Star Wars Will Finally Answer One Of The Biggest Questions We Have About Stormtroopers

"Star Wars" is at its best when it is simply exploring the ramifications of its setting, painting a picture of the weird little corners of the franchise's universe, and telling stories that challenge what "Star Wars" can even be. It's what made the one-two punch of "Skeleton Crew" (a delightful space pirate adventure) dropping right before "Andor" (one of the most poignant TV shows of the decade) so effective.

This is something "Star Wars: Visions" does extremely well, telling non-canon stories that take the imagery and tropes of "Star Wars" to the extreme. Shorts like "The Duel" or "Into the Stars" completely reimagine what the franchise can be, while "Visions" as a whole tends to prioritize stories that speak to the real-world's history.

For volume 3, "Star Wars: Visions" is going back to its roots by tapping Japanese anime studios to tell a variety of different stories. One of those shorts – Shinya Ohira and David Production's "Black" — even made its world premiere at the 2025 edition of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The result delivers a fascinating story that we've never seen before from the "Star Wars" property — that of a stormtrooper suffering from PTSD from too much star warring.

The short plays out like an improvised jazz session. It follows an anonymous Imperial trooper aboard what seems to be the Death Star as his past and present flash before his eyes, all while destruction and explosions unfold around him. As a result, we get glimpses of several battles in assorted worlds, space dogfights, ground assaults, and more as the stormtrooper contemplates the psychological toll all this combat has taken on him.

Ohira takes a psychedelic approach to the story, crafting a free-flowing narrative that is heavy on imagery and light on actual plot. Indeed, it is hard to know exactly what's going on or what is happening now versus in the past (much less if any of what we're seeing is actually real). But none of that matters. What matters is the untold horror our bearded trooper is feeling, the trauma he's experienced, and his absurd devotion to a ruthless, genocidal regime. It's not a story we've seen before but it's nevertheless one in tune with the themes of "Andor." It seeks to humanize the people caught up in the conflict between the Empire and the Rebellion without feeling the need to make audiences sympathize with their cause or role.

"Black" is also a simply stunning piece of visual storytelling. David Production delivers a beautifully animated short full of vibrant colors, fluid movement, and striking imagery that is designed to be screen-shotted and turned into prints to hang on your wall. It helps that the short is also edited to the rhythm of the jazz-inspired soundtrack. (It's like "Cowboy Bebop" but with stormtroopers.) Even if, by the time credits roll, you aren't exactly certain what you just watched, it's hard to forget its impact.

Part of what makes "Visions" one of the best "Star Wars" TV shows is its ability to depart from the canon while still using the iconography of the franchise. It has that all too recognizable "Star Wars" look and sound (whether it's the whooshing of a lightsaber or the design of an X-Wing), yet it also manages to play with the property's continuity while still paying respect to the institution that "Star Wars" has become over time. This makes the shorts in "Visions" feel liberating, fresh, and new while still being unequivocally "Star Wars."

The story of a stormtrooper dealing with PTSD as the Death Star is about to blow up would be difficult to handle in either live-action or a spin-off film. After all, how much do you actually want the audience to sympathize with a space Nazi? Except, in animation, particularly such fluid, narrative-flowing animation, you can get away with telling such an emotional story without getting too tangled up in the politics of it all. For every "Andor," after all, there can be a "Skeleton Crew," so it only stands to reason that for every "Star Wars Rebels," there can be a "Visions." It's what has allowed "Star Wars" to endure after nearly 50 years.

"Star Wars: Visions" seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Disney+, with season 3 set to premiere on October 29, 2025.