The world of anime and Star Wars is about to collide in the new anthology series “Star Wars: Phantoms”, which will premiere on Disney Plus later this month.
As the legendary Japanese animation studio explores iconic worlds and characters, Star Wars: Phantom It is expected to become the main version of Disney’s streaming media.
So please continue to read everything we know about the series so far, from the people involved to when and where to watch it, to rumors and Easter eggs, and so on.
If you do not already have Disney Plus, you can click the button below to register to watch it at the premiere of “Star Wars: Phantom”.
What is Star Wars: The Phantom?
Star Wars: Visions is a series of animated short films, each of which tells its own story in a unique animation style. What ties them together is that they occur in the Star Wars universe. And they are all Japanese anime.
Some plot descriptions provide some expected feelings, including familiar themes and images.
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The themes of twins and masters/apprentices in the film will appear in the short films “Twins” and “The Elder” respectively. The former will feature siblings born on the dark side, the brother trying to save his sister from the way of the Sith. In T0-B1, a robot dreams of becoming a Jedi. From beginning to end, the characters have worked hard to maintain honor and do good in the galaxy in the never-ending battle with the dark side.
As can be seen from the trailer, there are several short films that have borrowed heavily from Western films and Kurosawa Akira’s movies, such as “Foreign Gold Treasure” and “The Hidden Fortress”.
George Lucas was inspired by Westerns and “Hidden Fortress” when he created the original “Star Wars”. While developing familiar “Star Wars” images, he was inspired by a lot of Japanese history. So, this is really a match made in heaven.
When and where can I watch “Star Wars: A Phantom”?
Star Wars: Visions will be played exclusively on Disney Plus starting on September 22.
In addition, the fourth “Book of Boba Fett” in the “Star Wars” series is scheduled to be released on Disney Plus in December 2021.
Which animation studios are involved?
And Disney’s previous animated anthology series “If…?
Instead, Disney and Lucasfilm signed contracts with Japanese animation studios to create their own Star Wars stories in their iconic style. This means that the story is written in-house in each studio, and the animation is produced accordingly.
The seven studios and their short films are as follows:
- Kamikaze Douga: Duel
- Geno Studio (Dual Engine): Lop & Ochō
- Studio Colorido (dual engine): Tatooine Rhapsody
- Trigger: twins and elders
- Kinema Citrus: Country Bride
- Science Saru: Akakiri and T0-B1
- Making IG: The Ninth Jedi
Who is voicing the characters in “Star Wars: A Phantom”?
Star Wars: Visions has an impressive lineup of voice actors in Japanese and English.
Japanese
The Japanese version will use the following voice actors, organized by the short film:
- Duel: Terama Masaki (ronin), Watanabe Akino (bandit leader), Sanpei Yuko (village chief)
- Tatooine Rhapsody: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Jay), Kosuke Goto (Geezer), Akio Kanada (Boba Fett), Masayo Fujita (K-344) and Katsu Anri (Lan)
- Twins: Junya Enoki (Karre), Ryoko Shiraishi (Am) and TokuyoshiKawashima (B-20N)
- Country Bride: Seto Asami (F), Han Hui (Haru), Uchida Yuma (Asu), Kamikawa Takaya (Vaan), Shimoyama Yoshimitsu (horse), Ise Maria (Saku)
- The ninth Jedi: Chinatsu Akasaki (Kara), Tetsuo Kanao (Juro), Shinichiro Miki (Shima), Hiroshi Mineta (Isen), Kazuya Nakai (Raden), Akio Otsuka (narration), Daisuke Hirakawa (Hen) Jin)
- T0-B1: Masako Nozawa (T0-B1), Masako Isobe (Mitaka)
- Elderly: Tajin, Kenichi Ogata (elderly), Yuichi Nakamura (Dan)
- Lop&Ochō: Seiran Kobayashi (Lop), Risa Shimizu (Ocho), Tadahisa Fujimura (Yasaburo) and Taisuke Nakano (Imperial Officer)
- Chikiri: Tomo Miyazaki (Tsubaki), Rin (Meisa), Cho (Sen Shu), Takagi (Kamahachi), Nozawa Yukari (Masoko)
English
The English version will use the following voice actors, organized by a short film (watch the English trailer here):
- Duel: Brian Tee (Ronin), Lucy Liu (Bandit Leader) and Jaden Waldman (Village Chief)
- Tatooine Rhapsody: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Jay), Bobby Moynihan (Geezer), Temula Morrison (Boba Fett), Shelby Young (K-344) and Mark Thompson (Lan)
- Twins: Neil Patrick Harris (Karre), Alison Brie (USA) and Jonathan Lipo (B-20N)
- Country Bride: Karen Fukuhara (F), Nichole Sakura (Haru), Christopher Sean (Asu), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Valco), Andrew Kishino (Izuma) and Stephanie Sheh (Saku)
- The ninth Jedi: Kimiko Glenn (Kara), Andrew Kishino (Juro), Simu Liu (Zhima), Masi Oka (Ethan), Greg Chun (Roden), Neil Kaplan (narration), and Michael Sinterniklaas (Hen Jin)
- T0-B1: Jaden Waldman (T0-B1) and Kyle Chandler (Mitaka)
- Elders: David Hubble (Tarkin), Jordan Fisher (Dan) and James Hong (elders)
- Lop & Ochō: Anna Cathcart (Lop), Hiromi Dames (Ocho), Paul Nakauchi (Yasaburo), and Kyle McCarley (Imperial Officer)
- Mingqie: Henry Golding (Tsubaki), Jamie Chung (Meisha), George Takei (Mori Shu), Keoni Young (Kamahachi), Lorraine Dusan (Mason)
Where does it fit into the Star Wars canon?
The “extended universe” of Star Wars is huge. It includes the original movie trilogy, prequel and sequel trilogy, novels and comics, and video games.
When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, Canon became more complicated. In 2014, the company established a “Story group“To oversee the development of Star Wars movies and other properties, and to maintain consistency between titles. This means that many parts of the extended universe are removed from the broader continuity and relabeled as “Star Wars Legends.”
The official, Disney-approved Canon now includes nine major feature films, some of the Clone Wars movies and series, as well as books and games mainly produced after Disney’s acquisition.
So, where does “Star Wars: Illusions” apply?
Star Wars classics can be tricky, and Disney didn’t give us any clear answers about Star Wars: The Phantom.
According to executive producer James Waugh, the studios involved do not have to operate within the established Star Wars timeline or chronology. “We really want to give these creators a broad creative space to explore all the imagination of the Star Wars galaxy through the unique lens of anime,” He said At the 2021 Anime Expo.
But does this mean that these shorts are not Canon? Maybe will. Disney has not clarified yet, this may be intentional. We are likely to see elements of these stories appear elsewhere in the expanded universe of Star Wars. Or maybe we won’t. The good news is that the main goal here seems to be to tell good stories above all else.
What to expect from “Star Wars: Illusions”
Apart from some brief summaries, Disney has not revealed much information about individual episodes.
But the trailer does give us a glimpse of the iconic Star Wars content. The following is a brief list that stood out, as well as information gathered from statements and interviews:
- It looks like Jedi or Force-sensitive characters will stop blasting bolts in mid-air like Kylo Ren Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This is a dramatic use of the Force, extending the deflection of shock waves in the early Star Wars movies. This may mark some general participation in newer films.
- Boba Fett and Jabba the Hutt will appear in one of the shorts. In the trailer you can briefly see Fett and his famous ship Slave I.
- We saw the shuttle arena on the planet Tatooine Star Wars: The Threat of GhostsThis may be the location of a rock concert or a rock opera that will be performed in Tatooine Rhapsody.
But in addition to the familiar “Star Wars” characters and settings, the series trailers also show us brand new characters and storylines. But even if the animation styles from different studios are quite different, these stories all seem to fit the myth of Star Wars very well.
This is our current understanding of “Star Wars: Phantom”.
You can view it on Disney Plus in September.