Fans have produced quite a few anime-style content for Star Wars over the years, and now there’s one more for The Mandalorian just days before season 2 debuts on October 30. Not only that, but it pays homage to one of the greatest anime ever made. What am I talking about, you may ask? Well, see for yourself:

If only this was real.

The Mandalorian is one of the greatest space westerns ever made, Star Wars or not. It’s only fitting that YouTube creator Malec would pay respects to another great space western in this fan-made anime opening for The Mandalorian.

We also have Ankama to thank for the support, KronoMuzik to thank for jazzy music, Martial for the compositing, Antoine Bertrand for the backgrounds, Kenny dozo for the in-betweens, and The man in the shadows and Macha for the script. Without the entire team there, this anime opening wouldn’t be possible.

Anime Baby Yoda sparkling in fan-made The Mandalorian opening.
My reaction to this video exactly.

See You, Space Mandalorian…

Cowboy Bebop poster.
Now if only someone would write a crossover fanfic for these two series.

There might be those of you who haven’t seen a single anime series in your entire lives, but you might still find that fan-made opening familiar. That’s because the opening is totally paying homage to Cowboy Bebop’s own opening. See for yourself and note the similarities.

Somehow still one of the greatest anime openings despite the simplistic style.

Everything from the jazz-style music to the way it transitions between scenes screams the opening of Cowboy Bebop. Aside from the obvious Cowboy Bebop references though, there seems to be references to other anime series as well, and anime in general really.

For example, Cara Dune’s art style is highly reminiscent of the old anime from the 1980’s and 1990’s like Astro Boy. IG-11’s outfit and clumsiness is a reference to the clumsy girl (dojikko) tropes that’s become stereotypical in anime. Even Moff Gideon’s darksaber has been subtly altered to look like a katana. All these references are really just a big love song to anime in general. It’s really nice to see something like this come from people who obviously love anime.

Conclusion

Fans have made a wonderful anime opening for The Mandalorian. The references to Cowboy Bebop are obvious, but if you look closer, it’s also one big love song to anime. It’ll be great to see what the Star Wars fandom comes up with next in the anime department. Not only that, but we also hope that this helps to convince Disney to make a Star Wars anime series one of these days to accompany the existing manga series. It seems unlikely to happen, but well, hope springs eternal.

Source: YouTube