Star Wars has been on a roll over the last few years. While the franchise has been popular for decades, the sequel trilogy, animated shows, live-action series, and soon-to release Star Wars: Visions have continued to provide a consistent stream of Star Wars content. Fans of Star Wars video games have been treated just as well with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars: Squadrons, and re-releases of other classic titles.
While all of these installments in the Star Wars franchise have been visually impressive, from the live-action productions to the video games, that doesn’t mean they can’t learn from one another in the future. Star Wars: Visions is a unique take on the franchise and has many fans excited. With just a month before the anthology releases, it will likely reign as the topic of discussion in fan spaces from now until well after it starts streaming.
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Star Wars Anime
The anime style of Visions offers the Star Wars franchise some room to flex its muscles and grow. Anime as a medium has often been able to push the boundaries of what audiences expect, as well as excel in the areas people are used to. Much like Star Wars and its video games, many anime series from Dragon Ball to My Hero Academia have been praised for exciting combat, deep universes, and beautiful landscapes.
The styles used across different anime are just as diverse as the galaxy that Star Wars takes place in. This is something that Star Wars: Visions looks to show off. With so many different styles available, the medium is a great way to tell many different kinds of stories.
This makes the anime aesthetic a great one to lean into when considering future Star Wars video games. Its games have recently relied on more realistic graphics, pulling the galaxy far, far away into players’ living rooms. While graphics that are created to reflect the influences of anime might not bring the same realism, art styles used in the medium have their own set of benefits that aren’t rooted in how realistic subjects and scenes might look.
Anime-stylized graphics could offer a space for games to be smoother and more striking. Realistic graphics can be difficult for some set-ups, and more demanding on consoles. A simpler graphical style could retain the sense of beauty that Star Wars fans enjoy in games without requiring the type of rendering needed in titles like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. This doesn’t mean they will necessarily be easier to create, but that work put in might be allowed to flourish even more.
Demon Slayer's Art Style
The anime style would also compliment many of the stories that Star Wars tells. The graphic content of some anime series has been intense, but they’ve provided fight scenes and landscapes that fans remember for years. A great example of how this can be leveraged is the Demon Slayer anime and its new game. Demon Slayer has a great story, but its art style is also compelling across different forms of media.
The style used in the anime creates shots and scenes often defined not only by the beautiful scenery, but the intense combat that the characters engage in. For many fans, Ahsoka’s elimination of a room full of Death Watch members in the Clone Wars TV show or Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi's fateful duel in Revenge of the Sith are great places to start when thinking about how this would translate in the Star Wars canon.
Being able to experience these often graphic moments in the confines of a game could bridge the gap between Star Wars’ more mature content with that which is still suitable for younger age groups. This is important to consider as the franchise tries to keep fans of all ages engaged while continuing to grow in the future.
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Gundam's Complex Stories
Just as incredible as the art of many anime series are their stories. While some people may look to these series as a different style of cartoon, they often contain levels of complexity that traditional western cartoons don’t often use. This is exemplified well in generational franchises, especially classics like Gundam. It has existed almost as long as Star Wars and is one of the best mecha anime of all time.
While the series has seen many evolutions, it has also remained true to its roots. This has allowed it to dominate across the globe with series like Gundam Wing. Its position in sci-fi and near-future conflicts make it a grounded series, but its storytelling has just as many layers as Star Wars – if not more.
Using the Gundam series and its games as inspiration for what Star Wars can do when considering an anime game would be a solid step in the right direction. They each tend to hit similar notes, and while people will often pick sides of who is right and wrong, they both acknowledge that war and peace can’t exist hand-in-hand. Many times, the innocent are the victims, and it is undeniable that they should not be.
Also like Star Wars, Gundam is capable of delivering exciting and fun gameplay, with Gundam Evolution looking to be a fun game even in its early stages. Star Wars already has the Battlefront series as a viable option for future team-based combat, but it could learn from Gundam’s technique and delivery. The willingness to use stylized graphics to convey unique and intense stories isn’t something that should be scoffed at. The complexity of Gundam stories shows perfectly how deep an anime-style Star Wars game can be while retaining the thrill of sci-fi and fantasy.
Overall, an anime-style might be one of the best ways to convey future Star Wars stories through video games. Many people across the world are as familiar with the artful and dynamic scenes that anime has to offer while being Star Wars fans. Conversely, the anime style could pull in some players that might not have considered giving Star Wars games a try in the past. Connecting these two aspects of pop culture would not only be a great way to present a new title, but also to bring in new fans.
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