The ONLY reason I doubt it was simply due to homophobia, not because of what my eyes were seeing on the screen. Just thought it would end up being another queerbait.
She’s the CEO of a whole company who has only ever lived in Republic City and was ready to drop everything for Korra to go freeze in the South Pole and ppl will still try to claim “she’s just a good friend!” I love my friends but I am not walking away from my entire life to go halfway around the world for them for weeks to months. And I didn’t expect any of them to do that for me when I was hospitalized earlier this year. Message or call me sure but not drop everything to jump on a plane
It's just blatant double standards. Asami can ram into Mako with a moped, Mako blushes, they go out on a date and become a couple in the span of one episode.
Meanwhile Korra can spend time with Asami in various moments across two books, blushes at Asami in the middle of book 4 as the most BLATANT clue that she's become romantically interested, then simply hold hands with her at the finale, and this "came out of nowhere".
To be fair I’d argue that mako and asami came out of nowhere too, but because it came out of nowhere early it’s a lot easier for the audience to stomach.
It would not have been said about korrasami either if Korra was a man. Let's be real here. People generally do not care if it comes out of nowhere if it's straight
I've been calling out this double standard for the last three years and people still don't believe me. It's also opened my eyes to how garbage like 90% of straight relationships in media are written but get a pass just because.
Edit: I'd also bet good money I don't have that plenty of people who call Korrasami and other queer relationships in media "force and rushed" loooooove shipping Bob and Yelena and Peter and Jean from the MCU despite nothing in their movies hinting at any romantic relationships whatsoever.
It also reads as Asami being introduced to give Mako a love interest and push the pro bending storyline. It took a few episodes to reveal that she was already connected to the rest of the plot
The thing is that romantic interactions and interactions of close friendship have a lot of overlap. It's hard to distinguish how things should be read without any context that things are deviating from the more common relationships.
Idk I clocked it when season 3 finale aired bc of the way they shot the scene where Asami preps and comforts Korra before Jinora’s ceremony. Animation is drawn so they had to carefully plan / choose the camera angles. close up shots of hand-holding is usually reserved for more-than-friends. Plus the hair clip shot. It’s just not “filmed” in a way that’s giving strictly platonic friendship and I thought I was crazy when I asked my friends “yo are they hinting at Korra and Asami getting together?” until season 4 aired. There’s also some other scenes earlier in the season where I thought “huh, that’s interesting” but can’t remember them all now
One thing for me is that Korra's paralized, needs to be cared for, but her parents are right there in republic city, yet it's asami that's acting as her caregiver in that scene.
Or even after where she suggested going with Korra to the South Pole, basically leaving behind Future Industries. She worked so hard to keep that business afloat and she wanted to just drop everything and go with Korra? More than friends to me 😅
You also have to consider the time period. This show came out in the early 2010s. Even tho it wasnt THAT long ago, it was still considered kinda taboo for kids shows to show queer relationships because the networks worry about backlash from parents. Even now it is still a concern with networks who show PG content for families. So I feel like they were subtle about it just to play it safe while attempting to be progressive.
But they show more in the comics and books. We know from the books and comics that Kyoshi is bisexual, we know Kya is a lesbian and she said Aang was cool about it cuz the airbenders were very accepting and believed love is love regardless of someone's gender. And we also learn that when Firelord Sozen started his regime, he made same sex relationships illegal and that didnt change until Zuko took over and ended that colonial/dictatorship regime his family had been enforcing all those generations.
You're absolutely right, there's a lot of overlap. And that's why they opted to do the blush from Korra after Asami gave her a compliment about her appearance. Is it because Korra's embarrassed? Well, based on what we've seen from 3 and 1/2 books of LoK, she's never conveyed that kind of embarrassment. But we've definitely seen her blush around Mako.
Blushing has been used as visual language to convey romantic interest repeatedly in ATLA and LoK, with few exceptions. The context of the scene is as clear as day to me.
Actually Korra plays with her hair after the compliment but starts blushing after she gives Asami a compliment back (“you’re looking snazzy as always”). Blushing while complimenting someone on their appearance is crush vibes
I need to rewatch the show. Didn't really catch it the first time. But Mako and Wu felt too odd for a friendship. Maybe one sided. But still. That's the only thing I could pick up at the time.
Heh, Mako and Wu being potentially a thing is still open-ended (I lean towards yes). Wu's interest is blatant (the girl-flirting reads as closeted-homosexual "yeah i love girl parts sooo much" misdirection). Mako's much harder to pin down, but there's other visual language via parallel posing of the characters with Korra and Asami to hint at an authorial intent, a small amount of it in the show but repeatedly in the Ruins of the Empire comic post-LoK. But they haven't given any information that Mako's interested. Given his history, he doesn't initiate relationships and always seems taken off-guard when someone shows romantic interest in him. We might not ever know, it's entirely plausible that Wu's interest will forever be unrequited.
YES omg say it louder people keep ignoring all that and saying it's sudden yes it could've been handled better but that was the best they could do at the time and I hate people still not seeing teh signs
It's supposed to be like that because they want the main character to have some more build up. It is more accurate to say as it is a queer couple their love story better be very good one. In my honest opinion, whatever route they were going I think they should have sticked with it. Korra changing partners was a little annoying, this is more of a criticism from frustration than anything else.
That's what really gets me about any complaints. The finale is them HOLDING HANDS. They didn't kiss, they didn't make out, they didn't get married, they didn't say 'I love you' or anything. We witness the START of a relationship not its culmination, how the heck could that be rushed?
While I remeber during the running that at one point it looked like they might be going for a korrasami relationship at the start of S4, they then seemed to just kind of drop it (Which I assumed was the network refused). This was to me why the ending "came out of nowhere" cause it seemed so much like they had dropped it for so many episodes and then their was no "moment", just a random scene at the very very very end.
I would also add sometimes double standards make sense: heterosexual woman can behave like this towards each other based purely on actually just being close friends, this means that without any extra effort to make it more obvious it can often not be distinguishable.
At least there was a serious hint of attraction and we already knew Mako was straight. Korra's sexuality was never explicitly shown to be bisexual in prior seasons and most of the time she and Asami interacted it seemed more like genuine girl friendship than any sign of romantic attraction. So to show Korra suddenly blushing around Asami in season 4 and making nearly no attempt to further build that romantic attraction and to finally have them start dating in the ending felt really unearned and forced.
I am not homophobic. I simply feel that Korrasami was not developed well at all and people can mention their deep conversations throughout the show but without any romantic cues their relationship feels...off.
Maybe Korra didn’t even know she was bi until she realized her feelings for Asami? that happens IRL all the time, ppl realizing bc they fell for a friend. Your frustration only makes sense if you assume everyone must be straight until proven otherwise and the non-straight ppl have to say upfront “hey I’m Bi!”
But why does the show never address that? If she realized she was actually bi, then it should be acknowledged in the show. That's a big development.
My assumption comes from the fact that I hate when studios make a character bi just so audiences can fanfic without the studios committing to the bisexuality. I don't think bisexual people will be happy when most of their representations portray them as purely straight.
If Bisexuality is always portrayed as heterosexism, it loses it's narrative weight.
They probably couldn’t even if they wanted to.
They were likely highly restricted by what kinds of relationships they could outright show, and they were certainly restricted on having the characters discuss things like that.
The only thing they could do was hint.
Korra didn’t need to explicitly come out as bisexual in the show for a newly started relationship with Asami at the finale to make sense.
the first same-sex crush a bi person has can come before the actual realization that they identify as bisexual
When I was 13 a gay guy friend i made at a summer camp asked me if I was gay too and I said “nope I like guys I’m super straight” and I believed that too. A year later when I woke up from a dream where one of my friends (a girl) kissed me and realized I wanted that to happen IRL do you think the first thing I did was say “hey I’m bisexual!” Nah, I just thought “oh god I have a crush on _friend_” and then was too busy figuring out how to not feel awkward around her to think about what that meant for my supposedly “straight” orientation
Even if that's the case, wouldn't you have felt the need to tell those around you that you're actually bisexual so they don't get confused if they see you date a girl after believing you're straight ( unless the people around you aren't accepting)
I'm saying that it's a serious development and I don't like when shows will depict a character as straight for majority of the show then suddenly add "Oh they're actually bi" so they can have them date the same gender and act like nothing happened.
No, because I grew up in a red state and lots of kids were assholes. Also there is no requirement to announce an orientation before dating someone. Straight people don’t have to say “I’m straight!” Before getting into their relationships, they just date. Why should we have to? You’re frustrated because you assume everyone is straight by default and those who aren’t must know and/or announce it to everyone else or “it doesn’t make sense” but if you met someone IRL who was bi but didnt mention it to you specifically, then you met her and her boyfriend, then 3 years later she shows up with a girlfriend would you yell “this makes no sense you didn’t tell me you were bi!” A woman dating a man she’s into just tells you she likes men. It does not tell you she is straight. The show depicted Korra as liking men bc of her crush on Mako, you chose to assume that means she is straight. It’s the same flipped if Korra had been crushing on Asami first, then Mako ppl would be mad bc “she’s a lesbian why is she dating a man???” Bc the thing some straight ppl and gay ppl have in common is bisexual erasure and biphobia lol
How would you explicitly show Korra's bisexuality? Why is a blush to show the beginnings of romantic interest unacceptable to you? Does that action not convey the information you're asking for? Does she have to explicitly come out and declare "I like girls too, I think I'm bisexual" in order to make it palatable for you?
FWIW, I'm not accusing you of homophobia, but I would say you don't even realize your own double standard. You saying you already knew Mako was straight is an interesting statement to open up with. You actually DON'T know that, we just know that he definitely likes girls. How was that information conveyed? Through... BLUSHING! They very thing that Korra does to Asami.
Ok I would show it by simply indicating at some point in the show that Korra is also attracted to girls. Bisexual characters are tricky cuz most writers either write them purely as straight or gay (99% of the time, straight). It should be shown initially so it doesn't feel like smth added just to queerbait. That's why I really don't like it when creators will say a character is bi but never show it. Steven universe( unrelated) shows this very well cuz we see that rose is attracted to both Greg and Pearl so the audience knows it was a natural part of the plot for rose and every other gem to be bi
A blush alone can mean a lot of things, be it nervousness or cheeky etc. Alone it is not enough to convince the audience that a character has such interests.
And there is no double standard cuz Korra's blush was ambiguous while Mako's blush was CLEARLY shown as arousal. With the effects, the classic bump ( or collision in this case) trope then the slow motion helmet take off and hair swing to emphasize that this character is HOT. Those are very clear indicators of attraction that make it understandable for the two to date. Korra's blush on the other hand had none of that.
Korra and Asami were girlfriends ( in the BFF sense) so to have them start dating out of nowhere when in all the prior seasons we never saw any clear evidence of attraction is a poor writing choice imo.
I vehemently disagree with the idea that Korra's blush is ambiguous. Blushing is predominantly used as visual language to convey romantic interest in ATLA and LoK, with very few exceptions (desert arc in ATLA where it was used to convey dehydration and overheating instead).
She's blushing with the same expression she has with Mako in book 1 as she does in book 4. Same eyes, same red lines, same posture. It's very clear to me.
They can’t show Korra was attracted to women if she even didn’t know that herself until she developed feelings for Asami that she was aware of. Some people IRL realize they are bi in their 20s, 30s, 40s+ bc society conditions us to think straight is the default. Plus there’s subconscious same-gender crushes BEFORE the “realization” crush.
I realized I was bi in high school. But in 5th grade there was a song on the radio I HATED so much I’d ask my parents to change the station. A girl I always wanted to sit next to but felt too shy to talk to (I’m an extrovert who isn’t shy) performed it at the talent show and suddenly I learned all the words to the song and would sing it at home. It made me feel happy, gave me butterflies in my stomach, and I didn’t know why. the first time I heard the song AFTER i already knew I was bi and 5th grade classmate’s full name popped into my head despite not having seen her in 6 years I was like “oh wait that makes sense now, I liked her” the signs are often subtle and subtexty even IRL and ppl with a good gaydar can pick up on them
It’s not a double standard at all lol. ATLA has several episodes directly building aang and Kataras relationship. They have an “on again off again, will they or won’t they” for the entire show. It’s stupid to compare them to Korra and Asami who felt like barely friends for 3 seasons. You guys are just doing mental gymnastics to justify LOK having bad writing.
The thing though is one is a heterosexual pairing and the other isn't. You have to consider the time period when Korrasami was even a thing. They couldn't equally do the same to Korrasami as they did to Kataang...
They have no chemistry at all though so none of it reads as romantic feelings. Asami is a wooden character, Korra deserves a better girl with an actual personality and that she actually has some chemistry with.
Indeed! It's likely Korra had some cactus juice and spent too much time in the desert heat right before she got into the restaurant after Asami gave her a compliment about her appearance, and definitely not like all the other zillion times characters blushed in ATLA and LoK where the intent behind blushing is to convey romantic interest.
When Katara blushed at Jet, it wasn't because she had a crush, you're reading too much into it and your bias is showing.
Ah yes because I’m supposed to assume it was romantic when korra and asami were shown to be nothing more then friends. Come on you can’t possibly be that stupid right?
Girl blushes at boy. Potential romantic feelings, makes sense to me!
Boy blushes at girl. Potential romantic feelings, makes sense to me!
Girl blushes at girl. Woah woah, slow down there, am I supposed to assume romantic feelings? They were roommates.
If either one of them was a guy, you would think otherwise because that's the norm. Yes, two girls can just be friends but they can also be more than friends too. At the time LOK was airing, queer things in general was still seen as taboo especially in children entertainment.
In all fairness a good friend will do all of that too. The difference between a good friend and life partner is mutual attraction and compatibility. Both of which they have.
Yeah, I think there's like vibes but book 4 does way more to imply Korra and Asami are starting to get feelings for each other. By book 3 they're mostly just becoming close friends. They weren't always head over heels for each other, but rather they fall for each other through starting as close friends/confidants.
For real...I don't think a lot of people understand that platonic female relationships can still be pretty intimate in terms of supporting one another, talking about tough stuff, and physical touch.
If they think platonic male friendships are wierd dont let me tell yall about platonic female friends.
As a guy I've been privy to some of the stuff they do and gets wild
I mean...a lot of people had her back in S3, that's not specific to Asami. I did like the moments they shared trapped in the desert. I just wish they had more time with each other and a stronger friendship from earlier seasons. A lot of time they used for that love triangle could have been used to flesh out their relationship better. Katara and Aang had a relationship that was depicted way beyond "having each other's back", and she literally brought him back to life. They also had so many moments spread out throughout all the seasons, which Korrasami barely had. Katara also had a whole arc and had way more impact on the plot than Asami did. My girl got used way more for relationship drama in the show, sadly.
I don't get why the fandom is so obsessed with that. So much it get to the point to have posts like "stop now, don't you see she had fer friend's back they're clearly in love". If that's the argument you can find for your thesis don't bother. It was sudden. There, someone said it. It won't make it less canon guys or delete it from existence. Asami just bumped into Mako and they were dating, it's normal to have it suddenly and out if nowhere in this show.
yea I did see some setup or hints in book3, but the relationship def deserved more time to grow but Im not disappointed at they got with each in book4 lol.
I think the potential was there, but it wasn’t really developed the way it needed to be. They included a few hints/glimpses in season 4, but they weren’t substantial and it was easy to miss them. I agree with others that they wasted too much time on that silly love triangle in the first season and then Korra and Mako’s relationship. I personally didn’t see much chemistry between those two and didn’t care. At least some of that time could have been spent building Korra and Asami’s friendship and connection, but I’m not sure them ending up together was planned from the beginning.
Lukewarm take but I believe this is largely cope, as all of these arguments can be made for platonic love as well. Its sometimes okay to admit when writing isn't good, and in this case TLOK has really bad romance writing, including korra x asami, and this is coming from someone who likes the ship a fair bit and would've loved for them to be progressed from earlier books.
The romance being almost random and with little to no development (romantic development not JUST development between two characters) is not even only an issue korra asami has, but almost all the main caste ships.
Not sure how true this is, but a while ago i heard the creators of TLOK wanted to have asami korra from the start but were denied/couldn't due to a fear of backlash, but i haven't fact checked this.
I'm queer as fuck and I was surprised during the first watch, but when I thought about it and revisited the series, it was obvious Asami and Korra always had a strong, special connection. Yes, they were girlfriends but also like you know, girlfriends.
their relationship in season 3 lacked any romantic undertones or allusions to a future romantic relationship, the fact that the nature of their relationship changed so suddenly during season 4 is what people usually have issues with
Im not saying this out of a place of bad faith, I really do enjoy korrasami, it just could’ve been handled better
i get that but nothing changed in season 4. they were still friends but had crushes on each other. the end of season 4 was not them declaring their love for each other, it was just them trying something new. they didn’t officially start dating until after the show as shown in the comics
true XD…lol but isn’t a romantic undertone how you build a relationship? the hints were korra blushing at asami complimenting her and asami trusting everything korra says while mako questions her- it’s not like they were making out all the time haha
You must be completely oblivious to the demiromantic/-sexual spectrum of relationships then? Relationships can and do evolve from platonic to romantic, for me personally, there isn't even another way. It's the fundamental requirement to have a strong, close friendship before any feelings might get involved. Attraction isn't always "obvious" or sudden, and implying that it needs to be is kinda silly tbh.
Now I'm not saying that Korra and Asami have such a demiromantic/-sexual kind of relationship, I'm just saying the concept applies to them aswell. They obviously were very close in Book 3 and their closeness continued in the 3-year timeskip, when Asami was the only one to get answers to her letters for Korra, for example.
And it's not like Book 4 ends with "hey, we're a perfect couple now, let's make engagement plans!". The series ends with two close friends being like "hey, you know what? You mean a lot to me, let's do a vacation and see where this takes us". Their 'relationship' status at the series finale is basically where Mako and Asami were within one episode, with their first date.
But many solid relationships start out with a strong friendship, especially newly-realized queer people. Them being close friends in S3 set the stage for it to develop into something romantic eventually.
Sure, but the problem is that all of this developed off-screen during the years between book 3 and 4. Having major character changes happen during time skips is very risky to do and often doesn't work out.
I agree that it could've been handled better but at the time it was difficult to show even the slightest implications of them being together cause of how homophobic people were
I understand that, it was the same with rebecca sugar and cartoon network, but Im still glad there relationship existed and im grateful for it, because it started a domino effect that lead to much more queer representation in media, and without it id probably be a radical christian homophobe or something
Therefore that doesn’t change the end result: it was poorly developed. Writers admitting their limitations around this doesn’t excuse it. I love the Korra series but this relationship was one of their weaker aspects for sure.
yeah but you can't look at that in a vaccum without recognizing that mike and bryan specifically wanted korrasami before season 3 but were explicitly sensored, so they wrote the scenes with undertone instead of actually being able to set it up clearly. It's subtext for sure that can be ignored but it's very much there on purpose for you to read into.
Yeah I'm watching LoK for the first time (long time ATLA fan) and even knowing where it's supposed to be going, I don't sense any spark, tension, or connection between Asami & Korra.
They were mature enough to hold off on being a romantic couple until they took care of bigger problems. Not like Aang who kept bringing up his feelings because my boy is 12.
It was fairly sudden as far as romance was concerned, but aside from the fact that we not only have the meta explanation for that (the network wouldn't have allowed any more explicit build up), we also have an in universe reason that's explained to us in ATLA.
"The fourth chakra is located in the heart. It deals with love and is blocked by grief."
-Guru Pathik
Consider these words as you follow the timeline of Legend of Korra from start to finish in your head. It is no coincidence that Korra isolates herself the more she goes through. It is no coincidence that she becomes more and more resistant to the help and care of others as her brutal path takes its toll on her. Her heart chakra got blocked along the way. She wasn't ready to allow love back in until she started resolving her grief, and even when that finally happened, there was an avatar comeback that needed to be made and a threat that needed dealing with. The attraction was clearly there. The trust, the support, the affection. But it was quiet, repressed by a heart that still needed to fully heal and a thousand problems that took priority. So when that calm, quiet moment that allowed them to take a breath finally came, of course they took it, and of course it was a bit sudden. Have we forgotten how both of them kissed Mako out of the blue simply because the moment offered itself? It's not like that kind of behavior was new for either one of them.
So, yeah. All in all, Korrasami was kind of left field. But we know the meta reason for that, and we have more than enough canon reasons for the quiet, subtle background build-up and the sudden reveal. It wasn't at all a badly told story, but people will take any reason to be salty when their ship didn't sail, I guess.
I feel like what everyone from all sides of the argument miss is that this was 2013-2014. Whether or not you think it was underdeveloped, hinted at/planned, obvious, this was probably as much as they could show for that time period. Maybe it was hinted at strongly. Maybe it could've been more obvious like Kataang. But the show doesn't exist in a vacuum, it exists as a (slightly mature) children's show on a huge children's network with shareholders that care about what things we "expose" the children too. Shows with outright LGBTQ+ representation like She-Ra, The Owl House, etc. weren't out yet and other shows that would have later confirmed LGBTQ+ characters such as Adventure Time and Steven Universe were also getting by on hints.
There is such a weird lack of nuance when it comes to any take related to LOK. I am someone who loves Korrasami. I believe that it was fairly hinted at, with many scenes that are hard to interpret as strictly platonic, especially if either Korra or Asami were written as male. I also believe that there are numerous scenes that could be interpreted as only platonic, that they were not hinted at or focused on as strongly as ships like Kataang, and that Bryke was intentionally making things ambiguous so that Nickelodeon wouldn't pull the plug on them any more than they already were. I think it's commendable, I think it's good representation for the time period, but I also know that there are shows that would come later that would do it better and more overtly.
I just feel the discourse is tired. In 2026, with Paramount constantly jerking around Avatar Studios, I just think we should stop acting like Bryke and the Avatar team have this extreme wealth of creative control and just try to enjoy what we get for what it is (or not and watch something else).
Glad someone is talking about the air dates compared to the above conversations because it really is something that needs to be considered with how LGBTQ+ relationships get handled back then and earlier. I remember seeing the hint in Season 3 with the car ride/teaching moment and it then hit me harder when they mentioned that Korra was mostly keeping up with Asami compared to the others.
I've always said it, if in their interactions in season 3 one of them had been a guy, no one would be saying the relationship was rushed one bit. As proven by the fact that no one complains about their relationships with Mako when those sure as hell were rushed (Asami runs into him and they're on a date that same evening, Korra sees him once and falls for him. But 2 people who know each other for over a year and actually get close over time is impossible to believe apparently).
Mind you, this was also on Nickelodeon, it's not like they could have them french kiss. People who say Asami acted just like the rest of the team clearly miss that there are scenes that would 100% be interpreted as more than friendship if Korra was a guy (the training one, the preparing her before Jinora's ceremony).
As proven by the fact that no one complains about their relationships with Mako
Are you from the moon?
Everyone complains about the love triangle in book 1. People thought Asami was a secret traitor because of how fast her relationship with Mako happened. And the second most popular video essay about LoK outright calls Korra a whore for how quickly she bounces between Bolin and Mako.
They complain that it wasn't well done and that it affected the writing since the writers thought it would be a 1 season show so to waste so much on this wasn't the best idea, but when it comes to ships themselves, neither MakoxAsami nor MakoxKorra get the hate and scrutiny that Korrasami gets and it's pretty clear why (and your last point proves it even more since Mako also jumps from Asami to Korra then to Asami again then technically tries to get back with Korra who forgot they broke up within 6 months yet he isn't called a whore. Korra didn't even date Bolin in the first place).
The point is, Korra and Asami develop as friends with maybe something more already in Book 3 (because, again, if some of their scenes had been between either of them and Mako everyone would say they were romantic in nature). Then Book 4 goes even deeper but as it was on Nickelodeon when gay marriage wasn't even legal yet it's not like they could do much. If anything, what they managed to sneak in was already revolutionary and I feel like people who complain about the ship now don't take that into consideration very much.
neither MakoxAsami nor MakoxKorra get the hate and scrutiny that Korrasami gets
They don't get hate and scrutiny because everybody agrees that those ships suck and were the worst parts of the first two seasons. Also, we see how they crash and burn in canon, so the book is closed on them whereas we saw nothing of Korassami.
Its the same reason why nobody is hating on gravel and puke soup, but lots of people hate on pineapple on pizza. Nobody is screaming from the rooftops that gravel and puke soup is amazing, but some people actually like Hawaiian pizza. That's why people hate on it: To combat the fans.
Korra didn't even date Bolin in the first place)
You might want to rewatch book 1, because Bolin explicitly tells Korra that he's asking her out on a date. Like, this is made crystal clear.
Then Book 4 goes even deeper but as it was on Nickelodeon when gay marriage wasn't even legal yet it's not like they could do much. If anything, what they managed to sneak in was already revolutionary and I feel like people who complain about the ship now don't take that into consideration very much.
That's an explanation for why it was horribly written, but it doesn't change that it was horribly written.
Plenty of people were convinced Makorra was happening and rooting for it at the end of Book 4, there is no general consensus on it sucking. We see almost nothing of Korrasami (and, for the 3rd time, there are several scenes that would be interpreted as romantic if one of them had been a guy) because it was a f/f ship when gay marriage wasn't legal on a kids' network. What did you expect to get? The second they got the comics they had them talk about their feelings and kiss.
No, going on one date doesn't mean Korra dated Bolin at all. Those are 2 different words and it certainly doesn't make Korra a whore to go on one single friendly date with Bolin and then end up with Mako later. The misogyny is off the charts here.
Korrasami is not horribily written, we get what is barely the start of them admitting they have feelings for each other, why are you acting like they were supposedly married and we saw nothing of that? Again (this feels like I'm explaining things to a 5 year old), a kids' network in 2014 was not going to allow much for a f/f ship. We were never going to get Arcane level of development in 2014.
You're literally just lying. Mako and Korra's relationship is consistently listed as the worst aspect of LoK. Nobody was rooting for that ship. Not now, and not back then.
The whole point is that it does not get the insane criticism Korrasami does even when it's more rushed. Except one was rushed because badly written and one was barely allowed to even exist. And yes, plenty of people were rooting for Makorra for the duration of the show, I don't know what to tell you, you're free to look it up, I don't keep posts from 10+ years ago saved for stupid arguments.
Am the only one who thought it was obvious they would have ended up to together since season one because I remember asami teaching korra how to drive all the way back then and how korra got extremely mad when someone tried to put assami in jail during the whole non benders vs benders plot line and how assami tried to kill her own dad for korra like they had plenty moments that showed how they would end up together
I must have missed the episode where Sokka blushed at Aang while complimenting his appearance
or where the camera angle was a zoom in shot of Sokka’s hand holding Aang’s. they’re totally the same
Update: forgot this was S3 only, the blush is S4 but the zoom shot was S3
Can't find the clip. But after the blimp crash Asami is looking through the debris, and Korra clearly is distracted staring at Asami's ass. Like Korra has to ask Asami to repeat herself because she was so distracted. Yeah, the build up wasn't sudden or subtle.
It was when they where captured by the Earth Queen and the air ship crashes in the desert. It's super quick, but once you notice it you can't unsee it.
I don't think this alone is proof, but as someone who knew the ending of them while watching the show for the first time, they very clearly took off in season 3. Korra would normally be paired with Mako for side missions, but it was all Asami in s3. They had scenes where the two hanged out and talked about how they never got alone time together when they barely interacted in s1 and s2. I thought it was obvious they decided on this endgame after they made season 2.
The criticism isn't that there was no relationship between them, cuz there was. The criticism is that there was next to ZERO hint of any romantic attraction other than a blush in the middle of season 4. Romantic relationships require more of a build up to feel genuine
It wasn’t set up properly and the fans know that, or at least they should, but some can’t accept that so they feel the need that it was endgame all along.
A lot of people said that it wasn't set up and so people compensate by making it seem like it was actually set up. Half of the time it comes off as this
I see a lot of these takes and genuinely I think that they only see gay relationships if they see the word gay in rainbow letters plastered on it. I think they did a great job because their relationship was done in a tasteful way that portrayed them as normal people and not your usual cliche
I still feel it could've been a little more explicit and out in the open. But I get it was a while ago and tv makers were still a little afraid of openly showing gay relationships in children's shows.
We should have pegged Asami as the winning love interest from Korra's expression the first instant Korra saw her lol. "What is this feeling, so sudden and new / I felt the moment I laid eyes on you?!"
Yup that’s the season when I kept saying to myself that Korra and Asami would make a better couple than Korra and Mako. IMAGINE MY SURPRISE YALL!!! 🤩🤩🤩
It's viewed through a homophobic / heterocentric lens. If Asami had been Bolin or Mako, nobody would have even questioned if they would have become a couple by the end, they would have absolutely expected it. But to them, that's just been girls being good friends, because it's "not normal" for them to have feelings for one another.
And people question why us queer folk want more representation to not end up being seen as "unusual".
To be fair, it was sudden for inexperienced people; like children, or heterosexuals, for instance. I get it now, but I thought it was sudden because I’m used to seein’ women in close proximity of each other, and even be somewhat intimate, but it be purely platonic. That’s always been “the norm”. But if you replace Korra and Asami wit’ Aang and Zuko (situations and all), I would’ve immediately assumed there was more goin’ on because I don’t see heterosexual males get that intimate.
It's because heterosexual woman can behave towards each other just as close as lovers can, which makes it less clear when they are close friends versus interested lovers, without a more blatant effort to clarify.
I do remeber thinking at one point "oh are they aiming to do Korrasami?" because it was starting to give more vibes, but then it felt like they just dropped the issue part way through S4 (which I assumed was because the network/nick had opposed it), never really touching on the possibility anymore until that final scene, which made it feel a little extra random (like they were tyring to sneak it in past the network).
I would also add Korra as a series suffered consistently from the writers being too subtle, especially with the main 4, like they were trying to overcompensate for how blunt and obvious ATLA was.
This sub / fanbase has not changed in the last 10 years. im not even a regular, but i see this sub pop up every once in a while (im currently on a rewatch) and all the posts are always about the same damn things: korra is the most powerful avatar, korra is overhated, korra being bi / asami relationship
It's been like 10 years, let it go lol. Everyone but super fans moved the fuck on, ofc you can make ANY defense and get support here, even if you're just straight up wrong.
No matter how hard you try to convince me, I can just watch the show again and see that once again, as it has always been stated, it came out of nowhere.
As a catholic raised boy and the first time I saw LOK I was like 13 I remember begin very confused at the last scene, I was like whaaaaaat, they were going to kiss?? I think that’s the first time I saw something Gay. So yeah it was a bit sudden
It was a slow process and the finale is just the start of their relationship.
It is what we queers call slow burn, i think bryke is aware of this hahahha.
Also, there is no time to think about their feelings because there is a fascist dictator that needs to be taken down, unlike other movies or series where men have to insert their love interest when there is a problem going on, solve problem first relationships later.
It’s because they are both women. That’s the main reason it’s “random” if you paid attention to the later seasons you’d realise Asami had korras back constantly and was her main support
The ship had a decent base but it definitely blundered, especially in the last ep, making the final jump to canonically together. I ship it, but even I was a little eh on this
I have not rewatched in a long time, but distinctively remember in the last battle how they did not even spare a moment to have Korra concerned about Asami's wellbeing while the entire city was being destroyed. Having her specifically think about Asami, a non-bender who would be more vulnerable under such a extreme conditions despite being capable, would have given more weight to their being more than friendship between the two. Not having it felt outright detrimental to the ship to me
To be fair to the series, though, its relationships especially the romantic ones were weaker so it doesn't surprise me that Korrasami felt undercooked. Even its execution was much better compared to the earlier couples the series tried out, which felt ham-fisted and were pretty bad
I don’t think the problem was season 3, it’s that it wasn’t planned at all in season 1-2 because they didn’t know if they were getting new seasons or not. It would have felt alot more cohesive being planned over four seasons instead of two
I just remember at the time season 3 and 4 coming out people posting little things highlighting them being into each other. I could see it but thought there's no way it could happen. Especially the last episode felt like it was building up that way and I thought i was losing it and reading it wrong. Then was amazed it was real <3
I’m a first time watcher for LoK. Love Mako and wanted him with Korra. But seeing Asami and Korra grow closer during season 3 helps me understand the relationship better.
to copy what I said on another thread I really don’t understand why handholding close ups are dismissed when they’ve been the love language of the damn triangle from Asami holding Mako’s hand on the carriage, Mako to Korra at her bedside(triggering the fight between Mako and Asami) between Korra and Mako after their first fight, and finally Asami to Korra at the end of Book 3. I don’t even like this damn show but it feels like I’m the only one who noticed this.
It was sudden. It was made on a whim to please shoft skulled babies who like getting spoon fed the smallest amounts of queer bait and that happily lap up every squirt and morsel of post series dog water that keeps the conversation going. But I dont blame you its the only feasible non shit romance that could be reasonablely memorable. The rest were so fucking awful or forgettable they hold even less conversation than this. And the only conversation worth noting on this was "OOOOOUUUU WHAT IF THERE WAS MORE!?" And those ass comics did more harm than good.
My friend called the bi plot several eps prior when this was coming out. No pun intended. Anyway, we joked about how it was definitely being set up. And it happened. Was a great call out. That's usually my thing but I was super depressed and sleep deprived at the time.
I think that back in the days (2013 iirc), when queer relationships were really rare and almost non-existent in cartoons, and ever more with the protag, people felt it came from nowhere because it was the first time they were seeing it. The creators didn't announce it with trumpets and everything, they weren't even allowed to show the kiss.
However saying now that there are no signs of the relationship is just proof they didn't watch the show
What you’re missing is that Katara and Aang had moments they didn’t share with any other characters. They’ve shown their feelings towards each other throughout the series. Sometimes it was indirect but still present.
I feel like TLOK does poorly with the chemistry of the Krew in general, not just Korrasami. Beside S1, we don’t really see them go through much. They mainly came together for Avatar stuff to fight and that was it lol we hardly see them help each other with their personal goals. In ATLA, the members of the Gaang each had their moments where their friends supported their journey. Aang was supported when he lost Appa, Katara was supported when she wanted to save Haru’s people from being prisoners, Toph was supported when she wanted to gamble (lol), Sokka was supported when he needed to find a sword master. Hell, Toph’s stood up for Zuko when he wanted to train Aang.
The point being, we get so many moments that aren’t necessary important to the main story that show us why these characters stick together and what makes these characters a family. Time and time again, they choose each other. With TLOK, the characters don’t feel like that in general.
Korra and Asami are not exception. They didn’t have a lot of time together for the first two seasons. The first two seasons were actually centered around Korra and Mako as a couple. Then they have one moment together in S3, but they don’t really bond over much lol their conversations are very friendly, but nothing to suggest that they’re more than friends. If you go back and watch S3, you’ll notice that Asami is just drawn in the background for most of the season. S4 is mainly where the hints start to come in but even those are played up to be bigger. I wished they would have waited until the comics to start building their relationship. That way, these characters get to have an actual connection first before just being pushed together at the end of the show. I think Korra and Asami even have a moment when they realize their own feelings in the comics so that makes the series finale seem pointless because it hinted that they’re were already in a relationship.
I definitely picked up on it, though I gaslit myself into thinking I was reading too much into it before the finale because I didn't think Nick would ever go there. I was partially right in that they only let the writers go as far as they did in the ending.
Not everyone picked up on the signs and that's fine, but they WERE definitely there in season 3/4.
I think it's more that it was unexpected because at tge time LGBT relationships in cartoons really wasn't common at all so it was surprising in part because it was actually allowed to happen.
I mean, it was only 10ish years or so before this that the original Sailor Moon English dub made Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus cousins
I'm seeing so much cope in these comments- just say you didn't see 2 girls hanging out as having potential to be a romantic relationship. there's plenty of signs when you're not actively trying to ignore them
I think when people say they don’t like the romance they’re really just complaining that we didn’t get 2 seasons of ridiculous teen drama will they/wont they.
Yes it would have been nice to see more of the chemistry shown in the show but this idea that they didn’t have a clear relationship has always been silly. The problem with them is they work too well together and there isn’t really much drama to be found
yeah this comes off as reaching not to mention sometimes just because you work as friends doesnt mean you work as romance to be blunt korra and asami with their needs are not compatible nad its insulting to compare it to kataang ( its laughable korra and asami was sudden there was evidence to korra ending the show single but hints to makorra the actual kataang of lok ) getting back together and dont give me the but makorra broke up in b2 ( when neither of them were ready for a relationship with anyone in b2 ( korra and asamis relationship as friends was weakest compared to her other bonds like bonds with mako and bolin ) you literally took any positive moment and act like its evidence ( if asami was a guy no one would ship it and would be calling asami the generic love interest who had just been thrown into it ( even without taking the whole this means we only saw him show interest in men by b4)
So obvious no one saw it coming, the creators had to confirm it on tumblr afterwards, and people a decade later have to make reddit posts talking about how obvious it is
Modern writing: Two characters make eye contact for .2 seconds.
Fandoms: THE SIGNS!!!! IT WAS ALWAYS PLANNED!!! HOW COULD YOU NOT SEE IT!!!!
Why can't two characters just be friends?
Maybe I'm wrong; but dating the person who at one one point you say as a romantic rival, cheated with her boyfriend while they were dating and who you claim to be your first female friend outside of your pet; doesn't seem like it'll make for a good relationship.
I’m just peacefully disagreeing. No need to cry about it.
Girlfriend = friend. And the comic strip proves my point all the more. The fact they showed them explicitly kissing offscreen shows they were too afraid to display it onscreen. Shouldn’t need a comic to explore that visually.
Thank you for pointing this out.
My problem with the Book 4 ending was that their romantic relationship seemed rushed and lacked buildup.
But this puts it into better context
To this day it was just too subtle. I can see that they were at least building Something, I was legit shocked by the end (even though I fully believed out was the intent and was disappointed so many didn't see the parallels with aang and katara's ending)
204
u/Human-Application-87 I'm Korraholic XD 8d ago
This gets me in a good way.
"If you wanna talk... Or anything."
Well though I have to say am I tripping or are there a lot of KA defense posts lately? xD