A Long Time Ago, in The Land of the Rising Sun…
Sith Master: “Let’s not speak with our mouths, but with our blades.”
Star Wars: Visions “The Elder” (Season 1, Episode 7)
Star Wars owes much to Japan. The Jedi and Sith are essentially rival samurai clans in space while The Force borrows from Zen philosophy. A New Hope was partially based on Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. So if Star Wars borrows so much from the East, why not let Japan take a swing at adapting it?
Star Wars: Visions is an anthology meant to bridge the gap between anime and Star Wars fans. Like Love, Death + Robots, each episode has its own studio and self-contained story. There’s a galaxy of stories to tell, and we’ve narrowed down the best.
So what are the Top 5 episodes of Star Wars: Visions? Let’s find out.
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#5 The Song of Four Wings
Studio: Project Studio Q
Voice Cast: Stephanie Hsu, Aki Toyosaki
Crane: [holding an origami crane] “Your people have legends about these birds. A guardian deity. I think it’s beautiful.”
“The Song of Four Wings (Season 3, Episode 2)
Synopsis: Princess Crane is a Rebel patrolling a snowy planet with her droid Tor-Tu. In a village razed by the Empire they find a surviving child. The kid shows them that the Empire is mining strategic resources. Princess Crane, Tor-Tu, and the child flee a platoon of soldiers, but are forced to fight a pair of Imperial AT-ATs. With her greatest weapon on the fritz, can they survive?
Why This Episode? The Song of Four Wings is a rare Star Wars Visions episode that doesn’t focus on the Jedi or Sith. Crane is similar to Princess Leia and Rey Skywalker, a tough, kind royal directly fighting the Empire to avenge her destroyed home.
Tor-Tu is an R2D2 stand-in and the only one who can play Crane’s EDM cassettes, which provide an in-universe soundtrack. He can also transform into X-Wing themed power armor, allowing Princess Crane to fly, but damage prevents his blasters from working. The AT-ATs are portrayed less as machines and more like kaiju.
#4 The Ninth Jedi
Studio: Production I.G.
Voice Cast: Kimiko Glenn, Masi Oka, Andrew Kishino
Ethan: “A real lightsaber…!”
“The Ninth Jedi” (Season 1, Episode 5)
Droid: “The remaining sabers should be arriving shortly.”
Synopsis: The Jedi Order has fallen in the far future. A handful of Force users gather on a hidden planet at the behest of an enigmatic Margrave who claims to have real lightsabers. A young girl named Kara must get the swords to them while being pursued by Jedi Hunters.
Why This Episode?: The Ninth Jedi is an interesting mystery. None of the assembled Force users know who the Margrave is and can’t tell if they are being lured into a trap as they wait. The tension is counterbalanced by Kara’s desperate escape from the Hunters.
The future lightsabers rely on the wielder’s link to the Force, changing shape and color to suit them. Kara’s blade begins as a translucent gray until it blazes green when she finds the will to fight. The lightsabers instantly show their wielder’s true colors and solve the mystery.
#3 Star Wars Visions: Sith
Studio: El Guiri Studios
Voice Cast: Úrsula Corberó, Luis Tosar
Lola: “I found my own path.”
“Sith” (Season 2, Episode 1)
Synopsis: Lola is a former Sith who escaped from the lifestyle and every day must resist the urge to Fall. She paints as a form of therapy, but her vistas are always overwhelmed by black paint. When Lola’s Master, Kutu, finds her, will she be able to resist the Dark Side’s call?
Why This Episode?: Sith is one of the most artistic episodes in a gorgeous series. Viewers see the world through Lola’s eyes, a blank canvas that the Force allows her to paint in vibrant hues until the darkness seeping from her tarnishes the image.
Kutu forces Lola back to the real world with an artstyle resembling the Spider-Verse movies. He tries to convince her that she hasn’t changed while they duel, but Lola uses her worldview to create illusions that slow him down. Learning to accept the black paint allows Lola to use one of the coolest lightsabers in Star Wars: Visions.
#2: The Bird of Paradise
Studio: Polygon Pictures
Voice Cast: Sonoya Mizuno, Victoria Grace, James Sie, George Takei
Toad: “You haven’t figured it out? [laughs] Your heart is blind! Why lament your eyes?”
The Bird Of Paradise (Season 3, Episode 8)
Synopsis: Jedi Padawan Nakime is blinded and left for dead while fighting a Sith. Terrified of death, she uses The Force to search for help. But as days pass and she begins to starve, will Nakime find safety or wander into darkness?
Why This Episode?: Nakime is not your standard Jedi. She’s hot-headed, scared, and lashes out at everything around her while begging for help. Nakime sees visions of friends and foes, but doesn’t listen to their advice because she is self-centered. These flaws make her one of Star Wars: Visions’ most realistic characters.
The Bird of Paradise is split into five acts as Nakime comes to terms with what’s happened. Each act focuses on things she can sense, from trees that guide her to rain that distracts her. Gorgeous forests fade into blood-red smoke as she loses control of her emotions and faces a personification of her dark side. The ending is ambiguous. Does she survive the darkness or learn to accept her death? You tell us in the comments.
#1 Star Wars Visions: The Duel
Studio: Kamikaze Douga
Voice Cast: Brian Tee, Lucy Liu
Kouru: “You don’t look like one of the villagers. Who dares face me?”
The Duel (Season 1, Episode 1)
The Ronin: “Just a simple wanderer.”
Synopsis: A Sith named Kouru and her bandit gang raid a village. Seven misfit warriors launch a desperate defense against the invaders. Neither side knows that a wandering Ronin has entered the village to repair his droid companion. He battles Kouru after her attack interferes with his task, but who will win when scarlet blades clash?
Why This Episode?: Star Wars: Visions’ first episode sets the tone. The animation is gorgeous black-and-white painted CGI. Every character moves deliberately, evoking Kurosawa’s movies when the villagers do their Seven Samurai routine as Kouru and The Ronin duel.
The Ronin shocks everyone by drawing a red lightsaber. He has acted every inch the Jedi up until that point to teach viewers they won’t be able to predict what’s coming. The duel then heats up as both Sith fight with everything they have. Little is explained about who The Ronin is or what he’s up to, but the mystery adds to the episode.
What was your favorite episode of Star Wars: Visions? Are you looking forward to the Ninth Jedi spinoff? Tell us in the comments.
Image: A scene from Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: VISIONS VOLUME 3, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm. © 2025 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.
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