ATLA/LOK Season and Finale Rankings

It has now been almost a month since the series finale, and I still cannot stop thinking about it.  I am fairly certain Avatar and Korra occupy at least 40% of my brain.

Now that there have been seven seasons in the Avatar universe, here is how I would rank them in terms of overall quality (along with a few notes as to why):

1) ATLA Book 2: Earth

• Extremely consistent -- "The Swamp" and "Avatar Day" are the only episodes that come to mind that were below average
• Fantastic character development for Zuko
• The most re-watchable season, with extremely entertaining episodes like "The Blind Bandit," "Bitter Work," and "The Chase"
• Introduction of Azula, Toph, Mai, and Ty Lee
• Fantastic "Empire Strikes Back" season finale

2) ATLA Book 3: Fire

• Culmination of Zuko's series-long story arc in "Day of Black Sun"
• Zuko field trip episodes
• Humanizing the Fire Nation
• Seriously kickass season/series finale in "Sozin's Comet"

3) LOK Book 3: Change

• Extremely consistent
• Compelling villains
• Return of airbenders
• Phenomenal action sequences
• Character development for Lin and Su
• Culmination of Jinora's mini character arc

4) LOK Book 4: Balance

• A deeply personal journey about Korra  
• A fitting series finale
• Standout episodes, "Korra Alone" and "The Last Stand"

5) LOK Book 1: Air

• Magical reintroduction into the Avatar universe 
• Compelling villain in Amon

6) LOK Book 2: Spirits

• Weak first half of the season, but solid second half
• "Beginnings" and all of the spirit world episodes
• Varrick hilarity

7) ATLA Book 1: Water

• Humor skewed toward younger viewers
• Standout episodes: "The Storm" and "The Blue Spirit"

And here is how I would rank the season finales in terms of my personal enjoyment:

1. ATLA Book 3: Fire ("Sozin's Comet")
2. LOK Book 4: Balance ("Day of the Colossus/The Last Stand")
3. ATLA Book 2: Earth ("The Guru/Crossroads of Destiny")
4. ATLA Book 1: Water ("Siege of the North")
5. LOK Book 2: Spirits ("Darkness Falls/Light in the Dark")
6. LOK Book 3: Change ("Venom of the Red Lotus")
7. LOK Book 1: Air ("Endgame")

Legend of Korra Book 4: Balance: Review

Book 4: Balance was another knockout season from Bryke (although I think Book 3: Change was, on the whole, more consistent).  Here are some thoughts on why Balance was so good. [FULL SPOILERS FOR BOOK 4 FOLLOW].

A Deeply Personal Story About Korra

Korra has faced accusations of being the "worst avatar ever" since the day her show deigned to be a sequel to Aang's.  I myself found it somewhat difficult to connect with her at times (particularly at the beginning of Book 2), although I grew to love her as a character in the second half of Book 2.  Well, Book 4 put the spotlight squarely on Korra and her struggles to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder, recover from her Red-Lotus-inflicted injuries, and find balance within herself.  And that journey -- and Korra's personal growth --were phenomenal to watch.

The season opened with a time skip, and a stunning reveal that Korra has been missing for six months.  Then we got an entire episode focused on Korra's struggles.  In the aptly named and amazing "Korra Alone," we watched our Avatar literally learn to walk again while facing her inner demon.  I loved that Korra's recovery was not an easy one (and, in fact, took most of the season).  Korra spent two episodes under the tutelage of the great Toph Beifong, who helped her remove the remnants of metal poison inside her body.  Yet Korra was still not whole -- which was wonderful, from a storytelling perspective.  Not until she accepted what happened to her with the help of an old foe in "Beyond the Wilds" did Korra return to tip-top fighting shape.

But this season was not just about Korra's physical recovery; Korra matured in leaps and bounds as well.  In "Battle of Zaofu," we saw a markedly different Korra from Book 1 Korra; we saw a Korra who said, "Fighting is something the old me would do. . . . Maybe I can talk with Kuvira."  Only when pushed to did she fight -- and even then, she was unwilling to put an end to her opponent.  Korra's story arc then completed in an incredibly satisfying way in "The Last Stand," where she fought Kuvira (without the avatar state), protected her enemy from the spirit weapon, and then ended the conflict by talking.

What I love best is that Book 4 Korra did not come out of nowhere -- Korra had been maturing throughout the series.  In the Book 2 finale, after she defeated UnaVaatu, she told him/it to "go in peace," and apologized to Eska and Desna that she could not save their father.  And in Book 3, Korra was willing to risk her life to save the fledgling Air Nation.  Korra's last line to Tenzin in "The Last Stand" thus perfectly summed up the growth that she had experienced over the course of the series (but especially in Book 4) and gave the series a wonderful sense of closure.    

Kuvira as a Villain

I love villains -- especially good ones.  And, overall, I think Kuvira was a fairly successful (but not entirely successful) one.  

The writers and animators did a fantastic job with Kuvira's characterization: every intonation, line, and movement fed back into her characterization.  For example, her uniform, hairstyle, and even her eyebrows are martial to a point.  The way she fights is also extremely controlled: she is precise, cool, and reserved, and she moves only as much as necessary to dodge or deal a blow to her enemy.  On top of that, Zelda Williams did a phenomenal voice acting job, infusing the character with confidence and charisma (particularly in lines like "I want you all to know that I would never ask you to do anything that I"m not willing to do myself.").

I really liked that Kuvira's intentions started out good -- and not just "fake" good like Fire Lord Sozin's I Want To Share Our Nation's Prosperity By Conquering the World bullshit.  Korra genuinely wanted to stabilize a kingdom that was descending into chaos. She cared about her nation.  So I was somewhat disappointed that the show tipped her a little too far over into the fascist camp with using slave labor, purging non-Earth Kingdom citizens, and sending dissenters off to "re-education" camps ("I thought that's where we send people to learn new trade skills!").  The audience needed to see Kuvira as a true dictator, sure, but in my view, the scenes with her twisting states into joining her served that purpose.  I didn't need the other Nazi references, which went a little overboard and made her final scene in the spirit world with Korra a little hard to swallow from the perspective of Kuvira's character (though, as discussed above, I loved that scene from the perspective of Korra's character).

I would have enjoyed just a little more time with Kuvira's history as an orphan, or another scene or two back to happier times as Suyin's protege -- anything to humanize Kuvira a bit more before the finale.  Alternatively, having Kuvira show just a bit more emotion when she had to fire on Baatar, Jr. in "Kuvira's Gambit" would have helped the audience connect to her as a villain.

Kuvira was not a perfect villain, and not the most compelling villain the LoK has given us.  (That spot goes to Zaheer, in my book . . .)  But she served her purpose as a foil for Korra.  And, for the most part, she was human enough to make her last scene with Korra a compelling one.  

Stunning Art & Animation

This season was beautiful.  That goes without saying.  There were so many amazing background pieces, including the stunning shot below from "Korra Alone."

One of my favorite background art pieces.

Overall

This season was, first and foremost, a deeply personal season focused on Korra.  That's what made it so successful despite other characters being a bit short-changed.

Legend of Korra: Series Finale Review

Well, it's over.  And god, what an amazing journey it has been.  I'm all sorts of happy and sad and emotional at the same time.  It's been two days since I've watched (and rewatched, and rewatched) the finale, and I am still thinking about it, and still boiling over with love and passion for this amazing show. 

Overall, I thought it was a very strong season and series finale.  Why?  SPOILERS ABOUND. 

The Action!

The action scenes in this finale were incredibly well done.  Seven seasons in this universe, and I am still blown away by the inventiveness of the action sequences.  I enjoyed the teamwork required to slow down and take down the Colossus, including sibling teamwork from Mako/Bolin and Lin/Suyin (and Wing/Wei channeling their inner Luke Skywalker on Hoth fighting imperial walkers), which provided a nice contrast to the Zuko vs. Azula sibling battle from the ATLA finale.  I also enjoyed that Kuvira's henchmen were, as far as henchmen go, pretty darn competent fighters.  Good job, anonymous metalbenders!

The highlight, of course, was Korra v. Kuvira.  I am pretty sure I screamed, "Don't fuck with the Avatar!" during Korra's fight with Kuvira inside the mecha.  I quite appreciated that Korra didn't go into the Avatar state all that often:  we got enough of that in the Book 2 and 3 finales.  It actually made Korra and Kuvira's fight much more fluid and tense -- much like Kuvira's fight against Suyin in Operation Beifong.  The bending was incredible, as were the martial arts take-down moves. Just a pleasure to watch. 

The Music!

The music in this show can wring tears from a rock.  And melt my stone cold heart.  Thanks for everything, Jeremy Zuckerman.  The score itself was a storyteller.

Voice Acting

I really started to appreciate the voice actors this last season, particularly after I rewatched the earlier Books of Korra and realized how the voice actors had aged up their characters' voices.  The voice actors sometimes go a little under-appreciated, so I'm recognizing here that in many cases, the delivery of lines in this finale made the scenes for me. Examples:

• Hiroshi's sacrifice didn't really impact me emotionally when I first watched the scene -- mostly because we had not spent enough time with him and Asami this season.  But when I watched the scene again subsequent times, I found myself crying -- not because Hiroshi had redeemed himself or had any emotional hold on me -- but because of the pain we see on Asami's face and the deep anguish we hear in her voice as she is ejected from the hummingbird to watch her father die.  Actress Seychell Gabriel's delivery of the single word, "DAD!" was just gut-wrenching.
• In the scene where Baatar Jr. finally apologizes to his mother, Suyin's line, "She's a complicated woman" was delivered to perfection by Anne Heche.  It had all of the love of a mother for her son, while hiding the bitterness of a surrogate mother re her surrogate daughter and the shame that Suyin herself had also been led astray in her youth.  And it was all tempered by the weariness of a matriarch.  Just excellent.
• Janet Varney's quiet and firm delivery of her lines by Korra to Kuvira in the spirit world completely sold to me four-seasons' worth of spiritual and character growth.  This was a woman brimming with compassion, and the voice acting emoted that with every intonation and syllable. 

Characters Got Their Chance to Shine!

Of course, our main characters all got a chance to shine in the finale.

Asami (and Varrick and Zhu Li) demonstrated their tech prowess by getting incredible-looking hummingbird suits -- along with their plasma saws -- ready to go.

Bolin building-bent.  And lovingly officiated a wedding!  (PJ Byrne's delivery of "You may now ::pause:: do the thing" was very nicely done.) 

Mako had a noble almost-sacrificing moment (accompanied by amazing music from Jeremy Zuckerman) where he single-handedly lightning-bended-down the spirit core of the Colossus mecha giant.  Although the payoff for the scene would have been much more had the character done more growing over the course of the series, overall I was still happy with the courage he demonstrated in this battle.  And his fakeout-swansong-goodbye moment with Bolin had me at the edge of my seat fearing for his life.  ("You ARE awesome, Mako!"  I shrieked.  "Don't die!")

And, of course, Korra frickin' STOPPED A SPIRIT RAY CANNON with her bare hands and created a new spirit portal.  BOOM.  

What I really enjoyed was that even smaller characters had their moments in the finale.

• Pema tenaciously kept the crowd calm with adorable airbender songs.  
• Wu showed inventiveness by badger-mole-whispering his way out of a pickle, and great maturity by recognizing his own limitations as a leader and stepping down from the monarchy.
• Perpetually ignored middle child Ikki got to save Jinora.
• Meelo got some of his battle ideas implemented and saved Tenzin.
• Zhu Li / Varrick!  Adorable.  And Zhu Li dipped Varrick for the kiss.  Just sayin'.

Thematically Fitting

Given that technology has played such a big role in this series, it was fitting that the final battle wasn't just one really good bender vs. another really good bender (although there was that too).  Instead, much of Day of the Colossus was spent trying to take down all of these instruments of technology . . . with any means necessary, including other technology.  Very thematically fitting for the Korra universe, where Amon started out by trying to even the playing field for non-benders using technology. 

It was so fitting that Korra's final exercise of the Avatar state was to spirit-bend massive spirit weapon rays and defend her enemy's life.  It truly showed Korra's tremendous growth and development from the beginning of Book 2, where she used it as a booster rocket.  Korra really came full circle from the brash, hotheaded young woman we first met in "Welcome to Republic City," who knew how to solve her problems only through her fists.  Her conversation in the spirit world with Kuvira was all sorts of fulfilling from the perspective of Korra's character development.  (Though less so from the perspective of Kuvira's character, or narrative cohesion.  I really felt Kuvira needed more screen time and humanizing earlier in the season for that scene to make sense for her character.  As it was, the orphan sob story felt conveniently dropped in, and didn't feel like something that had been motivating and driving her this whole time.)


Feminist and Progressive

Avatar the Last Airbender had so many amazing female characters and characters of color.  Legend of Korra is no different, and this finale really pushed a wonderful message of the power of Korra as a heroine.  It wasn't Korra's physical strength that ended the conflict -- even though Korra has plenty of physical strength to go around and can kick ass and take names any day.  It was her understanding of and compassion for Kuvira.  And talking with her.  "I needed to understand what true suffering was so I could become more compassionate to others, even to people like Kuvira."  Such a beautiful, beautiful line, with incredible delivery by Janet Varney.  Sure, the whole idea of talking to end a war seems idealistic, but . . . it was really well done here.

And, of course, the Fandom cannot stop buzzing about and debating the last scene of the finale, which ended with what I thought was a completely unambiguous** beginning to a Korra-Asami same-sex relationship (dubbed #Korrasami by fandom shippers).  I was not a shipper (of this or any other ship), but this scene was just incredibly beautiful and well done and genuinely moving.  Their healthy female friendship, which had been strengthening over the course of the series (particularly in Book 3), organically grew into the beginning of romantic exploration.  In the Spirit World!  The staging, the music . . . god, everything was just perfect.  I loved it.  (And it is so nice for the LGBT community to finally get some representation on screen!)

        **Mike and Bryan have now both confirmed that Korrasami was their intention.

IN SUM

This finale wasn't perfect.  No series finale is.  But for me, it was deeply personal, thematically fitting, and immensely satisfying.  It did not reduce me to an ocean of tears like the Book 2 Finale (where the link to the past avatars was severed), or have the incredible display of Korra god-power on offense like the Book 3 Finale, but . . . it was beautifully done.  And I loved it.

Was it better than Avatar the Last Airbender's "Sozin's Comet" as a series finale?  What a Sophie's Choice.  I can't decide right now; I'm too emotional.  For now, I will just say . . . both were incredible in their own way.  Thank you, Mike and Bryan, and the entire cast and crew for these 2 amazing shows.  I will cherish them forever, and hope to share them one day with any progeny I am lucky enough to have.

But guys, guys . . . what about closure?  What about all of my unanswered questions, including regarding characters from the first series?

I think I might be the only fan of Avatar the Last Airbender who never once wondered what happened to Zuko's mom. For me, Zuko's story in A:TLA was complete without knowing that answer, although it was certainly fun to imagine that he went on a quest to find her later (and, eventually, to read The Search comic book).   

So it genuinely baffles me when some Legend of Korra fans criticize the finale either for not giving them closure on things that have already been given closure, or for not giving them answers on questions that don't need answering.  Prominent examples:

• "We never got closure on her past lives."  This one really confuses me.  Korra told us after reuniting with Raava in Book 2 that the link was gone forever.  What more is there to get closure on?  Sure, for a moment in the finale, I thought the spirit weapon blast had blasted Korra back in touch with all of the past avatars, but it didn't.  And, well, that's that.  What more could the show have said?  "Hey guys, the link is STILL gone forever!"?  
• What happened to Sokka?  We needed more Toph/Katara/Zuko, or some variation of wish/question about characters from Avatar the Last Airbender.  The Old GAang got their own send off, their own denouement, in their own series.  What in the world needed closure in this series about those old characters...?  As Toph said, it's time to leave it to the kids.  
• Who is Lin's Dad?  Who is Suyin's Dad?  Who is Izumi's Mom?  etc.  This one drives me crazy too.  I loved that "Kanto" was Lin's dad. Just some random guy Toph met later on in life. That made perfect sense to me. (How many friends from when you were 12 are you still friends with -- let alone have reproduced with and/or married? I'm 30, and I think I'm still in touch with 1 friend from that age group. Though I guess my friends and I didn't go through a crucible like saving the world together.)  I like the idea that the characters we loved from the old series had full lives, filled with people and experiences that expanded beyond the characters we met in ATLA. Would I like to find out about those lives one day? Sure, I buy the comics, same as everyone else. But do I need those questions to be answered in a show about Korra? No, not really. Not unless the characters themselves needed those answers. Kanto's reveal was important only insofar as it was important to Lin, and her relationship with her mother. Su didn't seem to have the same daddy issues as Lin -- particularly not in the finale -- so . . . I'm fine with never knowing.
• Closure on Kai/Jinora, Bolin/Opal, etc.  I guess I have a different sense of what "closure" is than others.  For me, Kai/Jinora did reach closure.  Their story ended at the end of Book 3 / beginning of Book 4.  After a season of young flirtation, the two are in a healthy, cute long-distance relationship with no drama worth any screen time.  The creators didn't have much more to say about it.  That story was complete.  And Jinora herself got closure in a big way in the form of airbending master tattoos.  Similarly, Bolin/Opal reached closure in "Operation Beifong," when Opal forgave Bolin.  Closure.  What more needed closing . . . ? 

There are other questions that the fandom wanted answered.  The above are just the ones that I've seen the most (and that have driven me the most crazy).  For me, I can honestly say . . . this finale gave me closure -- and satisfying closure at that -- on every single thing that mattered to Korra's story.  So I loved it.  And god, I will miss this show.

Fairy Tail Seasons 1-3 Review

Fairy Tail came at the recommendation of Curtis, a security guard I befriended at work.  He was so obsessed with the show that he got a tattoo of the Fairy Tail stamp, so I thought I would give it a try despite the series' length.

Well, I've been through about 3 seasons of the anime so far, and my verdict is:  it is enjoyable.  Just to be clear, that does not mean it is good by any means.  In fact, I can't count how many times I have said, "Wow, this is terrible" while watching.  But I recognize that despite the show's many failings, it is good entertainment.  And I like it!

Here are some thoughts on why the show is so awful:

1. Formulaic / no consequences / low stakes.  This is an arc-based show.  In each arc, new baddies/villains appear.  Each one has to get hyped up more than the previous one.  The bad guys initially get the upper hand and beat down the good guys.  (But, of course, none of the good guys ever truly gets hurt.  They are drawn with scuff marks and bandages, but no one ever dies.)  Then the good guys draw on the Power of Friendship, What It Means To Be A Fairy Tail Wizard, and Other Such Platitudes and somehow defeat the baddies.  Everyone goes home and parties and drinks and gets into Fairy Tail hijinks.  There are no consequences, there is no tension, and even the headlined "big fights" are pretty much lame because the result is preordained.  The only difference from arc to arc is that sometimes the baddies -- usually the good-looking ones -- have a mini-redemption.  And because the stakes are so low, any Grand Gestures of Sacrifice by the good guys are meaningless because even if they are "hurt," they get a new set of clothes, some bandages, and then they go on their way.  It's extremely formulaic and dumb.  
2. It makes no sense whatsoever.  This is self-explanatory, but the show makes no sense.  It is a magical world, I know, but the way the world operates seems to be completely random/boundless.  There are no rules.  Magic can seemingly do whatever The Plot requires it to do.  And what magical attack beats the other also seems to follow only what The Plot requires.  And Dragon Slayers?  So far I have no idea why Dragon Slayers have so much more magical power than anybody else, other than that they 'learned from a dragon' -- whatever that means.  Nor do I get why they all have cats/exedes.  But whatever.  The cats are cute!  



We're Dragon Slayers!  We're super overpowered!  And we each have an adorable cat!  Not sure why!  Whatever, who cares?!

3. Fan service.  The show has some strong female characters (e.g., Erza, Lucy . . . occasionally, Juvia), but it can't resist giving them enormous breasts and degrading them by putting them in skimpy outfits.  Sigh.

And here is why I enjoy Fairy Tail despite the above and am continuing to binge-watch it:

Fire v. Ice

1. The cast is likable.  The characters are not particularly original.  Nor do they really develop in any significant way.  But both the main and minor characters are likeable and really fun to watch.  With anime, I am usually immediately aggravated by a Simpering Anime Woman, but luckily, the Fairy Tail women do not fall into that mold.  The show does a good job of showing the long history between some of the characters, and excels when it is drawing connections between the guild members.  Because the characters are so likeable, you kind of just want to keep watching them do stuff and kick ass (after getting beat down initially, of course, see supra No. 1) and interact with each other.  Even the stupid running character gags (e.g., Natsu's motion sickness, Gray's penchant to take off his shirt) grew on me over time.  

   

   One of my favorite characters:  the besotted Juvia.

2. Humor.  The show definitely does not take itself too seriously, which I think may be the show's saving grace.  From the over-the-top narration to seriously bizarre/weird characters to sight gags in the middle of big fights, the show executes everything with a big tongue in its cheek.  It knows what it is, and never tries to be anything else.  That self-aware humor keeps the mood/tone light and fun, allowing the audience to enjoy the show for what it is.  

   

   I iz so happy I finally have a cat!!  Lulz.

3. Equal opportunity fan service.  As much as the male-oriented fan service drives me crazy, I appreciate that the show also doses out female-oriented fan service for the XXs among us.   There are some good-lookin' [animated] guys on this show (my personal favorites are Gray and Loke/Leo)!  :-) 

   

   Leo getting ready to kick some ass.

4. Opening/Ending Music.  The opening and ending musical sequences of this show are really fun to listen to.  I particularly enjoyed "The Rock City Boy" from the Edolas arc.  The music during the show is also fun, if very repetitive.  (The show always plays the same overwrought dramatic music whenever a Good Guy is drawing power from What It Means To Be A Fairy Tail Wizard and Other Such Platitudes.)

Erza and . . . Jellal?  Or Mystogan?  Whatever.  Someone good-looking.

BOTTOM LINE:  So basically, the show is pretty bad (though the animation is decent).  But it's so fun that it doesn't matter.  I kind of just want to keep watching these hooligans hang out and kick badguy butt.

The Legend of Korra: Book 3: Change Review

Wow, what a season.  Book 3 of Legend of Korra really blew me away.  It's the best Korra season to date, and may be on par with (or even have surpassed?) some seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender as well.  It's hard to put my finger on exactly what made it such good television, but here are a few thoughts.  FULL SPOILERS FOR KORRA BOOK 3 TO FOLLOW.
 

Great Villains

 
Book 2 suffered for lack of a compelling, balanced villain.  Unalaq was cartoonish and had no depth.  Book 3 gave us what Book 2 was missing by delivering in the villain department, four-fold.  The Red Lotus was a dynamic team of villains whose powers were unique and hella scary, and whose mission to overthrow tyrannical kings and queens captured the audience's sympathy just enough to clothe them in shades of gray. The writers showed how incompetent President Raiko and awful the Earth Queen were (and how dire the inequality was in Ba Sing Se), which gave the villain's anarchic goal just enough credence to make the goal noble, in a way, if misguided.

What's more, the writers managed to make the Red Lotus . . . likable, and surprisingly human.  Their relationships with each other were surprisingly tender and often-times funny (such as . . . all of Ghazan's lines, pretty much -- "Guess he doesn't need a ride!").  The first time we see the four villains together, P'Li and Zaheer kiss, and Ghazan says something like, "Really, guys?  Here?"  And the last scene that P'Li and Zaheer have alone in the finale hints at a backstory filled with tragedy, and love forged therein.  I would have loved to see more scenes like that.  However crazy Zaheer's anarchic goals were, the audience still felt his pain when P'Li went to her death -- and immediately understood that she had been his sole "earthly tether."  These great villains -- and the initial mystery behind their motives -- anchored the entire season.

Character Development . . . Finally

I thought Book 2 did a good job developing its adult characters.  Some of my favorite Book 2 scenes explored the dynamic between Tenzin, Kya, and Bumi.  But in many ways, the New Team Avatar was left behind in the character development department.

In Book 3, the New Team Avatar got moments in the spotlight:

• Mako reconnected with family, and showed maturity in giving Grandma Yin his red scarf.  He also showed his detective skills in figuring out that something was up with Aiwei and deducing that scuff marks in his apartment meant that the bookcase could move.  Oh, and he straight up killed someone.  (Shocking! . . . get it?)
• Bolin continued serving as the series' comic relief -- mostly effectively, although occasionally it felt forced and tonally jarring (e.g., the bird calls in the Finale).  But the show also explored Bolin's insecurities:  (1) first, in his approach to women (although this seems at odds with Book 1 Bolin, who was a confident ladies man), and (2) second, regarding his bending abilities -- which culminated in his discovery that he can lavabend.  He also had a powerfully emotional (if corny) line in "The Ultimatum" about how home is where your family is -- very well delivered by P.J. Byrne.  I wish Bolin had more of those quiet moments.
• Asami revealed that she is actually MacGyver:  she busted out of her restraints on the Cheap-O Cabbage Corp. airship and built a sandsailer out of scrap metal[, a rubber band, and a swiss army knife].  She also got a chance to show how cool and caring she is through her friendship with Korra, which has been really nice to watch.  Asami's ability to move on from the Mako love triangle -- and even bond with Korra over how awkward Mako was acting -- was refreshing to see from a female character.  The show put in the work through the season to build the Asami-Korra relationship, such that the payoff in the finale was big: "I want you to know that I'm here for you.  If you ever want to talk, or anything . . . " 
• Korra got some nice character moments with Tenzin, showing the evolution of their relationship:  she actually sat down to meditate and listened to Tenzin's advice; she later returned the favor by counseling him on training the airbenders.  Otherwise, Korra was largely out of the action this season until the endgame, when she demonstrated her selflessness with her willingness to lay down her life for the fledgling air nation.  But the most interesting part of where they took Korra this season was in the Finale.  First, Korra's hallucinations in the cave while being poisoned were fascinating, and at least attempted to tie Books 1-3 together thematically.  And second, the finale ended not with triumph, but uncertainty . . . and depression.  The show left Korra in a really interesting emotional place, and I can't wait to see where they take her in Book 4.

The show managed to not forget about its adult characters either:

• Tenzin and Bumi got some good brotherly screentime in "The Original Airbenders" -- although I do think Tenzin regressed somewhat from Book 1 Tenzin (i.e., Tenzin already have learned patience from having to teach Korra airbending).  
• Kya and Tonraq got some good fight scenes, though not much else beyond that.  
• And as if Lin Beifong weren't cool enough from Book 1, we got a great sub-plot featuring Lin and her half-sister Su that developed them both (and got us another peek at Adult Toph!), explored the Beifong family history and dynamics, and revealed how Lin got her scars.  

Finally, Jinora.  I love her.  She is awesome.  Her spirit powers are awesome.  She has grown from a little girl into a young woman -- and now an airbending master -- over the course of three books.  Her finale line "We have power together" gave me chills, and the scene where she got her tattoos (and looked like Aang) was incredibly moving.  The show has done a great job exploring her relationship with Tenzin.  Bravo.

Despite Book 3's admirable efforts at developing its characters, though, the Legend of Korra as a series still suffers from having too many characters.  As a result, I doubt the show will ever reach the heights of character development that the original series did because of limited screentime and heightened competition.  (Alas, we'll never get a character arc as epic as Zuko's!)  But Book 3's efforts to give the characters room to grow and interact did not go unnoticed!

Animation and Music

The animation on both Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra has always been top-notch.  But the animation this season was simply off the charts.  The backgrounds were rendered beautifully (e.g., the cityscape of Zaofu).  The bending battles were better -- and more innovative -- than anything we'd seen on the show previously (e.g., Tenzin v. Zaheer, Lin v. Su, that fight in Zaofu when the Red Lotus tried to kidnap Korra).  And the character designs -- particularly of the season's villains -- were unique and memorable.  Paired with Jeremy Zuckerman and TheTrackTeam's amazing soundtrack?  And the show is a visual and aural feast.

Pacing and Plotting

Certain Korra reviewers (::cough:: Doug Walker ::cough::) complained that the pace of Book 3 was too slow, that not enough was happening.  I completely disagree.

The season started beautifully (and fittingly):  with the return of airbenders to the world, and the quest to locate more airbenders.  One Red Lotus member was introduced with each prison escape, and even though they were far away and their motives were unknown, the danger was palpable given their uniquely awesome bending skills and dazzling prison escapes.  We met the unpleasant Earth Queen and discovered that a plot was afoot and that her city was even more socially unequal than before. 

And then, somehow, most of the storylines introduced in the Book got connected together by the end:  the Earth Queen, the return of the airbenders, the Red Lotus, Jinora's tattoo request, even Mako's suspicion of Kai.  Each seemingly disparate plotline dovetailed into the other.

Ultimately, the sloooow reveal of the Red Lotus's purpose and the extent of their menace allowed the characters room to develop, which in turn raised the stakes (and our fear for their safety) when shit finally got real.  In fact, I thought the pacing and plotting in this season was the best of the three Korra books.  Book 1 unfolded at breakneck pace; Book 2 tried to do too much with too little time.  This Book let the tension slowly build while giving the characters time to interact and just be . . . themselves.

Finale

Oddly enough, the finale to this amazing season did not quite hit the same emotional note for me that the Book 2 finale did.  When Korra's connection to the past avatars was destroyed in Book 2: Spirits, I was in tears, and completely emotionally shattered.  And when Korra got into the Tree of Time and connected with Cosmic Korra to the soaring tunes of Jeremy Zuckerman's soundtrack, thus showing how far she'd come in her spiritual journey, I was bawling.

But in Book 3, I felt somewhat distant from the finale.  While I liked the concept they were going for -- that Korra was willing to lay down her life for the fledgling air nation, newly reborn, for the sake of balance in the world -- I didn't buy the whole premise of Korra being forced into a "choice" of either turn herself over or have the air nation destroyed.  (Like, really?  It's only four bad guys.  They are hella scary and really skilled, but really?  It's only four guys.  How many masterful benders are there amongst the good guys?)

I also think Korra's showdown with Superman Zaheer had a very different (and much darker) feel than Aang's showdown with Ozai in the Avatar series finale.  The latter grew out of the work of three seasons of Aang learning each element, and the audience couldn't help but burst with pride at seeing him go.  Korra busting out of her chains was a force of nature -- a combination of pure animalism and survival instinct.  Her fight with Zaheer came out of a place of deep pain and rage, and left her broken.  It was hard to watch, and also hard to connect to that place of darkness. 

That's not to say I have to be moved to tears to enjoy an episode; I did enjoy the finale a lot -- I'm just saying it didn't personally resonate with me and my feels the way Book 2's finale did.  Still, the Book 3 finale was technically brilliant, and extremely well executed:

• The action sequences were hands-down the best that either Avatar or Korra had ever delivered:  Tonraq/Chained Korra v. Zaheer; Korra v. Superman Zaheer somersaulting through the air; Mako vs. Ming-hua and the latter's electrifying end, Bolin v. Ghazan lava on lava, Lin/Su taking down P'Li, and Jinora leading the airbenders in generating that thematically-fitting massive tornado thing.  
• The scene where Korra hallucinated Amon, Unalaq, and Vaatu was deliciously creepy, and an interesting window into Korra's mind. 
• Jinora getting her airbending tattoos to the sound of wind chimes (with Tenzin's narration!) was an incredibly moving and beautiful scene. 
• And the way the season ended with Korra weary and broken emotionally was intriguing and left me wanting Book 4 to arrive already.

Overall 
 
IMHO, between the character growth for Korra and the rest of New Team Avatar, the compelling villains, and the comfortable plotting, Book 3 was the best Korra season to date.  Still not better than ATLA Book 2: Earth or ATLA Book 3: Fire, but . . . up there.  Good job, Bryke.

So . . . when's Book 4 coming out?  And can I stomach watching anything else until then . . . ?

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Series Review

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the first anime I have completed since November 2011, when I finished Naoki Urasawa's Monster -- and not for lack of trying, but because nothing else I watched compared in quality to Monster and, inevitably, my interest would wane.

To be honest, my interest nearly waned with FMA:B as well.  I have neither read the manga nor seen the original 2003 anime.  I also didn't know anything about the show, other than that it is generally highly regarded.  Nevertheless, the first handful of FMA:B episodes did not immediately grab me for 2 main reasons:

• Edward Elric, one of the main protagonists, was -- initially -- the classic hot-tempered, brash hero-brat -- not a character trope I generally enjoy watching.  I found his Napoleonic Height Complex to be both tonally jarring and not funny.  (I continued to find the Napoleon Complex jarring until the end despite very much growing to love Ed's character.) 
• Along those lines, I found the early episodes to be tonally odd.  We'd be going through a serious fight, heavy plotting, or important dialogue, when suddenly the show would interrupt itself with a sight gag -- e.g., Ed's Napoleonic Height Complex, or Major Armstrong's gleaming obsession with his own muscles.  The humor felt . . . "off." 

In fact, a while ago, I started watching the original 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist and dropped the show for similar reasons.

But once I pushed past those initial episodes, I got hooked.  And now that I have rewatched the show again, I am only beginning to appreciate just how masterfully -- and subtly -- the show developed its protagonists and dropped hints everywhere of story lines to come.  

Story

FMA:B is a highly serialized show about the Elric brothers' journey to find a Philosopher's Stone to restore their bodies to normal after an alchemy experiment gone wrong -- and the conspiracy that the brothers uncover along the way.  What I appreciated about the narrative was that the brothers' quest was essentially a personal and selfish one, born of tragedy:  their quest for the Stone stems from a failed attempt to bring their mother back from the dead, which resulted in the loss of Ed's arm and leg and Alfonse's entire body.  The brothers stumbled across (and embarked on) a Save the Nation quest along the way, but their journey was ultimately a personal one of self-discovery and sacrifice.

On the whole, the show was very well paced.  Nearly every episode is critical to the development of the plot.  The plot unfolds slowly but deliberately, and later episodes add layers of meaning to (and change your view of events in) earlier ones.  The show does drag a bit at the end -- nearly an entire season is devoted to the endgame, which means several battles or conversations last way too long.  But overall, FMA:B has a strong story that covers a broad range of themes and develops the characters in interesting and thematically fitting ways.

Animation

The show is beautifully animated, complete with gorgeous backgrounds, well-drawn characters, and fluid action sequences.  The characters could have used some more interesting facial expressions -- too many characters react to emotion with Stereotypical Shaking Limbs or Quaking Eyes.  I also would have preferred if the character designs of the villains weren't so . . . obviously villainous (e.g., Envy's dastardly grin, Kimblee's evil eyes).  But for the most part the show is very pleasant to look at.  

Sound

I found the FMA:B soundtrack to be somewhat . . . lackluster after a while -- not because the music itself was uninteresting, but because there wasn't enough variety.  The themes were good, but suffered from overuse.  Whenever something dramatic happened, we'd hear the same overwrought dramatic choral theme; during action scenes, we'd hear that action theme with the heavy beats, etc. etc.  Having been spoiled by the phenomenal soundtrack in Avatar: the Last Airbender and Legend of Korra, I was a little underwhelmed by the FMA:B music. 

As for the voice acting, I usually watch anime in Japanese dub, but this time, I found myself drawn to the English dub voice actors.  The voice acting for the leads were all excellent, for the most part.  I particularly enjoyed the voices for the Elric brothers, Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, and the Armstrong siblings.  My only complaint was about the kid voices -- Young Ed, Young Al, and especially May Chang -- which sounded too shrill and definitely-a-fake-kid for my tastes.

Characters

The series did a fantastic job developing its two main characters, brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric.  Having watched the entire series twice now, I realize just how far these characters have come over the course of the series.  Edward, in particular, starts out as a selfish, cocky brat who declares in the first episode that he "doesn't care" whether his country's leader does bad things, seems narrowly focused on his and his brother's own problems, and arrogantly believes that alchemy can solve all things.  But throughout the series, Edward learns humility, the limits and horrors of alchemy, and the true meaning of sacrifice.  And by the end, Edward has demonstrated -- repeatedly -- through action that he cares deeply about his countrymen and, indeed, about humanity, and that he is willing to sacrifice everything to protect those he loves.  His is a fantastic character transformation that forms the heart of the show.    

Many of the secondary characters were also well developed.  I enjoyed the way the show handled the relationship between Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye -- one of mutual dependence and great respect, with undertones of a deep love that never physically manifested in the show.  Theirs was a perfect demonstration of showing, not telling, that two characters care deeply for one another, and I wish shows would follow FMA:B's example in that regard (and eschew wild but unearned declarations of love) more often.

The rest of the cast is huge.  While not everyone gets fully developed, there are quite a few interesting characters with their own motivations, philosophies, and quirks. And, for the most part, the show moves deftly between the characters and gives them space to breathe.  Even some of the "villains" -- e.g., Scar, Greed, Envy, Pride -- get character development.  Best of all, there were no Annoying Anime Women.

To be sure, a few of the periphery characters (e.g., the chimeras, the Briggs characters other than Olivier Armstrong, some of Roy Mustang's underlings) could probably have been eliminated to make the show more tightly written.  But overall, FMA:B gets very high marks in my book for how it handled its large cast and, in particular, for how it handled Ed, Al, Mustang, and Hawkeye.

 

Overall

I got off to a slow start with FMA:B, but ultimately enjoyed it a lot (especially the second time around, when I realized just how far the characters had come).  Although I never quite got past the somewhat odd gag humor, I greatly appreciated the character development and the epic, thematically-satisfying story.  I don't intend on watching the 2003 series, but FMA:B is now definitely among my favorite series that I have seen.

The Legend of Korra: Book 2: Spirits Review

Book 2: Spirits aired its season finale tonight.  The fandom now awaits Book 3: Change.  In the meantime, here's my extremely long-winded review of the season.

This season is incredibly difficult for me to judge as a whole.  On the one hand, the latter half of the season produced some of my absolute favorite episodes in the Avatar-verse, and ended on a powerful, emotionally-satisfying (if somewhat head-scratching) high note that left me excited for the possibilities to come.  On the other hand, I think back to my frustrations with the early part of the season, and Book 2's flaws become apparent.

If I had to describe Book 2 in one pithy phrase, it would be: great ideas, poor execution.  

Let's start with the source of the problem:  too much going on with too many people.  Not unlike Game of Thrones, the Legend of Korra is packed with a slate of interesting characters that the viewer wants to get to know and see develop.  Some have "ties" to the Avatar: the Last Airbender Series (e.g., Tenzin's family, Lin Beifong, General Iroh), some are new LOK characters from Book 1 (e.g., Team Avatar 2.0), and some were newly introduced in Book 2 (e.g., Unalaq's family, Korra's parents, Varrick and Zhu Li).  Unfortunately, the writers didn't quite know how to handle all these characters and their disparate moving plotlines, which resulted in poor pacing and, in some cases, unsatisfying character development.

Several problems followed from this that the show just didn't have the air-time to solve.  Chief among them is that:  

Unalaq needed to be a more compelling, balanced villain.  For me, this was biggest of all of Book 2's problems.

The creators had a great idea in fomenting civil war between the two water tribes, and tying the conflict to the larger cosmic conflict between Light and Dark.  Unfortunately, the civil war itself lacked any emotional heft, and became ignored almost as quickly as it began -- largely because it was overshadowed by the parallel cosmic conflict, and because the writers did little, if anything, to develop the Unalaq-Tonraq dynamic.  I think the show could have raised the stakes of the civil war more -- while simultaneously raising the stakes of the cosmic conflict -- by spending more time with Unalaq.  

I would have loved to see Unalaq get serious -- and better -- development as a villain.  He started out incredibly promising:  a religious fanatic with fervent, if misguided intentions to open the spirit portals and bring about a new spiritual age.  Contrast that with brute-force Tonraq, who seemed much more in tune with his muscles than with the spirits.

Unfortunately, the show never moved past that and developed their relationship as brothers -- or their relationship to Korra as a family unit, or even Unalaq's pre-Vaatu-obsession relationship to Desna and Eska.  We never truly got a sense of how the brothers' relationship came to be so strained, or why Unalaq had such sway over Korra at the beginning of Book 2, or why Desna held his father in such high esteem.  Or how Unalaq acquired his spiritual knowledge and became considered as a friend to the spirits (I'm lookin' at you, Wan Shi Tong!).  I wanted to see who Unalaq was before he went down this path, and I wanted to see that he was a person (albeit flawed), with relationships and people he cared about and people who cared about him, and motivations other than to be a giant asshole.   

And it would have been nice if the show had showed Unalaq interacting with the spirits in a positive way (outside the context of him giving spirits Spirit Valium), to bolster Korra's decision in "Light in the Dark" to keep the spirit portals open like Unalaq wanted all along.  I found Book 1's Amon and the Equalists to be fascinating villains precisely because their cause stemmed from a big kernel of truth:  inequality in treatment of non-benders.  Book 2 seemed like it was trying to do that by making Korra decide to keep the portals open, but never justified that decision by showing that Unalaq may have been right about the relationship between spirits and humans.

Anyway, I digress.

Without any historical background for the family relationships, the writer's choice to make Tonraq's banishment a betrayal orchestrated by Unalaq made Unalaq seem irredeemably and cartoonishly evil without any emotional payoff.  We knew we were supposed to feel betrayed, and, indeed, Korra and Tonraq both declared that they felt betrayed, but the viewer did not experience the betrayal at all.  Because at that point we barely knew either Tonraq or Unalaq, and didn't care about either of them. 

Consider, for example, Zuko's choice in "The Crossroads of Destiny" to attack Aang and Katara instead of following the advice of Uncle Iroh in Book 2: Earth of Avatar the Last Airbender.  Now consider that same betrayal without any of the Book 2 Zuko-Iroh buildup.  The viewer would not experience the betrayal in the same powerful way and, instead, Zuko would just be a giant asshole.

Which is, unfortunately, all Unalaq turned out to be:  a giant asshole.  The only history we got about Unalaq is that he betrayed his brother as a power grab, with no explanations of how he became that way, or any shades of gray whatsoever.  And the only scenes we'd get with him during the course of the season would be glimpses of him scheming or being an ass toward his offspring or bribing judges.  I cannot say it enough:  Unalaq should not have been a one dimensional villain.  We already had a heartless Darkness and Chaos Entity to occupy that role:  Vaatu.  More importantly, Unalaq was the Avatar's friggin' FAMILY.  The war, and Unalaq's ultimate demise, should have hit home in a big, emotional way.  And it would have, if the show had taken the time to develop Unalaq, clothe him in some gray (at least in flashbacks to his earlier years, to show he was not always irredeemably bad, or to show that he was, in many ways, right vis-a-vis the spirit world), and giving him a few (or at least one?) redeeming quality. 

What if, instead of Unalaq just being a cackling power-hungry villain that wanted to unleash 10,000 years of darkness, he were a true believer -- i.e., he believed that true balance meant that Raava and Vaatu should both inhabit avatars in the world, and that the civil war with his brother was a necessary means to an end? What if Unalaq really did love his children, and showed that he cared for them?  What if Unalaq and Tonraq started out close as brothers, but a father that constantly showed favoritism eventually drove Unalaq to betray Tonraq, but then he instantly felt bad about it?  What if Unalaq regretted his strained relationship with his brother, and wanted to show him the true spiritual way and make amends?  What if, what if, what if. 

Sadly, this season was too busy with everything else going on to give us a good tragic real human villain.  That, in turn, sapped all of the emotional heft out of the civil war -- and almost all of the emotional heft in the final cosmic kaiju fight between UnaVaatu and Korrazilla. 

---

So what was the rest of the season too busy doing?

We did get some great subplots with Tenzin and his siblings (and his family) that focused not on plot, but on character development, and the relationship between the characters.  As a result of that time well spent, the Tenzin story arc (and, to a lesser extent, Jinora's) had big payoff toward the end of the season.

But we also got various subplots with only minor payoff:  

(1)  Bolin/Eska Romance Plot -- Bolin was long overdue for character development.  The Bolin/Eska subplot, though, was not the right vehicle.  Indeed, it added nothing to Bolin's character -- and even detracted from it, I would argue.  What happened to the confident, ladies-man Bolin that strode up to Korra in Book 1, and whom the probending fangirls squealed over?  What happened to the likeable, wonderful Bolin that Korra went out on an accidental date with?  Bolin was dumbed down this season -- too much so -- so that he could be rebuilt in the Movers storyline (which, to be fair, did turn out awesome in "Night of A Thousand Stars").  But as far as Eska goes, I can't think of a single thing it brought to Bolin as a character.  Rather, Eska appeared to be largely as a way for Aubrey Plaza (who I love, don't get me wrong) to deliver some [admittedly] hilarious and quotable one-liners.  I love hilarious one-liners, but I love character development more.  

(2) Eska/Desna, period -- I really enjoyed watching the twins be creepy and participate in cool water-bending fights.  And, as I said, I enjoyed many of Eska's lines.  ("Let's face the end of the world together!"  "You're so romantic!")  But I can't say that the Twins' presence in the show added anything -- at least not in their current form.  I could see keeping them if Bolin/Eska had actually done something for Bolin's character, or if Desna's worship of his father had been developed more such that Desna could be a way to humanize Unalaq as a villain -- in other words, if the Twins were devices to develop other characters. 

The younger airbender kids are a great example of this kind of device.  Recall the episode(s?) where Tenzin spent time lemur-training Meelo, and having tea with Ikki and the baby sky bison (I wish I could remember their names!).  Those scenes were not about developing the airbender kids as characters.  Ikki and Meelo, much as I love them, are minor characters in this huge cast.  And while they are awesome, they were serving as sounding boards to develop Tenzin.  

In sum, Eska/Desna were never meant to be major characters who'd get their own story arcs. They did nothing (at least for me) but add to the already overcrowded cast of characters that needed screen time without developing anyone else through their interactions/relationships with them.  In other words, they occupied valuable screen time that could have been used elsewhere -- i.e., they were essentially dead weight.

(3) Varrick / Detective Mako / Asami Gets the Shaft / Lin Beifong Takes a Stupid Pill -- I feel conflicted about this subplot, because I liked it in so many ways.  

a) I mean, Varrick was a great villain -- because he made you want to like him (see?  That's what Unalaq needed, in a way!).  He and Zhu Li were just hilarious.  Even though their villainy was not particularly villainous, that was part of the charm.  No cosmic battle between light and dark here -- just pure greed and capitalism. 

b) Mako sorely needed some non-Korra-related character development given how Book 1 went.  So the Detective Mako part of this subplot, where he uncovers Varrick's dastardly plot, was appreciated -- or at least the effort was appreciated.  Though query whether him hiring the Triple Threats in "The Sting" made any sense at all -- you know, him being a cop and all (it didn't).  Still, anything to develop Mako as a character is a good thing.

Buuuuuut unfortunately this subplot also made Lin Beifong -- such a great character in Book 1 -- take a stupid pill.  It also made Asami the stepping stool of Avatar-verse.  Poor girl just can't catch a break.  

I guess a) and b) outweigh the negatives and make this subplot a net positive for the season.  Though . . . this subplot also ended rather anticlimactically in "Night of a Thousand Stars."  So I was excited again when Zhu Li "d[id] the thing" and the Business-Bending Duo sailed off into freedom.  (Perhaps there will be more capitalism-villainy in Books 3 or 4!  Yes, please.) 

Alternatively, perhaps this Varrick subplot would have made a better Book 2 main plot -- to give us time to get to know all of these characters -- and the civil war & Raava/Vaatu battle should have been deferred until the next book.   But who knows.  I don't know what Books 3 or 4 have in store.  What I do know is that cramming a bazillion characters and a bazillion storylines into this one season was highly problematic.  The writers needed to cut, cut, cut and focus on making people the audience cares about (including the villain). 

____

Well, so far I've just been ragging on Book 2 (whining almost as much as Korra, ba-dum-ching!).  Why isn't it the worst of the 5 Avatar-verse books so far, then?  Because there was stuff to love in Book 2 as well.

First off, the second half of Book 2 had some amazing episodes.  I have already gushed at length about "Beginnings."  That two-parter about the first Avatar single-handedly rejuvenated my interest in Legend of Korra, right when the gripes above were really starting to weigh on me.  It is currently among my top 3 favorite Avatar-verse episodes ever.  

Also up there in my favorites is "A New Spiritual Age," the episode in which Korra and Jinora venture into the spirit world (and come across some familiar faces!).  That episode was visually stunning, and symbolically powerful in how it handled Korra's complete immaturity when it comes to spiritual matters.  The writers made a brilliant choice in manifesting that immaturity in the form of Baby Korra (I still love "I'm the Avatar!  You gotta DEAL with it!"  One of the best character intros this show has done).  This episode softened the edges around Korra, who, like the rest of Team Avatar 2.0, seriously needed character development.  And here, the show delivered!  

I confess to being a detractor of Korra's earlier in the season.  Where is her character development, I kept asking?  Well, second half of Book 2.  That's where.  (But then again, this is another serious pacing issue -- the audience should not hate its main character through nearly 2 entire seasons...)  

In truth, the second half of Book 2, from "Beginnings" onward, really just blew me away.  I felt so many feels, and bent so many tears.  And what capped it off, in my opinion, was a really powerful season finale.


In particular, though many other fans hated it, I, for one, loved (while being simultaneously crushed by) the storytelling choice to destroy Raava and Korra's connections to her past lives -- and NOT to restore the connection after Korra rejoined with Raava. Here's why:

1) Consequences. Losing the connection permanently lent an appropriate amount of gravitas to what happened. She lost a big fight to Vaatu (at first, anyway) and had the light spirit ripped out of her and destroyed. It would have felt somewhat . . . cheap (for lack of a better word) for that to have no consequences. The lack of consequences is why I didn't particularly care for the end of Book 1, when Aang magically restored Korra's bending.  Not because of the Aang ex Machina -- I didn't mind deus ex machinas so much -- but because with no long-lasting consequences, the stakes that the writers had ratcheted up all season felt all of a sudden deflated. So too, here.

2) Book 2 has been trying to wrestle with the power (and burden) of legacy. Making Korra (and Tenzin, I might add) find her own way forward is thematically powerful, even if it breaks from a part of the show that we all love. Yes, in the ATLA mythos, the avatar state was so powerful, in part, because of access to all the past lives. But part of the beauty of "Beginnings" was that we found out Wan was just an ordinary guy who made an epic mistake -- and spent the rest of his life trying to make up for it. He defeated Vaatu and locked him away without reliance on the knowledge of any past lives.  I still have no idea what exactly happened with Korra in the Tree of Time and how she managed to turn her spirit into a Big Blue Kaiju, but thematically, it fit in perfectly with Korra's (and Tenzin's, as her guide) development this season.  She has spent the whole season being told how the avatar should be acting -- from Tenzin to the little water tribe girl [and many fans/critics...] yelling "You're the worst avatar ever!" to Unalaq instructing her on how the avatar shouldn't be taking sides in a civil war. That she could scrappily fight her way to victory without her connection to the past avatars just felt . . . right (to me). So, for me, having Korra have to figure out how to bring balance in a new spiritual age blindly -- without the guidance of past avatars also feels . . . thematically right.

To be sure, I don't think I would mind if somewhere down the line, Korra somehow fought her way back to a connection to the past avatars. (So long as it wasn't easy.) But I would personally be okay -- if extremely sad -- if that connection were never restored, for the reasons explained above.


The finale has its detractors, of course (just as I was a detractor of Book 1's season finale).  Many complained about the Jinora Ex Machina.  I have no idea what Jinora did, or how, but I believe it given her demonstrated natural connection with the spirits.  I just wish there had been a little more setup earlier in the season for her connection with the spirits, or a little more explanation as to what happened.  Others didn't like the Big Kaiju fight.  But the Kaiju fight was no weirder than Aang turning into the giant Ocean Spirit Monster at the ending of Book 1: Water in ATLA. What this Big Kaiju fight lacked was emotional heft -- which circles back to the Unalaq Needed To Be A Better Villain problem discussed above. 

But ultimately, the finale hit home for me because Korra and Tenzin's story arcs completed in a satisfying way for their characters.  As a result, the season half of this season kind of redeemed a weaker first.

Overall: an uneven, poorly paced season, but a wham-pow ending.

For future reference

These guys had interesting things to say about "Beginnings."  Am posting this so I can circle back in the future for future episodes.

http://jmemusings.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-legend-of-korra-beginnings-review.html

http://www.jimchines.com/2013/10/legend-of-korra-beginnings-parts-12/

Legend of Korra: Beginnings (Book 2 Episodes 7 & 8)

I don't usually do episode-by-episode reviews of my shows (to the extent I write reviews at all anymore).  And I have not been the biggest fan of Legend of Korra Book 2. But "Beginnings," the two-part episode from Book 2 of Legend of Korra about the origin of the Avatar, was just so amazing that I felt compelled to write about my love for it.  It single-handedly revived my interest in the show.  As my friend Reshad said, we fans have been craving this episode without knowing that we have been craving it.

A few things that have helped propel "Beginnings" [already] to the top of my favorite episodes of all time (from either Avatar: The Last Airbender or Legend of Korra):

(1) The story:  I loved that the Avatar was essentially born of human imperfection, and that the Avatar cycle is basically an eternal attempt at atonement.  Many hero stories stem from some sort of prophesy, where the hero is the "chosen one" who has to save humanity.  Here, Wan started out as just a regular guy -- a human that made a mistake of epic proportions by separating Raava and Vaatu.  He and Raava then developed this beautiful friendship/symbiosis in an attempt to right that wrong and bring balance to the world, ultimately bonding together to become the Avatar.  And though the Avatar locked Vaatu away during the Harmonic Convergence, he ultimately failed to bring peace to the world.  He failed, but his spirit continues onward, trying in each reincarnated lifetime to bring balance to the world.  That final scene with Wan dying on the battlefield has brought me to tears each time I've seen the episode (which, by now, is many times...).  It is beautiful.  It is poignant.  It is phenomenal storytelling.

(2) The art:  The ukiyo-e painting-inspired animation style was absolutely gorgeous.  The colors, the backgrounds, the character and spirit animation, the stylized bending . . . everything was amazingly beautiful.  The animation in that final battle between Wan and Vaatu gives me chills every time. 

(3) The music:  Oh gods, the music.  The callbacks to the A:TLA themes.  The EPIC-ness of it all. The FEELS.

(4) The mythos:  The Avatar universe has always captured my imagination.  "Beginnings" really just adds to it.  It explains Lion Turtles.  It explains how people got the ability to bend.  It explains how people learned to bend as an extension of themselves from the original benders.  (I've seen a lot of fans ask how the Lion Turtle mythos can be reconciled with what we learned in A:TLA -- that bending was acquired from the moon/dragons/bison/badger moles.  To me, "Beginnings" reconciled it perfectly:  Wan got the ability to toss fire from the Lion Turtle, but learned how to bend from the dragon.  Though . . . query how other people got bending after the Lion Turtles stopped giving it out . . . Whatever.)  It explains the spirit world and its separation from the material world and why the Avatar is the bridge between the two worlds.  It explains where the Avatar came from.  "Beginnings" added incredible richness to that Avatar universe fabric.

In sum, "Beginnings" was awesome.  I'm not sure yet that it's my absolute favorite of all time, but it is up there with "Avatar and the Firelord" and "Zuko Alone" and all the best episodes from A:TLA, for sure. 

Raging

I usually go to Xanga to rage, but when I logged in tonight to rage, it appeared that free Xanga is defunct.  You basically have to pay to continue blogging there.  What is more, the data from one of my accounts is all gone (thankfully, the data from 2 others was archived, and I downloaded it, though it's not in any reader-friendly format -- XML) [yes, I had 3 Xanga accounts -- don't judge me -- I was in high school and angst-y]. 

I'm kind of pissed about losing the 3rd account.  It's not like my memories from high school are, in the grand scheme of things, all that important.  I've moved on from that period of my life.  And I still have journal entries and main-Xanga-blog entries from that time period.  But that 3rd site was where I really went to rage -- when I was really hurt, when I had private thoughts about wanting to do bad things to myself.  Not a happy period of life, but also one that I kind of wanted at least an opportunity to archive/save somewhere. 

But Xanga didn't even bother notifying its users that it was "going 2.0" and migrating only certain users' data.  Sure, only the active users got migrated, and I guess that 3rd account hadn't been active for a long time.  How hard would it have been to send an email?  I probably wouldn't have gotten it anyway, since I have no idea what email address is associated with the account.  But the fact that they didn't even try . . . MAKES ME WANT TO RAGE.

And now I'm raging about losing angst-y (and, in many cases, sad) high school memories instead of raging about work. 

I guess I'll have to rage here from now on.  RAGE.  RAGE.  RAGE!!!

Avatarding It Up

XY is away on a business trip for 4 days, which means I've been left to my own devices.  And we all know that being left to my own devices = BAD NEWS.   

Thankfully, I have -- and always will have -- Avatar: the Last Airbender.  I have been rewatching the series to follow along with Doug Walker's vlogs.

Unfortunately, he's going too damn slowly (read: I'm too damn impatient to wait like a normal adult).  Today, I hit Season 2, which of course is the best stretch of the show, and I blew through 10 episodes lickety-split.  Meanwhile, Doug Walker is taking his sweet time and his last review is still S02E01 ("The Avatar State").

Luckily, to fill that void in my life, I discovered today this blog of thoughtful Avatar reviews.  I don't have the luxury of blowing through them all anymore like I blew through Mark Watches Avatar in a bleary-eyed 10-hour whirlwind.  But hopefully this Marshall Turner fellow can help fulfill my as-yet-unexplained psychological need to fill my 28-year-old head with reviews of a children's TV show.

In other news, XX's Anime Reviews have still not restarted after screeching to a halt after the series "Monster," which was so good that it completely killed my desire to ever watch another anime that wasn't as good again.  I have heard good things about Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood and am considering giving that another try...

Friday Night Lights: Series Review

Friday Night Lights is a show about football.  Except that it isn't at all.  It's a show about characters, and small-town Texas, and community, and relationships, and life, and it's one helluva good show.  It's a show that makes you love football because you see how much this town and these people love football.  It's a show that makes you feel and smile and cry because of how powerful the emotions are.  It's a show that makes you wish every marriage were like that of Coach Eric Taylor and Tami Taylor.  It's about the power of sports and good mentors to change kids' lives.  It's about MOLDERS OF MEN.

I have only two complaints about the show: (1) that the young student characters in the later East Dillon seasons were, for the most part, not as compelling as those in the earlier seasons; and (2) the show sometimes lost strands of continuity (e.g., what happened to Waverley? Where did Santiago go?  [Santiago may be forgiven because S2 never ended due to the writers' strike, but... there is no excuse for Waverley.]  What ever happened to Tami working on Mayor Rodell's campaign?)

Otherwise, I really loved FNL.  Clear eyes, full hearts, CAN'T LOSE.

The Legend of Korra: Book 1: Air Review

Anyone who knows me knows that Avatar: The Last Airbender is my favorite show of all time, animated or otherwise. So needless to say, I had high expectations for The Legend of Korra, the next chapter in the Avatar universe -- one might even say my expectations were impossibly high.

Overall, I thought the first season of The Legend of Korra was good, but also unevenly paced. This show was better than the original series in more ways than one. And of course I loved the myriad connections between Korra's generation and Aang's. But the original series had also set a ridiculously high standard in terms of storytelling and character development. And in this department, as well as pacing, TLoK did not equal its predecessor -- though I fully recognize the inherent unfairness of comparing a one-season 12-episode intended-to-be-miniseries inaugural season to a 3-season, 61-episode full series.



STORY

TLoK's premise is both intriguing and sophisticated: Korra, the new Avatar after Aang of the original series, travels to Republic City to learn airbending and finds that inequality between benders and non-benders has fomented an urban revolution led by the mysterious masked figure Amon and the Equalists, whose goal is to rid the world of what they see as the oppressive bending establishment. The idea is fascinating in that good and bad are cloaked in gray -- at least initially. Early on, the show makes an effort to demonstrate that non-benders do, indeed, get the shaft and that there may be a legitimate reason for discontent. In doing so, the show tapped into timely Occupy-esque themes of social inequality.

With such an interesting, mature, and potentially nuanced premise, I was bitterly disappointed in the road that the writers ultimately took in resolving the story. In contrast to A:TLA, which moved from black/white Firebenders = Evil in Book One to a more nuanced view of the world by Book Three, this show seemed to do the opposite and move from shades of gray to black/white Equalists = Terrorists as it progressed.

But I did love that the show's premise tied neatly into the theme of tradition versus modernity, both through the updated urban setting (and attendant hints of income inequality: corporations vs. hobos in the park) and through the use of technology as an equalizer. I also enjoyed that the main story plot tied thematically into the inner journey that Korra had to take to connect with a more mystical, spiritual existence.

Unfortunately, the season one finale left much to be desired in the resolution of those interconnected themes. Much of the problem stemmed from problematic pacing: the breathless final two episodes felt too crammed to allow the story to breathe and come to a logical conclusion. Perhaps season two will address this, but considering that season one was meant to be a standalone miniseries, I would have expected Korra to actually bring balance to Republic City by season's end (you know, because she's the AVATAR) -- at least with respect to the bender v. non-bender issue.  But the way that the writers ended the season did not address at all the underlying concerns of the Equalists.  I'll note my more specific spoilery gripes in the "Spoilery Stuff" section below.

CHARACTERS

The original series took character development to incredible heights. TLoK visibly showed the constraints of its 12-episode miniseries format. There simply wasn't time for everyone to get his or her moment. Character development took a noticeable back seat to plot, which decreased my own personal enjoyment of the show.

That's not to say there was no character development at all. The show took the most time to develop Korra herself, if not entirely successfully: the episodes exploring Korra's fears, vulnerabilities, and insecurities as the avatar were much welcomed. She was also shown to be caring (one of my favorite Korra character moments may have been when she told Mako that Asami needed him) and willing to admit her mistakes (owning up to her misconceptions about Asami). I enjoyed her efforts to meditate and connect with the spirit world, as well as the ingenuity she showed both when fighting and when captured, which demonstrated that Korra is capable of more than her default fight-first physical mindset. But her behavior in the season one finale seemed to backtrack on some of the progress she'd made in being patient and opening herself to the spirit world and ultimately took some satisfaction out of the journey Korra had embarked on as a character.

That said, Korra's relationship with Tenzin was very Buffy-Giles and was one of the highlights of the show. ... As was everything to do with Lin Beifong (aka the definition of kickass), who developed from an uncompromising hardass to a self-sacrificing heroine with a heart of gold.

Many of the side characters were enjoyable in their own right, even without much development, so to speak. Bolin and Tenzin's children were an endless fount of amusement in an otherwise fairly dark cartoon. I would have appreciated if Bolin had developed into something more than comedic relief, much as Sokka did in the original series, but I acknowledge that the writers had a lot of plot to get through and a big slate of characters.

But other characters were too under-developed relative to the side stories that they had to support: namely, Asami (to a lesser extent) and Mako (the biggest thorn in TLoK's side, in my opinion). I loved Mako when he was first introduced: devoted to family, tragic backstory, tough exterior, and gorgeous to boot. But after those quick character traits were established early on, Mako never developed beyond that.  He never did anything outside of demonstrating formidable fighting skill to further flesh out who he was as a person. Similarly, Asami was a fascinating character that broke tropes in interesting ways, but her story also felt like it needed more fleshing out. Both characters had side plot arcs that rested on their shoulders, which is why I felt the need for character development more acutely than with, for example, Bolin.

Thus, although both characters impressed me and piqued my interest in many ways, each was also the perpetrator of some Unearned Character Moments: moments that would have had major payoff had more work been put in up front to develop the character, but ultimately felt like forced drama. I noticed this especially as the show raced toward its rushed ending, where the relative lack of substance behind these two characters became glaring, especially in Mako's case.

ANIMATION

The animation in this show was simply beautiful -- superior to the original. It's clear that the art team had improved on its craft. With the possible exception of "six-fingered Toph," the show's animation was a sight to behold. The backgrounds, the MMA-inspired action scenes, everything. The show was darker -- both tonally and in terms of color -- than its predecessor, but nonetheless gorgeous. I know some fans had issues with it, but I loved the new '20s-inspired steampunk urban backgrounds. A lot of sweat and tears went into animating this show, and the payoff was enormous.



MUSIC

The creators of the show brought back the Track Team that did the soundtrack for the original series, and they certainly lived up to the task of creating beautiful new East-inspired/Jazz-influenced music for Korra. Music, again, played a huge part in my enjoyment of this show, from the first time Korra's theme played when she and her polar bear dog, Naga, galloped across the snowy plain, to the contrasting traditional and jazz themes when Korra took her first stab at the swinging air gates, to the quiet music that played during an emotional scene with Lin Beifong. I also appreciated the musical callbacks to the original series, which underscores of course what an amazing soundtrack that series had as well.

OVERALL

As I said, overall TLoK was a good show, and I really enjoyed it (nay, obsessed about it every week). It was darker and more mature than its predecessor, while still retaining much of the humor and whimsy that I loved about the original show. It wrestled with interesting themes and pushed the boundaries of children's television. The animation surpassed that of the original series, and the music certainly held its own. There was much to like about the new series, including the new avatar.

But where TLoK felt wanting was in its storytelling and character building. The 12-episode miniseries format contributed in large part to the uneven pacing and lack of character development, which is understandable. Yet ultimately that was my one major gripe with what was otherwise a worthy successor to A:TLA.  Of course, this was only the first season, and as a first season, it is equal to (and possibly better than) Book One of A:TLA.

** SPOILERY LOVES and GRIPES BELOW ** SPOILERS BEWARE **

Now I'll just mention some VERY SPOILERY loves and gripes:

LOVES

1) Asami upended TV tropes by: not being the bad guy, and not bitchfighting with Korra over a boy

2) The announced-style opening recaps for each episode

3) Callbacks to the old show: trolling the fans with Zuko's mom; Cabbage Corp.; statues of Aang, Zuko, and Toph; GENERAL IROH

4) Tenzin's voice actor, J.K. Simmons!

5) Tenzin's entire family, but minus the fartbending, which was a bit juvenile for the darker tone of the show

6) Probending

7) Just as Roku's actions had repercussions on Aang, events in Aang's life had repercussions on Korra.

GRIPES

1) Both the chi-blockers and the mecha tanks suffered from what I call "Turok-Han" problems (a la Buffy the Vampire Slayer): the first one our heroes faced was really, really tough and seemingly impossible to defeat. The later ones got easier and flimsier and went down without much improvement on the protagonists' end.

2) Occasionally really bad dialogue: e.g., "Stay away from my dad's ex-girlfriend." "You're the most brave, loyal, and selfless person I've ever known." "You really are a horrible father."

3) Just a visual gripe, but Korra's connections with Aang were not animated as they were in A:TLA (with the deceased Avatar being in spirit-like glowy blue).

4) In contrast to when she meditated to connect with Aang when locked away in Tarrlok's box, the way Korra connected with Aang in the finale -- hitting her lowest point? -- did not make thematic sense. If Korra's block -- both in airbending and in communicating with previous avatars -- was her own lack of spirituality, what did her crying about losing her bending (and arguably contemplating suicide, according to some fan interpretations) have to do with removing those mental obstacles? It seemed like a step back for Korra as a character. Korra's journey this season was an internal one, about moving past the physical aspect of bending and learning how to connect with her spiritual side. It would have fit in with her journey and with the themes of the show, had the writers framed the restoration of her bending as Korra realizing that she was the AVATAR -- realizing that the past avatars would always be a part of her, that she would always be a bender of all four elements, spiritually speaking, regardless of whether she was physically able to bend all four elements. Instead, the writers made it look like Aang only appeared because she was in complete despair because she thought she was nothing without her bending. Rather than character growth, we kind of got a step backward. It just didn't fit with the internal journey that Korra had embarked on as a character. And while I was as happy as the next fangirl to see Korra finally go into the avatar state, it felt unearned because of that step backwards. A lost opportunity, in my opinion.

5) Korra was shown to be learning to be more patient throughout the show. Indeed, Tenzin recognized this in Korra before he fled on Oogi with his family. But then in the finale, she decided willy nilly -- because the finale/end was at hand -- that it was "time" to face Amon because her "gut" was telling her it was time to end it. Nothing really indicated that it was a good time to strike from a strategic standpoint, so it really made it seem like she was just becoming impatient again.

6) Tarrlok and Amon's backstory, and the resolution of that whole relationship, was too rushed. It was not clear to me what Amon's motivations for the Equalist movement were: was is that he sought power, and recognized that the power to remove a person's bending was the ultimate power? Was it that he viewed bending as the source of his miserable childhood at the hands of Yakone? What happened between his running away and his taking on the mantle of Amon? How did he use bloodbending to take away bending? Everything just felt a little too rushed: from Tarrlok's under-explained redemption (he seemed so contrite after being batshit crazy an episode or two before) to Amon's apology to and boat escape with lil' bro' Tarrlok. The boat scene itself was a beautiful ending, but I wish there had been one more episode to let the Big Reveal of Amon's identity sink in and play out.

7) The finale left unresolved the inequality at the root of the Equalist revolution. The movement was too easily upended by the unmasking of their bender leader: I had perceived the movement as more grassroots-based. The show had gone through all this trouble of showing that the Equalists had legitimate complaints about benders, and then did not resolve any of the inequality. Although Equalists like the Lieutenant were right to feel betrayed, it seemed unrealistic that showing Amon to be a liar would a) quell the revolution and, more importantly, b) restore any semblance of balance to the world. Perhaps this will be addressed in the second season of LoK, but it didn't seem like Korra brought balance -- she just cut the head off the chicken.

8) MAKORRA. Talk about unearned character moments. I liked the two together in the beginning: their initial physical attraction showed instant chemistry, and their self-denial had classic "will-they-won't-they" potential. They clearly had crushes on each other, which deepened into something slightly more substantive when Korra helped Mako rescue Bolin. But after Mako took his Asami detour, the show never again established anything between Mako and Korra beyond that initial physical attraction. There was nothing to substantiate why Mako all of a sudden "loved" Korra after her life was put in danger, and *especially* vice versa. As a result, the "I realized I love you, Korra" and "I love you, too" exchange in the finale felt both forced and completely unearned.

I know some fans felt that the relationship between Aang and Katara was similarly forced at the end of A:TLA, came out of nowhere, and that some thought Katara should have hooked up with Zuko. I can see what some would say there was not "chemistry" between Aang and Katara, but those two characters had been through an incredible journey together, had grown together as warriors and as people. Their stories were completely intertwined, and they knew and understood so much about one another. In other words, they were great friends. Their relationship was forged gradually through many episodes, many character moments, and much development. The emotional base of that relationship was there, even if the physical may not have been apparent.

By contrast, "Makorra" had all the markings of an empty teenage fling: main character falls for hot brooding guy, who starts dating the gorgeous cheerleader, and then realizes he wants the girl next door. Mako and Korra lacked that same emotional/substantive/historical base that Aang and Katara shared. This was all right at the beginning of the series, but at the series end, the forced relationship really brought the quality of the show down a notch.

MY HOPES FOR SEASON TWO:

1) Asami takes Korra to task and makes her realize that even though the violent methods the Equalists employed were wrong, the inequalities that drove the Equalist movement were real and are still present.  Korra realizes that balance still needs to be restored to the world.  Korra reforms Republic City government to include non-bender representation.

2) Bolin gets his own story arc.

3) Mako gets more character development that doesn't include romance.

4) Korra connects with Aang again -- on her own terms.