The Legend of Korra

From nearest to farthest: Avatar Korra , Pabu the fire Ferret, Bolin,
his brother Mako and Master Tenzin.

So the first two episodes of The Legend of Korra were just released earlier this night online for a limited amount of time which will then be gone until April 14th. They were so good that I ended up watching them both twice late into the night!

Avatar Aang from the second sea-
son of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

For those who don’t have a clue as to what I’m talking about, The Legend of Korra is the follow up to Avatar: The Last Airbender, a television show that takes place in a world with four major civilizations: the Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads. In each respected country you can find people who can “bend” or manipulate the elements using movements inspired by traditional Chinese martial arts. In Avatar: The Last Airbender or ATLA, the story centers around a young airbender named Aang who also happens to be the Avatar (While normal benders can only bend one element depending on where they come from, the Avatar has the ability to learn all four elements. Also, the Avatar power is reincarnated with a new host after the previous Avatar dies, passing on the experience and wisdom of all the past Avatars). For a hundred years, Aang was frozen in an iceberg, sustained by the power of the Avatar spirit. When he is awakened, he finds out that during that time, the Fire Nation has been at war with everyone else and that his people, the Air Nomads, had been wiped out.  So it becomes his duty to learn the rest of the elements and defeat the Fire Lord to bring balance back.

The first promotional art for The Legend of
Korra that was released nearly two years ago.

The Legend of Korra takes place many years after the defeat of the Fire Lord, in which time Avatar Aang passes away and a new Avatar is born in the southern Water Tribe named Korra. Korra shows a natural talent with water, earth and firebending at a very young age. Years later, Korra has mastered the previously mentioned elements but must still learn air. So she travels to Republic City to learn from Tenzin, the son of Aang who is the Master of Air Temple Isle off the coast of the city. This new municipality is very different from anything before seen in ATLA. Whereas in ATLA, the time period could be comparable to the 1800’s, (only with the exception of guns and an increase in mechanical technology) Republic City is pretty much the booming 20’s. You’ve got amazing music that is best described as Chinese jazz, towering skyscrapers with great zeppelins souring between and “Sato-mobiles”  being driven all over the place! Another thing that I absolutely loved about the city is that it was inspired by two real life cities: Shanghai, China and Vancouver, Canada. Last year I visited Vancouver for a week and I love how it's integrated so well with the design of Republic City. The mountains by the sea and the layout of the bustling metropolis makes me almost feel like I was back there.

A statue of Avatar Aang stands at the entrance of Republic City

Though there are major changes that have been made between ATLA and Korra, there is still that same energy and incredible art/animation that won me over in the beginning. If anyone is interested, check out http://www.korranation.com/. The episodes will stay on the site until Sunday night so if you want to get your geek fix in before April 14th, I suggest you hurry and check it out!