Star Wars “Visions” Review
Star Wars “Visions” is a collection of 9 short episode stories that take place in the Star Wars universe. Almost each one produced by an anime producer for each episode. Besides episodes 3 “The Twins” and 7 “The Elder” which are both produced by Studio Trigger. And 6 “T0-B1” and 9 “Akakiri” which are both produced by Science SARU.
The episodes are as follows
- “The Duel” by Kamikaze Douga (a well known anime producer.)
- “Tatooine Rhapsody” by Studio Colorido
- “The Twins” by Studio Trigger
- “The Village Bride” by Kinema Citrus
- “The Ninth Jedi” by Production I.G
- “T0-B1” by Science SARU
- “The Elder” by Studio Trigger
- “Lop & Ocho” by Geno Studio
- “Akakiri” by Science SARU
The Duel
Kicking things off to a wonderful start. The duel stars “The Ronin” who defends a village from Empire forces who also bring a Sith along with them. The twist? The Ronin also has a red lightsaber but is not a Sith, in fact it’s implied he hunts them as he has a collection of red kyber crystals inside his robe. This is a great first episode. It’s interesting enough that it raises a ton of questions but not so mysterious as to make the viewer feel frustrated with any lack of answer. The action scenes are animated beautifully but not over the top, keeping to it’s more “realistic” style. There’s hardly any dialogue especially from the Ronin, it’s made clear from the beginning that we aren’t supposed to know any more about who he is and that’s OK.
The Sith lord sent to deal with him has a lightsaber extension that makes the blade split into 8 forming a circle. Like a laser umbrella. But I will say, with everything else doing it’s best to stay as grounded as possible, it did look ridiculous and I was glad when she ditched it. Overall, despite everything, this is almost the perfect episode 1. Enough intrigue to keep viewers watching and enough action and throw backs to keep Star Wars fans happy.
Tatooine Rhapsody
I gotta say, when I first watched this I was confused and then annoyed. But then it grew on me and oh boy did I enjoy it. The episode starts with a young jedi padawan running for his life and crashing into Gee the Hutt’s “home.” Also breaking his lightsaber in the fall, which he turns into a microphone later in the episode. It quickly cuts to the future and the band “Star Waver.” Playing a show that we quickly find out was doomed to fail, as Boba Fett shows up to apprehend Gee and take him to the Hutts. A desperate band put on one last show to save him before his execution and they’re so popular that Gee is spared and Jabba becomes their sponsor.
This episode was bizarre but I found myself kinda enjoying the pure cheesiness of it after a while. It’s stereotypical anime as it comes and there’s nothing outstanding here, besides the animation quality, but it’s fun cheese. Enjoyable and short enough to be palatable without annoying. I had fun with it but I also have a feeling that it won’t be many people’s highlight of “Visions.”
The Twins
Oh boy… I have mixed feelings about this one. I liked the idea (kinda) but the execution is cheesy as all hell. And not in a good way. It takes itself massively seriously so when the two twins Am and Karre have any dialogue it just sounds ridiculous. The first half of it is basically an exposition dump and not even a cameo from Darth Vader can make this less of a mess. I’m sure the creators wanted some deep message or something resembling a message but it just comes off as “Am don’t do the thing!” Am: does the thing.
This is me being fair. As a Star Wars fan it definitely takes liberties with established canon and how things work in Universe. So even a casual fan would find this cringe but a hardcore fan would likely be facepalming just as hard as I was. I know that these aren’t cannon and so creatives can do it but as a wise man once said “they were so focused on whether they could they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
It’s only saving grace is that it’s not as cheesy in Japanese, so I’d advise watching it in Japanese only.
The Village Bride
The Village Bride is defiantly better than some others. It’s a slow burner with an extremely satisfying ending. The travelling jedi, finally accepting herself and taking off her mask and her loyal friend staying behind on a planet that respects the flow of life and nature. The writing is beautiful. At times, it’s hard to tell it’s based in the Star Wars universe as the first 2/3 of the episode is just like any other fictional anime show.
But the jedi revealing herself and her yellow katana lightsaber soon put that to bed. I would say this is up there with “The Duel” if only for the last few minutes of it where it really shines. The importance of tradition and fighting for one’s beliefs being one of the core messages and it puts them across masterfully.
The Ninth Jedi
This is the best one yet. It’s eventual main character Kara is fascinating and I would love to see more of her. The rest of the cast are well written too, whilst it’s obvious there’s a dark side user amongst the jedi hopefuls, I never expected them all to be Sith. Kara’s journey is an interesting one, her lightsaber becomes more and more prominent as she becomes closer to the force, just as her father says.
This episode is definitely one that’s been the most true to established Star Wars canon. Even having one of the Sith become good and his lightsaber become purple after his change of heart (purple lightsabers are rare and often shown only to those who are light side users but don’t mind using the dark side if it’s their only means of getting what they need.) Overall, I loved this episode and would suggest this one on it’s own as a standalone treat for any Star Wars fan.
T0-B1
T0-B1 is adorable. A young droid made by his professor who turns out to be a jedi. T0-B1 is knighted by his professor and becomes a true jedi, being renamed Tobi. There’s just something so wholesome about this whole episode. Not once does it feel cheesy or over the top. When the professor dies and Tobi goes to avenge him he succeeds in going full gundam and combining with another droid to take out the “jedi killer.”
It’s simple. Wholesome. Cute and silly but also moving and emotional. This is one that could’ve benefited from a slightly longer runtime as the scenes do jump a lot. But overall it’s just so cute and can’t be hated.
The Elder
Again, another great and simple episode. This one follows jedi padawan Dan and his master to a remote planet. There they uncover a Sith who tries to kill them both but is eventually too old to fight at his peak anymore. The Sith does destroy any and all evidence of who he was before he dies though.
This like many others was a great short tale. Perfectly paced and well animated, this episode has to be Visions at it’s peak. It’s not action packed but it doesn’t have to be. The characters are well done, the story is interesting and the plot simple but thoroughly thought out. Next to “The Ninth Jedi” this is one I’d recommend.
Lop & Ocho
Lop is a small bunny-like creature working as one of the Empire’s laborers on the planet of Tao. One day, she is approached by Ocho and her father whilst going to steal food. Ocho immediately wants to take her in and add her to their noble family and their father agrees eventually. Living as a part of their family for seven years, it all changes when Ocho accepts the Empire’s rule and her father completely rejects it.
I loved this one so much more than I thought I would. Lop is adorable but put in an impossible situation she still shows courage. The themes of the importance of family tradition and what really makes a “family” are explored expertly here. With Lop and Ocho’s father embracing Lop but Ocho being the one to shun her eventually. Ocho’s impossible choice is painful to watch as she allows herself to give in to what she knows is wrong thinking it will save her family. It all leaves an episode with high emotional stakes for both Lop and Ocho as neither of them can really win and neither do. A real heartbreaker.
Akakiri
I can’t help but find this one boring. Basically Tsubaki is a jedi who ends up falling to the dark side because he wants to save a princess he loves (sound familiar?) I honestly remember barely anything other than the main character’s name. The animation was just not my style, the story was recycled and it was just in general bad.
The entire episode the most annoying drum music playing throughout everything. Even when characters are talking. It’s clearly meant to bring atmosphere to scenes but it just gets very obnoxious very quickly.
Very hard to believe “T0-B1” was made by the same studio.
Overall Thoughts
Overall I think Visions, ironically enough, lacks vision. The collection of short stories are fine but in a collection 9 episodes there’s only 3 or 4 I’d recommend actually watching. The rest are palatable but basically feel empty and soulless. And when you’re writing stories for a movie franchise known for it’s massive world building and characterisation, you can’t be having dull stories with dull people.
Some of the newer Star Wars fans may be able to look past some things that bugged me. But essentially, the whole collection isn’t worth watching. Just “The Duel,” “Tatooine Rhapsody,” “The Ninth Jedi,” “T0-B1,” and “Lop and Ocho.” The rest can be skipped.
All in all a series with only half of it’s episodes at a watchable or enjoyable quality is a pretty bad series.
