The Legend of Korra

Nickelodeon was my bread and butter growing up... I watched Rugrats, Doug, and a ton of imported Japanese dubbed anime-type cartoons-- The Little Prince, and one involving a family of friendly Koala aliens who lived in a tree. can't remember the name of that one!

But nowadays I don't watch cartoons anymore, mostly because every time I do I get through 10 seconds and get pissed at the horrible quality animation and stupid storylines. However, there is hope! I read a review recently in Wired magazine on The Legend of Korra, the sequel to the Airbender series, and decided to give it a go.

It's a pretty new series, and I think they're just about to end the first season. The Airbender world is one where some people are normal, and others are gifted with the skills to "bend," or manipulate one of the elements of nature, either fire, water, earth, or air. The avatar is a super special bender who can control all those elements, and there is just one.

I never watched the original Airbender, but I'm pretty hooked on Korra so far. The animation is top notch, similar to Miyazaki style, the story is pretty complex, and the characters are also given some depth as well. What makes it good is the little bits of comedic timing that make you laugh to yourself as you watch. Also, it helps that you do care about the protagonist (Korra) and her friends, and want to see what happens in the story.

There's a sort of reverse X-Men thing going on where the capital city is run by benders, but non-benders are oppressed by mob boss benders who misuse their powers, and a revolution is a-coming. The main players are the bender government who want to keep peace and status quo, the "normal" revolutionaries who have been oppressed and use extremist tactics, and Korra the avatar. I like that no one is completely good or evil-- you can somewhat sympathize with the villain (his face was burned off as a child by a fire bender. owchie).

Looking forward to seeing what happens next!