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The Legend Of Korra- Complete Series (Limited Edition) Blu-ray Review

“The Legend Of Korra” gets a new Blu-ray release.

For those that may not be aware, “The Legend Of Korra” was a sequel series to the hit animated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” The series ran for 4 seasons and 52 episodes and focused on a new Avatar from the Southern Water Tribe named Korra. The series begins with her venturing to Republic City to learn airbending as she’s already adept at water, earth and fire bending having learned them all from Master Tenzin. While there, her life takes a new course as she meets new friends/allies like brothers Bolin and Mako and Asami (a non-bender daughter of an industrialist). Plot wise, viewers can expect to see stories about an Anti-airbender group Equalists who can remove bending abilities, a pro-bending sports league, a task force against Equalists, bloodbending, lavabending, and metalbending, Korra’s family, tension between North and South Water Tribes, the Spirit World, Unalaq trying to free an evil spirit (Vaatu), the anarchist group Red Lotus (led by Zaheer), characters gaining airbending abilities, Kuvira’s military coup and Korra’s struggles with PTSD. Expect many key characters too such as Lin Beifong (Police Chief of Republic City) and her half-sister Suyin, Kai (a thief turned airbender), Jinora (Tenzin’s daughter), Varrick, and Opal an airbender.

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” was one of the best animated series of all-time so expectations were high for Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino’s sequel series “The Legend Of Korra.” From a world building standpoint, there’s a lot to admire here. Since the series is set 70 years after ‘Avatar,’ it’s fun for fans to see how the universe has changed and to catch all the tie-ins and connections to ‘Avatar.” Visually, there’s also a nifty steampunk esque vibe to it all as well as explorations into things such as the Spirit World which makes for some unique visuals.

Where ‘Korra’ stumbles a bit is with the storytelling. There’s essentially unrest and civil wars every season which gives the show a very repetitious feel. The show is at its best when it focuses on the titular character and the mythology ala the Wan arc and the vast Spirit World. When the show focuses on redundant extremist villains or relies too heavily on descendants of characters from ‘Avatar,’ it feels like the creators have run out of ideas. 

On the subject of the characters, the cast is huge here and there’s a lot of well developed characters both new and old. Korra (voiced by Janet Varney) herself is a fresh new character who has some very adult, complex, and surprising character arcs (no spoilers here for the uninitiated). Master Tenzin is my personal favorite character here although a lot of that might be due to the fact that J.K. Simmons voices him.

Note: The Limited Edition Blu-ray release of “The Legend Of Korra” is a box set that houses 4 steelbook cases containing each of the four seasons. Unless you’re a completist, a die hard Korra fan or a steelbook collector, this set probably isn’t worth the extra 40 dollars or so compared to the standard Blu-ray release.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 1.78:1 1080p. How does it look? This is the best the show has ever looked. The colors are quite striking.

Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? Bending never sounded so good. The 5.1 track is lively throughout the series.

Extras:
* Commentary on all 12 episodes of season 1 by creators Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and a host of guests such as Korra voice actress Janet Varney.
* Animatics from 8 episodes of season 1
* A faux featurette on Puppetbender titled “The Making Of A Legend: The Untold Story.” A 2nd part is featured on the season 4 extras.
* 81 minutes of storyboard to final scene comparisons from season 2.
* Commentary on all 14 episodes of season 2 by DiMartino, Konietzo and others such as Joaquim Dos Santos, writers Tim Hedrick and Josh Hamilton and more.
* 2 featurettes on Tenzin’s family and Korra’s family.
* An overview of Korra’s journey from season 1.
* “Inside The Book Of Spirits” season 2 featurette.
* Commentary on all 13 episodes from season 3.
* “The Spirit Of An Episode”- Short behind-the-scenes featurettes for each episode of season 3 that largely tackle production work.
* Commentary on all 13 episodes of season 4.
* The 2014 NY Comic Con Panel.
* A Kuvira vs. Prince Wu promo.
* “Republic City Hustle”- A 3 parter about Mako and Bolin’s youth together.

March 22, 2021 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Avatar: The Last Airbender, Korra, The Legend Of Korra Steelnook, The Legend Of Korra- The Complete Series (Limited Edition) Blu-ray Review