Star Wars: Visions Presents — The Ninth Jedi supervising director Kenji Kamiyama has opened up about how the series maintains its classic Star Wars feel.
Speaking to Animate Times, Kamiyama was asked about how the production crew on Star Wars: Visions Presents — The Ninth Jedi ensured the series didn’t lose the traditional Star Wars charm that permeates so much of the franchise. “There were a lot of things we created with Star Wars consciously in mind, but I think we were particularly conscious of A New Hope — Episode IV — The Empire Strikes Back — Episode V — and Return of the Jedi,” Kamiyama responded.
The Ninth Jedi Director Reveals How A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi Inspired the Series
“We tried to make this while preserving, as much as possible, the inspiration I felt when I first saw Star Wars,” Kamiyama continued. “In terms of the visuals, what we were conscious of was creating ‘an environment that feels somehow familiar, but not like Earth.’ The cloud planet Bespin that appears in The Empire Strikes Back is incredibly innovative, and that kind of thing is something that should probably be done more often.”
“And from a story perspective, even if the overall tale is enormous in scale, I think it’s important to focus as much as possible on an individual person’s adventure. Traveling aboard a spaceship. Going to another planet somewhere.” Kamiyama added, “I remember creating the work while taking things like that into consideration.”
The first full spinoff of the hit animated Star Wars: Visions anthology series, as well as the first entry in the Star Wars: Visions Presents banner, Star Wars: Visions Presents — The Ninth Jedi premiered on Disney+ on Aug. 5, 2026, to the delight of fans worldwide. The series continues the story of the young Lah Kara, who narrowly escaped Order 66 and has dedicated herself to her Jedi training in the wake of the slaughter.
Upon its release, The Ninth Jedi was met with resounding acclaim from critics, as well as a generally positive response from viewers. As of the time of writing, Star Wars: Visions Presents — The Ninth Jedi boasts a 92% critical “Fresh” rating via review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a 79% audience-generated “Popcornmeter” score on the platform.
Among the biggest highlights of Ninth Jedi is the series’ incredible animation and action-packed lightsaber fights, which feel much faster and more realistic than what most past franchise entries have offered. In regard to those battles, director Shunsuke Tada previously explained, “From the beginning, we deliberately chose not to establish strict forms or rules for how the characters should fight.”
“There was just one thing that we specifically insisted on as a Japanese element unique to this work: whenever two characters face one another with their lightsabers at the ready, we asked that they use the seigan-no-kamae stance,” Tada continued, referring to a traditional kendo stance in which the wielder’s blade is pointed directly at the opponent’s face.
“We didn’t establish rules for the fighting style itself, but as a fundamental part of the way someone wielding a sword should move, we asked them to incorporate the seigan stance… Another important thing was making sure it didn’t turn into swordplay where it feels as though they have no intention of actually defeating their opponent… We paid close attention to making sure those sorts of things didn’t feel wrong.”
Star Wars: Visions Presents — The Ninth Jedi is currently available for streaming on Disney+.
- Release Date
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2026 – 2026-00-00
- Network
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Hulu, Disney+
- Directors
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Shunsuke Tada, Kenichi Matsuzawa, Kazuma Ogasawara
- Writers
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Mitsuyasu Sakai, Daisuke Ohigashi, Yumiko Yoshizawa
