Did you spot an homage to an old Akira Kurosawa classic in Ahsoka episode 4? Image source: Disney/Lucasfilm
For Star Wars, George Lucas was largely inspired by old samurai films – that’s no secret. Above all the works of the cult director Akira Kurosawa influence Star Wars. And they will do that in 2023 just as they did in 1977 when Episode 4 – A New Hope opened in cinemas.
In the fourth episode of Ahsoka you can see a very special allusion to Akira Kurosawa’s Sanjuro from 1962. Yes, it’s actually not about the latest chapter in the Star Wars series, so you don’t have to worry too much about spoilers… unless you don’t want to anticipate the finale of Sanjuro.
This is what the homage looks like…
What exactly is it about now? In episode 4 of her personal Star Wars adventure, there is another duel between Ahsoka Tano and the (former) Inquisitor Marrok. Marrok emerges from the fight as the obvious loser, being killed by Ahsoka with a torso hit.
And it turns out that Marrok was apparently kept alive by the magic of the night nurse Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto). Black smoke and glowing sparks are pouring out of Marroks’ wound, which clearly indicate this – you can read more about this in our separate article on the subject.
You can watch the scene on YouTube as follows:
Link to YouTube content
…and so the original
Anyone who knows Akira Kurosawa may have identified how Ahsoka bows to the samurai classic Sanjuro. Like George Lucas, showrunner Dave Filoni is obviously inspired by the now 62-year-old film.
By the way, the final duel in Sanjuro is very similar. At this point we want to warn you about a huge fountain of blood, which actually shaped the entire film genre. Almost all samurai films (such as Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill) were based on an actually unsuccessful effect.
But it’s best to just take a look at it yourself:
Link to YouTube content
Already made reference to the Kurosawa homage several Star Wars fans on Reddit attentive. Director Peter Ramsey (who also worked on The Mandalorian) says in an interview IGN also openly admits that he definitely incorporated inspiration from the cult director into his episode. With the direct comparison to Sanjuro, this is of course hard to miss.
You can read more about Ahsoka and what else is currently happening in the Star Wars universe at the following links:
Did you notice the reference to Akira Kurosawa’s samurai classic in the fourth Ahsoka episode? How satisfied are you with the episodes of the Star Wars series that have been released so far? What hopes and expectations do you have for the further course of the story and also the big cinema finale that Dave Filoni is working towards? Let us know in the comments!
