Stranger: Mukou Hadan

Story: 9 Off the bat, after reading the synopsis, you come to the conclusion...Wow this sounds pretty darn interesting but a little sketchy as well. You may seem inclined to feel that this may be one of those animes where the artwork looks great, but the story isn't there at all. Please, I do recommend you watching this, the story is a little out there, but considering the times and how everyone wants the "miracle or everlasting..." it was good. The idea of how they get this miracle..was a little far-fetched. However that doesn't mean the story isn't good. From beginning to end there is agood flow to story as well as the the character development. Art: 10 What can I say, AMAZING. This has got to be one of the best artworks. I was pleased to see no fireballs of death coming from the palms of the fighters or spiritual energies radiating from the bodies. What it comes down to, crisp lines with great shadows and beautiful colors. Plus what makes it shine even more is the fact that it is in HD! Can't beat that. Plus the fight scenes were choreographed amazingly. The nice touch of sparks as the swords clashed and blood spewing from the characters were very nicely done. There were a few parts in the movie that I didn't quite like the artwork. It seemed too computer generated with the angles they did, it didn't quite flow with the rest of the amazing artwork. Nonetheless, the artwork rocked this movie! Sound: 10 Again, HD quality, hard to beat. I was surprised to hear 2 languages. It was a nice realistic touch to have two different languages spoken by the characters considering there were the Chinese and Japanese. Would be funny to see Chinese people speaking Japanese considering the timeline. Then again, we always see that happening in anime since it is just easier on everyone. Besides that, spot on sounds, everything sounded like it should have, metal against metal, wood cracking/snapping etc. Character: 9 Character development was smoothly shown. At first, I didn't understand anything about the characters. There was just bam! Action! But as the story progresses and the characters' paths intertwined, the characters began the open up to each other and seem to be real. Even though it was a little of a cliche to uncover the main character's sudden history revealed to us at such a climatic moment. It was done well and once that happened, it was very easily understood why his actions were as such before. Enjoyment: 9.5 I give that a 9.5 but I won't round up to 10. Only because I love the romance genre and this didn't have any. *Sobs in the corner* But just amazing on how the story was laid out. I was never bored. I mean, how can you be bored with swordsmen slicing off heads and arms and blood spewing across the screen? It just doesn't happen. As I stated before, loved the whole no super powers from the characters. That would have really killed it. I haven't seen such a well executed anime showdown with only cold steel and skills. I'm just used to the gun fire, spam of explosions, and miraculous powers. So this was a nice change. Overall: 9 (Can't Round) Given the formula, Amazing Story + Exquisite Artwork + Realistic Sounds + Great Characters = Phenomenal Blockbuster Hit! Really, if you haven't seen the movie, please watch it. I mean it's so great of a movie that I am writing a review on it. I have never written a review before but this was that great of a movie, so thats saying something. So stop reading this stupid review of mine and just go watch it. SERIOUSLY STOP READING AND WATCH THE DARN THING ALREADY. YOU WON'T REGRET IT! And if you do regret it, sorry...

Some men kill in order to live. Some don't need a reason... When I first heard of Sword of the Stranger about a year ago I'll admit I was skeptical. It seemed like every samurai anime cliche rolled into one. But I watched it the first time in absolute awe, and after four times I am compelled to write a review on this revolutionary anime. Yes, that word was "revolutionary", and by this I am referring to the spectacular animation used in the movie. As aptly put on Anime News Network, it has "some of the most intricately staged, gorgeously animated fight sequencesin anime history." Bones has raised the bar so high with Sword of the Stranger that just about every other anime fight scene you see will seem slow and uninteresting in comparison. Every swing of a sword, every step the fighters make is meticulously animated, all down to their heavy breathing and realistic gushes of blood as they cut down one enemy after another. Absolutely no shortcuts are taken, resulting in samurai that actually FIGHT, rather than reverting to cliches like two samurai simply walking past each other and one falling down in a gush of blood, cut down by a stroke too fast to see (or one that was too hard to animate). It's not just the fight scenes either. The condensation from a person's breathing, drops of blood on the snow and countless notches on a sword; these are just some examples of the detail that the animators have gone to. Bones has definitely given other studios a good lesson in animation with this movie. The story itself is quite cliched I'll admit. A master swordsman that will not draw his sword, a foreign samurai who's only desire is to find a worthy opponent and the search for immortality. It's all been done before. The story does have some depth to it, but it's very easy to be swept up in all the fights and take no heed of the plot at all. However, it does require you to watch very closely to get all the intricacies of the storyline, some of which is presented in quite a subtle way. The web of interwoven motives and conflicts between the characters also adds an extra layer to the plot. Overall its not the deepest or best story ever told, but it is enjoyable. The character development is the greatest force pushing the story along. From the nameless samurai Nanashi (or No-name in the English version), to the western "demon" Luo-Lang, the innocent victim Katarou and the feudal lord's general Shogen, each character has their own motives and reasons for fighting. Inevitable conflict ensues, culminating in possibly the most epic duel in animation history. The soundtrack to the movie captures feudal Japan perfectly and adds a great atmosphere, making the final confrontation all the more epic. The voice actors also fit their characters very well. In particular the torment of Nanashi and the ruthlessness of Luo-Lang are excellently portrayed, proving once again that this is not the typical shallow-plot samurai anime. Sword of the Stranger is a movie that has to be seen to be believed. With good character development, a somewhat cliched yet good, subtle storyline and utterly groundbreaking animation, the enjoyment level is quite simply off the scale. If you're looking for a anime movie that'll provide quality entertainment time and time again, look no further...just make sure you watch it in 1080p Blu-Ray on a giant HD TV with surround sound so you can fully appreciate it. Overall score: 8.6/10 (rounded to 9)

This is my first review and I am doing it in order to improve how I judge the anime I watch. Thus, I am sticking to the story/art/sound/character/enjoyment rating, because I think it is a good way to categorize rating. Story - 9/10 First thing, the story has a great apresentation because it is not presented to the viewers from the start. During the movie, you start to understand what is going on. This is so well done that the story progresses without become complicated, to the point that, by half of the movie, you can completely understant it. This presentation makes you curious about what theplot is and unable to leave the screen. The themes adressed by the movie are very diverse, some are very common and others, not that much. The supperficial theme of the main characters is the common trust and friendship theme, but analysing deeper the story, you get to see more profound themes like, ambition and redemption. Also, one more thing I would like to say, that made me love the story, is that every screentime given to a characters is important, that being for his development or for the justification of how he will act in future events. Art - 10/10 The animation was one of te things that led me to watch this movie and I can say I am not one bit disapointed. The animation is perfect. It is very detailed and very fluid, something very evident during the epic fight scenes. The art is simple yet beautiful. The design of the characters and the ambient, which are very detailed, accomplish the mission of setting you in the Segonku period. Sound - 10/10 I am not an specialist in dubbing, but it sounded perfect to me. Also the dubbers' voice, in my opinion, matched perfectly with their characters. Now about the soundtrack, boy, what a soundtrack. It not only set the tone, together with the animation and art, making you feel like you are in the medieval Japan, but it also set the tone for the various moments of the movie, they being moments of epicness or moments of sentiment. Characters - 10/10 As the story, in the beggining you do not know much about the characters, what gives space to some character developing, and how it is well done. All the main characters, and some of the secundary ones, are presented either with a great and sentimental background or with their own ambitions and objectives, which were so well told that made me care about those characters. Also, with that development, all their actions and their behaviours become very understandable. One more thing, during the movie, the relation of the two(or should I say three) main characters is so naturally developed and so enjoyable that i could not help it, but to cheer for the victory. Enjoyment - 10/10 The combination of an animation and art beatiful for the eyes and relations between characters that progress so naturally makes watching the movie a very good experience, but the main reason of its enjoyability are the fight scenes. Those happens in various points of the movie and act to keep you thrilled until the end of the movie, which happens with one of the more gorgeous and epic fight scenes ever. The fight scenes in the movie are epic , very fluid, very detailed and well choreographed. Like that, any one of them, from the first to the last, pushes you to the edge of excitment. Overall - 10/10 The combination of the various good aspects of the movies makes it really easy to watch it. Not just that. It actually makes it a truly fantastic experience. That being, in my opinion, this is definitely a must-see.

Let me start by saying this movie has great animation and great action BUT that's where the praise ends for this movie. (I personally think this movie is hyped for those reasons only if you want a movie with any dept avoid this now) Characters - only one word to describe the characters in this movie and its shallow! there is no character development at all I know its a movie and they don't have a major time span to work with but seriously you won't see characters as shallow and dull as this. Story - Cliché, Dull and predictable a group of about 10 Mingdynasty warriors arrive in Japan looking for a kid that they have to sacrifice on top of a tower or some weird shit (I bet just from that you want work out whats going to happen and how its going to happen) I watch anime for great stories and plots not mindless action and great animation this movie frustrates me because it could have been awesome but because of its lackluster story and horrible characters it gets a poor score from me.

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