The Legend of Korra

Deeper into the production's technical merits, Nickelodeon clearly has the right people in the right place. The Legend of Korra has some of the best editing I've seen in television animation in a very, very long time. The editing -- a function of the work of several but the credit to a select few -- is above simply being crisp or convenient; the editing is effective. Even, or particularly, in exclusion of the martial arts, the series' editing does without character-to-character conversational snap cuts and develops an almost improvisational feel with the way it curves to fit the character blocking from scene to scene.

Korra has a habit of blowing off authority,
including the Order of the White Lotus.

In The Legend of Korra, the editing blesses viewers with the opportunity to survey the environment just as its characters do. As such, we sense and react to the story dynamics as organically as the characters do.

The editing more than the backbone of your more gradual, narrative overlap of dialogue, sound design, and whatnot; it's a gentle provocation, a permissive cut-to-cut nudge, forming a single, continuous but flexible emotion.

It's early, but the voice acting is pretty solid. Janet Varney ("Korra") has the ridiculous challenge of voicing a character caught between the worlds of duty and self-discovery (not to say they are mutually exclusive). It's a strange combination, really, because we have a girlish fascination with the new and shiny combined with the expectant pride of a savior (who may not even be needed for her time), all rolled into one. Elsewhere, J.K. Simmons ("Tenzin") and Maria Bamford ("Pema") are a good mesh of incredibly calm and strikingly authoritative. Of particular note, Mindy Sterling ("Lin Beifong") is awesome. Sterling's metalbender has an naturally low and effortlessly intimidating voice. When Chief Lin Beifong says to "cut the garbage" about spewing your ideals for hope and peace, you do what she says.

On the downside, The Legend of Korra seems to use a deal more computer animation than its predecessor.

Understandably, the CG art is still supplemental, but the computer-rendered cars and dirigibles are kind of funky. Dating back to the early 1980s, this practice has become frustratingly commonplace in contemporary anime titles -- such as, say, Bamboo Blade (2007) -- where full CG art is otherwise entirely non-existent.

Computer animation has a hand in production, bending or other -- there are at least three different CG units (from three different countries) contributing to The Legend of Korra -- but sometimes encountering it front and center is like a bad itch you can't scratch.

I'm not yet convinced that The Legend of Korra will be the apparent gut-check Nickelodeon needs to reaffirm (or is it resurrect?) its position as the place-to-be for creator-driven cartooning. I wouldn't have said this two years ago, but the landscape for TV animation is shifting pretty fast these days. But aside from of this forced-upon, future-telling imperative, The Legend of Korra sports all the pure storytelling and intelligent direction one might expect from a project cocooned for so long by so many talented animators.