Star Wars: Visions 3

The Animated adventures of souls all across a Galaxy Far, Far Away return with 9 brand new tales from the most prominent powers in the world of Japanese Animation.  New chapters in the ongoing sagas of familiar tales are written alongside the beginnings of a new generation of heroes across the stars.  From youthful pilots to jaded Bounty Hunters to the never ending war between Jedi and Sith, the Visions grow stronger than ever before as Star Wars and Anime join forces once again.

For it’s third outing, the Star Wars Visions Anthology Series returns to its roots with the concept that started it all: Star Wars plus Anime.  Not that this is ever a bad thing but it has to be said that returning to a strictly Anime line up of shorts does immediately lessen to substantial impact made to the series by opening the doors to the rest of the Animation world for Visions 2.  Not only that but several of these new offerings feel either underwhelming, incomplete, or just inferior to what’s come before.  Not that there isnt plenty to enjoy but Visions 3 is nevertheless the weakest of the three seasons thus far.
 
Alrighty, since this is an Anthology, as always, I shall break down the offerings.  First up is The Duel: Payback by Kamikaze Douga and ANIMA, the first of three sequels to stories from Volume 1 where the Ronin must contend with the sins of his past.  Next is The Song of Four Wings by Production Studio Q, which follows a young Rebel Princess who comes to the aid of an adorable Force user.  The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope by Production I.G, continues the adventures of aspiring Jedi Kara after she is separated from her friends after a battle with Bounty Hunters.  The Bounty Hunters by Studio Wit, sees an exile and her psycho Droid companion taking on a job that challenges why they do what they do.  In Yuko’s Treasure by Kinema Citrus, two orphans and a teddy bear droid find themselves targets of villains looking for a treasure only the children can access.  The Lost Ones, also by Kinema Citrus, finds roaming Jedi F becoming the unlikely savior of a group of refugees while confronting the Master she thought lost a long time ago.  In The Smuggler by Studio Trigger, our titular heroine gets hired to escort a rogue Prince and his Jedi bodyguard off world.  The Bird of Paradise by Polygon Pictures follows a young Jedi Padawan forced to choose between both sides of the Force when a battle goes horribly wrong.  And finally in BLACK by David Production, the final moments of a long Stormtrooper play out in a series of chaotic images during the climax of the Battle of Endor.
 
The one thing I just noticed typing all those mini synopsis is how very similar most of these short stories are to each other in terms of set up.  Ignoring the three sequels for a moment, most of these feature a character thrust into some kind of rescue or escape mission with very little variety beyond the players and their supporting casts.  The only two of these nine stories that stand out beyond this are The Bird of Paradise and BLACK, both of which deal with darker and more challenging subject matters for Star Wars.  Both feel the closest to the offerings of Visions 2 with BLACK and its chaotic and nightmare fuel inducing visuals (the kind that will no doubt keep one up at night) and Bird of Paradise with its ever changing and beautiful 3D art style.  Overall, variety isnt exactly Volume 3’s cup of tea, again teetering back into Volume 1’s biggest drawback of too many Jedi, Sith and Lightsabers and not enough of everything else that makes Star Wars awesome as a whole.
 
Let’s talk about the Sequels first.  Volume 1’s The Duel, The Ninth Jedi and The Village Bride all get follow ups in Volume 3 and all of them…are not that great.  The Duel: Payback might be the biggest letdown as it veers away from the more grounded Kurosawa fare in favor of something more over the top and closer in line to present day Star Wars, not in a good way.  As good as it is to see The Village Brides beautiful F again, her return feels like two stories competing for screentime and neither feels fully resolved in a satisfying way.  As for The Ninth Jedi follow up, Child of Hope, well The Ninth Jedi was one of the weaker entries in Volume 1 and I definitely don’t think the sequel was needed.  Also, the short ends with a “To Be Contnued…” which made me think, oh great is this the one that’s gonna get another follow up or even worse a full series?  Why?  The Ninth Jedi is so boring and there are much better stories that need the full series treatment…or just better sequels like The Duel.  Seriously, I’d love to see a whole 13 episode run of film grain black and white lightsaber duels.
 
But what really stood out in each of Visions 3’s entries, the good and the bad, was the quality of the supporting cast, and honestly you could add Child of Hope to that too cause Teto was way more likeable and fleshed out than anyone in the Ninth Jedi cast (if it isnt obvious already, I don’t like the Ninth Jedi).  IV-A4’s split personality made him an entertaining riot when his Assassin personality kicked in.  And how can you not love an actually big teddy bear Droid named Bily?  Honestly though, the MVP character of this season goes to Woopas, the adorable little force user who now easily rivals Grogu as the cutest character/potential mascot in all of Star Wars.  Also for all my dislike of The Duel sequel, seeing Ewoks in action again in black and white was pretty cool too. 
 
As for the short stories themselves, I definitely had my favs like BLACK, The Song of Four Wings. The Bounty Hunters, Yuko’s Treasure were my personal favs.  But even those were just ok.  Sure they had their positives like Yuko’s Treasure being a more kid friendly Star Wars adventure and Princess Crane and Sven standing out as bad ass heroines for the franchise.  But nothing really grabbed me though, besides the merchandising bait which is working (I WANT A WOOPAS).  Aside from BLACK there’s nothing visually arresting or challenging as anything in Volume 2 and nothing comes even close to matching the creatively fun high bar of “I Am Your Mother”.  Then you have stinkers like the aforementioned sequel tales and The Smuggler, which makes me wonder why it was even called that when it’s titular rogue hardly does anything in the entire story besides whine and make weird faces (also it’s a waste of Studio Triggers talents).  Even if there’s an even balance of Jedi, Sith or the Force spread across the field unlike Volume 1, everything just feels either played out or, at best, just ok.
 
Star Wars Visions 3 may not be a total disaster but it does feel weighed down by taking a few steps back and not enough creative risks.  The all Anime menu isnt bad but its powers are mostly wasted on unnecessary and lackluster sequels.  What does work is cute but ultimately just ok at best.  And yeah, dropping the worldwide animation aspect that made Visions 2 such a superior sequel dilutes the experience.  Even if this did begin as Star Wars getting the Anime treatment, it lacks punch, creative risk and that WOW factor that made all of Visions 2 and the best of Vision 1 such an achievement.  Not sure we need a Volume 4 but if it does end up happening, two things need to happen: get more diverse with the storytelling and let the rest of the world play in the sandbox again too…oh and for the love of God, no more Ninth Jedi, please?
 
6.5/10