From “Star Wars: Visions”, a project in which seven Japanese animation studios will create new “Star Wars” works, the synopsis and scene photos of “The Duel” by Kamikaze Doga and “Lop & Ocho” by Geno Studio have been announced.
Director George Lucas, the creator of “Star Wars”, has stated that he got a lot of inspiration from Japanese mythology and Kurosawa Akira’s movies, and this influence has been poured into all of his films to date. The connection with Japanese culture has been passed on from generation to generation.
“Star Wars: Visions” depicts nine new stories, which seven animation studios in Japan with their own unique “vision” including Kamikaze Doga, Kinema Citrus, Science SARU, Geno Studio, Studio Colorido, Studio TRIGGER, and Production I.G, as a project that will bring “Star Wars” back to Japan, where it is said to have its “creative roots.”
This time, Kamikaze Doga’s “The Duel” and Geno Studio’s “Lop & Ocho” have been released with synopsis and scene photos.
In The Duel, the protagonist is “Ronin,” who has been traveling with a droid. In a village that has long been the victim of brutal violence by a group of thieves, people hire bouncers to fight with the money they collected little by little. At first, the bouncers seem to have the upper hand, but the tables turn when the female boss of the bandits appears…… It is Sith, who carries a red saber in the shape of a parasol. “Ronin,” who has been watching the whole thing, heads straight for Sith.
The use of black throughout this film gives it an atmosphere reminiscent of Kurosawa Akira’s work, which influenced “Star Wars,” so let’s pay attention to it.
The main character of “Lop & Ocho” is Lop, an orphan of a rabbit-like race. Lop is captured as a forced laborer by the Galactic Empire, but one day she meets the head of a family living on the remote planet Tao, Yasaburo, and his daughter, Ocho and spends her days in peace, trying to transcend their race and become a “family.” However, due to their different views on the empire, Yasaburo and Ocho gradually grow apart from each other, and finally Yasaburo decides to carry out a terror attack on the empire’s base on his own. While Lop is trying to reconcile the two, an Imperial officer stands in front of him…….
Lop, with her big eyes and cute look, is full of the cuteness that is typical of Japanese animation, and director Igarashi Yuki drew her to be “a character you want to hug without thinking.”
“The Duel” and “Lop & Ocho” will be available exclusively on “Disney+,” Disney’s official video streaming service, from September 22, 2021.
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Mizusaki Junpei, General Director of “The Duel” & Terasoma Masaki, Voice Actor
Mizusaki Junpei, the general director of “The Duel”, is at the forefront of the Japanese animation industry, having worked on the opening of the TV animation “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure”, the TV animation “Pop Team Epic”, and the animated feature film “Ninja Batman”.
For this work, the character design was created by Okazaki Takashi, who also worked with him on “Ninja Batman”, and the work was created to match the character visuals.
General Director Mizusaki said, “Okazaki-san, the character designer, is a ‘Star Wars’ freak, so I decided to take on the role of supplementing the story and world view to what came out of his head rather than making any requests myself. I thought that not interfering with Okazaki-san’s imagination, who is a big fan of Star Wars, would directly lead to the appeal to the fans,” he said about the behind-the-scenes story.
However, it was “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back”, which was General Director Mizusaki’s first encounter with “Star Wars” when he was in elementary school. Since then, he has been fascinated by “Star Wars”, especially “Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace” and “Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith”. The film is so full of love for “Star Wars” that it even includes scenes from the films as a tribute.
General Director Mizusaki said about the influences from the “Star Wars” series, “To give you an example of what we actually incorporated, in the sound work with Skywalker Sound, we used some of the sound effects from the battle between Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn in “The Phantom Menace”. Please look for it,” he said, revealing a pleasant surprise for fans.
Terasoma Masaki, the voice actor who played the main character Ronin, said, “I was delighted to be able to participate in a work that bears the name ‘Star Wars’, which all movie fans know. It’s a great honor,” he said, expressing his joy at voicing in this work. As for Ronin, the character he played in the film, he said, “I think it’s Mifune Toshiro (as Kuwabata Sanjuro, a ronin) from the Kurosawa film ‘Yojinbo'”, referring to the Kurosawa film.
Lastly, he gave a message to his fans, “I hope you can feel the flavor of the Japanese language that has been stripped down to its bare essentials.”
Director Igarashi Yuki and voice actor Kobayashi Seiran in “Lop & Ocho”
The director of this work, Igarashi Yuki, is the most notable animator now who has worked on the drawing of the ending of the TV anime “Jujutsu Kaisen” and the storyboard of the TV anime “Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!”
Igarashi said of the inspiration for the story, “It’s obvious that ‘Star Wars’ is a story about lightsabers and Jedi, and that it was strongly influenced by Kurosawa films and period dramas, but I think that the expansion and diversity of the Jedi story are what makes ‘Star Wars’ unique. Originally, the story of the Jedi was not limited to the story of the Skywalker and Palpatine families. In order to express the expandability of Star Wars, I wanted to tell a story where the protagonist is a non-blood relative, and the lightsaber is passed down through that bond,” he said, looking back.
As for the reason for choosing the character of Lop, a rabbit-like creature, he said, “I thought that the non-blood-related protagonist must be a ‘character’ in Japanese culture. A “character” is not a real person, but a being with extremely exaggerated visuals and personality, as typified by Japanese beautiful girls characters. The history of this expression can be traced back to the origins of Japanese anime and manga culture, starting with Tezuka Osamu’s Ear Man from “The Mysterious Underground Men.” Ear Man is a “character” of a human rabbit, so I decided to create a female protagonist who is literally a rabbit-shaped human race. We tried to develop a character that would make you want to hug her without thinking.”
Finally, to the fans who are looking forward to this work, he said, “Although this is a short film, the entire staff has worked hard to expand the possibilities of the Star Wars universe. We hope that new characters such as Lop and Ocho will remain in the hearts of everyone who has been looking forward to “Star Wars” or who has not been exposed to “Star Wars” until now,” he revealed his passion for the film.
Kobayashi Seiran, who played the main character Lop, a cute rabbit with big eyes, said of “Star Wars”, “I see the action and scale are cool, and the unreality seems like reality. That’s the work everyone would long for at least once!”, and “I was so shocked to be in that “Star Wars.” and I was really happy that they chose me, although I am still just starting out as a voice actress. I’m excited to see how people in Japan and all over the world will perceive my voice when they will watch it,” she said, revealing her joy at voicing in this work.
In this film, Kobayashi plays Lop, an orphan who was captured by the Empire. Kobayashi said about Lop, “She is a little timid at first, but she is a very charming and cute girl who is very attentive to others’ feelings and has her own hopes! As the story progresses, I think you will be able to understand her character and beliefs more.”
As for the highlights of the film, she said, “If you watch it while thinking about what is a bond created among different races when Lop, Ocho, and Yasaburo meet and ‘what is family?’ I think you will be able to experience the world more. I worked very hard on the action scenes many times, so I hope you enjoy it!”, she gave a message to the fans looking forward to the film.
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