Sutorenjia: Mukô hadan (2007)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Masahiro Andô

Writer:

Fumihiko Takayama (writer)

Release Date:

5 February 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action

Plot:

A swordsman from a strange land is caught in a struggle between morality, righteousness, and devotion as he reluctantly agrees to take a raggedy boy and his dog to a remote, Buddhist temple.

Cast

Yûki Chinen
Tomoya Nagase
Akio Ôtsuka
Naoto Takenaka
Kôichi Yamadera

Also Known As:

Sword of the Stranger (International: English title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Japan:PG-12 | South Korea:15

Company:

Bones

Stunning

I just got back from seeing this film locally thanks to Fathom Events. I don't normally take the time to write reviews for movies, but I felt the need to here. I don't watch a lot of Anime, so what I do watch has to be *good*. This surpassed my expectations 10fold. A truly epic take of a certain amount of eastern mysticism intermixed with a tale of redemption. I haven't walked out of a movie feeling this good about my time spent (which *flew* by) in a long long time. I certainly hope Bandai can get this out on DVD soon, as it is a must own for my collection. And hopefully whatever DVD release that comes out will have the commentary that we got to see at the end of the Fathom Events presentation as well.