Sword of the Stranger (2007)

From director Masahiro Andō, a relative newcomer in terms Japanese animation directors, Sword of the Stranger is an action packed fantasy tale set in feudal Japan about a swordsman protecting a young boy. While this is by no means an original idea for a story (the swordsman and kid relationship is one that has been around as early as 1970 with the famous Lone Wolf and Cub stories), Masahiro Andō manages to make it feel distinct in terms of the crowd-pleasing action and style, showing promise as an animation director. The story follows a young boy named Kotaru (Yûki Chinen) who is on the run from a group of Chinese assassins of the Ming Dynasty. They need him in order to fulfill a prophecy that will supposedly grant them immortality. In cooperation with some Japanese rulers, they hunt the boy while constructing a massive temple for the ritual. The film commendably manages to balance the villains, showing there are corrupt Japanese rulers as well as the immortality seeking Chinese villains. While on the run, the boy encounters a wanderer with no name (voiced by Tomoya Nagase). The wanderer turns out to be an incredible swordsman with a dark past and after seeing him in action, the boy hires him as protection for his journey to a temple where he will be safe from the assassins.

There are a few things about this film that make it particularly interesting to watch. One is that the characters from China actually speak Chinese. The voice acting in this film is worthy of recognition and seeing two animated characters conversing in two different languages is interesting. The other aspect to appreciate in this film is the action. The action scenes are incredible. The characters move faster than any human can feasibly move and perform acrobatic feats that can’t be done in a live action film without the aid of CGI. It’s easy to accept in an animated film like this because it’s consistent with the backgrounds. There is one particular action scene that will stick with you and it is the finale. One of the enemy assassins is a westerner named Luo-Lang (voiced by Kôichi Yamadera, who seamlessly goes from Japanese to Mandarin), who cares nothing for the goals of his superiors and is only interested in finding a worthy opponent. This is a character type that anyone familiar with Japanese anime will immediately recognize, but it doesn’t change the fact that the final battle with the wanderer is simply spectacular. The film builds up to the inevitable duel between the two warriors and the payoff is incredibly satisfying. The two of them nearly destroy the entire structure they fight on and move in ways that resemble real fighting styles, but are too fast and intense to be compared to anything found in live action. It’s a relatively lengthy sequence (the longest fight scene in the film), but it’s captivating from start to finish. There is an interesting use of foreign characters in this film in general. The wanderer is shown to be from another country, even though he was raised Japanese and the central antagonist, though he is more comfortable speaking Chinese, is blond and likely European or maybe American. It is an interesting mix of characters that are more international considering the setting which is uniquely Japanese.

There are several subplots outside of the main story, which revolves around the wanderer and Kotaru, featuring Luo-Lang and his allies and as well as an ambitious Shogen named Itadori. While the film is by no means too long (It runs well under two hours), the Itadori subplot still feels unnecessary since it never really pays off in terms of actual plot relevance, and serves to mostly confuse the story by adding more unneeded conflict. The main story following the wanderer and Kotaru is well paced and the way their relationship develops feels genuine (albeit predictable), but it is really in the action sequences where the film shines. There is also a back-story that is revealed in pieces showing the bloody past of the wanderer and the reason that when he fights he chooses not to unsheathe his sword, but it could have used more and furthered the theme of redemption that is a big part of the character. The look into his past is very brief and only shows one instance of why he is the way he is. Despite the relative predictability of the story and the unoriginal concept, Sword of the Stranger is still an entertaining action film with high quality animation and amazing action scenes.