The Legend of Korra season 1

Lore & Background

The season opens with Korra having mastered all elemental arts except airbending. She runs away to Republic City so that Tenzin, Avatar Aang's youngest son, can train her. In the city, she clashes with police chief Lin Beifong after dispensing vigilante justice to local triads. Tarrlok, an ambitious council member, enlists Korra against the Equalists. She befriends brothers Mako and Bolin, joins their pro-bending team the Fire Ferrets, and forms a new Team Avatar with them and sponsor Asami Sato.

As the Equalists grow more violent, Tarrlok represses non-benders indiscriminately. When Korra refuses to support him, Tarrlok overpowers her with bloodbending and kidnaps her, framing the Equalists. Amon arrives at Tarrlok's hideout and removes Tarrlok's bending. Korra escapes but finds Republic City facing an Equalist conquest. In the two-part finale, naval reinforcements led by Iroh are defeated by Equalist sea mines and biplanes. Korra learns that Tarrlok and Amon are sons of Yakone, a mob boss defeated by Avatar Aang. Amon strips Korra of her bending, but she reveals dormant airbending abilities, exposing Amon as a waterbender. His followers desert him; he flees with Tarrlok, who detonates their boat. Korra establishes spiritual contact with Aang, who restores her bending powers, allowing her to restore others' bending.

Reader's Guide

Book One: Air received very positive reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes calculating a 91% approval rating from 11 reviews. Critics praised the animation quality, background paintings, martial-arts action scenes, and the series' visual design and style. The writers were credited for balancing magic and technology and for mature portrayals of romantic relationships and conflicts. They also tackled themes such as social unrest, terrorism, and Tarrlok's murder–suicide of Amon. Some reviewers criticized aspects of the writing: Kirk Hamilton felt the series failed to tackle its central conflicts meaningfully; Raz Greenberg commented that Korra seemed to have things too easy compared to Aang and criticized the rapid pacing; Max Nicholson praised the writing, animation, humor, setting, and characters but found the love triangle arc flat and Mako underwritten. The initial airings drew an average of 3.7 million viewers per episode. The season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 9, 2013, and adapted as two novels by Erica David. A soundtrack CD, The Legend of Korra: Original Music from Book One, was released on July 16, 2013.

Did You Know?

• The first two episodes were pre-released online after the Korra Nation social platform reached 100,000 likes and shares.
• Nicktoons re-aired Book One with commentary from the creators under the name Korra: Making of a Legend.
• The season's score blended traditional Chinese music with early jazz, performed by a string sextet and Chinese solo instruments.
• The art book The Legend of Korra – Book One: Air – The Art of the Animated Series was published by Dark Horse Comics in July 2013.