Master Ronin
The star of Kamikaze Douga’s short “The Duel” arguably became the face of Lucasfilm and Disney’s bold Star Wars Visions initiative in the run up to release, a mysterious figure that represented what was possible when Japanese creatives got their hands on the freest reigns to guide the Star Wars galaxy we’ve seen in years. But it wasn’t just that the Ronin starred in a pretty great little short, he grew and flourished as one of the fascinating characters expanded upon in the Visions novel Ronin, by Emma Mieko Candon, which took the world briefly glimpsed in “The Duel” and offered a stunning, philosophical, and utterly fascinating lens on the worldview of what Star Wars is, and can be. In a year where Star Wars has had some ups and downs as we wait to see what’s to come, Visions, and its wandering Sith swordsman in particular, was a bright centre in the galaxy.
