TV Review: "Star Wars: Visions" Returns to Japan In Volume 3 with Nine Glorious New Animated Shorts
Today saw the debut of the third volume of animated shorts in Lucasfilm's anthology series Star Wars: Visions, and below you will find my thoughts on this full season, with individual reviews of each short film contained within to immediately follow.
It's hard to believe it's been over four years since the debut of the first volume of Star Wars: Visions on Disney+, but so much has happened since then-- both within the world of Star Wars and without-- that the time has just flown by. In September of 2021 we were introduced to Lucasfilm's bold new experiment in animation, which dared to think outside the box by farming out nine shorts to a variety of popular anime studios in Japan. Then in May of 2023, we got Visions Volume 2, which broadened the scope of the project to include animators from all around the world, including studios like Aardman from England, Cartoon Saloon from Ireland, and Triggerfish from South Africa. Now Volume 3 has returned to Japan for another nine shorts, and I'm extremely pleased to report that the quality remains very high this time around, probably making Star Wars: Visions one of the most consistent properties to come out of Lucasfilm in a long while.
Much hubbub has been made about the three sequel episodes contained in Volume 3-- "The Duel" has begat "The Duel: Payback," "The Ninth Jedi" has given way to "The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope," and the story of "The Village Bride" continues in "The Lost Ones." These are all absolutely worth watching, of course (I can't think of a single exception among all 27 Star Wars: Visions shorts so far) but this time around "Payback" is the best of the trio of ongoing narratives. We've seen its protagonist The Ronin pop up in two Marvel Comics one-shots, one full-length novel from Lucasfilm Publishing, and even a Hasbro action figure set since Volume 1, so fans are definitely primed to see his tale expanded upon again in the jaw-dropping visual style that Kamikaze Douga established previously, though now the studio has collaborated with ANIMA.
As for the seven completely original shorts in this batch, "Black" from David Production is the true standout for me-- and might actually be the best of all three volumes combined. That one paints an abstract portrait of the life of an Imperial stormtrooper through disjointed wartime visuals and an oblique jazz soundtrack-- it's like nothing else Visions has attempted before, and consequently feels like the ultimate expression of the series' artistic ambitions. Others that topped my list include Project Studio Q's "The Song of Four Wings," "Yuko's Treasure" from Kinema Citrus, and Polygon Pictures' "The Bird of Paradise," though I'd recommend just barreling through the entire collection once you find some time to sit down and take them all in (there's a total of about three hours' worth of content in Volume 3, with the nine shorts each averaging roughly 20 minutes in length).
One thing I do want to make note of is an improvement in the spectrum of focus here over Volume 1, which in my opinion featured Jedi and lightsaber duels too often over other aspects of the Star Wars galaxy. On my podcast "Who's the Bossk?" I even suggested that Lucasfilm should give each of the animators a different prompt or topic in order to avoid that much overlap, and I have to wonder if someone among the powers that be heard that and took my advice this time around. Here we get stories about bounty hunters, smugglers, and members of the rebel military-- all examples that I would have listed-- in addition to more tales from the Jedi Order, and I absolutely applaud that diversification of storytelling.
My next critique (that would apply to Volume 3) as well would be to have the creators try to steer clear of the standard Hero's Journey structure utilized in the original 1977 Star Wars film, in addition to so many stories we've seen on screen and in literature before and after. That pattern plays out a few more times than I would have liked in Visions, which is a big part of what made me appreciate "Black" and its thoroughly unconventional approach that much more. To me, the weirdly and more out-there the better when it comes to modern-day Star Wars in general and Star Wars: Visions in particular. That said, Volume 3 still ranks right up there with the level of excellence we've come to expect from this ambitious anthology series, and I can't imagine anyone being disappointed by the overall stunning craft and breathtaking artistry that went into what is presented here.
Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 is now available to stream in its entirety, exclusively via Disney+.