Animated Shorts Star Wars: Visions - General Discussion Thread

Watched the first four shorts so far, and I've really been into all of them.

Going to do the remaining five tomorrow.

 

What is this series about?

 

It's an anthology. All nine episodes are standalone stories about totally different characters/events, brought to life in radically different styles of animation by (mostly) different anime studios.

 

My favs so far:

Akakiri
The Duel
The Village Bride

 

My favourites are The Duel for the art style, The Village Bride for that incredible music and interesting story and The Ninth Jedi because it had a droid smoking an oil pipe (and was the most interesting tale from a lore perspective).

Studio Trigger did fantastic work on The Elder which had some great choreography and creepy villain which I loved. The Twins was a little too over the top but that’s what they were going for so I still liked it.

I adored the art style Lop and Ochō and Akakira. The cityscapes in L&O were just beautiful and while the Akakira styling was unconventional I really liked it. Unfortunately these were the two that felt like they were impacted most by the short form. I’m my opinion both ended abruptly and I didn’t really feel like either story actually concluded.

I was not a fan of Tattooine Rhapsody but it was inoffensive and just not for me. Similarly To-B1 art style and musical choices weren’t to my liking and yet I loved the last couple of minutes.

Overall I really enjoyed the first series. Going to dig into some more of the filmmaker focus extras tonight. It definitely felt like these were Star Wars anime and not anime with a Star Wars paint job.

I’m so hopefully that the series or a particular episode is well received enough to garner a second season or perhaps a short 6-8 episode series.

Can’t wait to also pick up the Ronin novel when it’s released.

 

I just loved this. I'm not into anime (I don't dislike it I've just never gotten into it), but I felt that this was a perfect fit for the Star Wars universe. My favorites were The Last Duel, The Twins, The Ninth Jedi, and The Elder, but there wasn't a single episode that I didn't at least like. Bravo!

 

I loved that droid. He gave me a Marvin the Paranoid Android vibe.

 

Five episodes in, four to go. Visions is a testament to the philosophy that, post-George, Star Wars should be more concerned with allowing interesting filmmakers to put forward their interpretations of Star Wars on screen, rather than enforce direct mandates to maintain a rigid sense of stye and continuity as seems to be the current mantra post-Sequel Trilogy. Visions lives up to what I believed the "A Star Wars Story" films were going to be when they were announced – stylistically unique, standalone stories set in the Star Wars world that function as individual narratives unto themselves and are representative of the individual the people making them – before they just kind of devolved into "Young Han Solo prequel movie" and the upcoming spinoff shows directly centered around other already established characters.

I am absolutely loving this.

 

Agree with and personally i got really surprised on how much creative freedom was given to these studios.
What i've always heard is that Lucasfilm is extremely protective of Jedi and the use of the Force". The crew that made the Fallen Order game complained on much Lucasfilm tried to make them give up making material about Jedi and Force in general. They even complained that Cal had to identify himself as Force user, not a Jedi.
But in this series not only Jedi, Sith, but many types of Force users were allowed. Maybe Lucasfilm liked the take on them given by the studios.
Also, The Ninth Episode is about something that seems taboo: the state of the Jedi Order hundreds of years after Skywalker saga.Surprising to say the least.
In the end i hope they make another anthology/Visions in the near future.

 

Just FYI guys, go check out extra tab on the Vision's page on Disney+ .. There are short making of videos for each episode!

 

Ooohhh good to know!

 

Anyone thinking this is what the Jedi should have been like? Various Jedi in different cities/towns keeping the peace instead of one huge order.

 

I was pretty ambivalent about this series but holy crap, I really enjoyed it. I found something to like in every episode. I think this is probably the best thing Disney has done with the franchise.

Favorite episodes: The Ninth Jedi, The Elder, and Akakiri

 

As expected, I liked some, but not all. If they make more I'll keep watching. Some of these need sequels to continue or complete their stories.

 

Watched the first 4 last nigh....will watch the rest tonight!

1. The Duel - 10/10 - freakin' fantastic! I absolutely loved this.
2. Tatooine Rhapsody - 3/1. Meh, not for me.
3. The Twins - 7/10 - solid story and style, like it.
4. Village Bride - 9/10 - will watch this one again before I start the next 5, as I want to take it in. My jump to a 10/10. Loved it.

Can wait for the rest.

 

WOW! I just read my post again - what horrible typing!

I lost a very dear friend last night thanks to COVID. My viewing experience was not the best last night and I was still pretty cut up typing my post.....I CANT wait to finish the series.....I've really enjoyed it so far!

 

Guys, I got to give the series a 10 out of 10. This is star wars at its purest. The stories really were good and the Tatooine one I thought would suck balls but towards the end I shed a tear. Because friends don't leave friends behind regardless of how you look and what you do. That episode drove the concept home. Each episode had an underlying meaning it wasn't just all flash and for that I love it.

I'm surprised that a second series wasn't already approved. There definitely is enough to have at last three seasons. So many different types of stories to tell and it was fun to see jedi, sith, lightsabers, I mean this was way better than I thought it would be. Star Wars animation is no joke, its pretty damn good. On the canon issue I really don't care about that anymore. I'm at an age and stage that I want to see good stories, bright colored animation and amazing music to boot. One thing though, they need to do something with Titmouse. I can't understand why they haven't gotten an animated series with those guys.

 

Its a nice change to be sure.

 

My favorite aspect of this was the many new and different interpretations of the mythology. Of what a Jedi should or could be. The master and apprentice relationship. Of different ways, non-Jedi or Sith could interact with the force. It's fantastic.

My favorites were The Village Bridge which would get my vote for continuation. Maybe that's my bias for the time period but I like the idea of doing something like a Kino's Journey, Mushishi, or even a bit like To Your Eternity. My other favorites were "The Elder" and "TO-B1" surprisingly. I would rather see this lead to a collab for a full original anime series although a second Visions would be cool.

I hope inspires all the other projects in production to think outside the box. "The Twins" was as insane as I expected it to be but have to give it points there. I mean thinking back to all the theories from The Bad Batch on whether or not Omega is force sensitive, no one in the fandom or working in the damn show would likely come up with something like stabbing her with a force enriched kyber crystal or making her drink a liquified one like Dr. Marcoh's jelly Philosopher's Stone in Full Metal Alchemis then activating an OP ability.

 

The Village Bride really did effect me on metaphysical and spiritual level. The music was incredible, stirring my soul in a way the music has not in the rest of the shorts.

 

Yep there was just something special about that one.

Spoiler

Maybe it was the sereneness of it all, the knowledge that this overarching galactic evil can even affect this serenity in the middle of nowhere and a hero who has experienced horrors upon horrors still being compelled to step in and be a Jedi, no amount of darkness can stop that light from shining through. And then there was the music, top shelf story telling in top shelf animation.

 

If it were me. I would have put "The Village Bride" last in the episode list because it ends with such a message of hope unlike "Akakiri" which ends with darkness. The Jedi in "The Village Bride" got up and filled the role of a great Jedi hero in spite of the threat of revealing herself. Did what was right. One of the things I loved so much about Kanan. She and Tsubaki contrast the Jedi's struggle nicely and what it means to be one nicely actually. Seems like either would be a natural conclusion for a Jedi wondering after Order 66. Yes, I recognized Akakiri is not in the same time period.