The whole reason I got into anime was because it was so much cooler than any other cartoons were when I was 12. I first saw Vampire Hunter D back then (it was the first time I was watching anime and actually KNEW it, Robotech and Voltron aside), and I was completely blown away by the violence and darkness of it all. My love affair began, and a lot of the stuff from the late 80’s/early 90’s was pure ultra violence, and it definitely appealed to my teenage sensibilities. Demon City Shinjuku, Wicked City, The Guyver, Fist of the North Star, Akira…I loved all of them. Then along came a little ditty called Ninja Scroll in 1996, and pretty much smashed all other action-anime films into bits. It oozed cool, had a killer story, and amazing animation. Outside of Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust in 2000, there really hasn’t been a straight-up action anime film that came close to equaling the pure awesomeness of Ninja Scroll…until now. Sword of the Stranger, a film I didn’t even know existed until a couple weeks ago, captures the raw, unbridled mayhem of the aforementioned films, and infuses it with a maturity and class that brings the anime action film into modern times.

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