Avatar

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, I'm definitely willing to give the rest of the series a fair shake at this point.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm 5 episodes into season 2 so far, which I thought I should mention is officially where I left off with the series back when I was watching it years ago. So, everything past this point should all be new to me.

As for how season 2 has been so far, the first 3 episodes were pretty decent for what they were, which was to set up Azula's character and the new role of Zuko and Iroh as fugitives. Episodes 4 and 5 were mostly just filler, and kind of boring. Hopefully this season drops the filler soon and gets back to the good stuff. I can see the potential for a really nice story arc in here, but the series still hasn't quite reached that pedestal of "greatness" for me, just yet.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I'm 5 episodes into season 2 so far, which I thought I should mention is officially where I left off with the series back when I was watching it years ago. So, everything past this point should all be new to me.

As for how season 2 has been so far, the first 3 episodes were pretty decent for what they were, which was to set up Azula's character and the new role of Zuko and Iroh as fugitives. Episodes 4 and 5 were mostly just filler, and kind of boring. Hopefully this season drops the filler soon and gets back to the good stuff. I can see the potential for a really nice story arc in here, but the series still hasn't quite reached that pedestal of "greatness" for me, just yet.

You are literally right before it starts getting great. The Blind Bandit is a great episode and Zuko Alone is one of the series peaks. I don't think it lets up steam for the rest of the season after those episodes until the season finale.

EDIT: Actually The Chase could be considered filler, but other than that it doesn't really let up.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just finished watching season 2 tonight. Overall, I definitely think that it was a huge improvement over the first season. I enjoy how this season felt more like its own thing rather than the heavy anime-imitation vibe that I got from the first season. I will say that I found season 1's climax to be better, though. I like that season 2 actually ended on a triumphant note for the villains to keep things interesting for the next season, but for whatever reason I just found the actual execution of the 1st season's climax to be a lot more exciting. In general, though, I do really enjoy how the 2nd season delved rather deep into the politics of Ba Sing Se, as I enjoy those kinds of elements being added into a story that presents its own unique world.

I'm also glad that I decided to re-watch this series now instead of trying to watch through the whole thing originally. I was way more biased of a viewer back then so I probably wouldn't have been very fair to the series at all even with the improvements, but as it stands now I think its really good. I could do without some of the filler, but on the whole I find that the series has managed to keep getting better as it goes on.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Glad to hear you stuck with it. Avatar unfortunately has a problem every season of having a few filler episodes before things finally get rolling. But season 2 and 3 get really good once you get over their humps.

Any particular favorites from season 2?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, I actually meant to mention it in my last post, but it slipped my mind. There are 3 particular episodes that come to mind:

Zuko Alone- I'd say that I find Zuko to be the most compelling character to follow (not to be confused with favorite) in this series. Sure, he makes a lot of stupid decisions, but I can sort of understand where he's coming from when he makes them because he is by nature a very emotional character, and very honor-bound to a fault, but thankfully the show acknowledges his faults through his Uncle, who is probably my favorite character of the show. Anyways, why I like this episode is because it really sheds a lot of light on Zuko's motivation as a character, and its pretty cool to see the character act like a bad-ass for someone else's sake rather than his own sense of pride and honor.

The Drill- Its just one of those episodes in which all of the heroes in the series work together and use their unique abilities in very clever and strategic ways to stop a seemingly indomitable enemy (in this case a large drilling machine). I'm just a sucker for those kinds of team-work episodes in which it really feels like the team work their asses off in despiration to accomplish a victory, which feels all the more rewarding.

Tales of Ba Sing Se- Because I liked all of the short-stories in this episode.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, season 3 was pretty great. It was very predictable, but what matters most is that the execution and writing were top-notch, and the characterization was at its best here. I think that this is one of those series that just got better as it went along. Season 1 was mostly solid but was full of story cliches (not just from anime), and felt like a good set-up for things to come but ultimately had a bit of an identity crisis until the finale as it didn't seem to be too sure what type of series it wanted to be yet. With season 2, the series really rooted out into its own direction, and to me season 2 had the most interesting premise of them all. As for season 3, like I said, it had a predictable and kind of cliche plot sort of like season 1, but much like season 2 it carried over the superb writing, humor, and characterization, which basically made it the most exciting season to watch.

If there's one thing that I kind of wish was done a bit differently, its that I kind of wish Zuko had joined the team a bit earlier and got to have more episodes with them. He only joined them close to the end of the show, but his dynamic with the team was just so much fun and really interesting to the point that I wish we got to see more episodes with him interacting with them. That kind of makes me wish that he did actually turn good at the end of season 2, but to be fair I also enjoyed his struggle of coming to terms with who he really was, and the part where he announces to his father that he will no longer follow him was a great scene that we never would have gotten had Zuko become a good guy at the end of the 2nd season.

At any rate, I'm glad I waited to watch this series to go into it with a fresh mind after getting over the initial hype, which has a tendency to spoil the experience for me. It was the same thing for GTO, as even if many people might not remember it, that anime was pretty damn popular at one point in time among all the people who got their anime through torrents (which was a lot), and at one point it got so much praise that it turned me off from trying that series, but when I did finally see it when its popularity had died down quite a bit, I really loved it.

With Avatar, I don't know if I'd consider it one of my favorite series (I'd need to re-watch the whole thing at least once before it could become anything like that), but I did find it to be a generally great series on the whole. I suppose I should try Legend of Korra next.

[gunswordfist]

You have to watch Korra now.

I wish Zuko did join the team earlier too. Him confronting Ozai was one good thing about it though.

I think Season 1 had the best premise. There's not too many good action adventure cartoons. Action shows these days tend to almost be sitcom-like with how they stick to have the heroes stay around one location. I know Season 2 isn't really like that but they do stay grounded for awhile and I love those adventures with Appa and those Fire Bender ship battles that stand out. I don't think cliches were season 1's problem, the filler was.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, to be fair, every season had filler, but it is true that season 1 had the most of it. My main reason for liking season 2's premise the best is just because I like how it really got into the politics of Ba Sing Se and how its government functioned, and I also liked the whole sub-plot with Zuko and Iroh being fugitives of the Fire Nation and how Zuko was going through an internal struggle throughout that entire season (as well as the first half of season 3, for that matter).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

This is probably a stupid question, but is the character named Mako in The Legend of Korra supposed to be a nod/tribute to Iroh's original voice actor from the first series?

[gunswordfist]

This is probably a stupid question, but is the character named Mako in The Legend of Korra supposed to be a nod/tribute to Iroh's original voice actor from the first series?

Yes, yes it is. Did you start on the series?

As for ATLA, while I do like Zuko dealing with his internal struggle, which is basically what his character is all about, I liked his role more in season 1 because I thought he and Iroh got pushed a bit too far in the background in Season 2, while in season 1 he was the heroes most frequent foe. And I liked BSS' political angle at first, until it slowed down the buildup to them trying to get an army to help fight the Fire Nation

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I honestly didn't mind that it slowed down the plot, though. There was a lot of good characterization taking place in those episodes, and for me I'm a guy who likes characters over anything else, even if that means stalling the story from progressing a bit. At the very least, I still felt that the story was very character-driven.

And, yes, I have watched the first 4 episodes of The Legend of Korra. So far I like it. It is a bit slow, but this is the beginning of an all new story so that's to be expected, as the first season is primarily going to be all about setting the stage for the rest of the series. In that regard, season 1 of the original series was even slower because of all of the damn filler.

Also, I should mention that I sort of get an FMA-vibe from the steam-punk setting of Republic City, but maybe that was one of the influences for this show, and if it were I wouldn't be too surprised. I also noticed that thanks to the Avatar Universe being well-established at this point, this show has started out with a more serious tone than the original series, which originally had to probably have a lot of silliness and filler thrown in to make it come off as a bit more kid-friendly, until it got a strong enough fan-base to risk going into a bit more serious of a tone. That said, the humor got better in the original series as it went along, and I feel that the humor element is kind of lacking in Korra from what I've seen at this point, so hopefully that picks up again later on. Overall, though, considering that I just came into this series hot off the heels of the original show's climax,  its doing a pretty good job of holding my interest so far.

[gunswordfist]

I actually thought those episodes were fast the first time I watched them but that was probably do to me having memories of ATLA's filler fresh in my head. And Korra is definitely more serious than ATLA.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

The first four episodes of Korra really show some of the promise the show had. Then...well, I'll let you decide for yourself.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Since only 12 episodes are out so far, I decided to just marathon through the whole season today being that I really don't have that much to do as I have the entire weekend off.

I don't know, I haven't found anything I significantly dislike about the series yet, and I'm already 9 episodes in. I don't think its on par with seasons 2 and 3 of The Last Airbender, but personally I'd rate it higher than the original's first season, myself (unless the last 3 episodes just suck major balls). From what I've heard you say about the show earlier, it sounded like it had some problems akin to Young Justice or something, but I haven't noticed anything like that, myself. I do still think that the story can rely on one too many cliches at a time, but it still feels like its own thing on the whole, and I also like that it has a very different feel to it than the original Avatar, as otherwise I wouldn't know what the point of making this series was in the first place.

At any rate, I'm just trying to say that, while season 1 of Korra isn't what I would call great, it is what I would call very good, but maybe I'm missing something negative that would make me think otherwise. As it stands now, though, I am fully enjoying it. Perhaps it may just be one of those series that is more enjoyable when you watch the episodes back-to-back, though.