Star Wars: Visions (2021): “The Duel”

Star Wars: Visions is an anime anthology series created by Lucasfilm and originally released on September 22, 2021. As an anthology series, the episodes of Star Wars: Visions are all independent from each other, both in plot and production, however even with the narrative and stylistic variety in the series, one episode stands out from the rest visually: the first episode, “The Duel” directed by Takanobu Mizuno and produced by the animation studio Kamikaze Douga. As I argue in this blog post, the characteristics that make “The Duel” unique among the other episodes in the series stem from its particular use of animated form, including the rough shading and grayscale lighting and the use of computer animation inspired by older genres and historical themes that serve the episode’s place within the broader Star Wars universe.

The episode “The Duel” begins with the protagonist, known only as the Ronin, and his astromech (a droid) stopping at a shop on the outskirts of a village. While resting there, the Ronin sees a gang of bandits enter and begin to raid the village (Fig. 1). The village guards mount a counterattack against the bandits but are overwhelmed and defeated when the bandits’ leader, a Sith Lord, enters the skirmish. Upon seeing the Sith, the Ronin decides to intervene. The Sith and the Ronin engage in combat (the duel of the episode’s title), where it is revealed that the Ronin is a former Sith himself as their fight moves out into a nearby river. During the river fight, the Ronin remotely sends his astromech into the town, where it wipes out the remaining bandits in a surprise attack. Afterward, the Ronin sets a trap behind a waterfall to lure the Sith in and successfully defeats and kills his adversary. After returning to the village, the Ronin offers the crystal from the Sith’s lightsaber to the village leader as a charm to ward off evil, and the episode ends with both him and his astromech setting off once more on his journey.

Throughout this episode, the stylistic choices for both the environment and the characters’ designs support “The Duel’s” unique appearance. Having key parts of the episode’s design be based on historical sources is a major factor in how “The Duel” stands out against the other Star Wars: Visions episodes in the anthology. This historical influence is noted by Lucasfilm Executive Producer James Waugh in a short featurette for “The Duel” when he describes the episode as a fusion of feudal Japan and Star Wars (see “Filmmaker Focus – The Duel”). The Japanese influence is seen most prominently on the Ronin himself, whose appearance resembles that of a samurai, and in the traditional style of architecture that makes up the village. Aside from real-world history, the production of the episode also took inspiration from classic Japanese films, particularly those by the renowned director Akira Kurosawa. For example, in an examination of Kurosawa’s films, Swapnil Bose comments that Kurosawa uses his editing to enhance feelings of movement, “often cutting on movement to make the transition from one scene to the next appear seamless” (Bose 2020). Bose continues that Kurosawa also used longer shots that fluidly change angles over a single take. Both types of camera movements can be seen throughout “The Duel,” especially during fight sequences. The featurette for “The Duel” also gave other examples of Kurosawa’s influence throughout the short, notably mentioning the origin of their designs for the bandits and the goal of expanding the fighting sequence through multiple locations (see “Filmmaker Focus – The Duel” ). The black-and-white format of Kurosawa’s older films was also a direct inspiration for the art style that the episode ended up using in the realization of the fight sequence.

**Fig. 2 - East meets West in “The Duel.”**

Along with the Japanese influence, “The Duel” also contains several characteristics common to Western films, suggesting elements of generic hybridity that are themselves common to the Star War franchise, and in particular, the popular and critical designation of the film series as a space Western. As Robert Kolker explains in relation to science-fiction, “The genre was revived in George Lucas’s Star Wars in 1977, by fueling tales of outer space with generic elements of the war film, the western, even the Japanese Samurai movie” (2009, 233). As such, the confrontation and duel to the death between the Sith and the Ronin in “The Duel” can be seen as an example of the “Final Showdown” trope, another staple of Western films, further showing how the episode pulls influence from both classic Japanese and Western films as part of its generic make-up (Fig. 2). Additionally, the Ronin himself fits closely with the “Lone Wolf” character archetype since he is an outsider with a mysterious past, is highly secretive about himself, and often travels alone with the exception of his astromech droid companion.

The specific choice of greyscale for the lighting of “The Duel” was, as discussed above, based largely on the aesthetic of Kurosawa’s films, but this colouration also makes this episode stand out quite significantly when compared to the other episodes of Star Wars: Visions. None of the other episodes use any form of greyscale for their aesthetic style, nor is it commonly used in contemporary anime or even animation in general. The use of greyscale allows for the episode to further emphasize the limited colours shown, primarily the lightsabers and blaster bolts during the action shots. Another feature unique of “The Duel” compared to the other episodes in the series is the use of heavy crosshatching as its main method for shading and providing depth to the animated images. The greyscale and crosshatching combine together to give the episode a traditional hand-drawn look (see Haswell 2015), which quite surprisingly meshes well with the remainder of the episode that is animated in CG.

Choosing to use digital animation for “The Duel” and aiming to make sure it worked perfectly with the hand-drawn appearance was a goal of the producers when the episode was being made. The mixed media approach also works well with the types of camera shots and angles that were used throughout the episode (and the fight sequence in particular), allowing for some contrasting sequences that enhance the comparison of visual styles.

In conclusion, the Star Wars: Visions episode “The Duel” stands out against the anthology’s other episodes by means of several artistic forms and choices that are unique to that episode. From reflecting the influences of past films and history on the style and camerawork to the unusual colour scheme and style of the animation, Mizuno's animated Star Wars short showcases the influence of Japanese film history, anime, and tropes drawn from the Hollywood Western to provide a stylistically digressive entry in Lucas’ big-screen saga.

**Article published: October 27, 2023**

References

Bose, Swapnil Dhruv. 2020. “Exploring the Expert Cinematic Movement in the Films of Akira Kurosawa.” Far Out Magazine (September 17, 2020). Available at: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/akira-kurosawa-films-use-of-movement/.

“Filmmaker Focus – The Duel.” Star Wars: Visions, Lucasfilm, 2021. Disney+, https://www.disneyplus.com/video/f4c80376-4249-4e0f-82a2-c76a4c0c9482.

Haswell, Helen. 2015. “To Infinity and Back Again: Hand-drawn Aesthetic and Affection for the Past in Pixar’s Pioneering Animation.” Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media 8, no. 2. Available at: http://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue8/HTML/ArticleHaswell.html.

Kolker, Robert. 2009. Media Studies: An Introduction. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Biography

Cameron Walsh is a student at the University of Texas of Dallas pursuing a degree in Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communications with a concentration on Animation and Games. He plans to focus on the texturing and visual design elements of video game development, though he also enjoys experimenting with other aspects of the development process, like animation and level design. Earlier versions of this text were developed with the help of Dr. Christine Veras and peers from the Animation Studies course.