Sword Of The Stranger
Sword Of The Stranger
Original title: Stranja - Mukoh Hadan
Type: Movie
Studio: BONES
Year: 2007
I watched some scenes of this movie by accident in an AMV. I got really curious as to what series it was that had such awesome animation and I didn’t know about lol
Well, turns out it was a movie, this one. So there’s a boy, a dog and an old man running from some burning temple, you can notice the production quality right in the first scene. The man tells the boy that he should be safe now and that he has to go back and check on the others. The movie then shifts to a group of swordsman crossing some mountains. Doesn’t take long until the action begins. They are attacked by some thieves. This scene is awesome, the music is really fast paced and fits well, the constant cuts to show some credits are really well made. The boss off the swordsman kills every thieve alone. I must say I hadn’t seen such well animated and interesting fight in a while, no matter how insignificant this fight is in the movie. And what’s better, the battles through out the movie only improve in quality.
So, the boy’s village has been destroyed for some purpose and assassins are now searching for the surviving boy.
Later, the boy, Kotarou, meets the other main character. Their relationship has a really subtle humor to it. Both Kotarou, the dog and the strange swordsman are very likable characters.
Again, doesn’t take long until one of the swordsman finds Kotarou and the strange swordsman is caught in between. At first, he’s just helping the kid against the royal guards because of their attitude, he doesn’t actually injure anyone of them. The killer then starts attacking no mattering who got in his way. The strange swordsman realizes the level of skill of the assassin and how big of a deal this kid must be. He tries to leave but, it seems he can’t. Another awesome action scene.
The strange swordsman accepts to protect and help Kotarou in exchange for a valuable item. I’m not going to further discuss the plot as to keep this review as much spoiler free as I can. Anyway, the plot development is pretty simple. That’s not the strong point of the movie. It’s just that as simple as it is, it’s really well done and the main characters all share some kind of chemistry, and it’s easy for the viewer to get attached to them and actually care for the battle’s results. The other characters, even if they have a really short screen time and are just not important to the main story, they are all still very believable with lots of hints to their purposes, personalities and past. Had this been a series or longer movie, the character development would have had the potential to be really good.
Production wise, as I’ve said, the animation is really good. All the fights are really fast paced, fluid, creative and full of details. The background art is really pretty too, no matter what kind of setting.
I also liked that the movie doesn’t use much CG and the little they use, is very well concealed.
To sum it up, I loved this movie. Although the plot is pretty simple and straight forward once it’s revealed, the characters, dialogs and some of best action scenes I’ve seen make it an awesome movie. It’s not the kind of movie that could win an Oscar (pretend they give Oscars to anime) but, it’s pure entertainment and got me from start to finish. Recommended to anyone who likes action movies.
Uninteresting details:
-
my favorite pet in a movie since "I Am Legend";
-
most non-annoying and cool kid I’ve seen in movie, that I’m remembering now;
- where’s the love story?
- wow-type action scenes :p
- Story: 3/5
-
Characters: 5/5
-
Animation: 5/5
- Sound: 5/5
- Personal Enjoyment: 5/5
it is currently in the grab bag for an Oscar nomination.
Comment by shadowblast101 — January 14, 2009 @ 5:04 am
it is currently in the grab bag for an Oscar nomination.
Comment by shadowblast101 — January 14, 2009 @ 5:04 am
Why does there need to be a love story? The movie is more interesting with friendship instead of a perverted lolicon moe plot.
Comment by Jura — March 8, 2009 @ 6:15 pm
Jura, agree with you there, it’s not like I was noticing it like a con. it’s just that this animes always have some sort of love story, it’s like a main ingredient. this one passed that up, and i’m happy it did. love stories made just because they need to appear in the movie, don’t normally had anything good to it
Comment by Darknives — May 27, 2009 @ 10:35 am
wonderfull
Comment by can — October 20, 2009 @ 5:54 pm