#it reminded me of akakiri in that way

[marinersubmariner]

Star Wars: Visions – Screecher's Reach

[jedi-order-apologist]

Did ya watch Visions V2 yet? And if so, what was your favrotie short? (Mine was Aau's Song)

I just finished watching! (The episodes, at least. I'll watch the behind-the-scenes filmmaker interviews later).

But it's really hard to pick a favorite, Visions is consistently top-tier and I enjoyed all of the episodes. This really is Star Wars at its best, so I'll just talk about what I enjoyed about each one:

"Sith" - I loved the way color was used in this, it's clearly the focus of the animation and it was done very well. The story of the protagonist rejecting the Sith and pulling herself out of that on her own was good, the way she had to acknowledge her darkness in order to move past it and fully reject the Sith was a great moment.

"Screecher's Reach" - The environment was beautifully drawn, very atmospheric. It's an unsettling one (in a good way!), and reminds me of the previous season's "Akakiri" in the tone of its ending.

"In the Stars" - The particle effects and especially the water was beautifully animated. The story here is strong, with the conflict between surviving and fighting back, with both sisters having good reason for their caution/risk-taking, respectively, and the love they have for each other and the people who were cruelly slaughtered by the Empire.

"I Am Your Mother" - this one is probably the weakest of the bunch in that it didn't really grip me and I don't think it had as much to say, but it was by no means bad! It was fun and I got some laughs out of it. The race looked great, too.

"Journey to the Dark Head" - Another one with beautiful environments, and I found the setting very compelling and full of potential; I was left wanting to see more of it and the Jedi of this era. The approach to the Force is a little video-game-y in my opinion but they do nail the aspect of fear being the root of anger and hate.

"The Spy Dancer" - If I absolutely had to pick a favorite, it might be this one by a slim margin. I loved the fluid dance/fight scenes, and the characters are so compelling. The protagonist's trauma is heartbreaking; there's no shying away from how evil the Empire is. And the reveal of who the Imperial officer is was built up very well, I had already guessed by the time the episode confirmed it. The hopeful ending implies a future where he will break away from the Empire and the horrible things it made him internalize about himself.

"The Bandits of Golak" - Completely unsurprisingly (given IGN's backhanded recommendation), I loved this one a lot, and could easily pick this one as my favorite too. The lightsaber fight here was my favorite in this season, and the environment was lovely. Of course, the sibling bond is the real heart of this one, especially in him letting her go (which I believe was the plan all along).

"The Pit" - Loved this one too, the Empire's brutality is, as common with the other shorts, unflinchingly depicted here. Which makes the contrast with the average citizens all the more poignant, and my favorite part about this is how readily they're willing to look into the matter and help once they've heard what's going on. It's such a positive depiction of humanity and community and I really loved that.

"Aau's Song" - Beautiful, vibrant environments here, and the characters look so soft, like they're made of felt. I liked the Jedi character a lot, and I like that the protagonist decided to go with her in the end. The scene where the kyber is healed is stunning. I can definitely see why this episode would be someone's favorite!

[danwhobrowses]

Star Wars Visions - Review

So I finally finished watching all of Visions, the ambitious anime project set in a Star Wars loose if at all canon, and I truly had a good time with it, as a fan of anime and Star Wars I was curious how they would deliver.

Spoilers for Visions, watch it then come back here to read what I thought about it. Reminder: This is my own personal opinion

So as I said, really enjoyed this experiment Disney decided to take, the 9 episodes weren't all flawless but they weren't awful either, so I'm gonna go through what I liked and disliked about it.

We'll start with the negatives, since they're few, picky and it gets it out of the way.

What Wasn't Great

Runtime A veiled negative has to be many episode's runtimes being too short, some only lasting 10-15 minutes. Before watching I was expecting all to be at least 30 minutes, so it was a shame that none lasted that long.

Episode 2: Glorified Music Video I think Episode 2 was perhaps the weakest episode of the nine for me, because it was all building up to a song. I think it probably leaned a bit too much on existing characters like Jabba and Boba, as well as Tatooine, to carry interest, so it was a bit of a low point.

Episode 3: Studio Trigger keep their balls away from the wall Episode 3's The Twins wasn't bad, it just lingered a bit too much on the less fun things. Studio Trigger had made a name for themselves for striking visuals and absolutely batshit crazy fight scenes that ignore all manner of physics with the likes of Promare, Kill La Kill and Darling of the Franxx (and kinda Gurren Lagann, the company was made as a result of that so it's like a Studio Ghibli thing with Nausicaa) but The Twins didn't have enough of the major fight scene for my liking, given how most of what we saw was in the trailer. Maybe it's the fault of the trailer, but it did feel like you could just watch the trailer rather than the episode, which is a bad thing.

Episode 7 too, but it also lacks bravery The Elder was also a good episode, but it too lacked in the final fight, the ending being very abrupt. The Elder also had a problem in that they wasted their good characters, but also failed in stakes. Had the padawan been killed instead of simply being wounded by a lightsaber slash to the belly it probably would've worked more, since we were shown that the Elder is precise in his cutting and it would've served to increase the urgency of the master fighting him too. The fight was short and out of the characters we lost it was the most important character that bit the dust.

The Episode Order could've been Better My final criticism has to be that the order of the episodes felt like it could've been better. Starting with The Duel was right but following it up with Tatooine Rhapsody brought the mood down, likewise putting The Elder after T0-B1 was perhaps too jarring a theme switch. The bigger sin was probably ending with Akakiri. Akakiri was good, but it was a downer and you don't really finish a Season 1 on a downer because you want people to feel excited for more rather than feeling bleak about it; with the options of Lop & Ocho, The Elder, The Village Bride and The Ninth Jedi (which would've been my pick for episode 9) it was an odd choice to pace the episodes in such a way - even when knowing that people would binge in this order. FYI if you wanted to know how I would've ordered the episodes it would've been The Duel -> The Elder -> The Twins -> Lop & Ocho -> Tatooine Rhapsody -> T0-B1 -> The Village Bride -> Akakiri -> The Ninth Jedi

This way we start strong with Sith-heavy episodes that grip with combat, we have the Duel to set us off, we show off the Elder to sell the Dark Side's strength, which blends into the Twins and that sibling relationship blends into Lop & Ocho, we use Tatooine Rhapsody as an intermission of sorts but then carry the lighter theme with T0-B1, whose artistic elements and worldbuilding leans into the Village Bride. We make Akakiri the penultimate since we show the Jedi succumb to the Dark for love in contrast to the Elder where the Jedi succeeds by steeling emotions, before finishing strong with Ninth Jedi.

What Was Great

Anime is perfect for Star Wars Star Wars has of course delved into animation before; Clone Wars (both), Rebels, Resistance and Bad Batch, but never like Anime. So Visions was allowed to shine by showing off everything anime can offer which more realistic CGI and live action could not. Bright colour grading, physics-defying movement, as well as unique character and lightsaber shapes.

(Mostly) Not Wasting Time While I have criticized some episodes for not making the most of things, and not having enough time, but many episodes would last 12-15 minutes and still feel like they had a coherent storylines with no gaps in getting to know the brand new characters or a lack of important information and investment. It is a testament to the good writing of the episodes that episodes got so much from such little time.

We're Left Wanting More In spite many episodes' brevity, the good writing also provided us stories with great potential to be fleshed out. Who wouldn't want to learn more about these new characters? See most of their adventures? The franchise potential from certain stories' one episode makes the experiment an unequivocal success.

The different styles add to the story Using a different anime studio for each story allowed each episode to stand out in their own way, and lean on different areas of importance. The Duel for instance applied a Kurosawa aesthetic which made the audience anticipate samurai themes. As much as the animation will get props for its visuals, environments and character design we should also give a hat-tip to the amazing music, especially in The Village Bride, and the voice acting from both JP and EN. We had some recognizable faces on both sides with EN having Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Harbour, George Takei, Neil Patrick Harris, Allison Brie, Simu Liu, Karen Fukuhara, Lucy Liu and Taemura Morrison reprising as Boba, while on the JP side we had names familiar with One Piece (Zoro - why you gotta be a sith Zoro!, Brook, Tama, Kiku), DBZ (Goku), Naruto (Hidan, Tayuya and if you count Boruto; Chocho and Kawaki), Jujitsu Kaisen (Itadori, Megumi, Nobara) and more. The different styles also allowed a greater freedom to lore between studios, I know the lightsaber colour thing was done in High Republic but I did like how in the Ninth Jedi Kara's lightsaber started out translucent (I actually preferred it that way), while not diverting too far away from the canon.

The Samurai style episodes were the strongest While some episodes leaned on other elements of Star Wars, the best of the bunch kept true with the correlation force users had with samurai. The Duel, Village Bride and Ninth Jedi - alongside Akakiri, Elder and kinda T0-B1 - had strong showings by maintaining their force user characters as samurai or samura-esque, which only added to the themes of the episodes too.

Its success will hopefully entice more Studios and Directors A positive for the future is the fact that there is a future. Visions has plenty of mileage as both a series of one-off stories or stories that can be expanded upon, and its success will mean that more will be on the cards. Imagine now what other studios may want to try their hand at their own story in this universe? And what it does not only for the franchise but also the animation studios themselves, because this in itself becomes a bridge for fans on either side to be introduced to the other; new anime fans, new star wars fans, everybody wins.

Conclusion

Visions provides an alternative in Star Wars media outside of live action but also away from the CGI tv shows, but it has started off strongly almost as well as The Mandalorian and in my opinion better than the Bad Batch did. My favourite episode was probably the Ninth Jedi, but Village Bride and the Duel are close runners up, soon followed by Lop & Ocho, I hope very much that the stories these ones started especially can be fleshed out and maybe even greenlit for their own series, while also curious about what more Star Wars can deliver.

All in all, good job for everyone, they took a risk and it paid off.

[meandmyechoes]

Star Wars Visions Review Part 2

[Part 1] [Part 3]

Akakiri: Lucky I put this towards the end when my head was clearing up to be critical. Like its hatchmate TO-B1, Akakiri feels like a short. It’s a complete story, and a familiar cast of character tropes and romance that lends itself to the limited runtime. The reliance of musical rhythm and camera composition is a delight. I love the transition flashback shot of Misa on top of the palace. The drum beat in the bookend fight scenes trying to force the protagonist into the predestined and we have to witness the inevitability of his defeat. It haunts me how the score trails off in a mocking laughter with the weight and uncertainty of Tsubaki’s future. Akakiri meaning ‘red mist’, as a metaphor of the dark side and visions clouding Tsubaki, translated onscreen is a beautiful imagery of the bloodlust and madness of the dark side. I wanna commend the dub for making Masago’s voice more robotic gradually towards the ‘join me’ scene. The ‘Man to Machine’ (and vice versa) for the Sith is a motif seen similarly in TO-B1 and The Twins. Another detail I noticed is Misa offering 500 credits as to the guides, by inflation this is set quite a hundred years before the film? Either way the short has the feel of a historical play, or should I say Jidaigeki? Shakespearean? Wuxia? Maybe bits of all three.

What makes it so close to home culturally is the discussion of destiny. I can neither speak for Japanese or Korean beliefs but fighting/following your destiny is such a Chinese thing at least. 'Destiny' has a negative connotation to it because usually if it was good things, you'd call it 緣份. Buddhism tells you there is a master plan but you can still do good deeds for good returns while Chinese philosophy is more pragmatic and asks for self-reflection. Tsubaki's fall is foreshadowed by his choosing the forbidden mountain path, trespassing on 'Place of the Gods', as he would later choose to do so to bring his love back from the dead. The inescapable destiny rings bells in childhood stories and Greek tragedies alike.

I like it better than the first time, and I am thankful for a rewatch to catch the foreshadowing, very beneficial. The heart of the script parallels Anakin's fall. It is warmly familiar from that Star Wars storytelling to the natural landscape. I knock one mark off of a perfect score because I weigh the introduction of new concepts to Star Wars bit higher for this anthology. Akakiri is an essence of a beloved story, told in various languages through the millennia, and it still has my heartbeat.

5:5 / 9 (Japanese:Star Wars ratio + score out of 10)

The Duel: This is probably what people think when they hear ‘Star Wars meets Japan’, makes sense it kickstarts the series. It was an over-the-top retro homage and I love that. I expected to like its style over the story but it has an interesting hook as well! More interested in Ronin’s novel now.

It’s really interesting they introduced a non-aligned Force user that collects  bleeding* crystals, masterless and may be branded dishonourable. Kind of reminds you of a certain tragic live-action adaptation episode in a poorly imitated set huh. Well, let’s treat ourselves to some authentic representation this time. The move in which ‘Sith’ and ‘Jedi’ are defined draws out this blurred line of good and evil. The Sith is identified with a tool, the red saber, while the Jedi his ability to use the Force. It echoes with the question in Akakiri and The Empire Strikes Back: whether a Jedi judges or can be judged by appearance. Another aspect is Force Buddha! It’s a simple temple instead of a complete set of faith in The Village Bride, but alternative view on the Force is one of my favourite topics!

The Duel’s dub is the only one I look forward to because Lucy Liu, and I found there’s quite a difference in the performance of the Bandit Leader. The JP version is more unhinged, a mad warlord from the start; while in English she was calmer, more poised and mysterious. For example the growl after Straw Hat R2’s ambush (MVP), JP sounds angered but EN makes a softer, frustrated sound. Speaking of which, the traditional Japanese orchestral spin on Battle of the Heroes is the cherry on the cake. For the lack of a better word, the ‘eeh eeh eeh’ vocal is a welcomed friend from how much I’ve been looping Joran’s soundtrack (ah yes, all femme fatale in Japanese cinema is inspired by Lady Snowblood, of course). I appreciate the Easter egg of A New Hope poster in the town square. Then, a semi-reference that makes sense only to me: 通りすがりの仮面ライダーだ

9:1 / 8

The Elder: Sad to say this is more disappointing than Ninth. I was expecting the whole thing to be more mysterious and epic but it was quite straightforward. Maybe a bit of disguise or mind games from the Elder and Dan learns more than a patience lesson. Didn’t seem that deep their reflection with the dark side as well. I was bored during the dub rewatch and there weren't even pretty backgrounds to drool at. I read somewhere else the pace is not dissimilar to A New Hope, guess that’s why it doesn’t sit well with me plus its lips-only animation and descriptive dialogue. At least the lightsaber duel is not bad. Sufficient mix of kendo moves and your iconic Qui-Gon grip. Dan’s personality is kinda cute. Do have to commend the Master-Padawan duo feel close yet different enough from the Disaster lineage.

4:6 / 6

[jacketpotatoo]

Star Wars: Visions - Review

First off, if you haven’t seen it and if you’re even a casual fan of Star Wars - go watch it. If you know nothing about Star Wars and like anime - also go watch it. It’s only 9 episodes of self contained stories with each episode being 12-20 mins and animated in a different style by a different studio. The voice acting (both jap and English) is really impressive too.

Overall, I loved it. I love the little vignettes into different places and characters in the Star Wars universe and I think it’s an extremely clever way to explore and take advantage of its expansive world. The stories and characters were mostly well done and man the different styles and the animation was gorgeous. It’s bursting with creativity.

Quick episode reviews (spoilers):

Episode 1 (The Duel) - the style was so cool and reminded me of moving manga panels with the grayscale and the hatching. The sith reveal was awesome but I would have like more backstory/information because there was not much characterisation, making the fight less tense than it could have been. Wasn’t too invested in this story/world either

Episode 2 (Tatooine Rhapsody) - fun, liked the music and this felt the most anime of all of the episodes if that makes sense. Felt like a cute fluffy filler episode and I liked jabba and boba fett jamming out but it’s ultimately pretty forgettable

Episode 3 (The Twins) - STUDIO TRIGGER!! The animation in this one was mind bogglingly good - I loved the atmosphere of each frame and the lineless style on the stormtroopers was just great. Balances humour and heart well and plays out like many typical shounen anime (which was cool to see in Star Wars). I liked the characters, wouldn’t mind seeing more of this world at all

Episode 4 (The Village Bride) - One of my personal favourites. This one had my favourite art style (the lineless background art mmm) and I really liked the lore of the planet, as well as the dynamic of the mcs and how they interacted with the people of the planet. It sucked me in and got me emotionally invested in such a short amount of time. The mc was my favourite one of all the episodes? I think. She was pretty and her saber sword was epic.

Episode 5 (The Ninth Jedi) - My favourite one! It’s also the only one that’s about 20 mins iirc and it takes full advantage of that longer runtime. I love the switch in perspectives of the mcs as well as the framing of intrigue and distrust and hope held by the characters. Really liked the characters and that reveal that all except one of the Jedi were Sith was just so cool

Episode 6 (TO-B1) - Cute but I personally did not care for it. The concept of a droid that can wield the force is cool but To-B1 felt like a younger, less whiny rehash of Luke Skywalker.

Episode 7 (The Elder) - Another favourite. I really liked the mentor-student dynamic of the mcs and Dan’s wish to see the world and then the grimness of him being basically helpless against the elder was great. Good pacing and epic fight, you feel the speed and the weight of the old man’s hits. Also, lightsaber battles in rain >>>

Episode 8 (Lop and Ocho) - Also a bit of a miss for me. It had potential and I liked the passing of the family mantle from the father to Lop, but I think this could have benefitted greatly from another 6 mins or so to really establish that family bond (esp between the sisters) before tearing it apart.

Episode 9 (Akakiri) - Really really liked the art style for this one and I thought the mc was really interesting. I quite liked the allusion of his history with the girl and his migraine-attack things were really cool. Well not for him, but visually. I liked that ending of him turning to the dark side to save her as well - grim and raw and just super well done. I’d love to know what happened to him

Ranking:

5,7,4,9,3,1,8,2,6

[meandmyechoes]

Just finished Keep Your Hands off Eizouken!. I want to watch it all at once all over again.

I took five days to watch this show when my usual catch-up time is within 24 hours. I just don’t want it to end and I want the time to digest each episode so I can proper appreciate it. It changes another habit of mine that I think it’d be better to learn of the story beforehand instead of going in blind. I’ve heard things about it, but mostly about how cool it is and which big names of the industry is behind it. That did the set the bar high, but Eizouken met it, in a delightfully precious childlike tone. It blew my mind when I finally compare notes and see how much of Visions’ staff also worked on it. *nervous laugh* I watched Visions and I knew Science SARU is good but I didn’t know they were that good. (Eunyoung Choi, director of Akakiri is a producer on this show and Abel Gongora, director of TO-B1 handled the opening, while Igarashi Yuki, director/storyboard for episode 3, made Lop and Ocho under Geno Studio - and that’s just the big names)

It’s refreshing, it’s heart-warming and it’s, creative. It reminds me again why animation is such a fascinating medium, tells it like a bedtime story. I just love the innocence and imagination. It is a “daily” show that I grew to love as a tired 20s-something mourning her teenage. It’s exactly my type of anime. Those episodes that is rooted in reality but incredibly hopeful. Moreover, each episode’s plot it feels the same way the bigger plot and an anime does - gradually, lovingly built piece by piece. When all the plot threads come together, it was very satisfying to watch.

Maybe I should just talk about the characters. It was very refreshing to watch the shenenigans of gremlin high school girls. My favourite part of the plot is that it actually managed to teach me what a producer and a director does, for all the years of watching behind-the-scenes couldn’t. It teaches you why for its infamous working conditions, people still believe in anime(ation).  My favourite character is Kanamori-shi for the jerk with a heart of gold trope. But also like, the creators couldn’t possibly release the works if she wasn’t in charge of negotiations and schedule lol. I think my younger self would hit it off with Asakusa-shi for the creative part. It brings back fond memories daydreaming and I think I’m motivated to accept my flaws and just create. Mizusaki is such a treasure and I love her centric episode (7) so much. She is a detail-oriented person and it is the little things that you end up liking her for. 

In the end, it wasn’t the kind of mind-blowing like ZLS, but it’s like the textbook definition of good and creative and out there and I feel like I’m actually, jumping into this new world, that I have just finished a very long movie. It’s, immersive and I really need a show like that now. Ah, I just really appreciate this series and I want to recommend everyone go see it, especially if you are a fan of animation itself.