Star Wars: Visions (2021) – Series Review: A Welcome Expansion of the Star Wars World That Features Some Cool New Heroes and Villains

Quick Thoughts – Grade – A – The first season of Star Wars: Visions is a thrilling look into an expanding galaxy. The animated short films all offer something unique, and their short running times guarantee that they never overstay their welcome. 

Created by seven of Japan’s popular anime studios (Kamikaze Douga, Geno Studio (Twin Engine), Studio Colorido (Twin Engine), TRIGGER, Kinema Citrus, Science Saru, and Production I.G.), Star Wars: Visions, features nine standalone short films that feature beautiful animation, wild battles, musical performances, and welcome diversity to the galaxy. Starting with an epic duel in The Duel, and ending with tragedy in The Ninth Jedi, there’s a wild amount of variance amongst the stories. The one connecting thread is that they all feature familiar aspects of the Star Wars world, such as tie fighters, star destroyers, and familiar alien faces that ground the short film in the Star Wars lore. 

What’s great about the nine short films is how they introduce the world to a new crop of heroes and villains who all offer something unique and fun. Episodes such as The Elder, and The Twins introduce audiences to legitimately cool villains who are either wildly evil, or supremely angry (Alison Brie does some excellent voice work). TO-B1, and The Village Bride introduce cool heroes, who are often outnumbered, but always down for a fight. Since the episodes are so short, you’re left wanting to see more of their exploits as many of the episodes kick off larger adventures that we’ll never get to see. 

During a recent panel (Thank you Starwars.com), executive producer Jame Waugh said “We really wanted to give these creators a wide creative berth to explore all the imaginative potential of the Star Wars galaxy through the unique lens of anime. We realized we wanted these to be as authentic as possible to the studios and creators who are making them, made through their unique process, in a medium they’re such experts at. So the idea was, this is their vision riffing off all the elements of the Star Wars galaxy that inspired them — hopefully to make a really incredible anthology series, unlike anything we’ve seen before in the Star Wars galaxy.”

In the end, it looks like Waugh succeeded at bringing together a bunch of Star Wars fans who created some excellent love letters to the franchise. Try your best to avoid spoilers, and watch these fun short films with fresh eyes. If you love the Star Wars franchise, you will appreciate these creative and unique visions. 

Final Thoughts – It would be great to see more.