Animated by Kamikaze Douga.
A village finds itself under the cruel reign of former soldiers forced to resort to banditry. Their only hope lies with a mysterious wanderer who is far more than he seems...
Tropes:
- All There in the Manual: The extended synopsis for the episode, as well as the synopsis of its tie-in novel, establish that it takes place in the very distant (alternate) past of the Star Wars universe, before the establishment of the Galactic Republic, with the Jedi instead serving a benevolent feudal Empire. Interestingly, this brings it closer to the original The Star Wars.
- Anachronism Stew: An in-universe example. Despite taking place before even the founding of the Republic, the weapons and technology seen in the episode are all from the Original Trilogy and Sequel Trilogy — the bandits in particular are clearly wearing battered and broken First Order Stormtrooper armor.
- Anti-Hero: The Ronin is no Jedi. He is even indifferent to the bandit attack until his droid is damaged, and their leader is revealed to be a Sith.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: Invoked when the Ronin uses the Force to repel the Bandit Leader's lightsaber: he never physically touches the blade, but suspends it between his hands.
- Battle Trophy: The Ronin has a string of around a dozen red Kyber crystals inside his robes, taken from the lightsabers of the Sith he's slain.
- Bilingual Bonus: The title screen (seen on the top of the page) is written in Aurebesh, the alphabet used in Star Wars.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: The village's leader is the young son of the last leader, who had been killed by the bandits earlier.
- Combat Pragmatist: The villagers are no strangers to guerrilla combat. The Ronin, likewise, is not above using trickery to get the upper hand.
- Deliberate Monochrome: Invoked to pay homage to the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa, with the only color coming from blaster bolts, lightsabers, and some light sources.
- Foreshadowing: There's one small clue of Ronin's true nature. If he was a light-side user, wouldn't the Bandit Leader have sensed it by now? If anything, this tells us that Ronin is something else entirely.
- Homage: The entire short is a callback to the 1950s samurai films of Akira Kurosawa, especially Yojimbo with bits of The Seven Samurai as well. These are what inspired George Lucas in the first place.
- In the Back: How the Ronin eventually kills the Bandit Leader, after she follows him into a cave and mistakes a statue holding a red light saber for him.
- Inevitable Waterfall: At one point during their duel, the Ronin and the Bandit Leader end up on a log floating in the river, so naturally this trope shows up. Fortunately for both of them, it's a rather shallow waterfall so they easily survive. It also has a Cave Behind the Falls which the Ronin uses to get the upper hand over the bandit leader.
- Macross Missile Massacre: At the climax of the duel, the Ronin's astromech droid pops out a small missile launcher and fires a swarm of homing missiles that take out many of the bandits, and distract their leader just enough for the Ronin to gain the advantage.
- The Magnificent Seven Samurai: The village's guards appear to be a case at first, then they get slaughtered by the Bandit Leader.
- Nameless Narrative: None of the characters in the episode are actually named.
- Parasol of Pain: The Bandit Leader has a modification for her lightsaber in the form of a shaft that focuses the blade through multiple vents, which then rotate at high speeds, functioning as both an anti-blaster shield and a deadly buzzsaw.
- Sole Survivor: Of the guards of the village, only the Gran survives the battle.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The official trailer for Visions shows the Ronin drawing his red lightsaber within the first twenty seconds, spoiling his association with the Sith. Official synopses also explicitly state him to be an ex-Sith.
- Wham Shot: The moment when the Ronin, whom both the villagers and the bandits assume to be a Jedi, pulls out a RED lightsaber.
- Would Hit a Girl: The Ronin has no qualms about fighting and killing a female opponent. Of course, said opponent is a powerful, ruthless Sith.
