Japanese version of The Force Awakens trailer shows off new images, new hope

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Japanese trailer.

We figured we’d seen the final major preview for The Force Awakens last month, with the reveal of the movie’s full trailer during Monday Night Football. However, Walt Disney Studios Japan has posted the Japanese-market trailer for the film (hat tip to BGR for the news), and it contains several new nuggets of information for hungry fans to chew on.

We see what could be the initial meeting between Daisy Ridley’s Rey and BB-8, the spherical droid who’s already available in toy form. We also get to hear Rey and John Boyega’s Finn character introduce themselves—the first time either character’s name has been heard on-screen.

The most powerful part of the October US trailer was Han Solo’s arresting speech where he confirms to Rey and Finn that the "stories" are true and that all of the otherworldly things they might have heard in tales—the Force, the Dark Side, the Jedi—are all real. The image of the older cynical Han Solo (who when much younger had famously dismissed the Force out of hand as being a "hokey religion") turned true believer hit this old Star Wars fan pretty hard—it was like being told that it’s okay to believe in magic, because it’s real—it’s all real. That moment is also present in the Japanese trailer, but pared down, and without the glorious shot of the Millennium Falcon hammering into light-speed behind it.

Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments