Aau's Song

I thought this was a pretty good episode, and a fine finale.

The animation is ADORABLE and really beautiful as well. The pacing and voice work was all pretty decent too. Aau was a pretty likable character.

But this was also just a refreshing take on the force, and how it finds people, as opposed to people just finding the force. The whole music angle just felt very original and honestly pretty believable for a Star Wars piece. The ending was really, really satisfying too. I honestly would not mind seeing more of these characters and this animation style.

This might be one of the better episodes of Season 2! I didn't think any of them were inherently bad, some better than others. It was very enjoyable and I hope this show moves forward with an third season.

Okay, let's start with the good. Aau's Song looks great as far as design. The story is okay. Nothing special.

Okay, now that we got the good out of the way. Throughout the second season of Visions, the animation has been terrible. Whether it was CGI, stop-motion or CGI disguised as stop-motion, the animation has been choppy to say the least. It's like Disney tried to save money by taking out half the frames or by doing without in-between animators. And Aau's Song has maybe the worst animation from the whole season. I don't know if it's because of the animation in the Spider-Verse movie or what, but it seems this new style of animation is here to stay. And it's horrible. I don't know if it's the use of computers to animate, rather than than traditional cel animation. I don't know if it's cheaper. Don't know if people actually like this style or what. But for me, it's terrible, just terrible.

Bottom line; except for 2 or 3 episodes, this season was almost unwatchable due to this bad animation. Take also into account that most of the episodes were terrible story-wise too. Very disappointed, considering season 1 was fantastic.

I'm honestly conflicted on this one. Every other episode in this season, I have a pretty confident, strong opinion about whether I like it or not. This one, I'm pretty torn. For example, the animation style. I adore the backdrops, but am not sure I like the characters. I enjoy Studio Ghibli and I feel like this may have been somewhat inspired by that type of thing. The characters aren't necessarily designed badly either. It's more the disconcerting way they move with the animation style. Then there's the plot; not much is really going on here, but it is somewhat interesting and unique (up until the end where pretty much the same thing happens as most of these episodes). I like that a jedi manifested in a way other than some combat situation. After some thought, decided I like this one more than I disliked it and can't really pinpoint any specific flaws besides preferential problems. It's a pretty good end to the season, but definitely not the season's highlight.

From all the shorts seen in this second season; this one seems one of the most "complete" stories so far.

Produced by the South African studio TriggerFish, what they have achieved here were stunning visuals, backgrounds, textures, even with very cute characters and a story simple enough to fit in a 10 to 15 minutes story, which felt like the first episode of an entire season. This short feels a lot like just an introduction of a much larger narrative.

For being a short film, they managed to have these slow moments where you only enjoy the enviroment or the main character reacting to the place where she lives, but then in the action moments, they really pulled off some very dynamic camera angles that really drives you in, and the animation slaps.

Having these little packed stories is a hurricane of fresh air outside the well known Skywalker arc, and very welcome into the Star Wars universe.

Looking forward with great expectation whatever comes next if there's a third season.

The felt doll stop motion animation is absolutely gorgeous. It evokes the warm cozy vibes of a young girl living in simple comfort with her loving father. Small choices in the animation invoke complex feelings. When Aau and her father take a motorcycle down the mountain she clings tightly to his back as they bob up and down on the road, and the mountain spins around them while their destination stays in place, evoking both childlike wonder but also the sense that the world is a huge and complex place and she only feels secure in her father's presence. Aau's gift in the force is her ability to use song to connect with the kyber crystals her people mine. This is a novel use of the force but one that feels right at home in the universe, and the music is appropriately beautiful and innocent to match her demeanor. Kratu, the visiting Jedi has one of the best character designs I've ever seen. Its a simple but compelling story about understanding your potential and stepping outside the safety of your home, but its a visual feast for the eyes that perfectly matches the sweet and innocent tone of the story.