season 3 shows a more experimental anthology

Disney+ fatigue might be setting in for many viewers, with a surfeit of Marvel and Star Wars shows dropping at a hectic clip over the past few years. But that didn’t stop Star Wars: Visions from getting a warm reception at this past weekend’s Anime NYC convention, where thousands of fans were given a sneak peek at the upcoming season of the animated anthology show.

Star Wars: Visions season three was also featured at this summer’s Star Wars Celebration, but its appearance at an anime con was just as appropriate given that the upcoming slate of episodes will be once again produced by Japanese animation studios like Studio Trigger (Kill La Kill), Kamikaze Douga (Batman Ninja) and Kinema Citrus (Revue Starlight, Made in Abyss). Season two took the show more worldwide, with episodes from the likes of Irish studio Cartoon Saloon (The Secret of Kells, Wolfwalkers) and Aardman (Wallace and Gromit). Executive producer James Waugh said it was nice to get a more international perspective, calling it “a global tour of all these different styles.” But returning to Japan was always in the cards. The producers met “so many incredible storytellers” and wanted to re-connect with them, as well as collaborating with new studios they hadn’t worked with yet.

Nowhere does this desire to do more Japanese anime become more obvious than in the fact that three of the upcoming episodes are sequels to stories from season one: “The Duel: Payback,” “The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope,” and “The Lost Ones” (a sequel to “The Village Bride”). “The Duel” will also be receiving a full series coming in 2026, framed as “Star Wars Visions Presents.”

However, none of these were on display as more than brief clips. The main attraction for the panel, aside from a pre-recorded Q&A with director Shinya Ohira, was the screening of a full episode from the upcoming season. “Black” had previously been presented to a crowd at the French animation festival Annacy, which should have been a sign that the crowd was about to be shown something very different from mainstream anime.

“Black” is the story of a typical stormtrooper but, instead of a straightforward depiction this is a distorted look at what’s going on his head as he heads toward defeat and his possible death. Everything is exaggerated in size and proportion, and the art style shifts constantly from watercolor to gouache to segments that look like they were drawn with a nib pen. There’s no dialogue; only music, which shifts from more new-age-type ambient sounds to a loud, big-band swing number. Ohira described the episode as a kind of music video, and it’s easy to see that because “Black” is less about plot than it is about sheer vibes.

And the vibes are… not good. When we watch a Star Wars film, we get to see nicely-framed shots of X-Wings and the Death Star from the safety of our comfortable seats at home — but to be a common trooper on the ground can be scary and confusing. “Black” shows us these ships in mostly brief glimpses, reflecting what a person stumbling around in the chaos on the ground would see. Our protagonist’s vulnerability is further highlighted by his character design, where his armor is always shown in a state of damage and disarray, with just enough of his helmet peeled back to show his face. 

The chronology is jumbled, with scenes from the Death Star and Hoth, as well as battles in less iconic locations. And the emotions swing back and forth too; quiet moments are shown as the trooper remembers his life back home, a stark contrast to the loud, bright cacophony of battle.  It’s not explicitly anti-war, but the short does outline that the experience can really suck.

It’s an interesting choice for Disney/Lucasfilm to put this short as the representative of the season, as opposed to more “traditional” anime features like the one from Studio Trigger, “The Smuggler.” Brief glimpses of all the shorts were highlighted in the sizzle reel, and the ones from the most popular anime studios were the clips that elicited the biggest cheers from the crowd. It’s not that “Black” wasn’t applauded at the show, but it’s made for a specific type of animation nerd.

The good thing about an anthology is that not every segment has to have wide appeal, and Waugh is aware of the wild swings the season takes, saying to look at it “through the lens of a mixtape … I really want all the different tones and styles, and I want a kind of rhythmic change throughout the anthology … we really want to show the full threat of what the medium of anime is capable of.”

Star Wars may be going through a weird period right now, with series like The Acolyte getting cancelled while other projects like Rogue Squadron have so far failed to get off the ground. So it might seem a little odd to do something that feels like one big passion project. But animation also means it’s a whole lot cheaper to produce, and the anthology format makes it more amenable to experimentation. Not everyone is going to be a fan of episodes like “Black,” but that’s okay, because there are eight other episodes to try, and they all drop on Disney+ October 29.