Star Wars Visions (Anime Anthology)

[Brother Jack]

Kyber crystal colors corresponding to Jedi and Sith personalities is sort of canon. The crystals start out as clear and through the process of the Jedi/Sith creating their lightsaber they change color. In old canon each color had its own codified significance, but I don't know if that's been carried over.

 

[Pennywise]

Space Weddings and Ronin Jedi: Star Wars Visions Directors on Reinventing the Iconic Franchise - IGN

 

[TheWiseGuy487]

I did as well, so much so that I think it should be canonized.

It’s like a less extreme version of bleeding the crystals in current canon. Only, instead of a dark side user having to force its color to change, due to their strong connection to the Force, you could just say these particular Kyber crystals are artificially made or have been tampered with in such a way as to allow their color and appearance to be dependent on the users’ level of connection to the Force.

You could easily make it work in current canon.

 

[Iceman]

I had thought this was some behind the scenes/discussion stuff rather than anime Star Wars. Haha. Will get on this asap.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[KillerMcQueen]

Kyber crystal colors corresponding to Jedi and Sith personalities is sort of canon. The crystals start out as clear and through the process of the Jedi/Sith creating their lightsaber they change color. In old canon each color had its own codified significance, but I don't know if that's been carried over.

I feel like it has carried over to an extent at least, all of the temple guards carry yellow blades for example, so I feel like the color must say something about the type of Jedi they are.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Finally got around to this...


I'm very mixed despite enjoying the premise of letting some great anime minds play in the SW sandbox.

The premise lends itself to great creativity but then they box it in by having these insanely short run times so it just feels very rushed and underdeveloped. Many indeed felt like the pilots for a series or a would be new trilogy of films. A lot were good interesting concepts that would be great to explore but again there's a lack of resonance for me. These should have been given an hour to half hour each depending on story to really make them sing.

After finishing this season I would say overall... Interesting curiosity and would'nt tell someone not to check them out but while overall gorgeous to look at I was more often than not left cold.

Breakdown by episodes:

Spoiler

The Duel-

We start off in a manner that for sure makes this seem very much like some kind of alt-universe take, which is fine, even fitting given how the films of Feudal Japan's era were a big influence on Lucas. The choices of B/W and the pseudo charcoal rubbing nature of the animation made it stand out immediately and of course the designs and fluidity were on point and that's something every episode has in common, this is all well planned and executed animation of a very high order. That said, this was inscrutable as a story too a large degree and that aspect made this whole season a very frustrating watch. This was all "cool" but I just wondered what the point of anything I saw was. So the Ronin was not a Jedi? And he gave away the crystal and... Yeah I just felt like there was a ton we should have been given a lot more context on. As an exercise in stylistics it's 10/10. It missed the mark in most other ways though.


Tatooine Rhapsody-

I'm sorry to all the hard core anime fans but this was the episode that put into focus so much of the tropes and style of Anime that I have little fondness for. I will say I was expecting some twist like this was Jabba's slacker son or some such. Once again, by the end I just wondered what was the point? Outside of the usual BS "power of friendship" anime nonsense I didn't get what the connections between the characters were. Padwan got saved by Hutt rebel dude and is thankful... And? The Super Deformed style also didn't help.


The Twins-

Hoo-Boy... While I get that there's all sorts of established nature of the fictional universe issues with this story (Did you complain about Leia flying in space in TLJ? Well... I'll be interested in hearing the reaction for this.) they aren't my problem with the ep. It's anime SW so I grant a lot of leeway and this is all on shakey ground Re: Cannon anyway. No, battling outside of Star Destroyers and nose surfing X-Wings while NOT having space suits on wasn't what held this back. It's again the rushed nature... And I KNOW I'm gonna get rapped on the mouth for saying this again but... Even with Disney money backing this, wow does this show the limitations of the VO style for anime. Things are already spinning faster than normal (character arcs, rising action etc...) given the shortness but add in the frankly often silly way anime dub VO is done and it's not a recipe for me to enjoy something. Great idea... flawed execution.


The Village Bride-


I know... "Show don't tell" but for real... Again this show handicaps enjoyment because you can't get your bearings on anything. A mess of out of context mysterious stuff is thrown at you and you have little or no information OR they are apparently building up a mystery background that you aren't ever going to see. I much was cleared up by reading wikis online but I'm sorry, if you HAVE to do that, seek out anncilary material to get an inkling of what's happening in your story... It's a failing. Which isn't to say that there's nothing to reccommend. The Character of the Jedi herself was intriguing to a degree along with the question of who her master was and what their relationship was like but the story told was to rushed and opaque.



The Ninth Jedi-

This was maybe the best executed of the bunch for me. Again, it felt like you were rocketing through the plot at high speed but the concept, action etc. were all on point and the set up at the end felt very much like the first episode of some quest Anime from the 70's/80's.


T0-B1-

This was just... Cute. An obvious homage to Astroboy it told its story well enough and entertainingly enough given it was over so quickly. Just a cute little story.


The Elder-

This was another episode that I felt worked well with the format and runtime. David Harbour doing this wonderful understated performance that actually worked despite the issues with VO and lip synching in anime. And James Hong as the Elder was wonderfully threatening and creepy. This one again made me open to seeing what happens next, not neccesarily to see what the origin of the Elder was but to see more of Harbour and his Padwan.


Lop and Ochō-

This was SO anime it wasn't funny. For good and bad. The thing seemed almost to be the perfect anime/SW mashup by just dressing up the usual themes and tropes of anime with a SW coating. But once again awkward VO work (And writing...) where characters rubber band to extremes and not always with good explanations or understandable motivations gets expressed through voices that sound like hyperactive 11 year olds acting out a scene from a movie that just blew their minds, always shaves off alot of points from me. All that said, I could totally see this as a series and Lop was engineered in the same lab as Baby Yoda for marektability.



Akakiri-

This felt like the Ronin episode, where there's major honoring of the Japanese films that influenced Star Wars. There's definitely Hidden Fortress DNA in this. The VO work here was good and subtle. Also, a big SW welcome to Capt. Sulu of Starfleet as Takei did some work here. Also, kudos to Henry Golding who really shined and showed range in this part. This had a nice anthology feel to it. I didn't really need all the background to get what was going on and honestly, I don't really need to see how things play out after the story ended. A nice tight little piece. No more, no less.



I am certainly up for a season two just based on visuals but this was more negative than positive for myself.

 

[vantheman77]

Loving these Visions episodes, especially with TO-B1.

 

[Pennywise]

https://collider.com/henry-golding-interview-star-wars-visions-disney-plus/

 

[Sithborg]

I will say, binging it can be a bit rough, because good lord, do they like to reuse certain lines from the movies.

 

[DarkKnight88]

I will say, binging it can be a bit rough, because good lord, do they like to reuse certain lines from the movies.

I've got a bad feeling about this post.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Boom]

Welp, let's get on it Disney.

 

[Pennywise]

Welp, let's get on it Disney.

Totally, was my favourite of the shorts!

 

[Drizzle]

If Disney can greenlight a soulless Home Alone remake then they can surely greenlight a Ninth Jedi series. It's a matter of when, not if.

 

[Pennywise]

'Star Wars: Visions' Short 'The Village Bride' Submitted for Oscars Consideration

 

[Sithborg]

There is a Visions panel this year at Celebration, so I am hopeful for a Visions 2.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Sithborg]

Wonderful idea to expand Visions beyond Japanese animation studios.

 

[Pennywise]

Wonderful idea to expand Visions beyond Japanese animation studios.

Disney Announces Star Wars Visions Season 2

Revealed on Sunday during the final day of Star Wars Celebration, the beloved animated anthology has some new shorts up its sleeve. Rather than pulling from Japanese animation again, the second series of shorts will become much more global: along with Japan, studios from Chile, the United Kingdom, France, South Africa, South Korea, India, Ireland, and Spain are said to be offering their own takes on the sci-fi franchise, each with their own styles. And of course, Lucasfilm proper in California will get in on the action as well.

After the last season brought us fascinating explorations of droids as Jedi, alternate takes on the Skywalker twins, and a pretty sweet Ronin, it’ll be exciting to see what other parts of the universe get their own time to shine. It’s just another piece of exciting Star Wars animation to come over the next year, preceded by the second season of The Bad Batch and the new anthology series, Tales of the Jedi. Interestingly, though, it sounds like the franchise may have another anime project up its sleeve: when asked, Lucasfilm executive James Waugh teased that “Star Wars and anime has a very, very bright future.” If those hypothetical shows are anything like Visions, we can’t wait.

 

[BlackFox]

My personal fave of all the Star Wars Disney+ shows, glad its getting a second season.

And as for a full length version of the Ninth Jedi from the first season. I'm literally throwing money at the screen.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

My personal fave of all the Star Wars Disney+ shows, glad its getting a second season.

And as for a full length version of the Ninth Jedi from the first season. I'm literally throwing money at the screen.

The Ninth Jedi deserves its own trilogy

 

[Pennywise]

Primetime Emmy Awards Nominates Star Wars: Visions Anime Short 'The Duel' for Award

 

[Pennywise]

Star Wars: Visions Volume 2 Release Date, Studios Revealed

Today, Disney+ and Lucasfilm announced that the second volume of the animated anthology series will premiere May 4, 2023, a.k.a. Star Wars Day, exclusively on Disney+. Volume 2, building on the Emmy Award-nominated first run of Star Wars: Visions in 2021, will feature nine new shorts from nine studios from around the globe; the shorts promise to feature unique animation styles from a variety of countries and cultures, depicting each filmmaker’s specific vision of the Star Wars galaxy.

 

[Sithborg]

Studio Mir is the only one I know off the bat.

Aardman being the Walter & Gromit guys, that will be interesting to see.

Just based on the Wolfwalkers trailer, I look forward to seeing what Cartoon Saloon brings.