Star Wars Visions Review: A Contamination Written In The Stars Inspired by The World of George Lucas

Directors: Takanobu Mizuno

Platform: Disney+

Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

The universe of Star Wars is so vast that it allows for almost any narrative possibility. The series Star Wars: Visions is an example of this through the picture. Although the series invites you to think almost immediately about What would happen if …? (What if…?), Another story that explores different narrative options, is not the same.

Star Wars: Visions does not rely on the existing narrative but it does so on a universe of references recognized by locals and strangers. Although it would be useful to know a little about Star Wars, this series works as a standalone product. Taking that last consideration to its maximum expression, it could be said that not only the series but each chapter can walk alone. To this is added a kind of upgrade, if it is associated with What if… ?: there is no aesthetic uniformity.

Star Wars Vision Episode Wise Review

Season 1 Ep. 01 The Duel

Let’s start with Il duello, the short film that conquered us from every point of view, for the style and timing of the story, as well as for the ability to keep in that delicate balance between reinterpretation and fidelity. The one who set up Kamikaze Douga, the studio we owe for example Stardust Crusaders by JoJo and Batman Ninja, manages to be pure Star Wars and pure Japan at the same time. It is perhaps the episode in which the two souls of the Disney + series find the perfect meeting point in the story of a mysterious traveler who comes forward to defend a village threatened by a group of bandits. Stylized animation, careful shots and the strength of a black and white torn by some color inserts, such as the red of the lightsabers. Animated poetry.

Season 1 Ep. 02 Tatooine Rhapsody

With Tatooine Rhapsody you change tone and gear. The atmospheres of the previous short give way to a more anime style with the work of Colorido Studio that tells of a heterogeneous musical band that has to save its member from the clutches of old acquaintances of Star Wars fans: Jabba the Hutt and Boba Fett. With panache, color and energy Tatooine Rhapsody follows the rhythm dictated by the leading band itself, which becomes its beating heart. A divertissement that plays with irony also with the characters of the world of Star Wars, integrating them with ease in its own cross-section of the struggle for survival on Tatooine. Will they be able to convince Jabba to spare them?

Season 1 Ep. 03 The Twins

There is a lot in I twins, the first of the shorts made by Studio Trigger (of which we saw in the Promare room last year). There is so much, perhaps too much. But the excess of visual stimuli can be considered a prerogative of this study, which is confirmed in this tale of twins born on the dark side who collide aboard an imposing Star Destroyer. A battle that spares nothing on the visual level: colorful, frenetic, more focused on the staging of high-impact sequences, drawing on much of the lore of Star Wars but without paying too much attention to the consistency or verisimilitude of what is told. A study to definitely keep an eye on, but which can hardly make all palates agree.

Season 1 Ep. 04 The Village Bride

With the fourth episode, The village bride, we find another very popular studio, some of which can also be seen here, such as Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 or Made in Abyss. Also in this case we are faced with a very personal style, but definitely more traditional and welcoming than the previous episode. Another aspect in favor is to find an interesting meeting point between the concept of Force and some assumptions of Shinto and Japanese culture. Once again we find someone called to defend a village from an external threat, but it is a fleeing Jedi who finds himself observing the fascinating customs of the place on the eve of a wedding. Special mention for what appears to be a real laser katana, or a laser sword with a blade in the style of the famous Japanese weapons. Love at first sight.

Season 1 Ep. 05 The Ninth Jedi

The episode that arises in the middle of the first season of Star Wars: Visions is also the most full-bodied and ambitious. Made by Production IG (Psycho-Pass, Kuroko’s Basketball, Ghost in the Shell – Arise, just to name a few titles from their extensive production), Il nono Jedi tells of the daughter of a legendary lightsaber manufacturer, traveling through difficult territory to deliver a precious cargo: lightsabers just made for a group of warriors who profess to be Jedi. There is atmosphere, there is epic, there is such an important journey into the world of Star Wars, for a story that we would not have been sorry to see developed with more space than the 22 minutes of The Ninth Jedi. Too bad that the gap between traditional animation and CGI is more evident than in other episodes of the series.

Season 1 Ep. 06 T0-B1

The next episode is the work of Science Saru, the studio to which we owe Devilman Crybaby and Ride Your Wave, and is dedicated to a very specific aspect of the Star Wars lore, declining it in a very particular and historical perspective of the anime world. T0-B1 it tells of a cybernetic child who dreams of becoming a Jedi and discovers a secret about his creator who threatens to jeopardize their peaceful existence. Impossible for us Italians not to see suggestions from Pinocchio, but equally impossible not to notice a fascinating affinity with a cornerstone of Japanese animation and comics such as Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy. Also interesting are the inserts made with a different graphic style, which confirm the versatility of Scienze Saru (but we will see this also later).

Season 1 Ep. 07 The Elder

Let’s go back to the Trigger house for the seventh episode, The Old Man, which tells of a pacifist Jedi and his restless Padawan on the trail of a dark presence in a small village on an outer rim planet. A journey that leads them to discover a frightening truth and to face an old man who is much more powerful than they imagined. The look chosen for the protagonist Jedi is very interesting, as is the rural setting of the village where the protagonists arrive, which draws heavily on the traditional Japanese imaginary (here too we play with the concept of the lightsaber according to the local imagination). There is an atmosphere and a greater calmness compared to the previous episode of the studio, for an overall result that is appreciated and gracefully embodies a certain aspect of the world of Star Wars.

Season 1 Ep. 08 Lop & Ocho

Another wide-ranging episode, Geno Studio’s Lop & Ocho is close to twenty minutes and is perhaps one of those in which the concept of Space Opera is best developed. However, at least at times, there is the feeling that the story could work even beyond Star Wars, as if it were a science fiction anime to which some details of the Lucas saga have been applied to characterize the setting. The story tells of the contrast between a father and the eldest daughter in deciding whether or not to go against the Empire, a confrontation in which an adopted younger daughter, belonging to a humanoid race with feline traits, is forced to choose which side to take. It is probably the most unbalanced short towards the anime and the least towards Star Wars.

Season 1 Ep. 09 Akakiri

For the last episode we return to Science Saru, which confirms a peculiar and interesting graphic style in Akakiri. There is personality in the studio work and another variant of the Jedi defending a village from a Sith-flavored Shogun. The village in question is that of the old love of the protagonist Jedi, who is in turn tormented by visions and a destiny to be discovered, which could be different from what he imagined. It is perhaps the original style of Science Saru that acts as a glue between the story, setting and lore of Star Wars, creating a whole that works and closes the circle with personal taste, demonstrating how much the Lucas universe adapts to such different declinations.

The Review

This overview should be sufficient to understand the variety and scope of a project that does not want to be cohesive, but has the purpose of framing the myth of Star Wars through the filter of different points of view, drawing on locations, characters and notions of the universe of Star Wars, without fear of proposing them in a different key or adding something of their own. It seems to us consistent with what the saga created by George Lucas has become over time: a myth. And as such it is subject to constant and continuous reinterpretations, modulated on the basis of the creative drive and the expressive attitudes of those who face them.

These are the nine shorts of Star Wars: Visions: evocative tales of stories seen from a remote place like the Rising Sun, which were once in a galaxy far, far away and which will live forever through the art of those who love them.

The Final Verdict

In closing our review of Star Wars: Visions we can only promote the operation and hope that this experiment can continue with further seasons, because the encounter between anime and Star Wars is convincing and tantalizing at the right point and closes the circle with respect to one of the initial inspirations of George Lucas at the time of the genesis of this universe. Net of a couple of less focused episodes, all the studios involved have given their own personal and sensible interpretation of the Star Wars myth, treating it as a myth to be reinterpreted and handed down.

What Worked

• The first suggestive episode, The duel, which opens the dance in the best way by immersing us in the world of Visions.
• The variety of styles and tones, which confirms how many narrative opportunities the world of Star Wars can offer.
• The ability to decline the saga in its nature as a myth to be told, handed down, reinterpreted.

What Didn’t Worked

• Some fans may critically welcome some of the narrative freedoms taken.