(Thank you to Mike Rivera for contributing to this article)
With the massive success of The Mandalorian, it’s only natural that Disney would try their hand at more serialized Star Wars media. Many fans are eagerly anticipating the release of the Obi-Wan and Boba Fett spinoff shows, but to hold fans over, Disney+ has recently dropped Star Wars: Visions, a fascinating animated anthology series.
Rather than being animated by Disney itself, Star Wars: Visions is an assortment of anime shorts outsourced to seven Japanese animation studios. The result is an ensemble of fascinating shorts that vary wildly in content and style.
The opening short The Duel (done by Kamikaze Douga) is a great callback to the Kurosawa-influence on A New Hope. While the story isn’t anything revolutionary to anyone who’s watched Yojimbo or Sanjuro, The Duel experiments with one major element of Star Wars: the lightsaber action. A katana lightsaber, an umbrella lightsaber, and a machine gun balster are all used to great effect.
In contrast to The Duel, Studio Trigger’s two shorts give viewers another perspective on how Star Wars’s action could look. Known for the bombastic, cartoonish action of works like, Promare and Kill La Kill, Trigger brings more of their signature style to their two shorts: The Twins and The Elder.
The Twins is a ridiculous yet entertaining action spectacle framed as the story of two dark side twins dueling each other over a kyber crystal. The Elder, on the other hand, is a more story-driven short (with a noticeably lower animation budget) focusing on a Jedi Master and Padawan investigating rumors of a Sith Lord on a remote planet.
While most of these shorts have a clear focus on action and lightsaber fights, a couple of the shorts are noticeably more kid-oriented and comedic. T0-B1 (animated by Science SARU) is a storybook-style “homage” to Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy and tells the story of a boyish droid who dreams of becoming a Jedi.
Tatooine Rhapsody (animated by Studio Colorido) is a musical-focused story zeroing-in on a young padawan who joins an underground rock band after Order 66. In a bizarre decision, Tatooine Rhapsody is the only short to feature characters from the Star Wars canon (Boba Fett and Jabba the Hutt). Out of all the shorts, Tatooine Rhapsody certainly feels like the weakest one, due to its childish character design, barebones story, and portrayal of Boba Fett as incompetent.
As far as fan reception goes, the most well-received shorts seem to be The Village Bride and The Ninth Jedi. The latter has gotten much fan acclaim for capturing the feel of Star Wars through its editing (e.g. wipe transitions, establishing shots) and sound design.
The final two shorts—Lop and Ocho and Akakiri—feel the most radically different from the established Star Wars canon. Akakiri is especially dark in tone, recalling some of the darker moments in the Legends timeline. On the other hand, Lop and Ocho feels more focused on its own story and worldbuilding at the expense of developing itself as a Star Wars story.
Star Wars: Visions is a breath of fresh air to the Star Wars franchise. This is the first project in several years that has really pushed the boundaries of what Star Wars can be.
While this is the first time that Lucasfilm has ventured into the medium of anime, a substantial number of Star Wars fans are no strangers to the world of animation. However, Star Wars: Visions removes the safety net of your standard fan expectations, and instead dives deep into depths never explored before.
Jonathan’s Favorite Short
While most fans are praising The Ninth Jedi for being so true to the feel of Star Wars, my favorite short would be The Village Bride (animated by Kinema Citrus). While the story is simple (lone Jedi saves a small village from bandits), it stands out in terms of art, direction, and music. There’s a beautiful, otherworldly nature to the music and backgrounds that gives viewers a sense of awe at this old, unmarred planet.
The final scene of the Jedi taking out the bandit leader is beautifully animated with copious amounts of detail put into the lighting and movement. It’s a short that focuses on an angle not often seen in other Star Wars media: a lone Jedi staying true to their values even after the fall of their order. While some of the other shorts felt like they could’ve used more development, The Village Bride is the only short that I feel works perfectly as a standalone.
Mike’s Favorite Short
Of the bunch dropped in season one, my favorite short would be ‘The Ninth Jedi’. I was totally impressed by the first episode, ‘The Duel’, however ‘The Ninth Jedi’ was overall a spectacle! The series’ fifth episode brought a cinematic feel to the series, and left a wide open-door for a possible follow-up story.
Not to mention that the visuals were some of the best ever seen in Star Wars! Another standout of the episode was the twist. Each episode had its twists and turns, however this one was so surprising that the audience reaction was extremely audible on social media.
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