Exploring the Galaxy of Star Wars: Visions

What is Star Wars Visions?

Star Wars: Visions is an animated anthology television series made up of nine 12-20 minute long short films produced by various Japanese animation studios. Each short film has its own independent storyline that takes place in the original Star Wars universe created by Lucasfilm. However, each film doesn’t fixate on canonicity and some take place in alternate histories.

Star Wars: Visions is, if you ask me, surprising but welcome. Certain parts of Star Wars were inspired by particular aspects of Japanese culture, Jedi and Sith were partly based on Samurai, and George Lucas was inspired by cinematography techniques used by Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa and used several throughout A New Hope.

The Duel

Studio

The Duel was animated by Kamikaze Douga. While most Anime studios prefer to use primarily 2D animation and as little 3D CGI as possible, Kamikaze Douga is different in that they made blended CG production and traditional 2D animation. This is quite obvious in the film itself with it being the only one animated mainly in CGI. Kamikaze Douga is one of the more lesser-known of the studios involved with Star Wars: Visions, but some other works they’ve done include Batman Ninja (animated film), and the opening animations for Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure seasons 1 (Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency), 2 (Stardust Crusaders) and 5 (Stone Ocean).

Synopsis

The Duel is set in an alternate history, 20 years after a war between a Feudal-Jedi Empire and a renegade Jedi sect called the Sith. The story is about a wanderer called Ronin (which is a term from Feudal Japan for a samurai with no lord or master) that finds a village besieged by former Stormtroopers and fights them.

Summary and review

The Duel is an intentional homage to the samurai films made by Akira Kurosawa that had given inspiration to Star Wars. It’s entirely in black-and-white (Kurosawa’s films were made before filming in colour was possible) except for the colours of lights, Blaster fire, sparks and Lightsabers. And it’s drawn in a sketchy, hand-drawn art style that makes it look like an old movie from Kurosawa’s time.

While The Duel is set in an alternate history, it gives off a feel like “an original Star Wars movie”, probably being one of the more grounded of these short films. I consider this a strength, in a way, The Duel is a pure Star Wars battle, emulating the excitement from the first movies, and being portrayed using modern techniques while making it seem historic. If you prefer a simple but full blaster/saber fight like from the original trilogy, I believe you’ll enjoy The Duel.

Tatooine Rhapsody

Studio

Tatooine Rhapsody was animated by Studio Colorido, A subsidiary of Twin Engine that has mainly done films and short films but has a few solid watches among their works. Some of Studio Colorido’s works include Typhoon Noruda and A Whisker Away (original films), Penguin Highway and Burn the Witch (animated film adaptations), and Pokémon: Twilight Wings (animated short film series).

Synopsis

The overall events take place during the reign of the Galactic Empire (post-Episode 3), a former Jedi Padawan named Jay is part of a rock band after fleeing from battle during the Clone Wars and meeting his new bandmates. Jay and his new friends run into an issue and Jay has to figure out how he’s going to solve it.

Summary and review

What I find the most interesting about Tatooine Rhapsody is that it shows a (to my knowledge) one-and-only perspective; “a Jedi who stops being a Jedi permanently”. There are some Jedi throughout the Star Wars universe who have, for whatever reason, stopped being Jedi, but they never relinquish their Jedi code and, in most cases, return to being a Jedi. Jay is different as he forges his own identity that is, without a doubt, no longer a Jedi.

Something that spoke to me visually in Tatooine Rhapsody was how the vibrant colour scheme and lighting were used. The more noticeable colours in all of the character’s designs pop against their more dull colours and each character seems to have their own unique signature colour. Whenever the characters are in a negative emotional state, they’re all in shadows, but it’s like “you can still see the detailing of the background, but you can still tell it’s dark”. And near the start of the film, when Jay and the band are having a concert, there’s a spotlight shining on them while the audience is in shadow, signifying (in my opinion) how the band is hopeful but the audience is crushed under the weight of their reality.

The Twins

Studio

The Twins was animated by Trigger Inc, which is well-known for producing epic massive-scale cinematic battles, which you’ll see in their works; Kill la Kill, Darling in the Franxx and Promare (if you like those, I also recommend Gurren Lagann, which was directed by Trigger’s founder, Hiroyuki Imaishi (who also directed The Twins) before he founded Trigger and was the basis for their visual style and humour.) Out of all the studios who animated for Star Wars: Visions, Trigger was the one I was most familiar with and The Twins was the episode that I had the highest expectations for.

Synopsis

The Twins takes place in an alternate history where after the fall of the Empire (post-episode 6), the remnants of the Empire use Sith Alchemy to create a pair of Force-sensitive twins named Karre and Am who eventually become the leaders of the remnant and create a superweapon. Karre however, goes rogue and tries to stop the superweapon, ultimately having a Lightsaber duel with his sister atop a Star Destroyer in space.

Summary and Review

The Twins doesn’t really care about making sense in realism. Karre and Am fight in space without protective suits, change their Lightsabers into whips, and other feats that most would consider absurd. I don’t really see this as a problem, in my opinion, it shows just how powerful the Force can be and how much Karre and Am can use it.

The only nitpick I have with The Twins is that it’s a little clunky on the exposition of the setting, probably because they wanted to get it done quickly considering their limited time. But if you want a high-octane, extremely vibrant Lightsaber “duel” of galactic proportions, it’ll be a joy to watch.

The Village Bride

Studio

The Village Bride is animated by Kinema Citrus. A studio founded by former members of Production I.G (Psycho-Pass, The Ninth Jedi) and Bones (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, My Hero Academia). Some of Kinema Citrus’ more notable works include Made in Abyss and The Rising of the Shield Hero (animated series adaptations), my personal favourite of their works is Black Bullet (animated series adaptation).

Synopsis

The Village Bride takes place after the Great Jedi Purge (post-episode 3) and follows a Jedi in hiding called F who is observing a village on a remote planet and the troubles the villagers are going through after the end of the war.

Summary and Review

The Village Bride has a fascinating message about how the Force interacts with certain people of the galaxy, not just Jedi or Sith. The villagers have traditions centred around their own usage of the Force that show us the bond between the Force, Nature and people.

The Animation and art style of The Village Bride makes great use of simple but effective techniques. The colours are vibrant and they often use different coloured outlines instead of the standard black. My favourite technique they use is called “Depth of Field”, it’s where they only put the closest thing into focus and when something else enters the frame, the focus is transferred to them instead, simulating how our eyes work in reality.

The Village Bride has a very nuanced story that might require multiple watches to understand the messages it tries to deliver. But I personally find it very enjoyable nonetheless.

The Ninth Jedi

Studio

The Ninth Jedi is animated by Production I.G, one of the more experienced studios here with possibly the most works. Their most famous works include Guilty Crown, Psycho-Pass, Eden of the East (original series), Haikyu!! and Ghost in the Shell (animated series adaptations). I also recommend FLCL, Case File nº221: Kabukicho (original series) and Moriarty the Patriot (animated series adaptation) among their lesser-known works.

Synopsis

The Ninth Jedi takes place in an alternate history after the Jedi Order has become mostly extinct, a Margrave invites seven masterless Jedi to receive Lightsabers, whose design has been lost to time. Meanwhile, Lah Kara, daughter of the Sabersmith Lah Zhima, has to bring the completed Lightsabers to the Margrave and his guests while on the run from hunters working for the Sith.

Summary and review

The Ninth Jedi gives its audience an action-packed and intense experience and ultimately leaves them wanting more. Unlike the other episodes, which have storylines that ‘finish’ by the end, The Ninth Jedi ends on a note that implies there is more to come. Personally, if we get a season 2 of Star Wars: Visions, I would love to see a continuation of this storyline.

The animation style isn’t as over-the-top as some of the other episodes, adopting a “Less-is-more” animation style that is simple but effective in the movements of the characters and vehicles (which is a style that Production I.G uses to great effect in a lot of their works). Something that stood out to me in the art style is the designs of the machines, Droids and aliens. Every character is unique enough design-wise that you could tell the designers put a lot of effort into them making them unique without making them too out of place.

Lop and Ochō

Studio

Lop and Ochō is animated by Geno Studio, A subsidiary of Twin Engine with most of its staff coming from Manglobe which had produced The World only God Knows, Deadman Wonderland, Karneval and Gangsta (animated series adaptations). Out of their more recent works, Golden Kamuy (animated series adaptation) is a decent watch.

Synopsis

Lop and Ochō takes place during the reign of the Empire, it starts with a prologue of Lop, a rabbit-alien slave, escaping her captors on the planet Tau and getting adopted by the planet's clan leader Yasaburo and his daughter Ochō. Years later, Lop is caught in family drama between Yasaburo and Ochō over the future of their planet.

Summary and Review

The art style for Lop and Ochō has certain very interesting aspects, the character line-art is ‘sketchy’ rather than sharp and the background has no line-art at all, leading to a fascinating kind of contrast and the colours/shading are grainy, which can draw the eye to the background as much as the characters.

Lop and Ochō’s storyline is a simple but filling storyline that many will be able to relate to (especially if the Weebs in the family are trying to provide common ground for their love of Anime through Star Wars: Visions). Essentially Yasaboro and Ochō have differing opinions about the Empire’s influence, both opinions have good and bad points, and we’re watching Lop trying to keep the bonds between the three of them intact.

I think Lop and Ochō is a dark horse of Star Wars: Visions, its art style is unique and its story leaves an impact.