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| Sepia makes everything classically EPIC |
For example, is Bending genetic or a spiritual influence? In the first series, it seemed that it was the latter, and Mike & Bryan even explained through an interview that the essence of Bending goes beyond genetics and more as a connection to the elements and spirit world itself. Now, in Legend of Korra, it's Aang's son who has the airbending ability, and this son has passed it down to his own children... making them the only airbenders in the entire world still. I was disappointed in learning this, because I was hoping that at some point after the Avatar Finale, Aang would've passed his philosophy of Airbending to outside minds and create new airbenders, instead of just counting on genetics.
As the main character, I really liked Korra, but I didn't see her being as flawed as Aang was, given her prodigious ability to bending and her ecstatic feelings towards being the Avatar in general. She's proactive and tomboy-ish, passionate and compassionate, and doesn't like to be seen as a weakling. The fact that she could successfully bend 3 elements by the age of 16 was... unrealistic to me... since Mike & Bryan implied that it took years of training to master even one's own element. Perhaps they overlooked this to keep the main character an adolescent, but still... I just wish it had been more credible. I also felt that her pet polar bear dog, Naga, was less of a character and more of a commodity in this series, compared to Aang's pet bison Appa.
New characters. Mako started out as a serious, assertive guy looking out for his younger brother... but then he became a jerk who couldn't choose between one girl or the other (for no damn reason!)... and let that question drag until the very end of the season. Bolin is the fun boy who can throw a mean punch when he or a friend is being bullied, but also can cry his eyes out over heartache. I think he's great, but I just don't want him to fall into these comic-relief one-liners permanently just because Korra doesn't like him in that way. Asami came as a big surprise for me, when initially I thought she was just there to provide some competition for Korra to win Mako's feelings. Wow, was I off. Asami has become a strong girl on her own, dealing with the betrayal of her father, confronting Mako about his possible feelings for Korra, and demonstrating that she is loyal to her friends and to the Avatar regardless of the personal crap she's dealing with. I have a feeling she's a natural in maneuvering anything... and I can totally see her with a badass leather eye-patch. Weird.
Also the adults, Tenzin and Lin Bei Fong... LOVE. THEM. Relationship baggage or not, they make a great team, and I love their bickering whenever they try and get shit done. I wanna know who broke it off all those years ago, and why... and how...!! (fanfic spasms)
The main villain in Korra was more emotionally involved, I feel, as the theme of the show carried darker intonations about Bending prejudices, Modernism, and Revolutionary warfare. We first meet Amon as a guy with a grudge against Benders because his family had been killed by one, but then his story becomes a hoax when we realize that he is a Bender himself and that he'd made up his story. That twist in the Finale wasn't great for me, because it made Amon look like a less-threatening villain, however powerful he was as a BloodBender.
That's another thing: Blood-Bending. You know a show turns dark when the dark side of Bending becomes the crux of a few episodes. Those scenes were difficult to stomach for me... all the crunching and twisting sound effects that came from manipulating another human being's body. Oy. And I thought the book was closed for Blood-Bending when Katara decided not to use it in Avatar, but I guess it made sense that other Benders would eventually learn it. =S This turns up a new issue in the modernized Avatar world... does the ideal goodness of Bending justify the dangers and harm it will cause to those who can't defend (or Bend) themselves? Hmm...
As for the overall plot, I give Mike & Bryan credit for making a bull-headed tough girl learn to be patient and spiritually calm when dealing with not only the hustling/bustling of a New Age city... but with the bonus that half the city secretly wants her dead. Her airbending training gets... pushed aside?... along the way when Korra discovers Pro-Bending and forms this huge crush on Mako, and then gets even more side-tracked when Amon gets more in her face about eliminating benders altogether. Airbending becomes less the central goal for Korra, and it ultimately becomes her just wanting to save herself and her Bending ability from the man who can take it away. Lo and behold, the story comes full circle when Korra learns to Airbend to defend Mako in the Finale and becomes a fully realized Avatar who can return people's Bending. A bit too rushed for my taste, and... how is returning people's Bending going to stop the Non-Bending oppressors to keep... oh I dunno... oppressing? Maybe that's what Season 2 will be about.
The technology is quite intriguing in the Korra universe, and it's great how Mike & Bryan incorporated a industrialist/steam-punk setting to show human progress and modernism. It echoed a lot about what the Mechanist character had started back in the first series, but taking it a step further and realizing that too much technology could also harm a society. This encourages the central plot revolving Korra: how the non-Benders don't actually need Benders anymore in a progressive world, how Bending has become both a sport and weapon, and no longer seen as a symbol for peace. Needless to say, the spiritual side of Bending has been lost... and I suppose that's what Korra has had to figure out in herself as well.
Anyway, that's all I can come up with for now. The animation in Korra needs a standing ovation, too, because the animators have upped the quality of the action sequences and the overall feeling for this world that's gritty and full of dark corners.
7/10 stars.
2) I'm as much for girl-power and archery as the next guy, and BRAVE was something I'd anticipated for a long time ever since I knew both elements were going to be in it. I wasn't disappointed in that sense, but I was a little disappointed about how the story was executed. I've seen that a lot in animated film these days: writers think they just need to come up with a handful of interesting characters, and the story writes itself. What you need instead, is a well thought out conflict that has all the characters involved to resolve it - not just one or two of them while the others stand, waiting on the sidelines. That's how I felt BRAVE turned out in the end. Merida and her Mother become the central theme of the movie, while the other characters with so much development potential just fade away in the beautiful Scottish highlands.
Don't get me wrong... the story was wonderful, but I really wish that they could've added a stronger villain to have the story behind this girl's FATE be more intriguing. It made the movie's conflict seem - rather than a matter of life & death - like a due date for a really crappy homework assignment. I love Merida as a character (her qualities are very similar to Korra, haha) and I love that she was full of spunk and determination to get things her way, and all of a sudden feeling vulnerable when she actually does change her fate.
6/10 stars
