Korra! ♥

[gb23]

I watched Korra at the weekend, but I needed to vent the YJ stuff before posting about this show!

In short,



it was beautiful and I can't wait for the next episodes!



No gifs or screencaps I'm afraid, the YJ post kinda wore me out. XD

- The animation is stunning (holy High Definition, Batman!) and the music was awesome! I was feeling some Cowboy Bebop stuff in there!

- Korra is amazing. I can't wait to see how she develops as the show goes on. Lil Korra was so funny "I'm the Avatar, you gotta deal with it!" Her poor mum looked exhaused though! XD I like that she's loud and hyper and I'm sensing a little bit of a quick wit there. I like that (as with the rest of the Avatar-verse girls) she's her own character, rather than falling into a certain female TV character trope.

- I saw an interesting observation online. Korra is the Avatar that would've been best suited to fight against Ozai, as she's a better fighter than spiritual leader. Aang is the Avatar that would be best suited to the problems now, as he's better at dealing with people than Korra probably is.

- Katara! ;_; She's all by herself! I mean, I had heard stuff before hand BUT STILL! *weeps* I really wanted to see old man Sokka at least! I always expected him to be like Wang Fire when he got older. Ah well, at least they confirmed it in the first episode so I'm not always hoping for him to turn up every episode. (I'm looking at you, Batman of the Future and your Dick Grayson baiting!!!)

- New bison! Does this mean that Appa found more Appas!?



That makes me so happy! I teared up quite a bit watching the first ep, but not full on crying! XD

- Tenzin and his family are so adorable! But as serious as Katara could be, she was never as serious as Tenzin is. Where did he get that from? I can only imagine it was a coping mechanism against his older siblings and his dad. XD HIS CHILDREN ARE SO PRECIOUS! ♥

- Bolin and Mako need more screentime before I can judge properly, but I like them so far. With the way people have been going on about them, I was expecting Sokka and Zuko replacements. But Bolin is a lot...calmer than Sokka was. XD Definitely not as neurotic! And Mako seems more like a quiet awkward guy than a broody moody dude. Zuko was awkward too but he had a very short temper! There were also elements of Sakurai Sho fail in that kid. XD

- Amon may be just as scary as Ozai, if not more so cos Ozai was kinda nuts.

- The anti-bending thing is very interesting, and of course can be compared to stuff going on in real life. I imagine that most benders aren't putting down the non-benders on purpose, but there are always those few who make sure that the balance stays in their favour, even at the cost of others.

- Toph's kid! Just as badass as her mother! And I'm guessing her and Tenzin knew each other growing up. He seemed to be all "I'm being polite for our parents sake" around her. Ah, how I hope for flashbacks! But why does she have Toph's last name instead of her father's? Is it cos the Bei Fong name carries more weight in the world? I wonder who her dad is! We'll probably never know! ;_;

- Speaking of parental mysteries, I had to LMAO at the Zuko's mum trolling. XD Sorry guys, it was really funny! But I'm sure they don't want to spoil it for us before the graphic novel comes out.

- I really hope we get a flashback episode with Aang and the gang. An episode may not feel like enough, but that Avatar Roku episode in season 3 was done really well and we found out a lot of stuff.

- Once again, it looks like a decision taken by the previous Avatar (without ill intention) is going to have some consequences for the current Avatar. Aang wanted Korra to avoid what he went through and make sure she was fully trained before becoming the Avatar. Unfortunately, this has closed her off from the world and she has no idea of what it's actually like out there. The incidents in the park being prime examples of this. I'm guessing this is also going to be a big part of her character arc.

Well, with my thoughts out of the way, I'm just gonna get this stuff off my chest so I never talk about it again (ha, yeah right). Fandom, you guys are going to ruin the show for me so I'm staying out of it. Dudes, I miss Aang and them too, but give the new guys a chance! It's not like this is a surprise, we knew that most of the cast were not going to be in it. Yes, the ship of the show will (probably) be Korra and Mako. No, it is not a make-up replacement for Katara and Zuko. The thing that made the Zutara pairing so popular were the character's personalities and how they matched with/against each other. Korra is not Katara and Mako is not Zuko, so the romantic relationship you are hoping for/expecting won't be the same as their personalities are very different. I'm just worried that the characters will get a lot of hate if the ship doesn't go as they hope. And if I'm being honest, most of that hate will probably fall on Korra cos she's not the hot guy. Korra is not a Mary Sue. She is far from perfect! It was stressed many times that she is lacking a lot! She is not inconsiderate because she let the homeless guy eat some of her fish. She wasn't being rude arguing with that anti-establishment guy. She is new to this world and has no idea how it works yet. Korra is not weird and ugly just because she doesn't look like a supermodel. She is a warrior. Hence, she is built like one. Avatar Kiyoshi was a big lady too! Korra's voice was perfectly fine. I'm not sure what you guys were expecting on that one. And what is with this "white saviour" crap?! That would imply that the water tribe has some higher status than the rest of the nations. If anything, the anti-bending stuff is similar to social class problems, especially since benders come from all the nations, not just one. AND BOLIN IS NOT FAT! DAMN! And to that small minority who think that it's "annoying" and "weird" to have the new Avatar be a girl, what show were you watching? Avatars can be girls. And I link you to this post, which shows that the show will do just fine with a girl as the lead.



Okay, bring on the next episode! :D

Comments

[triannamaxwell.livejournal.com]

We shall have to squee together! (If you ever wanted to do a watch-along over Skype or IM let me know, I've never done that.) You were far more succinct in your observations. I was mostly "Oh my god, will they ever get to release a soundtrack cuz this is awesome" and "OMG, Katara is such a troublemaker!" XD

[triannamaxwell.livejournal.com]

And somehow I have missed all that crap with the fandom. From your description I am quite happy to. As far as the white savior stuff goes, I do think that perhaps the anti-bending agents are quite sympathetic if you look at them as a disadvantaged minority group versus the privileged majority group of the benders -- maybe that was what some fans were arguing for without doing it particularly well. My guess is that, even though benders may not be numerically a majority group, it looks like most societal power resides with them, kinda like white privilege. The social commentary was so smart in the first series, that I think that reading may be a completely legitimized by future episodes. But like you said, we're only two episodes in, so fandom, please, do not make up your mind so quickly!

[gabenut.livejournal.com]

Ah, it's cos of Tumblr mostly. That's the only place I can get good non-comic book fanboy analysis and discussion for Young Justice and I thought it'd be the same for Korra. XD I think a lot of the time, people want what they want in the show instead of letting things progress naturally. I'm guilty of that a lot too, but there are certain writers/producers that you can just sit back and relax when it comes to their shows, cos you know they'll do good in the end.

I think that's what they were going for, and I probably had an immediate NO IT'S NOT reaction to it cos it was listed with all the other stuff they were complaining about. Like you said, as the show goes on this analogy might be more accurate but at the moment it doesn't sit right with me. If Korra was from the Fire Nation and a bender, then it would fit better. But the Water Tribe was so looked down upon in the last series (even people not from the Fire Nation made remarks about Katara and Sokka if I remember correctly), I don't think she fits as the white saviour type. She hasn't seen anyone put down because they're not a bender, and thinks of bending as a gift not a privilege so she doesn't understand where they're coming from cos she hasn't experienced it. She was starting to understand once she saw what the situation was for herself.

[triannamaxwell.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I totally trust Bryke. Blindly. Probably more than I trust any other creator. Plus it's nice that their stuff is ORIGINAL, which even Peter Jackson, my other bebe, can't claim.

As for the bender privilege idea, I was really struck by Tenzin's wife's (can't remember her name) desire to have a non-bending child. It was played off as jokey at the time but considering the Amon storyline and Korra's general world-ignorance, I feel that could become a plot issue. Did you notice that part? So I don't think Korra is a white savior character but I do think the anti-bending movement may be a metaphor for the systematic societal privilege that whites have.

[gabenut.livejournal.com]

They're awesome. And you can see how much they love working on the show, it's great. There are a few I trust as much as them, but they're the only ones working on original content.

I didn't pick up on that! I was mostly like LOL, she has three little Aang's running around! I can get behind that idea more, I think it was just associating it with Korra didn't sit well with me. I'm interested to see how the plot develops though!

[gabenut.livejournal.com]

That would be awesome! :D We'd have to wrangle with the time difference though, I always end up watching it a day later than everyone else.

Haha, I just tend to overanalyse stuff when I'm watching it. It's One Piece's fault, I have to look for meaning in every action/dialogue because of that show!

[triannamaxwell.livejournal.com]

The time diff is no problem, as I am always late to the party on these things anyway. Plus I'm decently well practiced in the art of late-night Skyping -- when I lived in Dublin briefly and was dating my SO, we had our first major fight over Skype. It started at 11 pm/7 pm and ended at 6 am/1 am. Yes, we're dorks. I don't remember my Skype name but for gmail I use ecfarrell00. :) I probably will be very late for Saturday's show since I am in a wedding this weekend. So this may work!

[gabenut.livejournal.com]

Okay, cool! I have Skype, but no mike/camera thingy! I'm afraid I'll have to let you know on the weekend itself cos it always depends on when I can get a copy of the episode. Now that it airs in the morning, it takes longer to get an episode! I had the same problem with YJ. When it aired on Friday nights, I had it the next morning but now it airs Saturday morning, I can't see it until Sunday night! ;_; But if we can't do a watch along, we'll definitely have to have a squee-post every week!

[oronoda.livejournal.com]

I AM TOO EXHAUSTED TO APPROPRIATELY RESPOND TO THIS POST SO:

[gabenut.livejournal.com]

Aww, baby Arashi! (Well...Nino still looks like that though!)

Awww, they're so cute, I love them! The little one's a mini-Aang!