Since the original Avatar cartoon finished in 2008, five The Last Airbender graphic novel trilogies have continued the adventures of Aang and co.
The publishers announced 3-part miniseries The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars in October last year.
The fan fiction and fan art machine went immediately into overdrive, but Korra and Asami’s official story couldn’t end there, could it?
Of course, the Korrasami revelation arrived in the closing moments of the TV series. By the title, supremely powerful character of a hit animated show. Queer-identifying adolescents could look to the screen and see that their existence was acknowledged. More importantly, it was a ground-breaking moment for LGBT+ representation in Popular Culture. It was Christmas come early for Korrasami supporters.
Korra and Asami were absolutely a couple. The final hand-clutching moments of The Legend of Korra may have implied romance more than explicitly shown it, but in the aftermath, creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino cleared up ambiguity with a statement on Tumblr. And Korrasami was surprisingly endgame (if not planned from the outset). This same boyfriend, brooding Mako, made Korra a rival of Asami in Seasons 1-2, as a bog-standard Young Adult love triangle played out.īut Korra and Asami outgrew their jealousies, just as they outgrew Mako. After all, Korra had a boyfriend for a while. These instances were fan service, or gay-baiting depending how cynical you wanted to be. Although Season 4 presented an evolved, increasingly intimate dynamic between the women, viewers could dismiss the blushes, hugs and protectiveness as teasing on the part of the show’s writers.
If mainstream network television continued to avoid LGBT+ leads for fear of controversy, then by the same logic an animated series for children certainly wouldn’t risk it.įans just liked to “ship” Korra and Asami – that is, imagine the besties were in a romantic (relation)ship, and point to moments in the show as evidence. Representation reasons.įor one thing, nobody really expected a show on kids’ channel Nickelodeon to depict a same-sex relationship. It may sound silly equating an episode of a cartoon with something as significant as a World Cup victory, but it was for its own reasons. The scene paralleled the end of The Last Airbender, as protagonists Aang and Katara finally accept their feelings for one another, and kiss. As they step into the portal, the young women clutch hands, turn to face each other and looked deeply into each other’s eyes, before fading out. Spoiler: In the last minute of the magic-and-martial-arts show, heroine Korra, the peace-keeping link between human and spirit realms, embarks on a vacation to the Spirit World with her friend, pioneering industrialist Asami Sato. The online euphoria was contagious – people were losing their damn minds. All I wanted was to arrive at my destination so I could watch the final ever episode of The Legend of Korra, the sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Even with the lights off, and the typically obedient silence of Japanese long-distance commuters, I hardly slept that trip. With that last one, I was standing in the snow mid-December 2014, about to get on an 8-hour night bus to Tokyo. South Africa winning the 1995 Rugby World Cup. The first plane flying into the World Trade Centre.
The news breaking about Princess Diana’s death. With certain events, you never forget where you were when they happened.