TV Review: A Jedi Fights Her Way Back from the Darkness In "Star Wars Visions" Volume 3, Episode 8 - "The Bird of Paradise"

Today saw the release of Volume 3 of Lucasfilm’s animated anthology series Star Wars: Visions, and below are my thoughts on the eighth installment from this third batch of short films, entitled “The Bird of Paradise” from Polygon Pictures.

“The Bird of Paradise” is something of an enigma among the short films in Visions Volume 3– first off, it’s apparently CGI-animated, as opposed to the hand-drawn anime style I’m used to seeing in the other examples. Secondly, it’s mostly about one character– a Jedi Padawan named Nakime (voiced by Sonoya Mizuno in the English dub)-- who is on an intimate journey of self-discovery rather than a planet-hopping adventure with allies. After falling in battle, Nakime finds herself unable to see, although it’s clear to viewers that she’s simply keeping her eyes closed. We also see the Padawan trapped between two worlds, much like what happened in the fan-favorite “Shadow Warrior” episode of Star Wars: Ahsoka. But instead of confronting her old master, most of the visions that Nakime encounters over the course of days are shades of herself.

It should probably go without saying by this point that the animation is gorgeous here, but the imagery in this one particularly stands out because of the change in medium– obviously there are things you can do using CGI that would be impossible with ink and paper, and Polygon puts those advantages to glorious use. The other thing that stood out to me about “The Bird of Paradise” is Nakime’s encounter with a mystical toad-like creature voiced by Star Trek’s George Takei, who has already contributed to the Star Wars universe via The Clone Wars animated series and Visions Volume 1. Those moments are both amusing and enlightening, as our protagonist continues on her introspective journey to learn a new way to see through the Force. As for what the title of this episode means, we do see the familiar Earthly flower of the same name in one of Nakime’s visions, but I wonder if the creators of this short want us to draw another connection. I’ll have to ruminate further on that the next time I watch it, but until then it’s on to the final entry in Volume 3.

Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 is now streaming in its entirety, exclusively via Disney+.