I had my skepticism before it launched given my disappointments with prior attempts at crossing over Anime and a mainstream Hollywood franchise, as well the overall failures of Disney Star Wars. But now that it’s out it’s precisely as someone who’s ultimately more of an Anime Fan then a Star Wars that I like it.
Now my least favorite episodes are unfortunately the first and the last. The last is definitely the least, like I get why they felt they needed an episode with a Bad End, but did it have to be the one they actually ended on? The first episode mostly just looks the least like an Anime, it’s style is more evocative of Ralph Bakshi’s LOTR and Wizards oddly enough, while it’s tropes are more old fashioned Samurai film, so it’s definitely still interesting, but not what the phrase “Star Wars Anime” makes me think of.
Cosmetically there is no reason Anime Star Wars can’t be a thing, the potential conflict is in the themes and morals. RikaDot has a series of videos on George Lucas’s moral philosophy, the Kreia video, The Heart of Star Wars and The Foundations of Star Wars, and so like him I’ve come to terms with that I enjoy Star Wars in spite of the morality it preaches not because of it. Meanwhile the Anime that I'm a fan of couldn’t be more antithetical to this. "Attachment is bad" philosophy. So I knew a Star Wars Anime would have to betray one of them, and I’m glad Visions over all sided with Anime.
The Shota Jedi Band Leader was attached to his bandmates, and he got their happy ending without even drawing his Lightsaber, instead taking the Macross approach. The Male Twin defies his Sith Upbringing because of his attachment to his Sister. And then the Bunnygirl heroine of episode 8 is running on pure attachment.
My favorite episodes have the least “let’s do Feudal Japan but in space”. That approach to making an “Anime” version of a Western Property does fit Star Wars more than it does say Batman since the roots of Star Wars to begin with are partly Kurosawa films so I’m not deducting any points for it. But the fact still remains I’m not actually a Weaboo, I don’t watch Japanimation because I think Sengoku era aesthetics are cool. I’m an Otaku, what interests me is the Art of a SubCulture the emerged out of modern Tokyo.
Kara in The Ninth Jedi looks exactly like what some people said Rey’s problem was, she is naturally gifted with The Force, no training was needed. But guess what, we Anime people are much more prepared to accept that, a PreCure doesn’t need to learn how to be a PreCure, she just is. Rey’s problem was her lack of actual personality, Kara has more in this 20 minute short then Rey did in a full Trilogy.
The sixth episode is a throwback to Astroboy basically. It finally destroys the Biological Determinism interpretation of The Force so many complain about by outright having a Droid becoming a Jedi.
Episode 8 is the first time we’ve seen them explore The Empire doing actual Colonialism, and they had the balls to present the Collaborators with actual understanding, the kind of Nuance Anime War stories have all the time, but that Star Wars is too afraid of because of the whole “their supposed represent Nazis” baggage. Well guess what even many collaborators with the actual Nazis had reasons that had nothing to do with approving of Genocide.
Episode 4 I don’t have any specific comments on, but it was also very well done.
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