2007 ‘ストレンヂア -無皇刃譚-’ Directed by Masahiro Ando
Pursued by formidable Chinese assassins, young Kotaro and his dog run into No Name, a mysterious stranger who gets pulled into the chase. The unlikely companions form a bond over saving the dog from a poison attack, but chaos erupts when the assassins find Kotaro, and No Name must face his past before a horrible fate is met again.
Tomoya Nagase Yuri Chinen Koichi Yamadera Akio Otsuka Unsho Ishizuka Mamoru Miyano Maaya Sakamoto Jun Hazumi Tomoyuki Shimura Takurou Kitagawa Atsushi Ii Hirofumi Nojima Masaki Aizawa Fumie Mizusawa Junko Minagawa Kohei Fukuhara Katsuhisa Hôki Cho Ai Orikasa Keiko Tsukamoto Makoto Yasumura Yasuhiko Kawazu Yuki Masuda Noboru Yamaguchi Hiroshi Shirokuma Kenichi Mochizuki Shinya Fukumatsu Toshihiro Okubo Katsunori Kobayashi Show All…
Sutorenjia: Mukô hadan, Stranger: Mukou Hadan, Stranja: Mukou Hadan, Stranja: Mukoh Hadan, Stranger Mukōhadan
Epic heroes Epic history and literature Westerns martial arts, kung fu, choreography, cool or action-packed historical, epic, battle, historic or fought swords, adventure, battle, fantasy or fighting western, outlaw, cowboy, shootout or gunfight monster, creature, dinosaurs, scientist or beast Show All…
Magnificently rendered, and holding aces with a story that's actually interesting, this is easily one of the better modern-era anime's I've seen.
A wandering swordsman, haunted by a prior action done out of duty while serving, and a young boy being pursued by the Chinese military (and members with the Japanese government), meet at an abandoned temple. The child hires the skilled vagabond to escort him (and the boy's trusty dog) to safe surroundings. The following days prove anything but safe...
"I feel like having the pain is what makes you feel alive."
Set in the country's Sengoku Shogunate period, the film's storyline handles core themes of trust, dishonor, the teacher/pupil relationship, and redemption. The animation...from facial expressions to the…
"I have one goal... to live with pride" -Jyuurouta,
- Film Club Ranked: boxd.it/3M2sq
Good doggy.
This is a grim and intense anime that I enjoyed quite a bit. The action scenes and fight choreography are really impressive and the story is well-developed and nuanced. It's a real morality tale where people learn and progress and it's just set up incredibly well. The whole film is great but one element that really stands out is the score, especially in the third act... that shit is inspiring.
Yes.
Pretty conventional Reluctant Hero’s journey (he swore to never use his sword, I wonder if he’ll end up using his sword? He swears it’s about the money and not the kid, I wonder if the money will be important to him in the end?), a lot of characters whose personalities and goals aren’t really developed, and a main plot that handles immortality surprisingly casually, but the fights are well-designed, the two leads are pretty good, and the score helps this feel sweepingly epic and small-scale at the same time. Pretty good time despite the fireworks interrupting.
Never let it be said that adult-facing animated worlds can't be as exciting as the ones we grew up happily getting lost in.
The Sword of the Stranger is a quick-on-its feet ronin redemption tale awash in bloody mayhem and powered by genuine emotion. As magnetic as it can be in its violence and character-driven beats, it starts to feel a bit unwieldy toward the middle stretch with too many tertiary characters sparring over political machinations that feel inessential in the grand scheme of the story that most of us are invested in. That doesn't matter though, because this Sword's heart and aim are always true. The stakes of the simple but ever effective central story feel real and the…
Moving away from rewatches and on to Japanese animation for my next ten films.
Sword Of The Stranger was a film that looked as though it had all the hallmarks of a solid three star film after only about 10 minutes, and that is exactly the way that it panned out over the rest of its story. It really baffles me as to why this has garnered such universally excitable reactions. It really is absolutely nothing special.
Its story is absolutely nothing new at all. A mysterious samurai drifter with a cloudy past happens across a young boy and his dog who are being chased by soldiers of the Ming Dynasty for unknown reasons and decides to help him after…
This is amazing!
Very smooth and amazingly animated fight scenes. A reluctant hero story with great chemistry of the main cast.
This movie portrays many problems we have in our world that not many people know about.
First there is the Order Follower, acting based on the orders of a superior, not questioning if what he's doing is right or wrong out of the own conscience. Usually ends up saying "I was just following orders" when begging for mercy.
Then the immorality of violence. Violence is always morally wrong unless you have to protect yourself from the living being initiating the violence.
Then the longing for immortality of the elite. They rule and have power, what do they not have…
a reluctant hero on a journey!!!!!! and theres a DOG!!!!!! this rocked hell yeah
I'm not a fan of warrior films, but it wasn't too bad. I just wasn't into the swordfighting.
Vegan alert:
-The film shows a dog in pain that needs a doctor.
-IMDB keywords also mention that a horse was killed.
There was a lot I liked about this movie, the animation looked great with beautiful backgrounds and very a nice depiction of bloody violence during the sword fights. There was a great emotion depth to the characters that’s was nicely immersed through a fantastic score. I wish I had of enjoyed the main story more I overall thought it was fine just a little dense for my taste I had trouble investing in it at times but I still found the story to be an interesting tale as well.
Autumnal leaves cascading the jagged edges of the mountainsides.
Blankets of winter snow lining the pathways of the forest.
A lone samurai with a past that’s inflicted by a moral quandary.
A friendship with a cocky kid and his loyal shiba-inu.
Redemption, friendship, camaraderie and a reminder of how incredibly satisfying and beautiful this medium can truly be. See, the plot itself is a little lacklustre. It’s probably the only thing which holds the film back, but in the same breath I’m happy about that. Very rarely does this happen but a lack of a compelling plot-line instead elevated everything else that I was enamoured by during my viewing. The characters were all perfect.
Whether it’s from the visual style to…
Actionx52 (10/52)
Produced in Japan
Watched for Film Club
I haven't seen this movie in the last few years and I look forward to watching it when it was announced for Film Club. Oddly enough, I just bought the Blu-Ray from Right Stuf's holiday sale which makes the timing for this review to be perfect. I remember when this movie came out in 2007, but I didn't see it until many years later at my local Anime & Manga club in 2015. Sword of the Stranger is still a great movie and it still holds up. However, I still prefer Ninja Scroll (1993) when it comes to animated movies set in the Jidaigeki era (That's just me).
This movie does share…
Watched for Film Club (my pick!).
Debut Director Ando wanted to make a film that would showcase "everything that made hand-drawn animation great", while also paying homage to the "genre movie". He chose a historical backdrop in order to aid him in conveying a sense of peril - something he felt was difficult to communicate with animation; whereas during the period in which the film is set, death was in the everyday, and he felt this would make it easier for him to sell "life and death" scenarios to the audience. He partnered with writer Fumihiko Takayama (who would also be debuting as sole screenwriter for a feature-length film), apparently hired for his ability to bring heart without crossing too…
