Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 Review: Beautifully Animated Escapades Throughout the Galaxy
Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 brings a new set of stories in the anthology series, with gorgeous animation and introducing unexplored corners of the expansive Star Wars galaxy.
The nine-episode Volume 3 begins with a sequel to the very first episode of the series, “The Duel,” directed by Takanobu Mizuno. “The Duel” provided an imaginative introduction to the series, and Part 2, titled “The Duel: Payback,” does the same, with a couple of familiar characters and a resolution for two of them that feels incredibly satisfying (there was definitely something going on between Ronin and the cool Sith Lady).
The animation style of the Duel episodes is striking: everything is in black and white as if made of cut paper, except for the weapons and lightsabers.
The series and its respective directors experiment with different color palettes, styles, and structures. What ties each episode together is the presence, if only in the periphery, of the Empire, planets like Tatooine, or explicit mention of the Jedi and the Sith. This season was unique in that it had two sequels to episodes from Season 1. The sequel episodes each managed to explore a new aspect of the story without making it feel too drawn out.
Episode 3, The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope, is a riveting story of the main character, Kara, being stranded on a planet alone, even as she is being hunted by the Empire. It takes her out of her story and makes for a self-contained moment of growth for Kara that is not necessarily reliant on the previous episode, either. Episode 1: “The Duel, Part Two” manages to accomplish the same.
Star Wars: Visions Season 3 has some wildly different animation styles, to the point where some of the switches can feel disorienting, especially when going from Episode 8: “The Bird of Paradise” to Episode 9: “Black” — where “The Bird of Paradise” leans more magical, the final installment, “Black,” is a surreal episode with disorienting, disjointed images.
Some episodes are stronger than others, and while many of them are reiterations of some classic tropes used in Star Wars, they all offer something original to the universe.
A personal favorite was Episode 2: “The Song of Four Wings,” a fast-paced, fun episode with a great score and a lovable protagonist. This episode’s narrative was by far the most self-contained, which is unfortunately not true for every episode in the anthology.
While previous seasons had episodes and shorts that could stand on their own, some of the episodes in Season 3, despite their longer runtimes compared to prior seasons, felt incomplete in their plots. For example, Episode 6: “The Lost Ones,” a rather sad story about a people displaced from their planet who are helped by a Jedi being hunted by the Empire.
The episode introduces the Jedi character and her former master, who haunts her life, but we do not get to know enough about her or the refugees because the story does not spend enough time building their characters.
Episode 5, titled “Yuko’s Treasure,” is a moving story of an orphan who is hanging on to anything that could tie her to her parents, but her parents were being hunted by the Empire (a running theme for this season), and she is being taken care of by an incredibly cuddly-looking teddy-bear-shaped droid.
Yuko is prone to trouble, and it finds her in this episode, leading to some especially adorable moments, which could only be done with excellent voice actors – I watched in the original Japanese, but it is worth noting that the voice cast for the English version was also excellent. The episode manages to capture the essence of wonder that comes with Star Wars and the possibility of characters taking viewers to different places within the galaxy.
Some of the best Star Wars projects have ironically been outside the usual Star Wars narratives around the Skywalker family, and Star Wars: Visions is one of them. The series continues to bring new, inventive stories to the Star Wars universe, all while feeling like they all belong in Star Wars. Star Wars: Visions is an impressively animated new installment of Star Wars stories that also builds out the galaxy further.
What did you think of this season of Star Wars: Visions? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to leave your own rating!
Critic Rating:
Audience Rating:
All episodes of Star Wars: Visions Season 3 are now streaming on Disney+.
Check out our latest TV recommendations, updated weekly!
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Maryam Ahmad
Maryam Ahmad is a writer on pop culture and politics, specifically focusing on South Asian and Muslim representation in media. She is a graduate from Wellesley College with a degree in Political Science and Cinema and Media Studies, and her work has been published in outlets including Nerdist, JoySauce, and The American Muslim Project. She is also the world's biggest Ms. Marvel fan, and can usually be found chipping away at 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles, reading a new fantasy series, or listening to her meticulously curated playlists.