Anime The Mad Libs Star Wars Universe
It seems like a masterstroke, Disney handing the Star Wars licence out to a bunch of anime studios and telling them to run wild. Finally Star Wars gets to link back up to its old Akira Kurosawa influences, explored through a series of nine short stories that reimagine Star Wars in a feudal Samurai-punk style. So how does that pan out?
The first three episodes are decent. Each are stylistically very different, varying in scope and tone. The first is a straight up black and white Kurosawa Ronin story. The second is a breezy caper about a wannabe rock band. The third asks the all important question; why not a bishy Darth Vader fighting a waifu Darth Vader? It's what you would hope from an anime; something completely unrestrained and deeply earnest, despite the silliness.
After episode three, it goes down hill though. you get the sense that each studio was given the exact same brief and weren't allowed to check each other's work. Every story features Jedi. The same recurring themes come up over and over again; Sith Lords, lightsabers, macguffin Kyber Crystals, "I have a bad feeling about this" etc. If you'd never seen a Star Wars movie before, you'd be convinced these crystals are the be-all-end-all, considering how prominently they feature. Several even use the exact same twist of, "oh my god, look at the colour of that guy's lightsaber!"
That last point brings up my general frustration with the Star Wars universe. Every clever and unique idea from the original trilogy is transformed into a codified rule about how the extended universe must work. Darth Vader couldn't just be a cool name and a menacing red lightsaber; every bad guy has to have "Darth" in their name, and all of them have to have their own red lightsaber. It's the same few ideas used over and over, with little variation beyond "what if the red lightsaber had more bits?" It's such dorky and restrictive set of rules that ends up with every story looking the same. Unfortunately Star Wars: Visions runs straight into the exact same problem. For all the variety and energy these shorts have, they're still recycling the same few plot points and ideas. Seeing a cute Astroboy droid is awesome and all, but not if the climax is yet another Jedi fighting yet another guy in black armour. Come on, you won't do anything else?!
Star Wars: Visions is not a huge time investment, but there are certainly weaker episodes than others. I would suggest saving half your time by watching 1,2,3,6,9 and skipping 4,5,7, and 8. Unless you really like these shows for the animation itself, you won't have lost much.
Anime Star Wars Visions is uneven, but interesting
"Star Wars Visions" is a non-canon series of Star-Wars-themed anime shorts.
These ten to twenty-minute anime shorts at best seem like a slice of a bigger story we want to see more of. Others seem like demo reels, competent enough, but uninspiring.
The first episode, "The Duel," is a badass fight scene done in a unique black-and-white plus colored light sources style. The motion is fluid and the fight contains a few surprises that will delight fans. The umbrella helicopter lightsaber, not so much. That's based on a Star Wars Rebels innovation that I've rarely seen anyone praise.
Two outstanding episodes are episode 5, "The Ninth Jedi", and episode 8, "Lop and Ocho."
"The Ninth Jedi" almost certainly is cgi, but it faithfully reproduces that flat, 90's style cel animation. There are several clever story twists. This is good Star Wars legends content, using the trope and structural anticipations to surprise and delight the audience.
"Lop and Ocho" is a classic Star Wars tale of a family divided, from the perspective of a humanoid bunny-like light-side force wielder named Lop.
The other episodes have some flaws in terms of characterization, clarity of narrative, slow frame rates, overused tropes and flat vocal characterization in the English dub, including, surprisingly, from capable actors such as David Harbour. But the episodes are all interesting and worthy of viewing in their own right.
I watched these all in one go. As other reviewers have pointed out, the short episodes seem to run together a bit, and this approach highlights some dead horse tropes such as "I've got a bad feeling about this" which seems to be used in most of the episodes. [I've not checked back to see if this is literally true.]
So I'd suggest watching these in small bites once a week on Fridays, like we got with "The Mandalorian" and "The Bad Batch."
It's interesting to see Disney abandoning their initial "One Canon to Rule Them All" approach where all Disney Content was considered canon at the same level, and going back to canon for most movies and streaming serials, non-canon for Visions, and ambiguous canon for characters such as Darth Revan in the KOTOR remake and in the ongoing MMO, "Star Wars: The Old Republic".
Disney has also posted some interesting additional "making of" type material to pad out the offering and give it some real-world context.
All in all, a good effort. 3 of 4 stars.
Anime Star Wars Visions Season 2 is a visual feast
Star Wars Visions Season 2 is a visual feast. Season 2 goes beyond Japanese anime to include studios from around the world. Many of the stories deliberately show Star Wars in the lens of their own mythopoeic tradition and culture.
The first short, "Sith", uses color and darkness in a creative diegetic manner, similar to the live painting afterlife of Robin Williams' Fisher King-like character in What Dreams May Come. The fluid motion, lighting, music, sets and wheelbike, mini-Deathstar cute robot buddy, and her space ship, are just so gorgeous.
"Screecher's Reach" imagines how children might be recruited, not as we expect, by the Jedi, but by the Sith. It's a flat, hand-animated, cell shaded look. Some of the backgrounds are outstanding.
"In the Stars" is a stop motion anti-imperialist fable, based on the history of the indigenous people of Chile.
"I am Your Mother" is a silly bit from Aardman Animation, which brought us Wallace & Gromit. It was my least favorite, but it is okay.
"Journey to the Dark Head" has strong and fluid animation and some interesting characterization.
"The Spy Dancer" is lovely, a strikingly animated cross between Wuxia thriller like House of Flying Daggers and a WWII film about a La RĂ©sistance cabaret performer/spy.
"The Bandits of Golak" has two well-written young protagonists travelling through a Star Wars version of The Raj. A sweet and touching tale, and again, a cautionary tale about imperialism and military rule.
"The Pit" is a sad but redemptive tale about slave miners laboring for The Empire which features an interesting, Koyaanisqatsi-like ultra-fast motion Hard-Work Montage.
"Aau's Song" is a miniature Hero's Journey and one of the most hopeful and uplifting, a fitting finale. The cloth stop motion animation has several moments of perfect beauty.
Star Wars is lumbered with very well-used tropes, and a lot of them are here in these diverse shorts in a rather repetitive pattern. Particularly The Hero's Journey and its sub-elements. I suggest watching these short animations one or two at a time rather than binging them.
All in all, superior animation craft and a lot of heart. 4 of 4 stars.