If you’re a fan of Star Wars, you probably know that George Lucas was inspired by the films of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, specifically The Hidden Fortress, in his creation of Star Wars. So in a sense, it feels like coming full-circle to give Japanese animation studios a crack at their interpretation of the Star Wars universe. The nine short films that make up Star Wars: Visions find a brand-new way of looking at a universe we’ve known for more than 40 years, coming up with some artistically stunning works running the gamut from silly to serious.
Seven different studios contributed the nine episodes—Trigger and Science Saru each get a pair—and one of the most satisfying things about them is how they strike out on their own while still feeling fundamentally tied to Star Wars. Aside from brief appearances by Jabba the Hutt and Boba Fett, familiar faces are few and far between here, allowing the stories to use the iconography of lightsabers and Star Destroyers for fully original concepts. There are occasions when it feels like the episodes are responding to one of those 24-hour filmmaking challenges in order to stay connected—“must include the phrase ‘I have a bad feeling about this,’ kyber crystals, etc.”—but in general, there’s not the sense that anyone at Lucasfilm was peeking over the filmmakers’ shoulders to make sure they stayed true to “canon.”
Instead, they stayed true to their design sensibility, and it’s there, even more so than in the narratives, that the Visions episodes become singular creations. Yes, there are broadly comic bits that feel like they could have emerged from a Pokémon episode, like Studio Colorido’s “Tatooine Rhapsody,” about an interstellar rock band literally playing for the life of one of their members. But there are also distinctive looks like the colonized planet in Geno Studio’s “Lop and Ocho,” or the impressionistic storm that strikes the travelers in Science Saru’s “Akikiri.”
Best of all, there’s Kamikaze Douga’s “The Duel,” a dazzling tale of a ronin defending a town from a Sith lord that stands as the most remarkable original work Disney+ has programmed to date. From the mostly greyscale color palette to following a discarded cloak into the air where most stories would focus on the battle about to commence, to an umbrella-style lightsaber that feels like a marketing opportunity waiting to happen, “The Duel” finds more visual imagination in 14 minutes than some of the Star Wars features have in two hours.
Not coincidentally, “The Duel” is also one of the episodes steeped in a particularly Japanese aesthetic, with tales of warriors seeking redemption. While the English-language soundtrack features a few familiar voice actors—including Shang-Chi’s Simu Liu, Alison Brie, David Harbour, Henry Golding and more—these were stories created unapologetically as Japanese stories. It’s evidence of the immense adaptability of the Star Wars universe that the Visions films can maintain such a cultural specificity while still capturing Star Wars’ essential themes of battling tyranny, resisting the temptations of power and more.
Not every Visions story will be for every taste, and the stand-alone nature of the stories will make it easy (and perhaps even likely) that folks will sample episodes and move on from those that don’t grab them. But it’s worth trying them all out just to feel that connection between Star Wars and Japanese storytelling brought so powerfully to life. Star Wars Visions will stream exclusively on Disney+ starting September 22.
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Let’s Hear From You
Are you excited to see more of the expanded Star Wars universe in these short films? Is there a studio that you’re particularly interested in watching? Have you seen any of Akira Kurosawa’s films that inspired George Lucas? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
If you’re looking for another alternative approach to Star Wars with a Japanese flair be sure to check out this Star Wars Visions manga:
And this Luke Skywalker manga we profiled below:
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