Star Wars Visions: The Duel (2021) Review

 

Star Wars Visions: The Duel (2021)

The Duel follows a mysterious wanderer who steps up to defend a village besieged by ragged bandits. In taking them on, he reveals a stunning truth about the nature of his past. 

There’s several anthology series’ hitting Disney+ lately but the only one (and one of the few ever) that I’ll actually break down episode by episode is Visions, mixing anime with Star Wars in a partnership that is well past due. And the first episode does not disappoint and looks poised to be my favorite of the first season. It’s beautiful construction of Kurosawa-like visuals and story elements are obviously befitting of a Star Wars setting, considering his style was one of Lucas’ biggest inspirations. The way the color of blasters or lightsabers cut through the colorless landscape is stunning and I found myself in love with Kamikaze Douga’s mixture of CG with traditional 2D cel animation (something we don’t get too often anymore). 

In terms of storytelling, this particular works great as a short form story as it packs just enough action, questions, and visual elements to deliver as it’s own sort of short film. The revelation that the Ronin is not a Jedi, more Sith adjacent but still against the standard definition of the Sith/Empire makes for a unique premise for a battle that frankly is some of the most outlandishly cool lightsaber choreography we’ve seen since the Revenge of the Sith. 

The Duel, created by Kamikaze Douga and directed by Takanobu Mizuno, is the first in a series of calculated risks that not only succeeds beautifully but feels so long overdue (as a fan of the Tarkovsky Clone Wars), giving us a mysteriously, rich story and a character in the Ronin to hopefully see more of down the line.

10/10