Visions features nine short films, all of which were released on Disney+ last Wednesday. Now, with the release of the anime anthology Star Wars: Visions, the storytelling of Star Wars has come full circle, as seven Japanese anime studios have seized the opportunity to tell brand-new Star Wars stories with a distinct Japanese sensibility. Ever since John Williams’s score first ushered us all into a galaxy far, far away, the Star Wars universe has been deeply rooted in Japanese culture and filmmaking. George Lucas’s iconic sci-fi film quickly became a phenomenon, and over 40 years later, Star Wars is a genre (and an industry) unto itself, extending across movies, books, video games, comics, TV shows, and beyond. In 1977, audiences across the world watched Star Wars in theaters for the first time.
