Watched the first four shorts so far. Quick thoughts:
The Duel: this was awesome. Great way to start off the season. Homage to old samurai films like Yojimbo. super cool visually with only a few colours appearing contrasting with the black and white as well as the shadows which look like they’re drawn with charcoal, and I love the character design. I loved how it was set in a post-war landscape, with details like the bandits wearing stormtrooper helmets left over from “the war”. I’m really intrigued by the character of the Ronin and the short was almost like a very effective teaser for the novel by Emma Mieko Candon that’s releasing soon.
Tatooine Rhapsody: was fun, although cheesy and somewhat cliché. I first watched the english dub of this one to hear Tem Morrison as Boba, which was cool - albeit brief. I can’t say much about it - Studio Colorido just went for a short and sweet feel-good short just having a bit of fun with the Star Wars galaxy. Not my favourite but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
The Twins: this short is absolutely insane. I can’t even comprehend how much sense it doesn’t make. Studio Trigger know their audience and it sounds like they deliberately made something so ridiculously over the top it’s entertaining. Following any semblance of logic is just limiting creativity. Anyway, the premise was interesting enough, and I’m happy we got at least one short with exaggerated character expressions, camera movement (as well as exaggerated everything else). I can’t really describe how dumb and funny this one is, I think you just have to watch it.
The Village Bride: a beautiful and touching short which reminded me Hayao Miyazaki’s work. Its characters have a deep respect and love for nature, and the surrounding country landscapes and animated beautifully with really vibrant colours. It draws a clear connection between nature and the Force (the phrase “one with the Force” is substituted with “one with the planet” at one point) and indicates a traditional underlying theme in Star Wars - good people live in harmony with nature, while the bad form its very antithesis. The antagonists use battle droids and other technology to oppress a local village, while the Jedi protagonist draws her power from nature. The story in this one is fairly simple, and very clear cut, but executed in a magical way. This is my favourite so far.