Star Wars: Visions Quantity 3, that includes 9 shorts from 9 completely different anime studios, is out there on Disney+ in the present day. Quantity 1 of Star Wars: Visions obtained an Emmy nomination for the brief “The Duel.” The Emmy, Lumière, and Annie Award-winning second quantity featured shorts by international animation studios. For Quantity 3, the animated anthology returns to Japanese animation, together with sequels to Quantity 1 fan-favorites “The Duel,” “The Village Bride,” and “The Ninth Jedi.” As well as, it was introduced at Star Wars Celebration that “The Ninth Jedi” shall be spun out right into a collection on Disney+ for a 2026 launch.
Whereas it’s tough to overview all 9 shorts as a result of the tone, themes, and visuals are so distinctive, there’s undoubtedly a thread of inspiration and keenness for the Star Wars franchise all through collection going all the way in which again to the primary quantity. Episodes vary from 13 – 22 minutes and don’t require that they be watched in any specific order. The episodes which can be sequels are all price watching. Rewatching their predecessors from Quantity 1 is really useful. (The sequel to “The Ninth Jedi” is “The Misplaced Ones.”)
“The Duel: Payback” was given the primary slot possible as a result of it’s one of many strongest entries. After Quantity 1, the central character proved widespread sufficient to have a ebook entry, Star Wars Visions: Ronin. In Kamikaze Douga + ANIMA’s “The Duel: Payback,” Ronin faces off together with his best foe, a Jedi referred to as the Grand Grasp. The brief is black and white with pops of colour to focus on components reminiscent of lightsaber blades or droid lights. The colours – blues, reds, purples – additionally evoke truths concerning the characters within the second that ought to be acquainted to Star Wars followers. The visuals are so recognizably from the galaxy far, far-off but uniquely Japanese that it nearly feels such as you’re watching a black and white samurai movie that impressed George Lucas’ Star Wars. The previous Sith Anée-san is gorgeous in her design.
One other favourite is Polygon Footage’ “The Fowl of Paradise” (Episode 8). Sadly the manufacturing stills supplied by Disney+ don’t do justice to the breathtaking visuals of this story. Director Tadahiro Yoshihira takes the concept of the World Between Worlds and Tree Cave on Dagobah and runs with it in a means solely animation can. Within the brief, a headstrong Padawan is blinded in battle and misplaced within the wilderness. She undergoes a collection of non secular trials as she is tempted by the Darkish Facet. George Takei exhibiting up because the Shinto gods-inspired Toad was good casting. Miyazaki followers will discover “The Fowl of Paradise” interesting.
An episode which may not be everybody’s cup of tea however an fascinating dialog starter is David Manufacturing’s “BLACK” (Episode 9). Disney describes the episode as “a psychedelic battle between previous and current, gentle and darkish, and life and demise” that “performs out within the haunted psyche of an Imperial Trooper who’s on the cusp of defeat.” The episode includes a variety of eyeballs and peculiar armless variations of stormtroopers clinging to life, set to jazz music. The episode is an impressionistic tone poem about…Nicely, that’s open to interpretation. It is advisable to be in the proper temper for this one. Watch it with some pals, then deliberate about what director Shinya Ohira is attempting to say.
Though the burden of oppression appeared to hover over all these shorts, with huge Star Destroyers and Imperial expertise taking on house on the display, “The Smuggler,” “The Misplaced Ones,” and “The Track of 4 Wings” latch onto the Star Wars theme of hope, which is perhaps what we want proper now. Star Wars Visions Quantity 3 is out there on Disney+ in the present day.
Tricia Barr’s novel, Wynde, received the 2014 Impartial Writer Ebook Award Gold Medal for Finest Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Book. She was additionally a part of Silence within the Library’s profitable all-female creator science fiction and fantasy anthology Athena’s Daughters, which is out there now. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in making a fictional universe, jump over to TriciaBarr.com.
