Avatar: The Last Airbender aired from 2005 to 2008 with huge success. I remember not watching it until the series was already finished about a year after the final episode aired. After I watched it, I really wished I had seen it right when it was airing for the first time. I'm not going to make that mistake with The Legend of Korra. I'm also not going to make the mistake of watching M. Night Shyamalan's film adapation -- OUCH! (and that's probably the nicest thing I can say about the film)
The story takes place 70 years after the events of The Last Airbender even having the introduction tell you a little about the first series in case you didn't see it including what's been going on since the Hundred Year War. Korra, a teenage Water Tribe girl, has mastered the art of waterbending, firebending and earthbending but airbending doesn't come so easily for the current Avatar incarnation. She goes off to find Master Tenzin, who is a son of Aang and Katara's from the first series. Katara even makes an appearance in these first 2 episodes. I wonder if she will make more appearances. There are a lot of callbacks to the first series that are great to hear. I'm glad they didn't just make a completely new series with completely new EVERYTHING!
The setting is Republic City, the capital of all four nations that inhabits both benders and non-benders alike and some of the non-benders aren't too fond of the benders, claiming them evil. Metalbenders, a new element in this series, are the police force of Republic City.
The animation is truly remarkable for a TV series and you can tell A LOT of work went into each and every detail. The movements are fluid and the background surroundings are nice to look at.
The voice acting is top notch. J.K. Simmons as Master Tenzin does a fine job and Janet Varney as Korra does a good job as well.
Pro-bending is the fictional sport featured and Korra finds herself in the middle of it when she befriends two brothers who are professionals at the sport and their third member of the team quits so she joins in. It's a really cool new aspect for this series and I hope they continue with this sport in future episodes.
Korra is older than Aang was but she still acts like a young child. She has a huge independent spirit and I'm sure that quality will get her into a lot of conflict. She still has a lot of potential to be a great character so we will see what direction the creators go with her.
I liked the first 2 episodes of this series and I'm very much looking forward to seeing where the series will go. Will Korra master that pesky art of airbending? What other adventures are in store for Korra? Who is Amon -- the shows' main villain? We will have to wait and see for ourselves.
I can't wait to see how it all comes about -- though I will miss Toph. She was my favorite character.
Thanks!