Very few things stir up my passion, and one of the most potent things in that respect is an epic work of art. This year, I have yet to come across anything more epic than an animated film that just went on DVD very recently. Avid anime fans may have come across the trailer[s] since the beginning of 2007, and now we can all set ourselves for the sheer awesomeness that is Sword of the Stranger.

Commonly referred as Stranger, the movie was produced by Studio Bones (Fullmetal Alchemist, Eureka Seven, Wolf’s Rain) and is set in feudal age Japan. In other words, it’s a samurai flick. With more than enough ninja-infested shows of late, getting back some samurai action is a much welcomed reprieve. But that’s not the real reason why Stranger impressed me so much.

“Next time, boy, aim for his groin!”

Stranger is about Kotaro, a young boy acompanied by his loyal dog Tobimaru, who is being chased by agents of the Chinese Ming Dynasty on an imperial mission. He was to journey to a temple where he was told that the monks there would protect him from harm. Along the way, he meets Nanashi, [literally meaning 'nameless one'] a samurai with extraordinary skills and hires the reluctant stranger as his bodyguard to escort him to the temple. Nanashi is so skilled, he equally matched a Ming assassin without undoing the seal that locked away his sword.

“Yes, it vibrates! Try it if you don’t believe me.”

One thing I honestly enjoyed about Stranger is that it carries a perfect balance of epic storytelling and phenomenal animation work. Some shows may have excellent plots but don’t really get extensive animation [Kino's Journey, Zetsubou Sensei], while others have all these ultra flashy animations but weak stories with terrible plot holes [Appleseed Ex Machina, Vexille].

Stranger starts out brilliantly, immediately gaging the viewer’s attention with a scene of bandits attacking a Ming caravan. In only 5 minutes, we got served with seamless sword dancing, flying limbs and sprays of blood. If a hand was chopped off, we see it chopped off. If an arrow went through a neck, we see it come out from the other side. If someone got decapitated, we see red fountain spraying out of the dude’s shoulders.

“Give me that long vibrating thing. Or else…”

Here’s the best part - there were no speed lines! What are speed lines, you ask? Here’s an example.

Speed lines is where you see a scene with very little animation, but with moving lines in the background to imply movement and speed. It usually involves looping only several frames of animation and panning a random background of lines.

In other words, it’s what we call Lazy Ass Shit Animation and it’s something we can see often in many typical mainstream shonen anime such as Naruto, Bleach and One Piece, despite having the technology and budget to do something so much better.

“No! It’s MINE to play with. Mine ALONE!”

This is where Studio Bones shines. Throughout their history of animation projects, you rarely [if ever] see them resort to cheap tricks like that. Combat scenes are elaborately choreographed and animated with every single detail accounted for. If they usually put in their standard level of work in producing full length TV series, then this time they have only concentrated all that expansive effort into a 100 minutes’ worth of runtime. Compare the animation from the short Naruto clip with the trailer below.

But of course, it doesn’t end there. I mentioned a perfect balance, and Stranger comes with an equally delicious side dish to complement the sweet animation work.

[WARNING: SPOILER ALERT]

Nanashi’s true name was never revealed, nor was his background. All we got to find out was that he was an army general and left the army to live by his own principles and belief. While the movie offered a tantalizing bait as to why he never drew out his sword, it was never truly revealed. However, through glimpses of nightmares and flashbacks, it managed to build up so much emotion and weight such that when you see him tearing off the binds that sealed the blade, you just can’t help but say “Whoa.”

“Hiyaa— eh? OSHI–!”

The simple-mindedness of feudal age warriors also played a factor. Blindly following whoever took charge and obeying the orders of the Emperor despite facing impossible odds. However, Stranger made the whole scenario interesting by adding an anomaly or two in the mix. It’s a minor twist, but it adds so much flavour to the big picture.

[/spoiler]

“Why aren’t you riding?”
“It hurts. Thanks to your damned green toy.”
“Woof!”

While having some intense moments of duels, the film also has calm moments where we get to see exquisite art in landscapes and meticulous animation of a lively and busy town. Such scenes truly enhanced the realism of the whole experience.

This is one film I strongly urge you to watch. I give it a magnificent 10 out of 10 stars, and trust me, you’ll agree with me as soon as you watch the first 15 minutes of the show.

“I CAME!”

PS: The current DVDrip encode sucks donkey shit. If you can’t get your hands on the DVD itself, I suggest you wait for a better encode or a HD raw. You can grab softsubs floating around the ‘net and mux it yourself :D