'Star Wars: Visions’ Will Be An Anime Anthology

One of the more enigmatic announcements from Disney's Investors Day was the announcement of Star Wars: Visions.

Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm, revealed this future production among several new Star Wars projects slated for release over the next several years. The new show will be an anthology. The twist is that the show will be through an anime lens.

Disney and Lucasfilm have done well with their animated Star Wars offerings. Together, they delivered three animated shows, which fans and critics adored. Dave Filoni helmed animated The Clone Wars movie and the subsequent series of the same name. He introduced a few new characters who have had lasting impacts on the franchise, such as Ahsoka Tano.

Filoni's Star Wars Rebels was similarly popular with fans. He continued Ahsoka's journey. He also gave us Ezra Bridger and reintroduced Grand Admiral Thrawn. The latter was initially introduced in Star Wars novels in the early 90s, deemed non-canon after Lucasfilm's acquisition by Disney.

In this new animated offering, Visions, Disney will be working with leading Japanese anime studios instead. The series will be an anthology of ten fantastic visions. If the format sounds familiar, it is because it is like The Animatrix. That animated anthology featured nine anime shorts based on The Matrix. A few of them provided the backstory detailing the war between humanity and machine, which led to the Matrix's creation.

Similarly, Star Wars: Visions may provide us a glimpse into the start of the Jedi. The title hints at the possibility that the anthologies will show how the prophecies which fascinated Qui-Gon Jinn formed. Perhaps we may get a vision of how the order itself arose. The studio promises that the format will add fresh and diverse cultural perspectives to our favorite galaxy far, far away.

The show, Visions, was not the only new Star Wars animated series announced for Disney+. The studio announced two other shows. A Droid Story will be developed in-house. Lucasfilm Animation will be teaming up with the award-winning Lucasfilm visual effects masters at Industrial Light & Magic for this show. As evidenced by the title, this show will be machine-centric. Our favorite droids R2-D2 and C-3PO will guide a new droid character on a memorable Star Wars style adventure. I do hope we see some of our other droid heroes along the way.

The animated series The Bad Batch was also officially launched. Unlike the other two shows, the announcement of The Bad Batch came with an exciting preview. The animated series The Clone Wars introduced the titular characters as members of Clone Force 99.

The Best Anime Studios

The anthology will showcase some of the best Japanese anime creators known today. Kennedy did not announce any studios partners on Investors Day itself. We can expect more to come over the next few months. Right now, we can only speculate on who they might be. Here are a few that should be on the roster:

• Production I.G has created several well-regarded anime series for the small and large screen, such as the Ghost in the Shell anime series, Psycho-Pass, Guilty Crown, Attack on Titan, and Eden of the East.

• Sunrise Inc is a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. The studio focused on robotic anime, which is harder to produce than some of the other genres. Because of this focus, they are known for Cyborg 009, the Gundam series, InuYasha, Gintama, Cowboy Bebop, and Code Geass.

• Studio Ghibli has produced internationally renowned films such as Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, and My Neighbor Totoro. Spirited Away won an Academy Award for Best Animated series in 2003.

• Madhouse was founded in 1972. The created anime series such as Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, Kiba, Chobits, Cardcaptor Sakura, Wolf Children, Death Parade, and One-Punch Man.

• Studio Pierrot was founded in 1979. It is has produced worldwide megahits such as Naruto, Bleach, Saiyuki, Tokyo Ghoul, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Fushigi Yugi.

• P.A. Works was founded in 2000. They are known for collaborating on many video games and series such as True Tears, Hanasaku Iroha, Another, and Charlotte.

• Bones Animation Studios produced series such as Wolf's Rain, two Fullmetal Alchemist adaptations, Ouran High School Host Club, Darker than Black, Soul Eater, and Noragami.

• Kyoto Animation produced the series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Clannad, K-On, Kyoukai no Kanata, and the highly acclaimed Free!

• Toei Animation is responsible for one of the best-known anime series of all time, One Piece. They have produced shows like GeGeGe no Kitaro, Sailor Moon, Slam Dunk, Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon, and World Trigger.

This list is all speculation for now, of course. For a show with the title Visions, we did not get much of one. While it was not the only nebulous idea showcased on a day full of exciting announcements, the expectation bar is set. Disney's animation talent, especially those related to its Star Wars franchise, has been exceptional thus far. Let's hope their vision for the show is equally clear. What studios would you like to see work on this anthology?

Written By Leana Ahmed

Syndicated From Culture Slate