Star Wars: Visions (2021)

[ぼくたちは勉強ができない]

Season 1

Director: Takanobu Mizuno, Taku Kimura, Hiroyuki Imaishi, Hitoshi Haga, Kenji Kamiyama, Abel Góngora, Masahiko Otsuka, Yuki Igarashi, Choi Eunyong
Studio: Kamikaze Douga, Studio Colorido, Studio Trigger, Kinema Citrus, Production IG, Science SARU, Geno Studio
Starring: Masaki Terasoma, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Junya Enoki
Episodes: 9

Synopsis:
An anthology of short stories set in the Star Wars universe.

Impressions:
It's impressive how nuLucasfilm's bungling has turned me on such an influential franchise from my childhood. I honestly have no desire to see any of the new Star Wars content coming out and honestly am soured a bit even on the OT (though maybe rewatching it will help me clear my head of the past six years of vandalism). Anyway, if this collaboration with Japanese animation studios in the vein of The Animatrix hadn't conveniently been made available to me, I probably wouldn't have entertained the mild curiosity that was piqued when I first heard about it.

I have a manga anthology of shorts set in the Star Wars universe which I got while trying to hunt down the Japanese version of the Star Wars manga released around the time of the Special Edition. Calling the stories a mixed bag would be generous, but it was interesting seeing such different takes on a galaxy far, far away. I feel much the same way about this. While it's nice seeing Star Wars coming back to its Japanese roots, in several of the stories it's mostly jidaigeki with Star Wars tech grafted on and as a general rule the stories are just setups for a lightsaber fight that don't consider other ways to approach the universe (though, in general, there's more thought put into it than most other Disney-era SW content).

"The Duel" by Kamikaze Douga (who brought us Ninja Batman) is one of the better ones, with a striking art style, though it's hardest hit by the "jidaigeki with Star Wars jammed in" syndrome. "Tatooine Rhapsody" by Studio Colorido is one of the more unique, but not everyone is going to go for the art style or the band story (though we do get an adorable chibi Boba Fett, so that's something). "The Twins" by Studio Trigger delivers on over-the-top visuals, but your head's gonna hurt if you try thinking about it too much (or any at all). "The Village Bride" by Kinema Citrus has a similar distressed village scenario as "The Duel" but with a setting that portrays the indigenous animism as an expression of the Force. "The Ninth Jedi" by Production IG is probably the best of the bunch and has the most potential to be expanded into a full series. "T0-B1" by Science SARU is a neat send-up of Testuwan Atom/Astro Boy, though a Force-sensitive droid is breaking the lore as far as I understand it (unless T0-B1 has organic components I'm not aware of). "The Elder", also by Trigger, depicts a good master-apprentice relationship, which for better or worse feels a lot like a Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan story with the serial numbers filed off. "Lop and Ochou" by Geno Studio weaves a nice tale of family conflict and I'm sure a fair number of viewers will latch onto bunny girl Lop. Whereas "The Duel" has a strong element of The Seven Samurai, "Akakiri" by Science SARU is more The Hidden Fortress, and while I'm not a huge fan of the art style, they managed to get a pretty intriguing story in the short runtime.

As I said before, it's a mixed bag. Most work well enough within their container and a few could lead into some really interesting stories if developed further, not that I expect it to happen. I'm loath to give Disney any money these days, but I will say that this is worth a watch at least.

Rating:
Watch It