The panel also surprised attendees with the English voice cast of “Visions,” many of them veterans of other “Star Wars” animation, from “The Clone Wars” to “Star Wars: Resistance.” Voice actors on the panel included Andrew Kishino (Juro of “The Ninth Jedi”), Hiromi Dames (Ochō in “Lop & Ochō”), Keone Young (Kamahachi of “Akakiri”), Christopher Sean (Asu from “The Village Bride”), Bobby Moynihan (Geezer of “Tatooine Rhapsody”), and Brian Tee (The Ronin of “The Duel”).

Moynihan spoke about geeking out in the voice booth when he discovered his Hutt character was in conversation with Temuera Morrison’s voice (as Boba Fett), though he was disappointed that Geezer didn’t get to speak any Huttese.

Kishino shared about the ease of English dubbing compared to typical voicework with the U.S. homegrown projects. He explained, “I’m profoundly dyslexic. [Dub] is governed by lip flaps. One of the hallmarks of voiceovers is ‘let’s change it.’ I don’t know if I can change the words quickly enough.”

A performer with seniority, Young’s comment stood out: 

“You have to understand. When I grew up, I was born in the ’40s like George [Lucas]. My culture was of an evil empire so to speak. We were scorned here … all my life I’ve been doing [performance work] to show you the characters that have raised me. My grandparents came here as agricultural workers and gave me a good life. The work we do here is my ancestors’. When you see Japanese animation, I thank you. I thank you for accepting the good and the positive sides of my people.”

Young continued, “What was on my mind, I was representing people. I was thinking of my son and how I wanted it to be for him a legacy that he can point to and say, ‘He did that.'”

The panel played a video of the Japanese studios and artists giving their thanks for watching their shorts. Most playfully, the director Takanobu Mizuno of “The Duel” cosplayed as the star Ronin and spooked his cast out of the frame to claim his seat and thank the audience for watching “The Duel.”