The animated short film "The Duel," an episode within the web television series Star Wars: Visions, made its debut on Disney+ on September 22, 2021. Kamikaze Douga, a Japanese animation studio based in Japan, produced the episode. Takashi Okazaki wrote the screenplay, while Takanobu Mizuno served as the director. The story centers around the Jedi and Sith, but unfolds in a reimagined galaxy, presenting an alternate historical narrative influenced by Japanese folklore, effectively merging Star Wars elements with a feudal Japanese setting.
The universe and narrative of "The Duel," alongside The Ronin, have seen expansion across various media formats. Ronin: A Visions Novel (『浪人』in Japanese), penned by Emma Mieko Candon, was released by Del Rey on October 12, 2021. Additionally, Marvel Comics published two one-shot prequel comic books, both written and illustrated by Takashi Okazaki: Visions 1 on October 12, 2022, and Visions – Takashi Okazaki 1 on March 20, 2024.
The episode commences on Genbara, a planet covered in forests. The Ronin, accompanied by his astromech droid, B5-56, surveys a valley filled with trees. Subsequently, Ronin and B5 visit a tea house situated in a village. After enjoying a cup of tea, he compensates the Sullustan shopkeeper, who comments on the solitude of traveling alone, prompting B5 to voice disagreement. He tells B5 that he is lucky to have such a generous master.
A Troop Transport Tank, heavily armored, enters the village. Bandits, armed and numerous, emerge from the tank, discharging blasters and compelling the villagers to seek refuge. The Sullustan shopkeeper elucidates that these are bandits who have established a camp at the abandoned outpost on the other side of the mountain. He says that they are last remnants of the Sith rebellion and they take what they want. The bandits, some wearing stormtrooper helmets, gather the villagers in the town square. The Sullustan shopkeeper advises the Ronin and his droid to take shelter.
One of the bandits demands that the villagers hand over their possessions as taxes. His lieutenant states that this is a direct order and demands to know who is the chief. A child identifies himself as the village chief and tells the bandits they have taken enough. The bandit leader asks if he really is the chief or if his father has run away. Another bandit mocks the boy's father as a coward. The boy's father is laying asleep nearby.
The bandits' leader asks the boy how he is going to stop them, telling him that he knows he can. Meanwhile, the Sullustan shopkeeper tries to tell B5 to stay inside. Suddenly, several of the bandits are shot by an unknown sniper. The boy chief tells his people to run for cover while the guards handle them. As the bandits take up position, an RA-7 protocol droid guns down several bandits. He is aided by other sentries who attack the bandits from the roofs and towers of the village.
The Dug guard, riding a modified probe droid, also joins the fray, cutting down several bandits. Ronin observes the conflict from a distance. A veiled female figure appears from atop the Troop Transport Tank. The village guards including a Trandoshan and the RA-7 protocol droid demand that she surrenders. The female figure replies that she won't be sparing their lives before unleashing her red lightsaber spinning weapon, prompting the RA-7 droid to recognize that she is a Sith.
Kouru, the Sith Bandit Leader, engages in a firefight with the guards. B5-56 sustains damage from flying debris. The Sullustan shopkeeper inquires about the Ronin's intentions. The Ronin asks the shopkeeper if he can repair him, telling him that the droid needs to be fully operational by the time this pot boils. The shopkeeper obliges. Meanwhile, the Trandoshan urges his fellow guards on as Kouru descends on them with her lightsabers.
The Trandoshan commander warns his fellow guards not to engage in close combat but the Sith bandit leader uses the Force to drag him close to her. More bandits emerge from the tank and open fire. The Sith bandit leader mocks the Trandoshan commander for defying her. In his last moments, the Trandoshan commander urges his fellow guards to flee before he is impaled with multiple lightsabers. The RA-7 droid opens fire on Kouru but she takes him down as well.
Amidst the blaster fire, the Ronin advances to confront the Sith, who realizes he is not a villager. Upon her inquiry about his identity, the Ronin responds that he is simply a wanderer. While the Sullustan repairs B5, Kouru removes one of her lightsabers from her weapon and charges at the Ronin. However, the Ronin uses the Force to hold back her blade, prompting her to deduce that he is a Jedi. She remarks that it has been a long time since she has killed a Jedi.
She charges at the Ronin a second time but he draws a red lightsaber. Ronin also hurls a droid chassis at her but she deflects it with her blade. The bandit leader denounces the Ronin as a coward. Ronin replies that he is unfortunately not a Jedi. The bandit leader removes her veil, revealing her curly afro hair. As the two engage in a lightsaber duel, one of the bandits shoots down a guard tower. The Tusken Raider guard manages to escape and fights a bandit with his Gaderffii stick. However, he is violently gunned down.
The modified probe droid guard is also gunned down and crashes into a house. While the shopkeeper repairs B5, the pot boils. Kouru drives the Ronin towards a river. She cuts the log he is standing on in half. The two fight on top of a log in the river. During the fight, the Ronin cuts off her mask. Their log approaches a waterfall back at the village, the Dug guard is defeated while the Gran guard surrenders while the boy chief struggles against his captors.
One of the bandit chief's lieutenants inform her that they have captured the chief and that his guards have surrendered. The Sith bandit leader orders the Ronin to deactivate his lightsaber, which he obliges. Meanwhile, the pot begins boiling and its whistling can be heard throughout the village and the river. The Sith bandit leader demands that the Ronin throw down his weapon, asking if the lives of the women and children of the village matter to him.
Ronin activates a remote and his astromech droid rolls down the hill towards the village. He attacks the bandits, taking out several of them with rockets. The Gran guard joins the fight and shoots one of his captors. B5 also takes out the bandit chief's lieutenant. Kouru slashes a rocket aimed at her. Enraged, She attacks the Ronin, knocking him off the edge of the waterfall and splashing into the river below. The Ronin recovers, entering a temple that was inside the waterfall.
Kouru descends to the bottom of the waterfall and sees the Ronin's lightsaber ignite inside the waterfall. She uses the log to make an opening in the waterfall and dashes in for the kill. What she cut in half wasn't the Ronin but a statue holding the Ronin's saber. As she realized her mistake, the Ronin impales her from behind with a blade in his scabbard, defeating her. The Ronin made a brief, quite prayer to the statue and Kouru
Subsequently, the Ronin makes his way back to the village, where he is met by B5 and the shopkeeper. The Ronin has earned the villagers' respect. He presents the Sullustan shopkeeper with the weapon of the defeated bandit leader as a memento. The child village chief expresses his gratitude to the Ronin for saving his people. The Ronin dismisses the praise. When the boy assumes that he is one of the Jedi Knights of legend due to his humility and asks his name, the Ronin reveals his Sith lightsaber. The villagers are shocked.
The Ronin destroys the Sith bandit leader's lightsaber and goes to place its kyber crystal into his robe, revealing he has several Sith kyber crystals, presumably from other Sith he has defeated. However, he decides to give the village chief the crystal instead and tells the boy to keep it, explaining that it will ward off evil. The Ronin and B5 continue their travels.
In interviews for Disney+'s Filmmaker Focus, Takanobu Mizuno, the director, mentioned that the short film aimed to highlight the influence of Akira Kurosawa's films on Star Wars. Takashi Okazaki, the character designer, specifically cited Yojimbo and Seven Samurai. Okazaki also drew personal inspiration from Lone Wolf and Cub.
Jumpei Mizusaki, the founder of Kamikaze Douga, also found inspiration in the prequel trilogy and paid homage to it. The lightsaber duel between the Ronin and Kouru on a floating log mirrors the duel on Mustafar between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. The scene in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace where laser barriers interrupt the duel between Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn, leading the impatient Maul to strike a barrier with his lightsaber, is reflected in the moment where Kouru tests the waterfall with her lightsaber.
While produced using three-dimensional computer animation, Mizuno sought to achieve a hand-drawn aesthetic. Mizusaki described the short film's cinematography as employing the high-contrast black and white style characteristic of Kurosawa's monochrome period. Color was strategically used to accentuate the red glow of Sith lightsabers and kyber crystals. Additional colored items include B5-56's rocket boosters, the missiles he launched, the Ronin's communications wristband, and B5's optical sensors.