Disney and some of Japan’s biggest anime studios have released the first trailer of a Star Wars anime anthology for Disney+.
When it comes to Star Wars content, there’s no stopping Disney and their growing streaming catalogue. The entertainment company have dropped the trailer for Star Wars: Visions.
This project sees a meeting of the east and west, as Disney commissioned top anime studios to create their own short films based in the Star Wars universe.
The trailer gives fans a sneak peek into the films, each one as artistically different and creative as the last.
There are alien creatures fans have never encountered, sci-fi landscapes rendered in styles that Star Wars has never used before and characters that are sure to make lasting impressions.
During a panel at Anime Expo Lite (“the digital version of Anime Expo (AX)”, the largest anime convention in North America), the executive producer of Lucasfilm, James Waugh, had this say regarding the release: “We really wanted to give these creators a wide creative birth to explore the Star Wars galaxy.”
Not only Studio TRIGGER is working on a Star Wars: Visions short, they’re working on TWO segments for @DisneyPlus!!!
Life’s great as a fan of TRIGGER and Star Wars✨@trigger_inc @shiimai #StarWarsVisions@starwars pic.twitter.com/ZvZFhTi9TI
— SSSS.dynagregory (@gregoryjamn) July 3, 2021
“We wanted this to be as authentic as possible to the studios and the creators. The idea was, this is their vision, riffing off all of the elements of the Star Wars galaxy that inspired them.”
In quick succession, the trailer announced the names of each new short as well as the studio that created it. They went as follows:
- The Elder and The Twins by Trigger (Little Witch Academia)
- The Village Bride by Kinema Citrus (The Rising of the Shield Hero)
- Tatooine Rhapsody by Studio Colorido (A Whisker Away)
- Lop & Ochō by Geno Studios (Golden Kamuy)
- T0-B1 and Akakiri by Science Saru (Devilman: Crybaby)
- The Ninth Jedi by Production I.G (Attack on Titan and Haikyuu!!)
- The Duel by Kamikaze Douga (Batman Ninja)
Takanobu Mizuno, director of The Duel, expressed his amazement at the unforeseen collaboration.
“When I heard about it, I thought ‘Can you really do that with Star Wars?’” Takanobu says in the trailer.
“A lightsaber is the stuff of children’s dreams,” said Kenji Kamiyama, the director of The Ninth Jedi. “I took that and added a bit of Japanese taste.”
All the posts about Star Wars Visions and none of them are about Lop.
alandnqiqdhqlw look how adorable she is!!! pic.twitter.com/8b1N0YGbQz
— Moji, and Friends (@FriendsAndMoji) July 5, 2021
“Star Wars: Visions is completely different than everything else in Star Wars storytelling. Audiences will fall in love with it,” Waugh promises.
The Star Wars juggernaut is continuing to grow every week with one of the most successful franchises in history reinvigorating itself at every opportunity.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (a TV show focusing on clones who have defected from the empire) began streaming to positive feedback, while the video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, will be returning with an expansion pack.
All of this has come in addition to the ongoing releases in the Star Wars: The High Republic series, a collection of novels and comics set “during the Golden Age of the Jedi Knights” hundreds of years before the films.
Star Wars: Visions will begin streaming on Disney+ this September, 22.
