– Spoiler Review –
Fresh off from claiming “The Bounty Hunters” as an early favorite, in steps Kinema Citrus Co. with their first of two Star Wars: Visions Vol. 3 shorts, “Yuko’s Treasure,” an enduring adventure with heart and humor which helps it climb to my new favorite!
Given the uncertainty of shows ever returning beyond their first season and how long it takes between seasons these days, since Skeleton Crew wrapped up earlier this year, I’ve been hoping for something to capture a similar magic again in Star Wars in case it never returns. Kinema Citrus Co.’s “Yuko’s Treasure” feels like it bottled up much of what made Skeleton Crew a joy, shook it up, and popped the top off, managing to be as fun despite being shorter and going for a weirder tone. Whereas Star Wars, and other popular media with Pedro Pascal, have focused on an older character shepherding around a younger one a lot lately (even in this Visions volume), both Skeleton Crew and “Yuko’s Treasure” let the children be the protagonists, not just the supporting characters, much like adventure movies of the 1980’s. It’s refreshing because the characters’ exuberance and excitement taps not only into nostalgia, reminding viewers what it was like to look up at this galaxy in awe and wonder without any jaded edge of age, but it raises the stakes as well, giving their obstacles an even more insurmountable feeling than if it was a well-trained pilot, Jedi, smuggler, or elsewise confronting them. But it’s not just simply centering on different aged protagonists which makes “Yuko’s Treasure” characters so enjoyable, it’s the youngsters themselves and the aloof personality of the villain Fox-Ear, which really make them memorable. Yuko, left to the care of the family bear droid named BILY, is still traumatised by the loss of his parents and is afraid of being alone. Sola, a member of Fox-Ear’s group, realizes the deal is getting worse all the time and comes to Yuko’s aide. And Fox-Ear, an eccentric masked criminal looking for Yuko’s family’s treasure, has a gang of kids and some funny little beings as part of his crew, and he takes some interesting measures to get what he wants. Why he has those funny little beings and how he took on a gang of kids is never explored, but there’s something in the way he carries himself in the pursuit of the treasure which makes it easy to understand these things aren’t surprising for someone as cruel as he. I just wished there’d been a little more expansion to him and his crew, felt like there was meant to be more.
While Yuko and BILY’s friendship is the moral core of the short, Yuko coming out of his shell to save his droid and Sola finding a kindred spirit in Yuko, who shows him family can be whatever you choose, is what really set this entry apart to me and made them feel like fully fleshed out characters. I was surprised to some degree over how these two develop over the course of “Yuko’s Treasure,” as while Yuko predictably bawls when Fox-Ear takes BILY, how he pulls it together when Sola offers to help and then leads at times in the fight to get BILY back, made for a neat experience to see him grow through his fears, especially at his age. In a way, it reminded me of Rey, as Yuko was stuck on Tatooine, not willing to leave, in fear he’d lose his memories of his parents. Sola’s desire to have a family of his own, which he realizes he’ll never get with Fox-Ear, Gura, and Riku after they threaten Yuko and BILY, a pair he longingly watched return to their home, isn’t surprising for someone his age, yet his willingness to go so far to help someone he barely knows shows how lucky any family would be to have him. Star Wars has long centered on family and found family, often the strength of one over the other, though “Yuko’s Treasure” goes a different route, saying both can co-exist or build on one another, as Yuko and BILY welcome Sola into their lives, and family, in the wake of Yuko finding the legacy his parents left for him; I’m not going to lie, the ending got me a tad emotionally! People of all ages could learn a lot from the youngsters of this short, that’s for sure.
There’s some great atmosphere to “Yuko’s Treasure” as well, where it taking place on Tatooine almost felt like seeing it anew, maybe because of the kids, maybe because of some familiar shots that didn’t treat what we knew as something to gawk over, but rather something we’re all just familiar with so let’s no focus on it, let’s focus on the characters of this story working through those familiar places. And once we got to new locations, it all felt like part of what we knew, just expanded, like the deep depths of the caverns Yuko’s family hid their vault. Sola and Yuko looked a little too similar at times for me I was curious if Sola was going to turn out be a long-lost brother of Yuko’s, but the designs for BILY and Fox-Ear, as well as the weird little creatures, and even the creature in the deep they all run into, were all memorable in their own ways. BILY looks both adorable, especially when wearing a hood and cape when shopping in town, and yet grown-up, so to speak, like it’s clear he’s both soft and cuddly but very much full of useful functions, while his Darth BILY moment was rather damn intimidating! Fox-Ear, with the fox face mask and ears, with only one eye visible, which felt like an inverse of the pirate patch even though his other eye has it, makes him both sort of frightening but also cowardly, unwilling to show his face. As for those little red-dome-headed alien beings in their little suits with yellow gloves and shoes, while I don’t get what their purpose was, they were just fun and cute to look at! And lastly, the score swept from emotional at the end to fun and adventurous and the kids went to rescue BILY and stop the pirates.
Look, Kenichirou Matsuda of Japanese cast does menacing and smarmy rather well for Fox-Ear, but Steve Buscemi in the English Dub brings a hammy-edge to the role that really elevated the weirdness of the character. For Yuko, Momoka Terasoma and Liam Karlsson of the Japanese cast and English Dub, respectively, both do a great job capturing his fear over being alone and his concern for those he cares about, while Makoto Koichi and Julian Paz Fedorov offer a great range for Sola’s over-confidence early on and timidness once Yuko accepts him as family. Yumi Uchiyama gives Gura a more Harley Quinn vibe than Anne Yatco of the English Dub, but both make her a funny character, while Mamoru Miyano and Maximilian Reid make Riku remind me a bit of Neel from Skeleton Crew, and this is without factoring in they both are an elephant-like design!
Here are a few other things:
- When Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 revealed and broke down all of Vol. 3’s then upcoming shorts, BILY’s microwave belly was said to be more than just a microwave, yet I didn’t see it used for anything else. Not disappointing, just curious if they had something else planned but had to cut it out or if I just missed something about a different function.
- The sandfalls, aka water falls but with sand, from which they blast through in the ship at the end of the short reminded me of Star Wars Outlaws, which had an area of its Tatooine map where sandfalls made for a gorgeous visual!
- Loved the cute little cone droid Yuko also has? Kelly Knox at the official site put together a template to build your own at home with just some paper, scissors, and a tape!
- In the short’s Episode Guide, check out some early concept designs, while in the Filmmaker Focus video we find out the idea for Darth BILY came from a quirk of the Japanese language plus they pause and point out some Easter Eggs.
Star Wars: Visions Vol. 3‘s “Yuko’s Treasure” has a lot of heart and a lot of fun with its coming-of-age story, making an early top spot runner for the season!
+ Yuko and Sola growing and finding family
+ Imbibing the old with the sense of new
+ Cute yet intimidating animation, great performances, and an adventurous score
– Feels like a little more could’ve been done with Fox-Ear and his gang
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” | “The Lost Ones” | “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)