Star Wars Visions might arguably be the common ground for most Star Wars fans, where most seem to enjoy them, even non-anime fans like me. Volume 3 consists of nine episodes, just like the previous two volumes. And just like volumes one and two, there’s something here for everyone. I enjoyed some more than others this volume, but even for the ones I didn’t like as much, I found something to like about them. Let’s take a look!
The Duel: Payback (23m): Kamikaze Douga/ANIMA Present
One of my favorite anime styles in Star Wars Visions, even if it’s a little hard to determine what you’re looking at on occasion. The Duel: Payback explores what it means to be a Jedi. The Ronin, the former Sith hunting Sith, and Aneé-san, the former Sith turned bodyguard, have more Jedi qualities than the Jedi Grand Master sent to hunt them down. It sort of flips the canon Star Wars on its head, whereas the Sith hunt the Jedi; here, it’s the opposite, with the Jedi Grand Master being more machine than man. This is also reflected in the grey color tone of the animation, which contrasts with the bright red and blue lightsaber colors. Grey Jedi aren’t supposed to be a thing in canon, but here it’s free game and it’s done really well. I also like how, as Star Wars nuts that we are, we can pick out familiar sounds from the movies like the Ewok chatter and horn blows from Return of the Jedi. Lastly, the imaginative take on AT-ATs and having an Anzellan in the episode was nice to see.
The Song of Four Wings (16m): Project Studio Q
If The Duel: Payback was the grey philosophical episode, The Song of Four Wings was its polar opposite. It boasted bright, colorful animation, upbeat music, and cute aliens. The cute alien called Woopas taught us that once again, size matters not. Despite his tiny-ness and anime eyes, he could wield the Force and help in ways not many could. I also loved the film-accurate Hoth stormtroopers. The main character, Princess Crane, felt secondary, and her flashback scene was sharply cut to which felt sudden. But overall, a pretty good episode. Having Admiral Basil Kiucee giving ground commands seemed like an odd choice. But it was cool seeing a YT-2400 at the end.
The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope (24m): Production IG Kara
A Force-sensitive teenage girl and TETO, a droid, whose master died from injuries floating in a bacta tank, make a dynamic pair. With Kara searching for her father, who was taken in season one’s episode, the two have lost greatly influential people in their lives. Child of Hope is chock-full of philosophical questions. TETO exclaims, “Why do people need to fight wars?” Why indeed. Kara and TETO lift each other up, as TEO also says, Kara is weak now, but she will become stronger later. We’ve all been there, had days where nothing seems to go right. Everything we do ends up being the wrong decision. We claim to be strong only to disappoint ourselves. Hopefully, like in Kara’s case, that is a temporary feeling, and we come face to face with our fears and overcome them. As Jedi do. The Force is with us.
The Bounty Hunters (21m): WIT Studio
This was such a fun episode. I mean, who doesn’t love a droid with multiple personalities? IVA-4 stole the show in The Bounty Hunters. Sevn is a bounty hunter who is offered a crazy salary to work for Jin-Sim Canbelon, a businessman who enslaves his employees by luring them in with insane financial offers. In the end, IVA-4 convinces Sevn to do the right thing by taking down Jin’s business. Having Jin wear a suit of Droideka armor à la Iron Man was a super cool idea. Apparently, Sevn took lessons from Saw Gerrera in how to fight Droidekas by rolling a thermal detonator just slow enough to penetrate its shields. BBB-Boom!
Yuko’s Treasure (23m): Kinema Citrus Co
This was the first episode that I struggled to pay attention to. It was also the least like Star Wars, in my opinion. There were a few familiar shots on Tatooine, but other than that, it felt just like another anime series that happened to take place in space. The tag line says, A sheltered orphan teams up with a street rat kid to rescue his droid caregiver and find a long-lost treasure. The two young characters, Yuko and Sola, were too alike for me. I couldn’t keep them straight. One of them lost their parents, which reminded me of Ezra in Rebels. Yeah, it wasn’t my favorite. Moving on.
The Lost Ones (23m): Kinema Citrus Co
This is a sequel to season one’s The Village Bride. Maybe it’s the production company, but this also wasn’t one I was super invested in. Although I did appreciate the nod to Back to the Future in the beginning with the yellow spacesuit, even the posture was similar, so very cool. In a series that is so far removed from Star Wars canon, hearing Master Yoda’s name just sounded out of place. On a more positive note, the colors were bright and crisp, especially the reds and whites. This one wasn’t for me either, but that’s okay.
The Smuggler (18m): Trigger
The animation in The Smuggler might be my favorite of all of them. Chita, a young smuggler, is hired to rescue valuable personnel from the Empire. Gleenu, the valuable personnel, is voiced by Judith Light, also known for being the mother from Who’s the Boss?. Chita is voiced by Emma Myers, known for her role in the Netflix hit, Wednesday. Gleenu is a former Jedi who has decided to forgo her past to help those in need. The Smuggler was a decent episode. No huge philosophical ideals, although Chita, when asked, began working for the rebellion and put her smuggling know-how to good use.
The Bird of Paradise (20m): Polygon Pictures
This episode consisted of a Prologue, an Epilogue, and 5 days in the middle. A Jedi Padawan is blinded during a duel with a Sith. Despite her master’s words of caution, her impatience leads to her defeat. Over the next 5 days, she has to relearn what it means to be a sightless Jedi. It seems like each season of Visions has that one episode that explodes with colors. Season 2 had Sith (the first episode), and Season 3 has The Bird of Paradise. I might get some slack for this, but the constant Jedi lessons do get a bit tiring and monotonous at times; unimaginative even. Having said that, The Bird of Paradise succeeds in taking it to another level with its storytelling and animation.
BLACK (13m): David Production
Remember what I said about being unimaginative? Yeah, that doesn’t apply here. Also, remember when I said The Duel was my favorite? Never mind. BLACK is my new favorite. BLACK captures one part of Star Wars that rarely gets captured. The abstract. Good vs. Evil is easy, right? It’s in your face 24/7 in Star Wars. One of George Lucas’ major interests when he was a young lad was montage/abstract filmmaking. Why? Because it’s not safe. It tells a story with pictures instead of the more traditional manner. Guys like Stan Brakhage, who Lucas was hugely influenced by, made a career of abstract filmmaking. If George Lucas made a student film on Star Wars, it would’ve looked something like BLACK. BLACK 1138. What is going on inside a stormtrooper’s mind? What do their nightmares look like? Something like BLACK I’d imagine. More of this, please.