Sword of the Stranger [Blu-ray]

Arrived in great condition.

I watched it years ago when I rented the blu-ray disc from Netflix. For a very long time, it was an under-produced disc that carried a hefty price tag. Thankfully the price has finally come out of the stratosphere and I have finally bought this absolutely gorgeous and endearing movie. Frankly though I couldn't remember much of it: "it's beautiful and the ending is very intense."Basically the story is that a mysterious ronin samurai teams up with a grouchy little boy and his dog. For reasons that aren't clear until closer to the end, the boy is being pursued by a team of hardcore warriors. As is to be expected, the samurai ends up having to come to the boy's rescue. What is NOT expected is the emotional gravitas that the film exhibits at that point in the film. The combination of the slow-trickle of character development, the final show-down that's been established, the way the action is animated and staged, and ... THE MUSIC. Oh baby Jesus, THE MUSIC!! At times it feels like it might be trying a bit too hard, with both the music and just the way everything is trying to tear down whatever emotional wall you've built up about caring for fictional characters, but this movie will break you down and leave you reeling from anticipation and emotional turmoil. I hate to oversell it but the climax of this film is pure cinematic poetry and really pulls the whole of the movie together.One of the things that many "not-a-fan-of-anime" people might appreciate is that the physics and movements of the characters are reasonably life-like. Our characters aren't super-humans who can jump fifty feet in the blink of an eye and land on a dragonfly's wings while all the opponents burst from the sword strike. Also, the animation is drawn in such a way that there's a camera that puts you in the middle of the action. Almost like a subtle shakey-cam, where it barely notice it but it adds to the events on the screen. The fighting, the action, and the animation in general are all very well done.I mentioned the music earlier, which is like How to Train Your Dragon good, but also like HTTYD: if you have a good surround sound system--GET THIS FILM! It's not overly bombastic or anything but it is exceptional clean and dynamic but it has an extremely engaging surround mix. I don't know if it was my imagination but I felt like the dubbed version might have been a tad bit better in this department. While I prefer subs, my roommate prefers dubs and as I switched over to the dubbed version to test it out, it seemed like the atmosphere of the sound mix opened up to another level. The dub is decent enough--the main characters are well-done but supporting characters often had me laughing with their horrendous line readings.

Wow, I first saw this movie on youtube and immediately searched for it on Blu-ray to own. This movie was release in 2007 so its been about 8 years out in stores. I can appreciate the artistic value this movie has to offer since I'm a current student for animation. This is the very reason I choose a career path. But, enough about me. If you're reading this then you probably just want an opinion of the movie. So I'll give that to you!The original story is by "Bones" and the movie director by Masahiro Ando and scripted by Fumihiko Takayama. The plot is early 1800's in Japan where a small Chinese mercenaries (The Ming) agree with Japanese to search and capture a small boy named Kotaro for a ritual of immortality. During Kotaro's flee with his loyal dog, they come across a nameless ronin called No-name. No-name is a man who is haunted by his past ordered to assassinate two small children air to dynasty. He later meets Kotaro and his dog while finding shelter. During their stay; they are attacked by Elite group of swordsmen while still no match for No-name and the aid of the dog. Kotaro finds value in the ronin and seeks to past the man for his protection also to get medical attention for his poisoned dog. Now, the challenge is to travel low key through villages and open land to get Kotaro to his destination a Buddhist temple with awaiting monks.Kotaro is quickly betrayed and hand him over to begin the sacrifice ritual. No-name shortly after learns of the betrayal and go after to rescue the boy.The Japanse has declared an all out battle with the Chinese Elite Army and the most electrifying fights happen. Dynamic sword play and an epic battle between the hero No-name and Ming's blonde hair warrior Luo-Ling! I think we know who come out victorious here. But, I will admit there were times to expect No-name was in over his head.Overall great entertainment and spectacular performance. Well worth the money; that is if you truly appreciate timeless art and plan on watching it over and over. The actions were so smooth and natural its hard to believe it hand drawn. Some day, I would love to work on a project as such and perhaps I shall! Now, if you were to excuse me I'm going to watch the movie once again!

Action-packed, exhilarating, and heartwarming!I had never heard of this film until my cousin had recommended this movie to me. He kept talking it up so I decided to check it out and boy was I pleased! Sword of the Stranger is fast paced and never remains stagnant for too long always driving some sort of conflict or action that keeps the story moving and the viewer on edge. The action/battles are fluid, tactical, and feel lifelike as every moment seems vital unlike other anime series/films were the characters engage in long bouts of dialogue in the middle of fights. In feudal-era Japan, actions speak louder than words and the time for talk comes once your enemies are vanquished.I was a bit worried that the plot would be somewhat lackluster or too “feel goody” but I was sorely mistaken. By the time the credits rolled I had tears welling in my eyes and I was satisfied with the way the story had concluded. With that being said, Sword of the Stranger is sure to scratch that action itch you have as well as provide you with a heartwarming story that leaves you yearning for more.

A estas alturas, creo, hay que entender que todo el anime que nos llega vía amazon, viene sin subtitulos o audio en español. También todo, o al menos todo lo que he comprado, viene en combo blu-ray/dvd. Dicho esto; la película es excelente. Imagen y sonido propios de un blu-ray, ahí no hay queja. Y el servicio de Amazon es siempre excelente. ¡Saludos!

THIS IS A REVIEW ON THE PRODUCT, NOT THE MOVIE ITSELFCase: This blu ray case seems like a relatively good grade, and doesn’t feel like it might break one day after trying to open it, or accidentally drop it. The push button to get the disk is easy to use! 5/5Cover: The cover is great. The spine is good, save for the large All The Anime logo, but it does fit in the colour scheme so it’s not too horribly distracting. The back cover could be improved on but is otherwise good. The red column with all the dvd’s information is a little too uniform, and I would have liked it to be more natural looking to match the aesthetic, but it was a good effort.The inside cover is perfectly reversible. The insides “back cover” is the same as the normal sides, and the spine is also the same. The only difference is an alternative front cover which looks equally as nice as the official front cover. 8/10Disk art: Normally I don’t like illustrations on the disk, but this one looks really cool. It has a rendered image of No Name charging towards something, with effect lines behind him to emphisize his speed, but otherwise serves as really nice negative space. All in all I really like the disk. 5/5Menu: When you start the disk, you get a quick animated logo (which had a cute little fox) and the usual “don’t pirate” message and it heads straight into the menu. No ads! And finally the menu is really effective. The title row has a well matching aesthetic with the historical japan theme and just looks really good all round. In the back you have clips showcasing some of the action seen in the movie without spoiling anything major, with foreboding but blood pumping music to go with it, which really gets you in the mood for your action movie you’re about to watch. 10/10Extras: You get a sizable chunk of extras time. Around 45 minutes to maybe an hour. Most of it is just interviews with the people responsible for making the movie, including the director, some people in the art team, composer, and voice cast. A lot of it sounds like their kind of rambling to themselves for the interview, and we only get a couple snippets of storyboard and key frame art. We get a separate video with a short showcase of keyframes for the movie, but is unfortunately cropped to 4:3 ratio. It also includes the pilot video, which is really just a short fun action video with what I assume was an early design of No Name. 7/10

The sword of the stranger is an intriguing film, it feels like it should play like a samurai spaghetti western, with its stern, powerful characters living through times of change, and yet despite some impressive action scenes (especially the final battle), the film seems more interested in dabbling with a redemption story of a man a and a young boy begrudgingly traveling together in order to reach safety. That would be fine if the story however didn't decide to go toward a more fantasy route with rituals and ultimate power, smashing the seemingly real approach to the world and it's characters built up prior. The animation is good but aside from the fantastic fight scenes there isn't much more to sword of the stranger to be said. The price was quite expensive considering the disappointment, would recommend researching before investing.

This is going to be a review of the case and extra content because I assume that, if you are thinking about buying this show, you've already see it and have decided you liked it enough to purchase the physical copy.This version of the film comes with both the DVD and Blu-ray discs.The box is extremely well made. It feel strong, has a matte finish and everything is covered in beautiful artwork. Nothing about these look or feel "cheap".It also comes with an art book that fits nicely into the box alongside the discs.There are quite a few extras but nothing spectacular (No commentary). Mostly trailers and shorts.It is a good addition for any collection as long as you don't mind the price.

Masterpiece. Story starts and continues at a good slow pace with an explosive finale that mad my jaw drop the first time I saw it.I was a bit worried looking at the other reviews (after I ordered it and couldn't cancel). They said the film was dubbed in Italian or something and couldn't find the English audio option, but mine didn't even have an Italian option and the English option was there and works perfectly so I am relieved.The best anime movie I have ever seen.Slightly Pricey. but WORTH IT!!!Product arrived quickly, as described and is fully functional.