Star Wars: Visions Volume 3

Episode 1

The Duel: Payback is the first of three sequels to episodes of Star Wars: Visions' first season. Building off of The Duel, we once again find ourselves following “Ronin” and his droid, B5-56, in a classic samurai film take on the Star Wars universe.

The original 13 minutes of The Duel left us with many questions about Ronin—the fact that he was a Sith rather than a Jedi didn't even become apparent till nearly the seven-minute mark when he first drew his blade. Yet, while merciless in his goal to hunt down the Sith on this world and take their Kyber crystals as trophies, he was also far more kind than you'd expect of a Sith—both caring about the lives of the villagers and even gifting them one of his trophies before departing.

Payback, with its additional 10 minutes of runtime, works to make things a bit more explicit. Ronin is a former Sith currently hunting Sith for their Kyber crystals—though whether the crystals have an actual purpose beyond being trophies is left unclear. And while a “former Sith” he may be, as this episode shows, the past has a way of catching up with you.

Rather than just another fight between Ronin and a female Sith, this episode adds in The Grand Master of The Crusaders—a Jedi more powerful than either Ronin or his target, Aneé-san. What we get from this is your cliché (though well-executed) enemies-forced-to-work-together-against-a-greater-foe plot as Ronin, Aneé-san, and the local criminal lowlifes fight the Jedi attack force.

From this setup, we get some solid sexual tension between Ronin and Aneé-san. It's clear that she holds nothing against him personally—and is even surprised to be on his list of targets. Their interactions, be they in the bath or in battle, always have a bit of a playful feel—and neither even makes a sign of betraying the other once the fight against the Jedi begins in earnest. And while the episode ends with the two picking up their fight from earlier in the episode, it doesn't feel serious—it's more them teasing each other than a real fight.

Yet, of all the characters in Payback, it is The Grand Master who is the most interesting. Critically wounded when fighting Ronin in his Sith days, the Grand Master is a kind of Jedi more often seen in the “Expanded Universe” tales (books, comics, games, etc.) than in the TV shows and films. While still couched in platitudes of justice and defeating evil, The Grand Master is a character seeking revenge, pure and simple. He cares nothing for his men or the lives of civilians. In his own arrogance and pain, he sees Ronin as evil and, therefore, by opposing Ronin, he must be good.

However, as Ronin points out in the climax of the episode, it is The Grand Master who is far more Sith-like at this point—especially when compared with Aneé-san, who is simply working as a bodyguard. This is made even more tragic by the fact that he is far more machine than man—with programming tampering with his emotions at various points in the episode—and unable to even recognize, even in his final moments, just how far he has truly fallen.

Of course, we can't talk about the Payback without mentioning its impressive visual style. Done in black and white except for things that use electricity (like light sabers), there is truly nothing else like it. This is in turn bolstered by the amazing character designs of Takashi Okazaki, who seamlessly blends a feudal Japanese atheistic with sci-fi technology to create something both new and familiar. Add on top of that some amazing action set pieces put together by the Kamikaze Douga team, and you have an anime worth watching for visuals alone.

All that said, there are a few negatives when it comes to Payback as well. On the visual side of things, there are more than a few times where the black-and-white color palette is a hindrance. Things are easily lost in the visual noise in scenes with lots of characters and detailed backgrounds—doubly so if there is a lot of movement.

While it may be a bit odd to talk about established lore in an episode where things are as much samurai film as Star Wars, it's important to remember that it is still Star Wars—that it is the lens through which we view this story. One well-established fact in Star Wars is that catastrophic body damage inversely affects one's connection to the force. This is why Anakin, despite being “The Chosen One” and having an insane amount of raw power, can't use Force Lighting as Darth Vader—his body is just too damaged to do so. Yet The Grand Master, someone similarly damaged, is shown to be far faster than Ronin and Aneé-san by using a Force technique (rather than any technology). It just doesn't quite mesh with what we know about the Force.

However, in the end, any complaints I have about the episode are mere nitpicks. The Duel: Payback is pure fun from top to bottom. It's got solid characters, a brilliant visual design, and jaw-droppingly intricate action scenes. All in all, it's a fantastic start to this season of the anthology series.

Rating:

Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 is currently streaming on Disney+.