Sword of the Stranger (2007)

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.

Director:

Masahiro Andô

Writer:

Fumihiko Takayama

Stars:

Tomoya Nagase, Yuri Chinen, Kôichi Yamadera

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tomoya Nagase	...	Nanashi (No Name) (voice)
Yuri Chinen	...	Kotaro (voice)
Kôichi Yamadera	...	Rarou (voice)
Akio Ôtsuka	...	Shogen Itadori (voice)
Unshô Ishizuka	...	Lord Akaike (voice)
Mamoru Miyano	...	Jyuurouta Inui (voice)
Maaya Sakamoto	...	Hagihime (voice)
Jun Hasumi	...	Zekkai (voice)
Tomoyuki Shimura	...	Isogai (voice)
Takurô Kitagawa	...	Fuchinobe (voice)
Atsushi Ii	...	Byakuran (Bai-Luan) (voice)
Hirofumi Nojima	...	Feng-Wu (voice)
Masaki Aizawa	...	Yue-Shen (voice)
Fumie Mizusawa	...	Mu-Mao (voice)
Junko Minagawa	...	Mu-You (voice)

Storyline

A young boy and his dog find themselves the target of the Ming: a foreign dynasty that will stop at nothing. One day, a quiet and solemn warrior crosses their path, and becomes irrevocably connected with the two. A deal is struck and the warrior agrees to take the boy to a remote, Buddhist temple, where a kind monk is waiting to care for him and the dog. Unfortunately, the Ming have sent their elite, and they will test their strength, courage, and quality every step of the way.

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Plot Keywords:

little boy | straw hat | rope | sword | ambush | 

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Taglines:

Some men kill in order to live. Some don't need a reason...

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese Mandarin

Release Date:

5 February 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sword of the Stranger

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bones

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Submitted for consideration as a potential nominee for Best Animated Feature to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It failed to be selected.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Nanashi: You've become pretty good. It feels... like I'm walking on top of the clouds.
Kotaro: Don't flatter me. Are your wounds all right?
Nanashi: Yeah... even a treasure like this comes in handy sometimes.
Kotaro: Right?
Nanashi: Really... you're some employer. Can you see the town?
Kotaro: I can't see it yet. But, I'm sure it's close! Hey...
Nanashi: Huh?
Kotaro: Once your wounds heal, do you want to leave this country? If we go abroad, people there wouldn't mind your hair color, right?
Nanashi: A foreign land, huh. That's not a bad idea. But how would ...
[...]

User Reviews

Anime Chambara Movie

For those of you familiar with Chambara (samurai) movies, Sword of the Stranger, is the anime equivalent. Story line is typical Samurai storyline, wandering samurai helps out a kid and gets caught up in a plot by foreigners and "bad" samurai. without giving the plot line away I will say that if you are familiar with chambara movies and enjoy the stories/genre you will enjoy this movie. Technically wise, this movie is very well animated. Traditional hand drawn cel work mixed with some CG. It is beautiful to look at and the fighting scenes are amongst the best I have seen in anime or in real life action. A beautifully crafted movie that needs to be seen just on the technical aspects alone.