Of Course the Anime-Inspired 'Star Wars: Visions' Series Has a Japanese Dub
The 'Star Wars: Visions' anime anthology is currently streaming on Disney+. Here's how you can watch it in different dubs, including Japanese!
Sep. 24 2021, Published 6:48 p.m. ET
Disney Plus's Star Wars: Visions is the latest entry into the Star Wars shows streaming exclusively on the platform. It joins the likes of The Mandalorian and The Bad Batch as supplementary stories taking place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Separate from the canon of the original films and subsequent spinoffs, Visions is a Japanese anime anthology series that tells different, original stories set in alternate versions of the Star Wars universe. The series began streaming on Sept. 22, 2021, and every episode is currently available to watch.
How can you watch 'Star Wars: Visions' in Japanese?
The anthology series calls upon several noteworthy anime studios from Japan. The goal for Visions was to present a world-famous franchise "through the lens of the world's best anime creators" for a fresh new take on a familiar setting.
These studios include Kamikaze Douga, Studio Colorido, Trigger, Production I.G., and Science SARU. Kamikaze Douga is known for its CG work on the first two seasons of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Trigger needs no introduction thanks to its popular animation work on shows like Kill La Kill and BNA: Brand New Animal. Production I.G. is best known for works like Haikyuu!!, while Science SARU made a name for itself with 2018's Devilman Crybaby on Netflix.
The show's main English cast includes Hollywood stars like Lucy Liu, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Simu Liu, just to name a few. Along with an English dub, however, the entire series can also be watched with Japanese dialogue and English subtitles with respect to the studios that created these shorts.
The enormous cast of characters across each short is credited with English-speaking actors along with reputable Japanese voice actors. The Japanese cast includes Megumi Han (Gon Freecss from Hunter x Hunter), Kazuya Nakai (Roronoa Zoro from One Piece), and Yuichi Nakamura (Hawks from My Hero Academia).
The language settings can be easily adjusted in Disney Plus, so you can enjoy the whole series over and over again in your preferred language. Aside from Japanese and English, dialogue is also available in Spanish, Deutsch, and Cantonese among others.
What side are you on in the age-old anime conflict of dubs versus subs?
How many episodes of 'Visions' are there?
Disney Plus is currently streaming all nine episodes of the anime anthology series. Each episode ranges from 13 to 22 minutes in length. You can either take your time immersing yourself in this unique take on Star Wars or you can binge the whole thing in a long afternoon.
There are currently no official plans for a second season of Visions, but executive producer James Waugh hopes it will be possible to continue adding to the anthology and wants to gauge fan reaction to the initial series first.
"We are definitely excited and love these shorts," James told Inverse. "And I think the approach has been 'let's see what the audience thinks and let's react from there.'"
Fortunately, that doesn't mean the story of Visions is over just yet. The first episode, "The Duel," has already inspired a novel adaptation. Star Wars: Ronin: A Visions Novel is set to build the world of the wandering samurai Jedi beyond the 13-minute short. The book will come out on Oct. 12, 2021.
