WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: Visions Episode 1, “The Duel” streaming now on Disney+.
Star Wars: Visions just released, and it might be the coolest thing since The Clone Wars. If nothing else, it’s anime style makes it one of the most original Star Wars projects to ever be made. The idea behind the new series is to celebrate the galaxy far, far away from the point of view of different artists, and a different culture. Hailing from the Japanese animation company Kamikaze Douga, Episode 1, “The Duel” starts the series off with a bang by introducing a new Sith, who might be the coolest thing since Darth Maul.
The episode’s plot revolves around a group of bandits attacking a village. They are the last remnants of a war, and readily take whatever the place has to offer. The village’s formidable guards come out of hiding to defend the town, but the outlaws have a secret weapon. When they are nearly overcome, their leader exits their large tank to reveal her identity as a Sith.
Her introduction couldn’t have been grander. She appears holding a staff, but when one of the guards fires a repeating blaster at her, the staff suddenly transforms into a lightsaber umbrella of death. It rotates to defend her from blaster fire and allows her to glide through the air like the Inquisitors from Star Wars Rebels. Nearly the entire episode is done in a greyscale, so immediate attention is drawn to the red fire that erupts from the Sith’s staff, and almost immediately, the guards know they are done for.
Her lightsaber isn’t the only thing intimidating about this Sith, voiced by Lucy Liu. She is dressed in an all-black, hooded robe like many Sith, but she is also wearing a mask over the lower part of her face. Its skeleton-like print is kind of unnerving as she dolls out death to the village guard’s leader. Later in the episode, she removes her hooded cloak to reveal her crazy, white hair. With a Cruella-de-Vil-like appearance, her black attire, pale skin and white hair make her reminiscent of Asajj Ventress’ lithe and devilish character. It would also be remiss to not mention that she does everything in heels.
Unfortunately, much like Darth Maul before her, Lucy Liu's character meets a quick end. What appears to be some kind of wandering Sith hunter happens to be in the village and takes up arms against her. She ditches her Lightsaber umbrella attachment and uses a single katana-esque blade to fight her new lightsaber-wielding foe. The two of them have an impressive duel while floating down a river on a log and both show adequate skill in the Force, but it ends with some old fashioned Sith trickery.
The Sith hunter falls down the waterfall and hides behind in an ancient temple. The bandit leader thinks she knows where he is because of his ignited blade, but when she attacks, she learns how wrong she was. The hunter had planted a lightsaber on a statue, so when she attacked, he was hiding and lying in wait. He impaled her while her back was turned, ending the potential of a really cool character. While Darth Maul returned, that seems unlikely for this particular character, because she died at the feet of the Sith hunter, who would have confirmed her death before leaving.
Hailing from the Japanese animation company Kamikaze Douga, Star Wars: Visions Episode 1, “The Duel” is streaming now on Disney+.
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