"Avatar the Last Airbender" is one of those global phenomena that I missed. I remember how often this title was mentioned as "Must watch" when I was in high school and then in college. A lot of my friends have often said (whether anime fans, people who only watched battle-shounen like "Naruto" or anti-Japanese cartoons fans): "Oh shit, something like this has never happened!" Maybe I'm wrong, so if that's the case then please improve, but I think I can compare it to "Naruto" or "Fullmetal Alchemist". Not only because of the global popularity, but also the level of animation, the plot touches similar threads and a similar style. Avatar has a lot in common with all battle-shounenami, but in my humble opinion, it is the closest to him to the above-mentioned titles. At times I also had associations with "Batman the Animated Series" in the fact that the creators masterfully balanced on the border of a cartoon for children, and one intended for older teenagers or 20-year-olds who are tired of repeating patterns from Japan and needed a fresh look. Compared to the iconic Batman cartoon, the point is that both titles are clearly aimed at the youngest, but their content is written and presented in such a way that adults will see more (e.g. sufficiently sketched brutality or mature characters that had to be flattened) for the cognitive abilities of young children), and at the same time they will get excited about the series as much as the main target audience. I omit the excellently animated fights and ingenious choreography, I will talk about it in the appropriate paragraph. I would also compare it to the two Avengers movies - "Infinity War" and "Endgame". Why? Because the Nickelodeon TV cartoon, like these two Disney-Marvel films, squeezes the maximum out of what can be shown to children, while only gently crossing the line. Not as direct as in IW, where Thanos' army looked genuinely scary by PG-13 standard, but at times I had to really use my brain and reflect on certain characters and their behaviors. Sometimes even more than in the case of "Naruto" or "Hunter x Hunter", which are less demanding than both FMA adaptations.
I know, I did a bit of a twist in the introduction mixing both series. I haven't seen "The Last Airbender" yet, so I don't know if the above words also fit the 1st series, but after talking to Karol and Ola, who are the most competent fans of both series I know, even if I am wrong, in a little. So ... Some time ago I didn't have anything to watch with my girlfriend, so I figured that for a change from serials with live actors, we would watch an animated one. And I will say this - the 1st season absolutely amazed me. Fuck me, it was a surprise on the level of "FMA: Brotherhood" - a brilliantly written plot, brilliantly created characters who behave like normal people, and are not overly polite, relations between them, excellent animation, power system, fights (their dynamics and choreography), the pace of the action, building a universe, an idea for it. No anime 10/10 - if you are watching anything, throw it to hell and now please watch Korra IMMEDIATELY! Unfortunately, then there were worse seasons, which in my opinion are weaker than 1 in almost every respect.
First, however, I will start with the plot description. "Legend of Korra" is a continuation of the 1st series. As I said, I haven't seen it, but I think you can watch Korra despite not knowing the Aang series. Indeed, we will not fully understand some themes or characters, but if you know anything about the 1st series (from chatting with friends, watching discussions on the Internet, watching videos or YT discussions), in my opinion you will understand most of them. On the other hand, it's a cartoon intended for children, so this one shouldn't be that confusing, especially for new viewers (and it would be silly to limit audiences only to the group Aang knows). Korra is another incarnation of the Avatar, a being who is able to control all the elements. There are several of them - water, fire, air, earth, energy (and their subtypes like magma, lightning, healing skills, blood magic, metal, sand). Mages can master one element, and only Avatar has the power to use all of them. The plot of the second series takes place 50-60 years, and maybe more after season 1. Magic is not the only fantastic element, there are also various villages, communities that closely resemble their anime counterparts, fantastic creatures, chimeras, as in DB, FMA, Naruto. If I had to compare it briefly to anime, I'd say it's a mix of "Naruto" and "Fullmetal Alchemist". Korra has 4 seasons, each with several episodes. Each of them focuses on different aspects, but they combine into one whole.
I will not cover each of them because the review would be too long + I would have a hard time avoiding spoilers, so I will cover 1 season in general and only say what I don't like or like, but without going into details. The action takes place primarily in the city of the republic, a metropolis that can be compared to large urban agglomerations such as London, New York, etc. Korra, who is bored with living in a remote area and laboriously preparing to play the role of Avatar, comes to him. She ran away from her master Tenzin to meet other people and get a taste of big city life. As a result of various events, he meets Mako, his younger brother Bolin, Asami Sato and several other characters there. While exploring the charms of life unknown in a remote province, he gets into various troubles - he comes into conflict with the chief of the Republic city police and the Equalists. This movement is led by the mysterious Amon. Charismatic, strong character wearing a characteristic mask, which reminds me of Char Aznable from "Gundam" or Laughing Man from the TV series "Ghost in the Shell". He has the power to take the talent of any mage, which, combined with his unique fighting skills, makes him an extremely dangerous character. As I mentioned in paragraph 2, I am unable to find weaker elements in season 1. Everything looks great, the plot is perfectly thought out and realized - each episode has the perfect pace, there are no debts or unnecessary elements. I was soaking up everything like with the FMA or during the best stages of "Naruto" or "Hunter x Hunter".
Unfortunately, I cannot say that for the other 3 seasons. These are not weak, take it easy - even the commonly vilified season 2 was in my opinion not the worst (yes, I know - I complained about him, this is a note for those who know me outside the blog and will not fail to point out my hypocrisy), but ... Their main the problem is they are very lumpy. Just as the first season was a perfectly balanced whole, the rest have IMO less successful and more unsuccessful elements, as is the case in long battle-shouenach. The exception is "Fullmetal Alchemist". The fact is, the story is not perfect, but it is much harder to do in a long series where the author (and in this case the author) has to think and draw chapter by chapter for many years. Nevertheless, from the perspective of the whole, FMA is the best title that stands on the verge of adventure and martial arts (compared to titles such as "Bleach", "Dragon Ball" and others, which I have mentioned often in this text). True, some elements could have been written better, but when you watch the final episodes, you can forgive it, because everything meshes into an almost perfect and flawless picture. It is much easier to plan a shorter series, throw away all the weaker elements and save the best. Referring to the previous sentence, unfortunately I can't say that about "Legend of Korra". Too many things bothered me too much for me to turn a blind eye to them. Now I do not remember most of them, because although I saw the series relatively recently ago, I watched the episode with my girlfriend one by one and everything turned into one mass. Adding to that other content that I had watched during this time and the problems of everyday life, my thoughts just fell out of my head. Basically, I could summarize it to this - you could throw out a few of the weaker threads or rewrite them again. I know from a blogger's perspective that it is easy to talk about and harder to do, but if we care about quality, then it is worth considering. Especially when in series 1 the level grew with the next story arc (or at least I heard it), and here we had a great 1 season, 2 medium, 3 very good and 4 only good (my private opinion, you probably disagree with her) . Generally, there is no tragedy, but there is a slight disgust, because I can see that it could have been even better. It's a pity, because the threads covered by the remaining 3 seasons are really good, only their implementation disappointed me a bit.
However, I cannot complain about the animation. I do not care so much about knowing this cartoon, so I did not delve into its creators (I am talking mainly about the first series, the second was done by the Korean studio MIR - apart from the part of the second season, for which the Japanese studio Pierrot is responsible). Well ... WOW! Since "FMA: Brotherhood" no series of this type has made such an impression on me (apart from single episodes or cinema films, such as the new ones from "One Piece", "Dragon Ball Super: Broly", because in them you can afford more ). Yes, we do have some elements known from "Naruto", some even alive copied from that anime or FMA, but on the other hand, it's hard to avoid with this power system. It was different in the case of wind magic, which was absolutely new to me. I didn't know that this type of magic could be used in this way, even though it was quite obvious - e.g. dodging by adjusting to air movements, or using its power or speed to deal more damage. A brilliant thing that I have not seen in any anime based on combat and supernatural abilities (and even as they were, the authors approached them not very creatively and there were definitely less of them than in the case of Avatar - yes, in the case of Hiromu Arakawa as well). I haven't seen many shots, creative fights or the use of individual elements in this type of productions, mainly because they require too much drawing, animation, commitment, time and money. Here, quite often, I reacted like, "Oh fuck, that's how you can ?!" You can complain about the plot, but in terms of animation and lines, this is the absolute top battle-shounen I have seen. Before there are people complaining about some elements or CGI, which is sometimes simplified - yes, I have noticed the weaker things, but I turn a blind eye to them because they are not essential. The creators made the most important elements properly, and the remaining ones are of an acceptable level, so I don't think complaining about them is justified.
To sum up, in the future I will probably watch Aang's story with my girlfriend, but that will not happen for a while. Asia and I are a little tired of Korra's bing-watching. The screening was not tiring (at least for me, my girlfriend complained a little as we got closer to the end), but I feel too much full of it. I don't want this to affect my Aang rating, and I'm afraid it might end this way. I rate the cartoon at 8/10, although this may change to a strong 8.5 / 10 or drop to +7/10 over time. Nevertheless, I think 8 is appropriate - generally a worthwhile cartoon worth watching instead of a lot of battle-shounens. If only for a fresh look, what else can be done in this genre instead of repeating the usual patterns. Besides, we will get everything that we like to see in Japanese manga - a large world that stimulates the imagination, a lot of mysticism, many different examples of how to improve yourself, inspiring or just interesting characters, great fights. Thank you Karol for the expertise and correction of some substantive errors.