How to watch Star Wars Visions 2?

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  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    May the Force be with you, Legion Gamers!

    Last week the world celebrated Star Wars Day on the 4th of May. I started a discussion about Star Wars games, and during the weekend, I wanted to celebrate by binge-watching the second season of Star Wars Visions non-canon stories that were released (surprise!) on the 4th.

    However, a disturbance in the Force made sure my plans were not to come to pass, for I fell into the language trap. You see, one of the interesting things about Star Wars Visions is that each of those non-canon stories is a separate story made by a different studio. And the first season was made entirely (I think) by different studios from Japan:


    Herein lies the common anime lover dilemma: to watch them in Japanese audio with subtitles or in English dub? As when it comes to anime, I always try to go for original Japanese audio, the was a no-brainer decision for me back then.

    But it gets trickier when it comes to the second season. In it, horizons were broadened, and studios from all over the world contributed to the show. Here is a brief summary:

    Episode Origin Country
    1 - Sith Spain
    2 - Screecher's Reach Ireland
    3 - In the Stars Chile
    4 - I Am Your Mother United Kingdom
    5 - Journey to the Dark Head South Korea
    6 - The Spy Dancer France
    7 - The Bandits of Golak India
    8 - The Pit Japan & USA
    9 - Aau's Song South Africa

    Many countries joined in this time, which is nice to see. @GoLLuM13, your country is there, and maybe @DracoTarot and @LilMonsterTii will be happy to know South Africa has a submission, too! And @j7schultz, Spain is responsible for the first episode. I know you mentioned you are not much of an anime watcher in the Legion Weekends thread by @Liue, but how about cartoons like that?

    Here is a glimpse of the second season:


    So what is my dilemma? I am conflicted about which language to watch this in. The full Japanese audio has been made as with the first season, but as these were not made in Japan (with the exception of episode 8), I do not see the reason to go down that route. What I am thinking is whether to watch some of them in the original language.

    Most of these were made with English audio in mind, but I've read that at least some of them, like Sith or The Spy Dancer, have audio in original languages as well (Sith even used the same voice actors for both English and Spanish versions). So there are options.

    And now I come with this question to both Star Wars and anime fans alike: what language would you watch it in? @Saka, I know you watch anime, got any advice?
  • 17 Replies

  • LilMonsterTii's Avatar
    Level 12
    I love anime and normally watch it in Japanese with English subs so to me either or is perfectly fine. Definitely happy to see SA repping makes me so happy. It would be cool to hear the other languages with English sub but could also be a bit confusing so it depends if we go into it with an open mind. Gotta admit the Ireland one got me curious if they used actors with the accent 🤣🤣 Star Wars gone Irish I may die I can just imagine it and I won’t stop laughing.

    but that’s just my opinion
  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    Gotta admit the Ireland one got me curious if they used actors with the accent 🤣🤣 Star Wars gone Irish I may die I can just imagine it and I won’t stop laughing.

    I actually thought about that, too. But Star Wars has so many planets with different cultures (3rd season of Mandalorian plays with the concept a bit, too) that it would probably fit there.
  • Saka's Avatar
    Level 52
    @DoctorEldritch I generally pick the audio of the language that the films were recorded with. Lip sync is a quite big thing for me and it bothers me when it doesn't match. I don't care so much about understanding the audio.
    Unamused Snarktooth. Advocate for hearing loss & accessibility. Person, friend and a terrible/terrific* artist.
    *delete as appropriate
  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    @Saka Interesting, I did not even think about lip-syncing until you mentioned it, for me, it was more about aligning myself with directors' intent, and how they envisioned those animations to be watched.

    But now when you mention it, lip-sync that does not match bothers me a lot as well. More often it is in the form where there is a bit of a time lag, like a second or so, that annoys me to no end. Now I'll have to think about this as well. Maybe I'll test-watch a few to see if there is an issue with lip-sync. I tried watching the Japanese version already (somehow I had it on default), and I can definitely say there is lip-sync issue there.
  • Saka's Avatar
    Level 52
    @DoctorEldritch Sorry for revealing the issue that now you can't unsee!
    Unamused Snarktooth. Advocate for hearing loss & accessibility. Person, friend and a terrible/terrific* artist.
    *delete as appropriate
  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    @Saka No need to be sorry, it is useful to notice these things, all to make the end experience more enjoyable.

    On an SW-unrelated note, here is a trivia story you may find interesting. Back in 1976, the Soviet Union filmed one of its most classic romantic comedies called "The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!" It became very popular and to this day is watched as New Year's classic in Russia and many post-Soviet countries.

    The reason why I am mentioning it here is that the female lead was Barbara Brylska, whom you may know from her appearances in Polish films. But at the time of filming, she knew very little Russian and had a very strong accent, too. So for the film, her character is voiced by a different actress (who also played one of the supporting roles in that film), with viewers never hearing the actual voice of Barbara herself.

    To work around this problem, linguistic and lip-synching experts were called in, and they developed a solution where Barbara was actually saying a nonsense text in Polish during filming, which did not make sense when spoken in Polish but would make her lips move in a way that would look similar to how she would move them if saying the actual script text in Russian. That took a lot of work, and it was not a typical lip-synch "making dub" process, but the end result was impressive, especially for that time.

    You may look into it at your leisure if you like, maybe see the new side of Barbara Brylska.
  • Saka's Avatar
    Level 52
    @DoctorEldritch Ooh, that's a very interesting piece of history, thank you for sharing! And makes sense why it was resolved this way, as mispronoucing stuff affects the lip movements as well. It's the bane of my existence, as my SO has a speech impediment and sometimes I just don't want to have my ear on (headaches or tired). A small change in the audio can be actually very big when it comes to the lip movement. I am normally an excellent lip-reader but sometimes I just turn into a pile of question marks and then it turns out that the problem was a slight mispronunciation...
    Unamused Snarktooth. Advocate for hearing loss & accessibility. Person, friend and a terrible/terrific* artist.
    *delete as appropriate
  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    @Saka your comment about reading lips reminded me of a deaf character from a different series who carries around a card that says that he is deaf and through lip-reading can only get about a third of what people are saying. I made a post with the name of the series and a brief summary in our comedy series thread for you.
  • DracoTarot's Avatar
    Level 52
    @DoctorEldritch Never knew South Africa had a submission. Nice to know! 😎