it!), and a pretty emotional ending where Korra finally connects with the past Avatars.
Overall, Korra's first season is a very solid first outing for the show, with a likable cast, compelling main storyline, and a strong protagonist. If you can put aside the fact that it's not as air-tight as Avatar, there really is a lot to love here.
4/5 Stars
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