So how do I feel about the sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender, one of the best American animated shows ever?

Yes, it’s that good.  And the first episode is free, so you don’t have an excuse not to watch it.

Highlights: Korra, the new avatar, is brilliant.  The series creators have maintained the moral center of the world, while updating it and deploying a whole new cast.  World design: amazing! (As always with this team.)  Sound: wonderful!  Fight choreography: stunning!

A more subtle take, for those of you familiar with the first show: This series narrows the gap between the protagonist and the adult world.  In the original Avatar series, the main characters were kids, and the gulf between them and the adult world was absolute.  The adults were immutable forces: Iroh has a powerful history, but it’s hard to imagine him as a boy, or how he felt about his father.  He doesn’t feel contingent, or unsettled, though he does have regrets.  Ozai, Bumi, Jeong Jeong, Pakku, etc. have all similarly found their place in the world.  Aang, Katara, and Sokka are trying to figure out what to do with the world they’ve inherited from this older generation.

At 17, Korra is (intentionally, I think) older than any of the main characters in A:TLA, and is as a result closer to the adult world from the beginning.  She’s become strong, but she still has to learn how to be a part of society.  Meanwhile Tenzin, her airbending trainer, and Lin, the chief of police in Republic City, are both in late middle age–Tenzin, despite being set up as the aged Kung Fu Master of the show, is younger by a decade than any of the members of the White Lotus sect in A:TLA.  The first episode shows Korra discovering Republic City and trying to figure out how to be a part of this weird new world–everything she tries in the city turns out wrong somehow.  Meanwhile, we see just enough of Tenzin to tell that he feels the same way: still striving after thirty years to build and uphold the world his father left him.  They’re both uncertain, imperfect characters in moments of transition, and they’re both trying to do their best by the world with which they feel they’ve been entrusted.  I get the sense that each of them will be growing a lot over the next two seasons, and that dynamic feels fresh and full of possibility.  The first show passes down a powerful inheritance; this new setup stands to build upon that inheritance.

Anyone who falls in love with the 1920s gangsterland vibe of the series, by the way, should check out (the considerably bloodier) Baccano!, as well as Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop, which influenced A:TLA.