Really enjoyed this. I can tell they were limited by budget for a lot of it, though I appreciate that they saved the budget for the second half/last third for a stronger finale rather than doing the opposite. The fights eventually reached the kind of spectacle I was looking for.
Things I dislike included the use of superweapons again, Disney’s favorite object kyber crystals again, a droid control ship early on, and several battle scenes where both opposing forces, using ranged weapons, stand 10 feet from each other with zero cover like on Geonosis in Attack of the Clones. The ship and droid designs are neat but a little bit busy for my taste. The animation earlier on and during a lot of the larger battles or space battles is stiff and less than ideal.
The show absolutely nailed the Jedi. No prequel garbage about attachments, no total extermination, an association with monarchy and nobility, engagement in politics that isn’t some FBI thing or The Senate, legitimate differences in opinion over role, adult Jedi joining on from various backgrounds, Jedi families, distinct costumes and character designs that aren’t just variations of brown robes. The Jedi aren’t the side of “no emotion” and the Sith/villains aren’t the side of “has emotion.” The Sith are a specific faction and not “every person who uses the dark side.” The villain isn’t a Sith and the silver blades/empty heart thing creates an interesting third way without falling into the trap of “gray Jedi” or “equal light and dark.” The villains aren’t an empire and they use droids but they aren’t only droids. Rival warlords are more fertile ground for storytelling than another republic or empire. This takes place in the far future but you could really set it in any time period, not because it’s generic, but because it’s timeless.
I see what people are saying about the lack of development for side characters, but I would put that down to the limited episode count, which could also be a function of budget. I’m okay with them being cool action figures for now. Hopefully we get more of this show.
I’m surprised how little attention this is getting. Anime has never been bigger culturally and there’s a large overlap between prequel fans and the type of weebs who keep track of “power scaling” etc. You would think a full blown Star Wars anime would get a little more hype even if people are disappointed by it. I would put it down to a lack of advertising and to the sheer drop in cultural relevance Star Wars has had for many years now. Or the perception that this is just a spinoff and so doesn’t matter to “canon.” I wonder if this had any amount of interest in Japan.