Star Wars’ Shocking New Story Renders The Canon At Its Experimental Best
Back to black.
Star Wars: Visions has always been the sandbox of Star Wars. The animated anthology series has explored odd corners of the story in non-canon short films depicted in everything from traditional anime style to stop-motion. But in the third season, which brings the style back to the Japanese influence of Season 1, many of the stories feel familiar. There are three separate sequels to shorts from Season 1, and most of the other shorts look similar to Season 1’s.
But in the ninth and final episode of Star Wars: Visions Season 3, “BLACK,” is unlike anything we’ve seen in Visions before. In fact, it’s unlike anything we’ve seen in Star Wars before. And that’s exactly what the franchise needs.
Warning! Spoilers for Star Wars: Visions Season 3 Episode 9, “BLACK,” ahead!
“BLACK” is a dialogueless fight set to jazz music.
“Dark” is a 13-minute animated short by David Productions, and it’s... difficult to explain. It’s basically dialogueless, so you don’t need to worry about watching subs vs. dubs, and is punctuated by light, freeform jazz that builds to a big climax. The visuals morph from sketches of the Battle of Yavin to painterly depictions of a stormtrooper’s life before enlisting in the Empire’s army.
At Anime NYC, fans were shown a sneak peek of this episode, which was described as “a psychedelic battle between past and present,” showing “the haunted psyche of an Imperial stormtrooper on the cusp of defeat.” Unlike David Production’s other anime offerings like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure or Cells at Work!, “BLACK” doubles down on experimental imagery. We never learn any character’s name, and there’s no real plot, but the effect is still there: every crew member who perished at the end of A New Hope was the main character in their own story, and as they went, their lives flashed before their eyes. It’s the agony and ecstasy of dying, presented in abstract symbols.
“BLACK” is an abstract, experimental meditation on mortality set in the Star Wars saga.
While many of the other Visions shorts strive to recapture the family-friendly adventure feel of the original space opera, this short goes in the complete opposite direction. It proves just what makes Star Wars so full of potential: it can tell a story of epic samurai fights, cuddly creature rescues, and haunting meditations of morality that would confuse kids, if not spook them a little.
Sure, Star Wars has been more “adult” in recent years — Andor, I’m looking at you — but it’s still stuck to the more traditional forms of television. With this episode of Visions, Star Wars can finally get a little weird with it, while still providing the anime adventures fans have loved for years now.
