Highlights
- Star Wars: Visions – Black has been nominated for Outstanding Animated Program at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards.
- Directed by acclaimed animator Shinya Ōhira, the short explores a stormtrooper’s memories amid the fall of the second Death Star.
- The nomination highlights the growing global recognition of Japanese animation, while continuing the momentum of Star Wars: Visions.
The Television Academy has nominated Black, an anime short from the Star Wars: Visions anthology, for Outstanding Animated Program at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards. The nomination placed a Japanese anime studio production alongside high-profile Western animated offerings, including Rick and Morty and South Park.
Black, produced by globally recognized anime studio david production, was released as the final and ninth episode in 2025’s Star Wars: Visions Volume 3. It also marks the first time a Japanese studio production received Emmy nominations after the Afro Samurai: Resurrection film was nominated for the award in 2009.
Star Wars: Visions Volume 3, which premiered on Disney+ on Oct 29, 2025, is a nine-short anthology created by Japanese studios including Kinema Citrus, Production I.G, and david production. Black focused on a stormtrooper, battling with haunting memories from the past amidst the destruction of the second Death Star.
Black Highlights Japanese Animation Talent on an International Stage
The Emmy Awards remain one of the television industry’s highest honors, recognizing excellence across multiple categories in TV programming. The Outstanding Animated Program category groups Black against episodes of Bob’s Burgers, Rick and Morty, The Simpsons, Smiling Friends, and South Park, all long-running American series with Emmy histories.
Black was directed by veteran animator Shinya Ōhira. He has previously worked on iconic titles, including Akira and the Gundam franchise, along with Studio Ghibli’s Howl's Moving Castle and The Boy and the Heron, among many others.
Star Wars: Visions Volume 3’s Black short was screened at the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival as well. The festival described Black as “A psychedelic battle between past and present, light and dark, and life and death,” with artistic director Marcel Jean praising the production, as well.
For david production, better known for adapting existing manga, such as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Fire Force, the Visions short was a director-driven short built around one animator’s signature style. The Emmy nomination gives the production studio an added institutional recognition beyond the anime fan community.
The nomination also continues the momentum of Star Wars: Visions, Lucasfilm’s anthology initiative that invites animation studios from around the world to reinterpret the Star Wars universe. Recently, at Anime Expo 2026, Lucasfilm unveiled that the first full-length animated series, The Ninth Jedi, under the Star Wars: Visions Presents banner, will be released in August.
The Emmy nomination gives that rollout a timely marketing hook, though whether the Television Academy’s voters ultimately favor Black over five established American series remains uncertain.
