Mamura's

Mamura's was a large storehouse located in the central square of a village on the Outer Rim planet Genbara. It served as a meeting place for villagers and was marked by Aurebesh signage, lanterns, and banners, with its entrance built from an old starship door.

During a raid led by the Sith Bandit Troopers leader Kouru, Mamura's became the site of a firefight between her forces and bounty hunter guards. The battle culminated in a duel between Kouru and a former Sith known as "the Ronin," after which the raiders were defeated. Despite the clash, the storehouse remained intact.

Description

The grand storehouse^[1] Mamura's^[2] was situated on a central^[1] courtyard^[3] in a village on Genbara, a planet in the Outer Rim Territories.^[1] The building was multi-storied and featured large grated windows, as well as two layers of roof tiles. The exterior of the building was decorated with several blue and green-colored lights, as well as vertical banners written in Aurebesh, including one with the name of the establishment.^[2]

Its main entrance was an old starship door, which served as protection.^[1] Its façade also included two shutters and edging strips of flooring to both sides of the door, one of them featuring a low hedge.^[2] A large structure rested on top of the upper roof and was emblazoned with a stylized version of the Aurebesh letter Mern. The Aurebesh letter Osk was printed on two lanterns and a sign hanging on the building.^[2]

History

Twenty years after the Sith rebellion, the former Sith known as "the Ronin" and his companion astromech droid R5-D56 visited Tono's Teahouse, an establishment just outside the village. From the teashop, he saw villagers meeting in the central square before the storehouse to discuss business matters. A few moments later, the self-styled Dark Lord of the Sith Kouru led a group of Bandit Troopers aboard a Troop Transport Tank from a deserted village across the mountain into the town for a raid, stopping in front of the storehouse in the central square.^[1]

The bandits, seeking goods from the villagers as a form of tax,^[1] ordered the villagers to open up the storehouse,^[4] but were denied by the village chief, who insisted the bandits had already taken enough. Moments later, bounty hunter guards began an assault on the invaders, and a firefight ensued in front of the establishment.^[1] At some point in the skirmish, a Gran guard climbed on top of the roof of the storehouse and fired against the bandits, gunning down one of them. Kouru, emerging from the transport, aided her troopers in taking the village, but soon became embroiled in lightsaber combat with the Ronin, who soon took the fight away from the town square.^[2]

Thanks to Kouru's intervention and a new wave of bandit trooper reinforcements, the town was captured and the villagers were rounded up in the main square in front of Mamura's. The Ronin then activated his wrist cuff, which prompted R5-D56 to launch a salvo of missiles that took down the raiders. Near a waterfall, the Ronin killed Kouru, thus eliminating the threat to the villagers. By the end of the confrontation, the storehouse appeared structurally intact.^[2]

Behind the scenes

Release and conception

Mamura's first appeared in "The Duel," a non-canon short film released as part of the first volume of the Star Wars: Visions series, produced by Kamikaze Douga and released on Disney+^[2] on September 22, 2021.^[5] Before the short's release, it was first pictured in the original^[6] and English dub trailers for the series uploaded to the official Star Wars YouTube channel on August 17 of the same year.^[7]

Production materials related to the film initially identified the location as a 見世物小屋^[8] (misemono koya), a type of traditional Japanese circus tent or freak show establishment.^[9] Mamura's also appeared in the non-canon novel Ronin: A Visions Novel, written by Emma Mieko Candon^[1] and published on October 12, 2021.^[10] In the novel, the building is instead described as a storehouse.^[1]

Easter eggs

In "The Duel," several nobori-style banners outside the establishment have Aurebesh writing that transliterate to nonsensical letter combinations. Banners with identifiable terms spell out the Japanese words "TANOSI"^[11] (楽しい, "fun"),^[12] "SIGOTO"^[11] (仕事, "work"),^[13] "SAIKOV" [sic]^[11] (similar to 最高, "the best," or "wonderful"),^[14] "ULESHII" (嬉しい, "happy"),^[15] "SIAWASE"^[11] (幸せ, "happiness"),^[16] "KYOTO"^[11] (a city in Japan),^[17] and "KAMKAZE" (similar to the name of Kamikaze Douga).^[11] The most prominent banner, reading "MAMURA'S STVDIO [sic] DESIGN ART",^[11] shares its first word with Susumu Mamura, a background designer for the short film.^[2] Additionally, the main signboard features artwork reminiscent of the Style A^[2] promotional poster designed by graphic designer Tom Jung for Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope,^[18] a film released in 1977.^[19]

In a poster art piece for the short designed by Kamikaze Studios and released on StarWars.com on October 7, 2021, the establishment was shown decorated with two lightsaber parasols, serving as a venue for a concert by Kouru, depicted as a pop idol. In the artwork, several of the characters from the short are seen lining up at the entrance, with the Ronin at a distance, holding a concert ticket. The Aurebesh in the main signboard read the words "DUEL" and "CONCERT," as well as "IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I ENDED A JE(illegible),"^[20] akin to Kouru's "It's been a long time since I killed a Jedi" line used in the English dub of the short film.^[2]

Appearances

• Ronin: A Visions Novel (and audiobook)
• Star Wars: Visions — "The Duel" (First appearance)

Sources

• Star Wars: Visions | English Dub Trailer | Disney+ on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link) (Posted on StarWars.com) (First pictured, simultaneous with Original Trailer)
• Star Wars: Visions | Original Trailer | Disney+ on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link) (Posted on StarWars.com) (First pictured, simultaneous with English Dub Trailer)
• Star Wars: Visions Filmmaker Focus — "Origins"
• Star Wars: Visions Filmmaker Focus — "The Duel"
• Star Wars: Visions Posters Celebrate the Art of Anime on StarWars.com (backup link) (Picture only)
• The Art of Star Wars: Visions (Picture only)

Notes and references

External links

• The Blend of Modern Technology and Traditional Art that Kamikaze Douga Challenged at "The Duel" on the 神風動画 Kamikaze Douga.co.,ltd. YouTube channel (February 2, 2022) (backup link)
• スター・ウォーズ：ビジョンズ『The Duel』メイキング［後篇］黒澤映画と『スター・ウォーズ』への尊敬と共に、全力で遊んだ (Japanese) on CGWORLD (April 12, 2022) (backup link archived on February 19, 2025)