Steineded How sad is this?

ScoobyWell Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

siderite Chinese agents come to Japan hunting a boy. They are well prepared, have a lot of money and seem to be indomitable in battle, especially one of them, who is a blue eyed blonde. The boy is clueless, rude and his only companion and friend is a dog. When they meet a mysterious samurai, he reluctantly agrees to help them escape pursuit.Well drawn, cool action scenes reminiscent of Ninja Scroll, credible characters, doing things for reasons that one can believe, rather than the classic "I will protect something, hear me roar!", and an interesting story with roots in a real event.It lasts for one hour forty minutes and I warmly recommend it. It has some issues at the end when some of the characters are just ridiculously overpowered, but overall it was really cool.

Jose Cruz Note that I am very rigorous on my ratings: films with 7/10 are excellent films. I reserve higher scores for truly outstanding films.Overall, this is a well constructed and executed action thriller that will please fans of animated action films. It is more entertaining than most Hollywood action films and will also please fans of animation as it is very detailed and pleasing to the eye. Overall a very good effort but this is not a work of art and shouldn't be treated as such. Therefore, don't watch it expecting a timeless work of art, but instead watch it expecting a very good action movie, which it is. It deliver high octane action in a consistent way.

Fabio Baldan The concept in Sword of the Stranger isn't new. A wandering samurai who killed a lot of people during the war is tormented by his past and has "Sealed" his sword and decided not to use it anymore. Without having to look far you can already find earlier animes/mangas with the exact same concept (Rurouni Kenshin is the first that comes to mind).Still I really loved this movie and consider it a must watch, specially for people that like animated movies. The animation one of the best I've seen in recent animated movies, with great design, fluid animations and great image quality. While not many in number, the battles are masterfully handled by BONES (animation studio) with great (animated) choreography. As I've said the concept behind the story isn't new but it's enjoyable nonetheless, I really liked the trust relationship that forms between the main character and the boy he is escorting and there is also a special connection between Nanashi and the main antagonist. In the end you will be caring for the characters.Finally, and it should not be overlooked. The Soundtrack for this movie is truly wonderful. Composed by Naoki Sato, it's an amazing OST filled with emotion and fits the movie like ring.

squigglebird Sword of the stranger is a visually very well made anime movie. The animation is great and a lot of effort has been put into detail and beautiful backgrounds, which really adds to the overall atmosphere. The soundtrack of the movie is great, and is in my opinion probably the thing that stands out most in this movie. The voice acting is outstanding, and the music is beautifully written and recorded with a full orchestra. My only complaint about the music (and this is really being picky), is that the main theme is repeated just a bit too many times. It's a beautiful piece, but after hearing it so many times it starts to feel a bit monotonous towards the end of the movie.The story is quite simple and easy to follow, but without ever seeming slow paced or commonplace. It was captivating all the way to the end, revealing just enough of the back story and the characters' backgrounds to give you an idea about the motivation behind their actions. It's also very refreshing to see an anime that (mostly) manages to avoid the bad, evil guys that are just bad and evil for no other apparent reason than that the story needs a bad and evil character. The antagonists in this movie have a reason for doing what they do, which makes the whole thing so much more interesting to watch.Overall, this is one of the best anime movies I've seen in a long time. It's well made, and although the story is fairly predictable, it's still a very good one. Anime or not, if you like good movies, this one is definitely worth a watch.