On September 22nd of this year, the latest Star Wars content was released, a single-season series of 9 different 13-22 minute stand-alone non-canon anime shorts called Star Wars: Visions that aired on Disney+. Even though the show isn’t in the official Star Wars canon, Visions still immensely impacts the Star Wars saga. From when Star Wars: A New Hope was first released in the spring of 1977 to the present day, the Star Wars franchise has greatly expanded, but some things have stayed the same. For example, since the very beginning, Star Wars has been greatly inspired by Japanese storytelling and culture. With the help of 7 popular and successful Japanese animation studios, the 2 worlds of anime and Star Wars finally elope in Star Wars: Visions. While none of the shorts from the show are in the canon Star Wars universe, Star Wars: Visions really changes Star Wars. Not only did it give fans a show to watch without really having to worry about too much of a plot, but it also provided a new novel on the main character of one of the episodes. Not only that, but the show might become bigger in popularity, content and importance to both the Star Wars franchise and its fans.
In the very first episode of Star Wars: Visions titled “The Duel”, the main characters, a stubborn former sith known as the Ronin and his sassy but caring droid companion, B5-56 face a sith lord and her bandits to protect a small village from being robbed of their resources. The Ronin is a lightsaber-wielding force user who used to be a sith and nothing is really mentioned about his past in “The Duel”. He has a red blade as lord of the sith do, has a collection of kyber crystals all of which are coloured red, and says that he isn’t a Jedi, but seems to be a hero with a Jedi like a moral compass. However, a book titled: Star Wars: Ronin – A Visions Novel by first-time author Emma Mieko Candon will be released on the 12th of October this year. The book gives more depth to the main characters, Ronin and B5-56 as well as their story. Not only the main characters but also the main villain. The first part of the first chapter shows what happened just before “The Duel” and what led up to the events in the episode. The rest of chapter 1 and chapter 2 is just what happened in the first episode of Star Wars: Visions. Even though those first two chapters are basically the same as the episode, the book still does a great job of going into the characters’ personalities and perspectives. There is also a voice in Ronin’s head as well as the villain’s head, however, the voice is nowhere to be found in Visions. The book has a lot of twists and turns and it is difficult to stop reading at times. There is no doubt that the book will do really well once it comes out.
Even though none of the shorts from Visions are canon, a lot of the episodes have characters and plot points that are a part of the known universe and could make it possible for the show to sneak its way into the canon Star Wars universe. Although currently there are no plans to make the show a part of the canon, the producer of the show Kanako Shirasaki and Executive producer James Waugh said that there are many ideas that could inspire the next generation of Star Wars writers and producers that lie in Visions. An example of how the show could inspire future creators is the novel about the Ronin from episode 1 of Visions that was previously mentioned. So, even though the show is not a part of the canon saga, some threads of Visions could be woven into the fabric of the Star Wars canon universe. If the show isn’t ever made canon, there is always the possibility of a second season. Waugh said in an interview with Sean Keane from c net that based on how fans react to Visions, which so far is really positive for the most part, another season just might be possible. He also said that he and Kanako really enjoyed the show and would love to continue the show with more content.
Star Wars: Visions is a really important addition to the Star Wars universe. Even if the show isn’t a part of the official canon, it is still a very important element of Star Wars. This is mainly because finally, Star Wars has beautifully clashed with a form of Japanese storytelling where a lot of inspiration was originally drawn for many different directors and writers of the franchise. Seeing the saga connect with its roots in a really creative and different way is really important because it helps people see where it all started and why the Star Wars universe is the way it is today. Visions also have provided some of the best non-canon content yet. The show also gave the universe a lot of room to expand further and maybe even bring in an alternate universe at some point. An entire novel is coming out that has ties to the show. It is just a bunch of shorts that have no relation to each other, so that leaves a lot of room for possible expansion on the series. Overall, Visions, even though the show is not a part of the Star Wars canon, has greatly and positively impacted the Star Wars saga which shows just how important one small thing can change something for the better.
