As always, Visions looks absolutely wonderful. I can't wait!
Star Wars: Visions - Anime Anthology Series
- Thread starter JD
- Start date
Nothing from Toei yet
I just wanted to post a quick reminder that Volume 3 comes out tomorrow. I rewatched The Duel and The Ninth Jedi as prep for their sequels, and it turns out that The Lost Ones is also a sequel to The Village Bride, but by the time I learned that I was done watching streaming stuff.
Very much looking forward to this. A decent PR piece up on the official site...
'Why We Love the Unique Stories of Star Wars: Visions'...
'Why We Love the Unique Stories of Star Wars: Visions'...
Several of these are sequels to first-season episodes, right? I'm wondering whether I want to rewatch the whole thing in order (maybe skipping the ones I didn't like much), or watch the season 1 episodes and their season 3 sequels back-to-back.
Three of the nine new episodes are sequels, The Duel: Payback is a sequel to The Duel, The Ninth Jedi: The Child of Hope is a sequel to The Ninth Jedi, and The Lost Ones is a sequel to The Village Bride. Then they'll be spinning The Ninth Jedi off into it's own series, Star Wars: Visions Presents The Ninth Jedi sometime soon.
I watched Payback this afternoon, and I thought it was fantastic. The way this whole part of the Visions subfranchise combines feudal Japan and Star Wars is a lot of fun. These episodes definitely have the most unique animation style of any of the anime episodes, and it really works for them. The action is also fantastic. It's always a little weird for me when you're rooting for the characters who would usually be the bad guys, but The Ronin does make a reference to "The Grandmaster" not really being a Jedi anymore, so it sounds like there is a chance he's not actually a representation of what this universe's Jedi are like.
I loved the two AT-ATs that had been turned into a gambling hall, and I'm always a huge Ewoks fan, so anytime they show up, that always adds a few points for me.
The first season was largely unmemorable to me, with only "The Duel" standing out. I never did see the second season. However, knowing that there is a sequel to "The Duel", I will be checking that one out.
I've never been able to get into the Visions shorts. I've seen almost all of the first two batches, but really only liked the first season's The Duel and The Village Bride.
But both get sequels here, so I guess I'm in for these as well.
Have only watched The Duel: Payback, so far.
This was good, but I liked the first one better. Still, it's nice to know that Ewoks are adorable little terrorists in any universe.
But both get sequels here, so I guess I'm in for these as well.
Have only watched The Duel: Payback, so far.
There are a lot of interesting, in inverted, parallels between the Ronin/Grandmaster and Anakin/Obi-wan. Ronin is the Anakin analog, here a former Sith hunting Sith rather than a former Jedi hunting Jedi. And Grandmaster is the Obi-wan analog, if Obi-wan lost the Mustafar duel and wound up the machine man rather than Anakin (he even has the accent). Appropriately, the Obi-wan figure loses himself and goes a bit Maul with the obsession. And why does it feel like every time the franchise does a female Sith she's always a Twi'lek?
This was good, but I liked the first one better. Still, it's nice to know that Ewoks are adorable little terrorists in any universe.
Just finished watching them all (subs only, will do a dub watch later on) and I really enjoyed most of them!
Overall a much greater variety of subject matter than vol 1 (read: it's not all Jedi all the time, every time.) Indeed a lot of them feel much more ambitious, tackling more complex themes.
Random notes: -
Indeed, 'The Ninth Jedi' just screams "Old Republic" to me, and I like that it could go either way.
The second volume has way more variety, both in subject matter and in style. It's still Jedi/force heavy, but there's a better balance to it all.
As I said above; the third volume has continued the trend of greater diversity, so not just more of the same.
Overall a much greater variety of subject matter than vol 1 (read: it's not all Jedi all the time, every time.) Indeed a lot of them feel much more ambitious, tackling more complex themes.
Random notes: -
- That's two seasons running with a mini-rig cameo! First the MTV-7 in "The Spy Dancer", now we get a AST-5 in "The Duel: Payback".
- Another seemingly toy inspired element in this episode is the Grand Master's Jedi Starfighter; the toy version of the Delta-7 that came out for AotC had break-away side panels that gave it much the same look!
- I have to say I enjoyed "The Song of Four Wings". Mostly action based, but some good characterization for this style of storytelling
- "The Ninth Jedi" was easily my favorite of Vol 1, and "The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope" doesn't disappoint either! The set-up felt a little contrived, and I suspect part of that is the desire to have the upcoming limited series spin-off be able to pick up from where the original episode left off, while giving Kara her own separate story here to flesh out her character a little more.
- "The Bounty Hunters" was another solid entry, and while there's still some Jedi presence, it's definitely in the background. Indeed, it unsurprisingly felt like they were channeling 'The Mandalorian' more than a little bit! As a side note: unusually for episodes that seem to want to hew close to canon (even though they don't need to) this one seems to be set at some point prior to the saga movies.
- "Yuko's Treasure" feels like an odd duck. I certainly enjoyed it, but I'm not sure the misdirect worked for me. I guess it doesn't help that this kind of deliberately silly, madcap anime doesn't do much for me, but that's a "me" problem and not a serious criticism. Another timeline note: this one also seems to be set in an unusual time; post-OT, going by the toy ships on display at the market seller.
- "The Lost Ones" was a great continuation of "The Village Bride" (another favorite of mine from Vol 1), with a unique twist on an Order 66 survivor story. I say "unique" since it's the same dynamic as post-Clone Wars Anakin & Ahsoka, but well done all the same! The carbon gas leak was a very interesting idea for a nasty kind of industrial disaster. So much so that I wouldn't be shocked to see it in other media at some point or another! Here's hoping for a third entry for this character!
- I enjoyed "The Smuggler" much more that Trigger's offering for Vol 1! Indeed "The Twins" was easily my least favorite of the first season! "The Smuggler" still had some of the same frenetic style, but it balanced it a little better against the characters, and kept the action relatively grounded (I stress: relatively!)
- While not my favorite this season, "The Bird of Paradise" still managed to be by far the most visually striking, and a very unique take of a spiritual journey. Laser focused on this one character and her trials, physical, mental, and spiritual.
- Not much to say about 'Black'; it's the sort of avantguard piece that's meant to speak for itself. Not really my bag, but I suspect it'll be the one George may dig the most out of the whole show!
Indeed, 'The Ninth Jedi' just screams "Old Republic" to me, and I like that it could go either way.
I think it's safe to say that the first season suffered a tiny bit from basically every studio independently deciding to do very similar stories, mainly around Jedi and Sith. Understandable given that stuff was lifted from Japanese culture to begin with, and for all they knew that was the only chance they'd get to do an official Star Wars project, so of course most of them went for lightsabers.
The second volume has way more variety, both in subject matter and in style. It's still Jedi/force heavy, but there's a better balance to it all.
As I said above; the third volume has continued the trend of greater diversity, so not just more of the same.
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