Sword of the Stranger cover

Sword of the Stranger

Stranger: Mukou Hadan · ストレンヂア -無皇刃譚-

Movie · Finished · Fall 2007 · 1 episodes · 103 min

What qualifies a man as good or evil? Is it the amount of political power one attains, the quality of his swordsmanship, or how well he serves his lord? With the fall of the second shogunate Japan has sunk into a state of disarray historians now call the Sengoku period, or the era of Warring States. Civil wars rage on throughout the many feudal holdings, where a man may raise his station in life simply by killing his superior.

Whilst wandering this war-torn countryside a nameless ronin stumbles upon a young boy by the name of Kotarou, his dog, and the many Chinese assassins dispatched to claim the boy in some strange ritual for immortality. Seeing something of his own past within the child, the nameless swordsman chooses to act as his bodyguard, but can he truly keep Kotarou from the clutches of the Ming and their bloodthirsty blonde mercenary, Luo-Lang?

(Source: Bandai Entertainment)

Genres: Action, Adventure

Tags: Swordplay, Historical, Rural, Samurai, Male Protagonist, Primarily Male Cast, Language Barrier, Gore, Primarily Adult Cast, Assassins, Animals, Archery

Studio: bones

Episodes

  1. Episode 1: Full

Reviews

A Brilliant Exploration of the Duality of Death

Pure entertainment. A smorgasboard of the best swordfights ever put to animation.

An underlying theme of "Strength" told with brilliant fights