Sword of the Stranger (2007)

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On the run and hunted by the Ming’s from China, a young boy named Kotaro and his dog Tobimaru meet a nameless samurai, Nanashi (which means “nameless” in Japanese). Nanashi is haunted by a dark past and has vowed to never draw his sword again. After the Ming’s attempt to capture Kotaro, Nanashi decides to accompany Kotaro to the next village. Upon arriving, Nanashi is attacked by a fierce Ming fighter named Rarou, a foreigner who desires only to find a worthy opponent. Thus begins a series of events that includes conflicts with feudal lords, conflicted monks, and an entire army in a pursuit to find an answer to the Ming’s true motivations.

 

 

Yeah, it’s a BIT convoluted. The film actually leaves the viewer just as in the dark as Nanashi is, and doesn’t begin to offer answers until the second half. Normally this would be bothersome, but the film handles it quite nicely. The intrigue is nicely played, and I definitely felt like clarity would eventually be on the horizon, and it was…but it was a bit underwhelming. I thought the Ming’s true motivations were a bit over-the-top, and did the film a bit of disservice. Fortunately though, everything else here is so damn good, it’s easy to forgive. The only other gripe I can conjure up is that Nanashi’s back-story is a bit too underutilized. He’s plagued by nightmares, and while we do eventually see what they’re all about, it would have been nice if it had been explored a bit more. The film teases that he’s linked to someone else that’s involved in this conflict, but nothing more ever comes of it…in fact, due to some things that happen that would be far too spoiler-ish to reveal, they never even realize they’re both involved. A missed opportunity to be sure.

Outside of those small complaints, everything else here can only be complimented. The animation is superb (from Studio BONES, creators of RahXephon, Wolf’s Rain and Full Metal Alchemist, among others), as are the character designs, which look very Manga-like. The characters themselves are, for the most part, well developed and fleshed out. Rarely do you feel any sort of emotion when it comes to animation, but this film does a nice job of evoking some through some rather realistic characters. I could actually see this film succeeding as a live-action film (with some re-tweaking of the reasons behind all the mayhem). The great voice-acting certainly helps the believability of it all.

I certainly can’t end this review without touching on what I kicked off this review talking about: action. The action scenes in this film will kick your ass! Due to this being an anime film, the budget is of course higher than that of anime series, and it shows in the the action segments. They’re animated with excellent fluidity, and they ooze adrenaline. Don’t let the fact that this an animated film fool you into believing this is tame stuff, either. The blood will flow and the limbs will fly! There’s a couple of scenes inparticular that are damn brutal. There’s a number of other weapons at play here besides swords as well, and they’re all used to gloriously violent effect. The action in this film is, simply put, phenomenal.

In closing, this film is among the most impressive action films, animated or not, I’ve seen in a while. A lot of times when it comes to action films, you either have too much story and not enough action, or too much action and not enough story. Sword of the Stranger has a perfect balance, and it’s an intriguing story to boot. If you dig violence, watch this. If you dig anime, watch this. If you dig samurai flicks, watch this. If you want 100 minutes of pure entertainment, watch this. So stop reading and go watch this!