@Anubis3200 and I suppose everyone else...
Well let's stop and take a look at Korra. She's completely different from Aang in every way possible. Not to mention people expected amazing things from her because many still remember Aang and his accomplishments. People who watched the show also had similar bias because they had expectations created by Aang so I've always felt many people expected this show to be juuuust like the first.
Korra was a gifted bender when it came to mastering the various elements (save for air because it completely conflicted with her personality). At the same time, all of these people had these huge expectations for her, wanted her to act this way, meet this ideal and those goals, and generally be the legendary avatar that Aang came to be. She was a teenage girl, cooped up in a training facility for most of her life with little to no knowledge of the outside world, completely naive and clueless to how it worked, and then expected to lead it after being unceremoniously thrust onto the "world stage?!" A large part of who she is and how she acted is not entirely her fault. Also, her enemies had plenty of time to practice bending and fighting benders and master their strengths and overcome their weaknesses. On top of that they all had knowledge of the Avatar and their capabilities. During Aang's time, no one had seen an Avatar for like, 100 years! Not to mention he tangled with fire benders the majority of his time during the show. Korra had to fight multiple, well skilled, very experienced benders and non-benders. The world was also very different. I personally think Korra had to deal with a helluva lot more adversity than Aang. She got thoroughly trashed in every season, was almost universally disliked, hated, and not trusted most of the time, and all the while struggled to come over a lot of personal hurdles and issues.
That is why to me, the best scene in the entire show is when Asami tells Korra that she has actually has done a lot of good, has positive qualities about herself and shouldn't just focus on her negative qualities or her failures. That scene isn't a KorraXAsami moment, that's just a damned good moment in general. Korra desperately needed to hear someone say that to her because she was leagues away from realizing that about herself. It had to be someone close to her, who has seen her at her strongest and at her most vulnerable. Asami was right there, encouraging her, comforting her, and providing her with strength she thought she had lost or maybe never truly had. This episode, "Remembrances" I think it's called, is usually dissed by the fanbase because it is a flashback episode but to me, it had some of the most growth for the characters in the entire show and this particular moment with Korra is the best scene I have seen in a long while in any animated show I've watched over the years. And for all the KorrAsami knuckleheads out there, I really don't understand why this moments is always forgotten. scratches head
Also, a few other factors many people seem to always forget. Korra was not supported the way The Last Airbender was. Airbender got twice as many episodes per-season whereas Korra had HALF of that. Essentially 2 seasons of Korra = 1 season of Airbender. The creators really didn't get enough time to stretch out the story, give more time for the individual characters, and explore more of the themes they wanted to delve into. 2ndly, Korra explored the relationship between the Avatar and the Spirit World, benders and non-benders, the Spirit World and the physical world, and the Avatar's role. The Last Airbender had to introduce us to the setting and Korra didn't have too so it was free to try other things and tackle different themes.
last edited at Apr 29, 2015 5:17PM