Star Wars: Visions to debut Sept. 22

Just as one Star Wars animated series wrapped its first season, another one is on its way to Disney+.

Star Wars: Visions, a series of Japanese anime anthology shorts, will debut on Disney+ on Sept. 22. The series combines Japanese anime with Star Wars and is described as being presented “through the lens of the world’s best anime creators” that offer “a fresh and diverse cultural perspective to Star Wars.”

Visions will consist of nine shorts that will be available on Disney+ to stream.

The nine shorts are:

1. The Duel, directed by Takanobu Mizuno
2. Loop and Ocho, directed by Yuki Igarashi
3. Tatooine Rhapsody, directed by Taku Kimura
4. The Twins, directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi
5. The Elder, directed by Masahiko Otsuka
6. The Village Bride, directed by Hitoshi Haga
7. Akakiri, directed by Eunyoung Choi
8. T0-B1, directed by Abel Gongora
9. The Ninth Jedi, directed by Kenji Kamiyama

The series was first announced in December 2020, and was supposed to be a series of ten short films. In July at Anime Expo Lite, it was revealed the number of episodes had decreased to nine, with The Ninth Jedi originally starting as two films before being combined into one.

Unique to the series, the stories were not required to adhere to the established Star Wars timeline.

“We really wanted to give these creators a wide creative berth to explore all the imaginative potential of the Star Wars galaxy through the unique lens of anime,” said executive producer James Waugh. “We realized we wanted these to be as authentic as possible to the studios and creators who are making them, mad through their unique process, in a medium they’re such experts at.

“So the idea was, this is their vision riffing off all the elements of the Star Wars galaxy that inspired them—hopefully to make a really incredible anthology series, unlike anything we’ve seen before in the Star Wars galaxy.”

It’s not clear if the series will be considered about a part of the existing canon since the filmmakers did not have to adhere to the current lore.

A trailer for the series debuted Tuesday on social media. The trailer certainly makes the series look enjoyable and full of the qualities that folks love about Star Wars and about anime.

https://twitter.com/starwars/status/1427616201476173829

Though plot details are scarce, some of the shorts have been given settings within the timeline.

• The Duel was billed as “an alternate history pulled from Japanese lore”
• Lop and Ocho is set during the reign of the Empire in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope
• The Elder is set sometime before The Phantom Menace (it is not clear if this is during the High Republic era)
• The Twins is set after The Rise of Skywalker and involves remnants of the Imperial Army after that film.
• The Ninth Jedi will explore what became of the Jedi after The Rise of Skywalker.

An original novel that builds on the story of The Duel will be released soon after the series’ premiere. Ronin: A Visions Novel, written by Emma Mieko Candon will release on Oct. 12.

Until then, May the Force be with you.