I watched the premiere of Korra Book 2. Interestingly, it seemed to directly address many of the complaints people had about Book 1:
-People complained that the individuality of each bending style was not emphasized enough because Korra did everything by punching and kicking; now her punching is the butt of a joke and she has to learn the proper ways of water (and once she makes up with Tenzin, airbending) to have a chance at calming the spirits.
-People complained that Korra's sudden mastery of the Avatar State was a deus ex machina; now her reliance on it is put in bad light. You can't use the Avatar State to win, indeed.
-People complained that Mako and Bolin's personalities faded away over time; now Mako's obviously faked suaveness and lack of people skills are back in full-force, while Bolin is near the center of two sidestories, giving him plenty of time to be the bold assistant of Asami (who he only talked to in the first book, like, twice, yet he still saved her ass in the end) and the unlikely prince of the Northern Water Tribe with Eska.
Like I've said about Avatar before, I like how it takes things you wouldn't expect to be elaborated on at all and then makes them the most major of plot points. First bloodbending, now Korra's ability to get whatever she wants whenever she wants. So meta. But you've gotta think, if this book hadn't come, everyone would simply have to imagine that Korra saved the world forever by punching and then crying off a cliff.
On a different note, it's neat how the gang is doing the whole "travelling to different parts of the world" thing again to bring variety. And variety is brought. So many different locations around the Southern Water Tribe have been shown, from the flashy festival to the dusky and eventually vibrant South Pole. And you have to wonder if the only reason Tenzin's vacation is being shown is so that we can see some delightfully Asian temple structures. I loved the setting of a city in the late 1800's so much that the newfound variety is a little bittersweet. However, that's made up for by Verick, who keeps the influence relevant. It's hilarious witnessing the first guy who ever got the idea to make a motion picture featuring a beautiful woman rather than the usual running animal used to highlight the fact that, oh my goodness, that picture is moving. The state of the Southern Air Temple also gives a good view of how time has gone by very well. It's a part of history, and people like history. Gotta make sure that history stays nice and tidy.
The way that the viewer has to decide if the villains are really all that evil or not is still left over from last season, which is cool. I can see a lot of arguments in the future on whether Unalaq or Tonraq is in the wrong. Tonraq is a brashtard who doesn't have enough shame to know that he's not the best thing for Korra, while Unalaq is just as war-happy as Tonraq, only he does it "for the spirits". Both are interesting characters, although Tonraq doesn't have very good dialogue. He mostly just says "No you're wrong" whenever Unalaq presents a sensible argument. In fact, I thought it seemed pretty obvious that Unalaq was the better man until suddenly his troops showed up right at the end.
Another complaint I have about the dialogue is that the humor seems intrusive. Don't get me wrong, Bolin and Eska made me smile many times throughout these two episodes, but every time they did it seemed to interrupt some sort of dramatic conversation. I know, that's what "comic reliefs" are for, but there just isn't flow. Tonraq whines, Bolin has his moment, and then Korra responds to Tonraq's whining because Bolin's moment, however funny, wasn't relevant. Bolin is relevant during the Verick sidestory, but how come he can never be relevant when it comes to Korra's quest?
On the elephant-kangaroo-octopus-whatever in the room: Book 2 is being partially animated by Studio Pierrot of Naruto fame, and it already shows. Mostly in a good way, though. Everything is much more colorful, which really shows in the second episode. Fight scenes are extremely fluid, especially during displays of waterbending. However, when characters are simply conversing without any big action going on, it looks like anime. The characters are stiff while their mouths go up and down. There aren't many moments when nothing is going on, but they're easily noticeable when they show up. Characters could move their arms or their necks or something, especially considering all the hot-headedness going around.
A scene where the new animation studio really shines though is Verick's scene. Everyone is goofily flying around the room, every character has a super exaggerated, unique design and their own way of moving, and Bolin's face follows everything perfectly. Ginger's entrance caught me way off guard. What booming poses. You know what? I think I can call Verick's whole motion picture pitch as one of my favorite Avatar moments ever.
Great start, and it seems to be going at a good pace.
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