Battlemouth

Kotaro is a young boy being chased by the Mings.  With him is his dog, Tobimaru.  Through their running and hiding they come across a nameless swordsman.  Hired as a bodyguard, the nameless swordsman joins them.  Meanwhile the Chinese army joins Japan’s forces to hunt the child whose blood is an ingredient to create eternal life (hey, it’s anime, so why not).  Will Kotaro escape the Mings?  Who exactly is this nameless swordsman?  Should you watch this movie?  I’m going to answer the latter right now.  Here is my review of Sword of the Stranger.

The story is put together well and it makes sense.  What helps the story are the character interactions as well and feel more alive.  They seem less fabricated and more on the side of existing for longer than what we are seeing.  By this I mean you can see which characters are closer than others and things aren’t overexplained.  This also helps the story move on at a good pace.  There are some scenes though that may seem slow and quiet, but it is simply the style and fits well with the film.

The music is my biggest nitpick at the film because it feels like there is this one track that is just used about 8 times.  It also sounds a lot like something you would hear in Lord of the Rings.  Trust me, when you see it, you will know what I am talking about.

The fight scenes are some of the best I have seen in anime.  The animation is fluid and well choreographed.  If you like to see blood in your anime, there isn’t a lack of it here for most of the warriors use weapons with blades.

All in all, this movie is really good.  From the moment it started, I was hooked.  The animation is superb, the story is good, and the pacing keeps everything moving.  You should without a doubt go out and pick up this movie.  It is available now from Bandai on both Blu-ray and DVD.  (The Blu-ray looks awesome!)

Rating: 9/10