The Star Wars: Visions short The Duel from Japanese studio Kamikaze Douga has been nominated for an Emmy in the category “Outstanding Short Form Animated Program”.

Star Wars: Visions was a project featuring short films from a variety of Japanese studios. The anthology featured the talents of studios like Trigger (Kill la Kill, Space Patrol Luluco, Little Witch Academia) and Kamikaze Douga (Batman Ninja, Gal & Dino).

The Duel features a Japan-ified Star Wars universe and tells its story through black and white 3D animation. Overall the short is meant as an homage to film makers George Lucas and Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa is regularly credited as an influence on Lucas’s work, including the original trilogy.

The short follows the adventure of “The Ronin” a wandering swordsman who in the wake of the failed Sith Rebellion (an event from before any of the main movies), turns his back on his fellow Sith and wanders the galaxy to try and live in peace. It’s a common theme in these “Wandering Swordsmen” type of stories where characters with histories of bloodshed are enlightened to live a nomadic life of peace, calling on their fighting prowess only to protect others. We see it in series like Ruroni Kenshin or Trigun for example.

Disney has announced there will be a second volume of Star Wars: Visions sometime next year.