Forum - View topicAvatar: The Legend of Korra.
|
Goto page Next |
| Author | Message | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sea Lion
 Posts: 307 |
|
|||||||||
|
While not exactly anime, Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino, creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender have announced at the Wall Street Journal that they're making a follow-up tentatively titled The Legend of Korra.
I'm not giving away anything that's not in the article, but the new series will be set 70 years in the future from the end of ATLA and deal with the new Avatar, Korra, who looks to be from the Water Tribe. She'll learn airbending from Aang's son, Tenzin. So, what say you about it? I'm game for another Avatar series as long as it's as good as the first. Also, it's probably the only anime-type show you'll see made by Americans for Americans any time soon. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
|
|||||||||
|
"Next Generation" shows are usually never as good as the first. I don't think this new Avatar show will be in the quality minority, but you never know. Certainly I'm interested, but I'll wait for the fan reaction before actively getting my hopes up.
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
KanjiiZ
 Posts: 661 Location: Central Coast |
|
|||||||||
Does that not sound like every shonen show minus the girl? Honestly, Avatar is no different from an incredibly genric anime show. I don't know why people went so crazy for the show. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Veoryn87
 Posts: 808 |
|
|||||||||
|
The one thing I fear about the plot is that it sounds like every super hero cartoon/comic that's ever come out. Someone with super powers fights crime in a city (Spider-man, Spider-man, friendly neighborhood Spider-man!). But I guess "there's nothing new under the sun." The original series wasn't exactly novel either, but it was executed well. Hopefully they can do the same for this.
Call me young but I actually thought Star Trek: The Next Generation, was more enjoyable than the first. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
maxima423
 Posts: 68 |
|
|||||||||
well you probably have been watching anime for a long time, but for the up and coming generation, Avatar could of been the first they have seen, and not everyone watches anime in the US also, so cartoons is what they tend to watch, that is probably one reason Avatar became such a hit |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Penguin_Factory
 Posts: 732 Location: Ireland |
|
|||||||||
|
I could not possibly be more excited for this. The new setting is exactly what I wanted out of sequel.
I hate most shounen shows but I love Avatar. A few reasons: - It's not structured around battles. Apart from Aang's eventual goal of defeating Lord Ozai, combat between characters is treated realistically, ie they see each other, briefly try to kill each other and then get on with other things. You don't have this massive drawn out spectacle where Protagonist A vs Antogonist K is the focal point of an entire plot arc. - The conflict feels like a real conflict. You get the impression that the war between the Fire nation and the rest is an actual war involving thousands of people on each side. In shounen anime conflicts, everything inevitably boils down to a handful of super-powered demigods butting heads. In Avatar that only happens at the finale. - The fights are real fights. By which I mean the characters have no special attacks, so the elemental bending is treated like a martial art, with combatents stringing together a relatively small number of basic moves at the right time to win, rather than simply charging up a succession of increasingly more ludicrous insta-win techniques. It involves much more strategy and creativity. Now, don't get me wrong. Is Avatar any "deeper" or more mature than your typical shounen brawl-fest? Hell no. Almost any big shounen title is darker and more complex. I just think it has them beaten in terms of characterisation and writing. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
DuelLadyS
 Posts: 1705 Location: WA state |
|
|||||||||
I imagine for the same reason they go crazy for generic shonen action shows. It's fun. It's also an American TV cartoon with a defined narrative and ending point- that's honestly pretty rare for US cartoons. It's rare for generic shonen shows, too, now that I think about it... |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
LeanGreen
 Posts: 323 Location: New England |
|
|||||||||
Yeah, my little cousins loved the original Avatar: The Last Airbender because it was the first show they watched that really dealt with some big themes (spoiler[as in a serious war, characters dying, etc]), an ongoing storyline, and it didn't insult their intelligence. It is radically different from the other American shows coming out about now and they really loved the different, more mature approach. I'm sure they will be very excited with this news. Of course I'm excited too. I eagerly await the appearance of future Toph. It looks like the main conflict will have something to do with the unhappiness of the general public with the benders' powers. It seems a little too obvious an allegory for racism and discrimination, but I bet they can pull it off. I'm also hoping for a more interesting love interest for the main character. I was not too big a fan of Katara. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
TatsuGero23
 Posts: 1277 Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!) |
|
|||||||||
|
Like LeanGreen and DuelLadyS point out, it's a rare product of the US cartoon series, that it had fairly grand narrative and took itself seriously it the world it developed. Premises wise, yeah its fairly generic with the "youth destined to save a world/nation/whatever with his band of friends". But execution is often what saves or kills a series and Avatar was very well done. Not to mention it was good enough to make it to its intended ending. Few series with narratives in the US make it to the end.
It took a while to develop its joke deliveries but the series was well written, a detailed world and with its defined set of rules, and good animation and attention to detail. Probably the only down side was that he was still a little bit limited to being a kids series so jokes had to find their pacing (something that makes the kids laugh but like LeanGreen points out, doesn't insult their intelligence), and the intensity of its potential action probably had to be held back compared to what you would be use to in the average Shonen series. But working within its broadcasting restrictions and genre expectation, it was a very well done show. Especially for the US. I enjoyed the series overall. Especially once you get into the later half of the first volume when the show starts to find its groove. I look forward to the new series. Avatar Z baby. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Divineking
 Posts: 1293 |
|
|||||||||
|
Avatar is proabaly the best thing Nick produced in terms of animation since Rugrats and The Fairly Odd Parents honestly(Spongebob should be condemmed to the lowest level of hell). As a a series, it just executed itself really well. Even though I was only 11 or 12 when it first came out, I was like the rest of you, expecting it to be generic good vs bad, awesome power propoganda, However from the first episode I could tell right away they were going for something more. The episodic adventures of Season 1 though annoying at times, really allowed the viewer to get the feel that it IS a war-torn world in the series, and everyone has their issues with it. I honestly preferred the much larger step in narrative, taken in Books 2 and 3 though as they didn't beat around the bush with new characters and storyline development, and they incorporated twist that actually felt like plot twists(I don't think anyone expected Book 2 to end the way it did).
Now as for this new series, I'm pretty excited, Yes the storyline doesn't seem like anything new, but neither did the initial outline for the first series. I am going to enter it with slightly higher expectations than I did with the first because I now know the creators can indeed write a good story, but I don't expect to be blown away by the first 2 minutes of the thing. I am looking forward to new characters though...especially Aang's son... |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
dachou..?
 Posts: 5 |
|
|||||||||
|
I can't think of any way they can make it any different from what they have already done but just have to wait and see.
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
the Rancorous
 Posts: 2248 Location: Hunting the Dragon in Gransys |
|
|||||||||
To further this point, the Avatar creators actually got a Kung Fu master to come in and perform real Kung Fu moves for the animators to draw from. Each of the different nations' fighters fighting style is based on an actual Kung Fu technique. I thought that was pretty cool and explained why most of the fights were so good. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
|
|||||||||
|
the Rancorous,
Actually, it was different styles of martial arts, not just different styles of Kung Fu. I seem to recall them stating they had more than one martial artist showing them moves. |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
LeanGreen
Posts: 323 Location: New England |
|
|||||||||
To further on this point, I remember watching this 'creating the legend' segment after the show a few times. They say that the bending styles are based on four different style of Chinese martial arts and the video goes into greater detail about why those different styles were chosen. You can tell that a lot of care and thought went into the process. 
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
|
|||||||||
Agreed 
The politics are well portrayed in general. The characters encounter refugees, bureacracy, and a coup de'tat. All in a few episodes span!
The battles are also incredibly detailed; most of them choreographed by an actual Kung-Fu Master named Sifu Kisu. It's mostly "Elemental Magic" but it's based on real moves, and requires more than a little practice to get right. Every element is based on a specific Kung-Fu style. Best of all? The characters barely speak when they are enganged in combat. If you want to know what specific moves are called, you have to listen to the commentaries! 
Oh, I beg to differ. Avatar is as deep and complex as the best of the shonen shows, especially in the realm of its characters and its world. The two things that really make Avatar stand out, IMnsHO, are its characters, especially its female characters, and its attention to detail. First, detail: This is a show in which almost every detail is planned out and executed nearly perfectly. I've already mentioned the fighting (as did Penguin_Factory), but the calligraphy is based off ancient Chinese, the backrounds and locations were meticulously researched, the clothes and hair change and grow (literally in case of hair) as the characters move around. You won't see a character wounded in one episode and healed in the next without a resonable explanation. The music is unique and incredibly produced with instruments from all over the world. The subjects of world war, occupation, genocide, the morality of killing in self-defense and/or revenge, injury, death, and in the personal realm, parental abuse and abandonment, are treated with respect and gravity. It is true that the TV-Y7 rating prevents the show from going into graphic detail, but nothing is glossed over, either. Secondly, characters: Every main and many minor characters have a character arc. All are flawed, many take a few steps forward and a few steps back in their development. You can see all the characters, especially the protagonist, grow and mature through all three seasons as they deal with their personal struggles and general conflicts as well as combat training. The majority of main and reoccurring characters are female (now that makes it stand out from shonen anime!). The question of the morality of boys fighting girls? Comes up in 2 episodes in the first season with reguards to training, and in the heat of battle who has time to ask? Of the 6 female leads/major characters, 3 (Katara, Toph, and Azula) are the best "benders" of their respective elements in their world, and the other 3 are very strong fighters who lack "bending" ability. All the females are treated with respect and have character arcs of their own. {Azula is possibly the best villainess ever animated, but that's a personal opinion!  }
I'm in my mid-20s, and I started watching Avatar last summer. I still rewatch episodes with a smile. I can quote my favorite lines with the characters! I consider it to be one of the best animated fantasy series made in the last decade from any country.
The only shonen anime that I would rate on par with Avatar is Full Metal Alchemist (pick your fave version, I'm digging Brotherhood right now), which has simular themes, respect for female characters, and incredibly choreographed battle sequences. Legend of Korra has a lot of potential. I love the "melting pot" city setting, which, according to the creators, has been inspired by Shang-Hai, Hong Kong, Manhattan and Vancouver (  ). Most melting pot cities don't truly melt, especially right away, so ghettos, crime, gang violence and discrimination are common. Nothing irrealistic about that. As long as the lead isn't a total b***y tsundere....Whatever, I'd trust Bryke to make it a great show in any setting and with any characters, but, y'know, I'm biased.  
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group