It’s Star Wars Day!!!!!
Last year, Disney + debuted a series of Anime shorts centered in the
Star Wars universe and it was a long time marriage that should’ve happened a
long time ago. Anime has taken a ton of
inspiration from Star Wars with franchises like Mobile Suit Gundam and Tenchi
Muyo sharing more than a few similarities from story beats to signature
weapons. Why we had to wait almost 45
years to get a Star Wars Anime Anthology is kind of a crime (we should have at
least 10 OVAs by now). But it happened
and for once, May the 4th falls on a Wednesday and I have something
both Star Wars and Anime to talk about for Top 5 Wednesday. So, May the 4th be with us all and
here are my Top 5 Star Wars Visions Stories.
Personally I feel like most of the best Visions tales are
in the front half of the anthology but man this was a pretty risky way to end
things.
Instead of a tale of triumph,
Akakiri is one of the darkest and saddest tales I think I’ve ever seen in Star
Wars.
And I’m not just talking about the
tone of the story.
Artistically, Akakiri
is easily has the darkest animation of any of the nine stories and it gets
darker the more it goes on.
By the end,
the tragic tale reaches a climax that perfectly illustrates just how much its
hero has lost and just what kind of a dark road lies ahead for him.
#4-Tatooine Rhapsody
Now I think I’m in a minority on this one but you know
what, I love it.
A Star Wars story about
an intergalactic Rock Band is a pretty cool idea and it helps that these guys
can play a pretty good tune too.
Speaking of, the song that Jay and his band play at the end for Jabba
the Hutt is an awesome feel good tune that kind of reminds me of a Pillows
track from FLCL.
Oh and a chibified Boba
Fett flying around looking like a transforming fighter jet might be one of the
cutest visuals in all of Star Wars.
#3-T0-B1
Astro Boy is one of the oldest Anime and Manga in
existence and is probably one of the very first heroes of either medium. So what if Astro Boy wanted to become a Jedi
Knight? The answer is he should and wow
would he be a freaking bad ass. I love the
childlike wonder of T0-B1 and how he dreams of adventure among the stars. But when the danger comes to him, he takes it
head on without fear and manages to prove that you don’t need to be Liam Neeson
or Samuel L. Jackson to wield a Lightsaber or be one of the greatest heroes in
the galaxy.
#2-The Twins
Another simple premise: Studio Trigger does Star
Wars.
It’s nothing short of what you’d
expect from the group that brought you Kill La Kill and Promare.
The Lightsaber duel between Karre and Am is so
over the top, vibrant and colorful and full of that kind of excess Trigger does
so well.
At some point, you just stop
trying to question the physics and understanding of it all and just enjoy this
short for what it is: an excuse to see a Dragon Ball Z level battle in Star
Wars complete with a Lightsaber cleaving a Star Destroyer in half…take that Admiral Holdo.
#1-The Duel
Incase you might not be aware, George Lucas was heavily
inspired by the works of Akira Kurosawa when he was working on Star Wars, from story
inspirations to film editing techniques.
So it only feels right that Star Wars gives back to the man who had such
heavy influence with a short that could’ve been directed by Kurosawa himself.
Shown almost entirely in black and white, save
for the Lightsabers of course, The Duel is Japanese storyboarding come to life
and the pacing and choreography never reach those extreme Anime heights but
that’s a good thing.
I could easily see
this being a live action short from the 50s or 60s, again, directed by
Kurosawa.
This short is perfect in every
sense and set the bar pretty damn high for the rest of Star Wars Visions to
follow.
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