Character Designer Takashi Okazaki Wins Emmy for Star Wars: Visions’ ‘The Duel: Payback’ Anime Short – News

The Television Academy today announced on Wednesday the winners for juried categories in the 78th Annual Emmy Awards. Character designer Takashi Okazaki won an award for “Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation” for his work on “The Duel: Payback” anime short in the Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 anthology project.

The award will be presented at the Peacock Theater at L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles on September 6. An edited presentation will air on September 12 on FXX. Juried category entrants are screened by a panel of professionals in appropriate peer groups.

Ths year’s Primetime Emmy Awards previously nominated Shinya Ōhira and david production‘s “Black” short from Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 in the Outstanding Animated Program category.

The winners will be announced at the 2026 Emmy Awards on September 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

Takanobu Mizuno directed the “The Duel: Payback” short at Kamikaze Douga + ANIMA. The Star Wars franchise describes the story:

With the help of some unexpected allies, Ronin faces off against his greatest foe – a twisted Jedi known as the Grand Master who is bent on revenge.

The short is an sequel to “The Duel” short from the first anthology of Star Wars: Visions. Okazaki was also the character designer for the original short.

Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 debuted on Disney+ in October 2025. The latest anthology continued the storylines of three shorts from the first volume: “The Duel,” “Village Bride,” and “The Ninth Jedi.”

Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi, the limited anime series spinoff from the Star Wars: Visions project, premiered on August 5 on Disney+ and Hulu.

Source: Press release