Review of the Week:
Blood & Swords Galore!
Sometimes I like to be reminded of why I love a
certain thing, an amazing discovery that reignites my interest in something
that I already consider fantastic. In recent years, I started watching a different form
of entertainment known as Anime. It all started when a friend introduced me to
show called Attack on Titan, at first I didn’t know what to expect from it and
boy when I saw the first few minutes, I was ABSOULTELY blown away. Since that
time, I have seen a wide variety of “inventive” shows, from Fullmetal Alchemist,
to Cowboy Bebop and many others. It was and is those types of shows that kept
me going, I continue to find unbelievably great shows and a lot of them have
shown me what animation is capable of, but to me, none of them come close to
the spectacle that is: Sword of the Stranger.
Sword of the Stranger, tells the story of an orphaned
boy named Kotaro, and his dog Tobimaru, who are being pursued by assassins
under direct orders from the emperor of china. While on the run, the boy runs
into a name-less samurai, who soon becomes caught in the affair. It’s through
these dire circumstances, that Kotaro enlists the samurai to help escort him to
safety.
The plot of the film is fairly simple, but the
animation is not. The animation was handled by Studio BONES, the studio most
famous for animating the two shows I previously mentioned at the intro. They did good on those
and they did a hell of a job in this film. A lot of the animation has such fluidity
it’s unbelievable. It's those moments, especially during the final fight, is when BONES’ efforts is
shown. As for the decision to listen to it in Japanese, or English, is simple:
it doesn’t matter. Both versions are great to listen to and are very satisfying (though go for Japanese, if you bought it from Funimation, you'll find out). Also,
the music is some of my favorite in Anime, my personal pick from the soundtrack
is Battle Theme, it’s extremely epic (I listened to it repeatedly while making
this review and you should too while reading).
Overall, if you’re looking for a simple, but amazing
film with super awesome animation, but extremely violent action, then you
should definitely check out Sword of the Stranger. Just don’t watch it with
kids under 15, they’ll probably get mentally scared from this.
Final Rating:
Sword of the Stranger is available on Blu-Ray, DVD
combo, by the fine folks over at Funimation Entertainment, for a reasonable price,
you may have better luck on other pages, though it’s still worth buying
regardless. It’s also available for legal streaming on their site. Unfortunately,
I have no alternate recommendations at this time, but if you have any, feel
free to sound off in the comments below.
Until Next Time, Thank A Helping
Stranger…
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