In yet another classic case of being late to the party, here’s my review of the nine shorts from Star Wars Visions. I kinda forgot they existed while I was watching other currently airing shows. Anyway I’ve ranked them according to my preference because I know that’s precisely what you need in your life. There will be spoilers you’ve been warned.
9 – Tatooine Rhapsody
I don’t think anyone will be surprised that this ranks last, in fact I’d be more surprised if someone didn’t rank it last. This is basically just an animated music video set in Star Wars. The song itself is neither terrible nor great, keeping in mind I listened to the subbed version (I watched all of these in Japanese like a civilized weeb), but it’s not a genre I’m a fan of. The only real part of this episode that put a smile on my face was an ultra brief cut of the Cantina band sweating bullets watching their new competition via hologram. Good jab, the Cantina Band always deserves to be cut down to size. Otherwise there’s really nothing here unless you like chibi Boba Fett or the idea that a failed Jedi Padawan gave up and tried to become a popstar.
8 – Akakiri
I know the obvious reason to bash Akakiri is the visual style but honestly that’s like the last criticism on my list. The visual style while among the worst of these shorts worked just fine for me, with the exception of the big bad who gave me serious Illaoi vibes from League of Legends and not in a good way. I’m also a bit torn on the visuals regarding the lightsabers, the slow fades during lightsaber movement are artsy and cool but they also kind of hurt my eyes. My main problem is that I felt like this needed more time with the characters and maybe less time on the journey. The two old guys were fun but the main duo just didn’t have enough meat for me to chew on, and it makes Tsubaki’s conversion from troubled Jedi to Sith apprentice really lackluster. There were hints of the relationship between Tsubaki and the exiled princess but I felt like there needed to be more in order for the ending to really hit home. I feel like this short had the framework for a good story but just not the vision or time required to build that framework into something more worthwhile. And it definitely sucks that this was the last of the shorts, it makes the experience that much worse when you end on a low note after some much more impressive episodes.
7 – TO-B1
TO-B1 is a cute little episode that feels very much for kids. I love the character designs, they’re practically ripped out of time from the 50s or 60s. And the fight choreography was surprisingly good with lots of dynamic movement. That being said the rest of the short was pretty lackluster. The story was beyond simple and the execution was alright but nothing to write home about. If you’re a young child or want warm fuzzies while watching Star Wars this is for you. If you’re a jaded old man like me this is very boring outside of the archaic character models.
6 – Lop & Ocho
Lop & Ocho was a bit of a disappointment for me. Visually it was one of the best looking of the shorts, both in the backgrounds and the character designs. It set up a nice conflict as well with the planet having trouble modernizing and accepting Imperial aid only for many locals to eventually grow weary of Imperial demands and the way the planet had changed. The ideological conflict between the forward-thinking Ocho and her traditionalist father was quite good, with Lop acting as the kid on the sidelines trying to keep the family together. That being said if any of these shorts needed more time to breathe, it would be this one. Lop, but to an even greater degree Ocho needed some more development, in particular how Ocho went from basically forcing her father to adopt Lop to not even considering her to be a true part of family over the course of maybe a decade. Likewise the turnaround of the conflict is just too quick and it’s hard to get fully invested in, in part because the short sacrifices some run time to establish the world and why Ocho and Lop are sisters despite obviously not being from the same species. This short executes very well on the visual and conceptual fronts, it has good ideas and the visual flair be immediately appealing. But it also feels very surface level, despite the fact it took the time world build, because there is so little time for the actual conflict and character arcs to take shape. Of the shorts this would easily be one of the ones I would most want to see as either a feature film or a tv show. It’s a good short that has many of the right elements to be great, just not enough time to bring those elements together satisfactorily.
5 – The Duel
The Duel has the advantage of being the first short, assuming you watched them in order and boy does it take advantage of it. I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything else with the same visual style, it’s a bizarre modern style which uses new tech to deliberately evoke classic black & white film without just being black & white film. Interesting artstyle aside this short is pretty reflective of most of these shorts in that the story is very barebones or lacking but it gives us the fights and visuals it knows Star Wars fans want. Kudos for the ridiculous lightsaber umbrella attachment for the villainess 10/10. On a more serious note the stark visuals contrast very well with the lightsabers and lasers, it makes colors really pop and gives the action a lot more punch. The short has a great flow of action as well, with the frenetic energy of the rebel ambush kicking things off, followed by the villainess stopping the action entirely with her reveal only for it to ramp up again as the rebels desperately try to compensate for her power, only for the Ronin to slow thing down again by force-catching the lightsaber before drawing his own so they can have a fancy duel on a floating log. Very solid action, excellent if you’re the type who likes the really stark mostly quiet action films that no one makes anymore.
4 – The Village Bride
The Village Bride is an excellent short that had very little Jedi action all things considered. And that’s a crying shame because our main girl looks great, very stylish especially with her scifi heels. I really like the look of this short, it deliberately gets away from a lot of what you see in modern anime to make characters look more realistic but it still prevents them from looking at all cartoony. It’s a very striking artstyle and I’d love to see more like it, the setting and characters look great in it. This short also gave me pretty strong Avatar the Last Airbender vibes, felt like it could easily have been an episodic adventure where Aang and the gang discover an isolated village and deals with their problems as the fire nation inevitably shows up. In this particular short the fact that Jedi’s past is only briefly touched on is good because the central focus is on the people of the local planet and their conflict with the raiders who control a bunch of battle droids. The locals’ culture, while not described in too much detail, nonetheless feels fully realized as a very spiritual culture where people have a strong connection to nature and each other. Honestly the biggest downside to this short is that bucket-head man did more fighting than the Jedi lady, not a great plan when the goofy looking guy is trying to outshine the leading lady. But otherwise this was an excellent short. Great visuals, a good story and some kinetic, if brief action. I’d very much like to see a full length film or tv show made in this style following the Jedi lady.
3 – The Elder
As a die hard Trigger fan, I was overjoyed they had two entries. Of the two this is the one that will resonate more with non-anime fans very much like Little Witch Academia. Stylistically this was maybe the most realistic looking of all the shorts, with very detailed character and mechanical designs and backgrounds made in a older painting style. This short also had some of the best characters of the various shorts, with simple but consistent characters that felt like that they had more depth to them as expressed through their dialogue exchanges. This of course makes this short the least accurate of all the shorts since the real Star Wars movies have terrible dialogue, but it nonetheless made the characters feel more grounded and believable. The action here is among the best of the shorts with the Old Man being a surprisingly deadly opponent both in Force power and swordplay. I also liked that this one deliberately played into a episodic feel by making this a random encounter during a patrol, it takes advantage of the brevity of the short because I don’t feel like I’m missing out on a better story that hasn’t been fully shown as I did with some of the other shorts, especially Lop & Ocho. This despite the fact the ending left some mystery and the amount of character details suggested this could have been taken out of the middle of an ongoing story. Very well put together all around.
2 – The Twins
If The Elder came from the Little Witch Academia team then The Twins 100% came from the Kill la Kill team. This is peak Trigger, balls to walls, rule of cool action. It had easily the most interesting use of lightsabers with Am getting the Grievous treatment but then also getting the ability to flex her lightsabers like whips. They even used ligthsabers to one up the sequel trilogy on the hyperspeed ship slicer scene. Does it make any sense that the twins were out in space without a helmet or any kind of atmospheric gear? No. Was there any meat at all to the story? Also no. Do I care about such trifling matters in the face of how awesome the fighting was? Hell no. This was a ton of fun and really showed the power of animation in action and just how much more stylish you can make anime action than real life action. I also thought it had some fun little details like the evil C-3PO and the double Star Destroyer. Because honestly as meaningless as the story was here, at least concept of the twins linking their force powers to fire a special gun that needs a custom double Star Destroyer to work is a million times better than not visually changing a Star Destroyer at all and giving them Death Star cannons anyway. Get rekt sequel trilogy. Truth to be told though this all about the action spectacle and I’m a man who loves me some action spectacle. Glad to see Trigger bringing their A game and smashing it again.
1 – The Ninth Jedi
Despite what I just said though there is simply no competition for first place. The Ninth Jedi is hands down the best of the shorts. It has everything. It has a good plot, a solid bit of lore that means it could take place just about anytime in the Stars Wars cannon outside of the main events, excellent action with plenty of spectacle and it leaves itself open for the story to continue. The ideas presented here are all solid with the Jedi seemingly gone to the point of near extinction so that even the knowledge of how to make lightsabers has been largely lost. Having the mysterious Margrave make this call and offer lightsabers to the few remaining Jedi makes for a scenario where you can easily assume the Margrave is a hidden Sith villain using the lightsabers as bait to wipe out the scattered Jedi who heed the call – only for it to happen in reverse with the most of the arrivals being Sith hunting the Margrave who is in turn using this opportunity to kill them. Kara is an excellent character who blends the right mix of youthful fun and righteousness with the ability to be a fucking badass with a lightsaber. Her jetbike chase and the big lightsaber free for all were the highlights of the short and this entire anime experiment. I also liked some of the little details like having the lightsabers change color according to who’s wielding them and the state of their relation to the Force. It’s a bit cheesy but it works great visually to have the lightsabers change color in real time and is especially strong in how it plays off the semi-transparent lightsaber Kara starts out with due to her incomplete connection to Force. Lots of cool ideas in this short and I’d loved to see more from the same team if Disney ever signed off on it.
Mistakes Cheerio for Chesto 