The Duel: Payback

The third season of "Star Wars Visions" kicks off with a rare thing in the glut of anthology animation series around at the moment, a direct sequel.

The Ronin (Brian Tee) returns, this time hunting former Sith Lord Anee-san (Suzy Nakamura) to a gaming house made of two defunct AT-AT Walkers lashed together. Their battle though is interrupted by the arrival of "The Grand Master (Will Sharpe) who engages with and injures both. Rescued by Ewoks, the enemies must decide if they are able to work together long enough to defeat their powerful foe.

This looks wonderful. Pencil shaded art styling, even more rough and ready than the first "Duel" episode was and with a scratched celluloid effected added to heighten the feel of watching something old and well loved. There's some real invention to it, particularly when they end up fighting on the feet of the upside AT-AT moving towards and away from each other in time with that movement.

Strong opening episode.

The Duel: Payback is cool, but not as much as the episode it's a sequel to. The way the original felt more vintage. This had more colours and a lot more talking, which I wasn't too happy to see. On the other hand, it's still so cool. The villain is cool and the concept behind him is awesome. The score is also great. Overall I didn't love this one as much as the first, but it's still great.

I am no Disney era shill. I like what I like and I love what I love. I love this Ronin character. The animation, the color, the various effects and the character movement is just top tier. The score calls back to classic Star Wars while being its own specific sound. It's fascinating seeing a Sith/Former Sith/Sith Hunter actually be the main character of a story.

This is without a doubt one of the best episodes in visions and also Star Wars media in general. Perfect and beautiful animation, really intense and gives that perfect nostalgic wonder for Star Wars that's been missing lately. Whoever was in charge of the writing and directing clearly has an understanding of how to create stakes and tension within the limited time given. The shots are all used with purpose and elevate the story even further.

Ten out of Ten. Amazing episode.

Top tier art and character design, still confidently its own universe. The story is interesting in how it blurs the line between Sith and Jedi, but lacks depth and leaves us with more questions than answers (not sure if they're trying to set up a spin-off or something?). It also loses some of the "spaghetti western" atmosphere and more serious tone of the pilot episode. But we do get some cute Ewoks, inventive weaponry, and solid combat. A truly beautiful episode, even if different in tone and not as good as the first one (S1E01).