‘Star Wars Visions’ delivers nine very different anime short films

Posted on October 1, 2021

By MARK VIOLA

I’m a big fan of “Star Wars,” and although I don’t watch much of it these days, I’ve been a fan of Japanese anime for more than two decades. As such, when it was announced that Disney would be releasing “Star Wars Visions,” a collection of nine animated shorts produced by some of the most well-known anime studios, I was immediately intrigued.

Back in 2003, we had the “Animatrix,” a similar collection of nine anime shorts set within the world of “The Matrix” and its sequels. That proved to be quite successful, and although we occasionally get anime tie-ins to major domestic releases — such as “Blade Runner Black Out 2022” before “Blade Runner 2049” — we haven’t had another collection like “Animatrix” until now.

The nine-film “Star Wars Visions” is now available on Disney+, with each short running between 12 and 22 minutes long. Like any collection, not all are hits, but some are excellent and most are quite entertaining.

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