– Spoiler Review –
In their second Star Wars: Visions Vol. 3 short, Kinema Citrus Co. returns to the Jedi F in “The Lost Ones,” another slow-burn, contemplative, and yet dazzling entry in her story, which ends up being my favorite sequel, and short, of the volume!
The last of the sequels for Vol. 3, “The Lost Ones” manages a special trick I felt the others didn’t quite hit, as the moody, slow-burn tone returns from Vol. 1’s “The Village Bride,” the exploration of F’s past and future build off little hints dropped before, and it doesn’t necessarily try to go bigger or bolder, remaining as grounded as the previous entry instead, building on its foundations. It’s not afraid to take its time, introduce us to the struggles of the locals F runs into, implore some gorgeous and haunting scene setting, and let a big reunion simmer before boiling over, rewarding viewers with their patience and their investment in both F and the new characters. Because where “The Village Bride” pushed both those in the village with their strife with the Empire but also F in her desire to run and stay hidden, “The Lost Ones” shoves F harder than ever before, and still pushes the refugees she helps, resulting in an emotionally charged story which pays off all the mystery around her. F and the refugees’ fates become intertwined, because when F imparts sage knowledge to the young children of the refugee ship, one of the parents overhears and is inspired by it, taking off with her to face down the Empire and free his people. It reminded me a lot of The High Republic, as F couldn’t have won without the refugees helping her and they couldn’t have won without her confronting her past, and it made the phrase “We are all the Republic” ring in my ears and joy to swell inside to see a Jedi out amongst the people, not in some ivory tower, helping where she can, something I hope Rey Skywalker takes up for her New Jedi Order. Where F goes next and where her story could go from here is unclear, as “The Lost Ones” feels both like a satisfying conclusion to her story, but also left this viewer, and I’m sure many others like you reading this, hoping to see her further adventures. Given “The Ninth Jedi” will get its own series, maybe more Visions will get their chance as well, so who knows, we could one day see F again!
What makes F so compelling to follow really takes focus in “The Lost Ones,” though I was worried about how the team at Kinema Citrus Co., especially Director Hitoshi Haga (back from the original short), would expand her character and if it could live up to the hype. “The Village Bride” built up quite a bit of mystery around F, not only from her wearing a mask, trying not to intervene, and some unique footwear and saber skills, but mainly in her lingering trauma from Order 66 and the desire to stay on the run. After she intervened in “Village,” she seems more emboldened to do so now, as she starts “The Lost Ones” helping locals as a building collapses around them, who in turn help her escape the planet’s deadly carbonite gas clouds, but she seems ready to keep moving despite the refugee ship’s kids taking a liking to her. Once the Empire arrives and forces her hand, as they request her surrender or else they’ll hurt the refugees, but it’s what she finds aboard the Star Destroyer that challenges everything. Reminding viewers of F’s Jedi Master in a few more flashbacks before she’s taken aboard the Destroyer, as we saw her Master dead in flashbacks in the first short, their reunion strikes a memorable chord, but it’s what follows, and how they interact, which really elevated “The Lost Ones” and F herself, living up to the hype from the original short.
F’s Master, a Sith who goes by the name Zero now, originally known as Shad-Rah Varcanella, contains a boiling hatred for everything that led to his death, especially the Jedi. He wants his former apprentice, who is gobsmacked at his survival, to join him in hunting them down, or else die as a Jedi. A Jedi through and through, F declines to both join him or to fight him, never going for her sword until absolutely necessary, when he strikes out at her. Turns out he doesn’t just hate the Jedi, but he hates his former apprentice to, knowing she’s run from the war, gone into hiding, making his death, his sacrifice, in vain. F already felt guilt and has feared making herself known since his supposed death, but reframing her choice to run as besmirching the teachings of her Master only adds salt to the wound. Factor in him being a better dueler than her, F not only has a physical challenge before her, but a mental one as well. But her time doing the right thing for the villagers in the original short and spending time amongst the refugees in this short, where she imparted important wisdom to its children that challenged them to gather experience on their own to make decisions and warns them about evil taking advantage of people’s ignorance, F is not who her Master remembers, much like he’s not who she so clearly remembers in her gold-tinted flashbacks. Seeing her Master fallen and hearing how much he’s changed, to the point he no longer thinks about saving others like he once taught her, emboldens F and her choice to stop running, to do what her Master taught and focus on working with others to help them. I like how she thinks of Zero and Shad-Rah as two different people, like how Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader are in a way which recent stories like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master of Evil have tried to elaborate, as she realizes her Master did die and she’s dealing with someone else now. Despite the separation of who her Master was and now is, as her final move encases him in carbonite, his final line about how much she’s grown stings at her idea Shad-Rah is gone, as she recognizes her Master, one last time. The fact she accomplishes this victory by sacrificing much of herself, as Zero cuts off her remaining real limbs as she makes her final attempt to attach the carbonite canister to him, is an emotional moment, from the rousing score to seeing a Jedi in their full form, willing to give up everything to save or help others. F isn’t a Padawan anymore, as Zero pointed out earlier, and she earns every ounce of being a full Jedi in her confrontation with her past and her Master. As I said before, I’d love to see more of F, especially given her actions here and all the sage wisdom she contains, and I know I won’t be the only one.
The imagery and score for their battle is some of the best parts of “The Lost Ones,” but there’s lovely, emotional, and interesting animation and music throughout. In the final battle, using the room of flowers, with projector screen backgrounds to make it look like the idyllic place Zero once trained F, was a beautiful imagery choice. Yet adds layers to the encounter, as the screen behind Zero reveals outer space, the refugee ship floating in the Destroyer’s sights, and this fracturing of the idyllic background only behind Zero adds a visual component of the breakage inside F’s old Master. The orchestral chanting when F first sees Zero is starkly different than what’s come before, as there’s a more somber voice component to the score over the imagery of the broken planet in the opening, and it’s chaotic, building sound makes viewers feel as off footed as F does upon seeing him. The early scenery on the planet, with the broken city looking more like a post-World War II bombed city aides in supplying a haunting and empty feeling, while the way the rolling clouds of carbonite seem beautiful and harmless make it a terrifying quiet threat in the background.
Asami Seto and Karen Fukuhara, for the Japanese cast and English Dub respectfully, bring such a depth to their performances as F, and I like how both seemed even more settled into the role given the expanded dialogue this time around. When F calls out the word Master as he’s encased in carbonite, well, I was already in tears from her commitment to be a Jedi like her Master used to be, but it was the final emotional hit to the confrontation delivered devastatingly well by both actresses. As for Zero, Mark Strong was a very interesting choice for the English Dub, as he has such a distinct voice, and while it made for a stark contrast to F and really highlighted his fallen nature, it was really hard to hear his voice and not visualize his usual bald, older look, which did not match up well with the long-haired and younger Zero, so more a problem for me than anything wrong with his performance. Hirofumi Nojima as Zero for the Japanese cast, where I didn’t really have any visualization of the voice actor and his moderately higher tone than Strong’s performance, worked better overall for me. As for Ron, both the Japanese cast of Daiki Hamato and the English Dub by Ryan Potter (Big Hero 6), they imbue him with a sense of recklessness, a desire to fight, mixed with a parental concern over his son, Leon. And while the droid Lulu is an adorable new design I’d hope to see in canon one day, it’s made all the cuter by Aki Toyosaki delivering its personality for both casts!
Here are a few other things:
- Given her fancy heeled footwear was part of a modification for a robotic limb, a neat little surprise, I’m curious what modifications she’ll get for all her new robotic limbs!! It seems the Besalisk Joona is the one who helped her before and knew her Master too, while she uses that history to implore F to stay, though it’s a choice F has to make on her own, which she does in her duel with her Master. I liked seeing another connection to F’s larger story and mystery touched on here, as it makes her feel even more grounded in the larger context of the galaxy.
- The haunting early image of one of the refugees sitting in his house, looking at his wife and child frozen in carbonite, ready to let the rolling clouds of it take him so he can join them, has stuck with me for a long time after “The Lost Ones” ended. While I enjoyed how it was used to help bring down the Star Destroyer and end F’s conflict with her Master, I wish more had been done on the personal level with this rather emotional and interesting quandary.
- While the Filmmaker Focus video reveals a bit of concept art, about Lulu and even the refugee ship, it goes by a bit fast so make sure to visit the Episode Guide to look at them more closely! I really loved how Haga’s field work basically becomes a big vacation and the Filmmaker Focus highlighted the fun he had at Galaxy’s Edge, even!
- Director Hitoshi Haga was briefly interview on the official site about “The Lost Ones,” where he reveals his thoughts about what makes a story stay in a viewers heart and mind, and I dare say he has it all figured out right!
- I was working my way methodically through Vol. 3, only watching a new short after finishing a previous short’s review, but I binged the final three over the past weekend and, yeah, “The Lost Ones” really ends up being my favorite!
Kinema Citrus Co.’s second Star Wars: Visions Vol. 3 short “The Lost Ones” shows how best to not only do a sequel in a similar and interesting manner in this format, but it carries well on its own any fan could start here and be left mesmerized. Consider this one my favorite short of Vol. 3!
+ F unveils how much she’s grown
+ Lush imagery and memorable music for the quiet and big moments
+ Helping one another is the best way to secure peace
– Wish more been done with the personal aspect of the carbonite problems
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him and the website on on Bluesky and Instagram @mynockmanor.
STAR WARS VISIONS REVIEWS
Vol. 3: “The Duel: Payback” | “The Song of Four Wings” | “The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope” | “The Bounty Hunters” | “Yuko’s Treasure” | “The Smuggler” | “The Bird of Paradise” | “BLACK”
Vol. 2: “Sith” | “Screecher’s Reach” | “In the Stars” | “I Am Your Mother” | “Journey to the Dark Head” | “The Spy Dancer” | “The Bandits of Golak” | “The Pit” | “Aau’s Song”
Vol. 1: “The Duel” | “Tatooine Rhapsody” | “The Twins” | “The Village Bride” | “The Ninth Jedi” | “TO-B1” | “The Elder” | “Lop & Ochō” | “Akakiri”
Related Material: Takashi Okazaki (one-shot) | Peach Momoko (one-shot) | Art of Star Wars: Visions Vol. 1 (book) | Star Wars: Visions #1 (comic) | Ronin: A Visions Novel (novel)