Star Wars is one of the biggest IPs in media which needs no introduction. Star Wars Visions was created to give Japanese studios the opportunity to explore new ideas in the Star Wars Universe. As Visions presents itself as an anthology collection. “The Ninth Jedi” is a follow-up of two episodes in the Visions Anthology. Note before you watch this series you need to watch Volume 1 Episode 5 and Volume 3 Episode 3.
It follows a young Jedi named Kara who is seeking her father. While she trains under Jedi Master Juro. This is set in a timeline far in the future where the Jedi Order is collapsed and lightsabers itself are scarce.
What is very interesting about this series is that the saber’s color represents what is in the holder’s heart. Obviously you have the typical blue and green representing the light side and red representing the dark side. But we have silver which is more unique. The idea of a grey Jedi who is neither light nor dark has been something in the old canon of Star Wars.
One of the strengths of this series is how it explores that. What does it mean to be a Jedi or Sith? What does the color of your light saber mean? It takes many things we see as common in Star Wars canon and questions them. The answers it provides aren’t black or white which is very nice.
As typical of Star Wars we have the hero’s journey as we follow Kara. She starts fully believing in the path of the Jedi, but things happen that may or may not question her beliefs. The unique part of the show of the saber changing colors plays an important part in Kara’s journey in the series.
Production wise Production IG has animated this and they did an outstanding job here. Outstanding animation and art direction. One thing to mention right now is that Disney+ only has English CC and no actual English subs of the Japanese dialogue. So if you are a subs-only purist this might bother you. But having watched the English dub, I thought it was very good and the English voiceover did their thing for the cast.
If you are a Star Wars fan don’t let the fact that it is noncanon keep you from watching this. It’s a very interesting and very good series.