Having watched a second time I think the show would have benefited from a little opening blurb like Solo had. There’s almost no context going into this if you don’t already know when it is set from reading up about it. Just something to set the stage a bit. I feel like Rogue One suffered for that same absence.
I see your point, but personally, I feel the opposite way. We didn't really need any context sooner than it was revealed in the script.
The opening scene, for example, works completely context-free. You could have "re-skinned" that entire scene as the opening of a spaghetti Western, re-shot it exactly the same way with zero context, and walked away with the same narrative.
Desolate outskirts. Lone drifter who says nothing. Saloon. Dangerous thugs causing trouble for innocent patron. Thugs provoke drifter. Saloon proprietor doesn't want any trouble, but thugs won't listen. Thugs push drifter too far, and he takes them out with ruthless efficiency. Patron shows gratitude, only to quickly discover that drifter is bounty hunter sent to collect patron, and we (the audience) realize that the patron isn't as innocent, and the drifter isn't as heroic or altruistic, as either of them may have originally seemed.
You don't need to know anything about the Empire, Mandalore, Mandalorians, Quarren, Mythrols, the Bounty Hunter Guild or Beskar.
