Review - Star Wars: Visions (2021 - 2023)

          Hey guys, Chuck here, and to celebrate May the Fourth, I want to discuss one of my personal favorite Star Wars projects on Disney+: Star Wars: Visions. This animated anthology project consists of two volumes of shorts. The first volume, released in 2021, is predominantly made up of several anime shows, while the second volume, released just today, has a slew of shorts made by various animation studios from across the globe. 

        Now, when this title was announced back in 2020, I got excited for the idea of anime studios producing Star Wars shorts, and I got even more excited when the anime studios producing the shorts was revealed: Kamikaze Douga, Studio Colorido, Studio Trigger, Science Saru, Geno Studio, Production I.G., and Kinema Citrus. With the second volume, Lucasfilm looked at animation studios on a wider global scale, and I found myself intrigued by the choices here as well: El Guiri from Spain, Aardman from the U.K., Cartoon Saloon from Ireland, Punkrobot from Chile, Studio Mir from South Korea, Triggerfish from South Africa, 88 Pictures from India, Studio La Cachette from France, and a collaboration between Lucasfilm from the U.S. and D'Art Shtajio from Japan. It's absolutely stunning just getting to see many of these animation studios getting to show their craft in a franchise as mainstream as Star Wars. 

       Okay, so the beauty of Visions is that it has two goals, and achieves both very well. It's first goal is giving storytellers from all around the world the chance to tell short form Star Wars stories, and the second goal is to get some of these animation studios mainstream exposure in parts of the world unfamiliar with their work. For example, while I was familiar with studios like Aardman or Studio Trigger, it wasn't until Visions that I got to see work from Science Saru, Cartoon Saloon, and Studio Colorido, just to name a few. 

        The voice talent in each volume of Visions is also spectacular. For example, the first volume had several shorts that I enjoyed with fantastic voice over talent. For example, a short called "Ronin". featured both Brian Tee and Lucy Liu, while a short called "Akakiri" featured the likes of Keone Young, Henry Golding, George Takei, and Jamie Chung. My personal favorite short in the first volume was "The Twins" starring Alison Brie and Neil Patrick Harris. The second volume also had some fantastic shorts with fantastic voice talent, and I believe that both Cartoon Saloon and Aardman utilized local talent from the Ireland and the U.K. for their respective voice casts, with Cartoon Saloon's "Screecher's Reach" starring Eva Whittaker, Alex Connolly, and Angelica Huston, and Aardman's "I Am Your Mother" starring Maxine Peake, Charithra Chandran, Daisy Haggard, Bebe Cave, and Star Wars veteran Denis Lawson reprising his role as Wedge Antilles. 

        But, the true beauty of Visions is in showing off the art styles of various animation studios from across the globe, and no pair of studios has the same art style. For example, the first volume had shorts like "Tatooine Rhapsody," "Ronin," and "The Twins," are all produced by anime studios with distinct artistic styles. And even the second volume, with animation studios like El Guiri, Aardman, Cartoon Saloon, 88 Pictures, and Punkrobot. Each of these are animation studios from different corners of the world that don't get their animation seen by most outside of their respective regions. 

       So, if you're a fan of Star Wars, a fan of animation, or both, then I highly recommend checking out both volumes of Star Wars: Visions on Disney+. While most of the Star Wars projects lately have been hit or miss for myself and many others, this is one that is absolutely fantastic and a must watch. Definitely giving Star Wars: Visions a 5/5. So, next time you login to Disney+, definitely check this one out, it's definitely worth it. 

      Alrighty guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you tomorrow as we continue Marvel May with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

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