Sword of the Stranger movie

[roastedpekingduck]

The trailer showed some awesome animation from Bones, but admittedly, the story and dialog seemed trite from what I saw. Since this is a Bones production and a movie, I'm interested in it nonetheless, and it looks like the production values are top notch, with some decent music to boot.

[BluWacky]

I can't get excited about Stranger (or Mukoh Hadan as it was originally known when Bones announced it years ago). It just seems like Yet Another Gory Samurai Story from the trailers and plot summary, totally unlike Bones' usual fare. Admittedly I don't get on with historical anime anyway, but nothing (not even the presence of Maaya Sakamoto in the cast) really makes me want to see this - will the Japanese public think differently?

[Andrew Cunningham]

The animation and action in the trailer look amazing.
I can't work out a way to say anything else about it or animated chambara that doesn't turn into a rant about how poorly Samurai Champloo approached the challenges of making that not seem redundant to the 70s live action classics.

[muhootsaver]

So, I just tried to watch raw but I think I'll need a proper sub for this one. T__T Basic story seems a little typical(That is, if I understood correctly), but dang, action scenes are amazing. They should release this in R1 Blu-ray. These kind of action flick sells well in US so there shouldn't be a problem...

[Redcoffin]

I loved this film. First the bad: the story doesn't aim particularly high; it's a rather stupid concept, though not out of bounds for an anime. The big setup at the end seems to have been designed to give the main opponents something to fight on, and only afterward did the creators try to figure how to work it into the plot. Most of the visual and aural queues for how the audience is supposed to feel are standard issue (kid hugging dog, dramatic music, bad guys have weird facial expressions, etc.) The kid's voice actor has that wooden delivery you sometimes hear with child anime characters: I don't especially mind it.

The good--and there is a lot of it--is that despite these limitations, all the scenes are handled especially well, with great pacing, beautiful cinematography & color, and fluid, elegant animation that doesn't leave the viewer wondering what just happened. The creators do not attempt to make the story intentionally hard to follow in order to dress up a thin plot. The action scenes are fantastic and there is a lot of great mano-a-mano fighting. The characters are all interesting and well-realized, with lots of nice little character touches. The dialog is mostly good, sometimes very good.

This film is basically a fine, well-made spaghetti-western samurai slasher. It's got all the familiar character types doing their familiar things especially well. It's beautiful to look at. If you know Steve McQueen films, it's like "Bullitt." It doesn't aim high but it hits the target. I'd buy it subbed.

[Busaiku]

Recently just saw this, thought it was really, really good.

The story/characters have been done to death, but the execution still worked out very well.
Everything else was really good.
Especially the animation, it was just so fluid and looked spectacular.
The action scenes were visual splendors. Among the best I'd ever seen.

Really liked this movie, hope it can make it here one way or another.

[JINROH]

My wife and I have watched a HD sub of it a few times now,and loved it.I immediately went out on the net to try and buy it.No luck... :anger200:

Now I hear its coming to dvd,and BluRay but again.with no subs !??!!!?

I dont know,maybe I'll buy it anyway,even though I know zero Japanese.

I just hope it gets a proper license and release R1 side.

[Lego]

My wife and I have watched a HD sub of it a few times now,and loved it.I immediately went out on the net to try and buy it.No luck... :anger200:

Now I hear its coming to dvd,and BluRay but again.with no subs !??!!!?

I dont know,maybe I'll buy it anyway,even though I know zero Japanese.

I just hope it gets a proper license and release R1 side.


No one has licensed it yet, but it's a high profile movie so I'm sure someone will down the line.

[JINROH]

My wife and I have watched a HD sub of it a few times now,and loved it.I immediately went out on the net to try and buy it.No luck... :anger200:

Now I hear its coming to dvd,and BluRay but again.with no subs !??!!!?

I dont know,maybe I'll buy it anyway,even though I know zero Japanese.

I just hope it gets a proper license and release R1 side.


No one has licensed it yet, but it's a high profile movie so I'm sure someone will down the line.



Even though it bombed at the box office ?

[Busaiku]

This kind of movie seems like it'd be a huge hit in R1.

[hikaru004]

Besides, it's a Bandai Visual title. So it's highly likely that BVUSA has this one.

[Lego]

Besides, it's a Bandai Visual title. So it's highly likely that BVUSA has this one.

It was released on Blu Ray in Japan, so it would be a perfect candidate for them.

[Lego]

Sorry to dig the thread up, but with the recent license announcement I decided to give it a shot since I had it sitting there, waiting to watch for a while. I'll put up the spoiler tags because of it.

I came into the movie expecting it to be another boring full length feature anime film, the last one I saw in Origin literally put me to sleep. Boy was I surprised when I was pulled to the movie from the very start. Kotaro has to flee for a reason we don't know yet at the starting but later find out that he is being hunted by the Mings from China. For added effect they even make them talk in what I presume is Chinese and have people not being able to understand them in Japan. The relationship that I was most drawn to was Kotaro and his dog, Tobimaru.

The love he has for Tobimaru is amazingly animated and you can feel the warmth that they have for each other. Tobimaru has a personality, he tries to save Kotaro in the beginning when they meet "Nameless". Although Tobimaru later turns into more of a "comic relief" character later on in the movie. We're introduced to Rarou really early in the beginning with him and his group trying to move an artifact back to their base when they get attacked by a random gang of samurai. From the start it's evident that Rarou and his group have some sort of special powers which we later find out is a medicine that won't let them feel pain.

The members of Rarou's group are fleshed out a little, with each one getting small bits of air time, some more then others. On the Feudal Lords side you also have some interesting characters, mainly Itadori who becomes a central character later and a younger character Jurota who has his eye on the princess. Sadly his head is spliced open the very next scene before he gets that chance. Even with the "organized butchery" that is the final fight most of the movie is spent making a relationship between Kotaro and "Nameless". "Nameless" mentions many times that Kotaro is the shiftiest kid ever, Kotaro begins to trust him and it's a mutual give and take relationship between the two of them. You get insights into the past of "Nameless" where he was a strong warrior who had to carry out an execution and just left after, taking what looks like a ribbon and "locking" his sword with it until the final fight, not to fight again.

They both grow close together as friends and "Nameless" ends up acting as a guardian for Kotaro. There is a scene where they finally make it to the monastery that Kotaro needed to go to and "Nameless" makes it a point to come back and scream at the priest for handing Kotaro over to the Ming men. Their bond is shown again when "Nameless" painfully runs, climbs, and even crawls to get to the staging area where Kotaro is going to be sacrificed so that they Mings can supposedly gain immortality. He takes on Kotaro's task as a job, but in the end they become good friends.

The final fight between "Nameless" and Rarou is nice, but it feels kind of lacking at times. They fight on the giant structure made for their ritual plus they fight on rooftops of their built in fort. "Nameless" wins of course with the ever popular "stab each other at the same time" and the gemstone that Kotaro gave Nanashi for payment ends up saving his life. Nanashi is badly wounded of course, so Kotaro rides horseback with Nanashi on and Tobimaru trailing behind as they leave the battle scene making plans for what to do next. Of course everyone else died except those three.

The movie itself was great in its own standalone way. The voice acting was great, the animation was great, and the action flowed nicely. I'd recommend it and I can't wait for the Bandai DVD

[Busaiku]

Dog's name is Tobimaru.
Also, the villain's name is Rarou isn't it? ANN lists him as "Rasetsu" in the credits, but "Rarou" in the summary.
The subs I used had him as "Rarou" as well. Also sounded like "Rarou" whenever his name was uttered.

[Lego]

Dog's name is Tobimaru.
Also, the villain's name is Rarou isn't it? ANN lists him as "Rasetsu" in the credits, but "Rarou" in the summary.
The subs I used had him as "Rarou" as well. Also sounded like "Rarou" whenever his name was uttered.


Yep, thats the case. I was going off memory since it was a little over a week ago, that and I'd prefer to spell it right so I looked over at ANN.

[roastedpekingduck]

Finally saw this.

The art is fucking gorgeous. The fight scenes are jaw-droppingly beautiful, and I watched some of those fights three times. The animation was sublimely fluid, and representative of the Bones name for sure. Over the years, as animation quality seems to be getting more and more inconsistent, Bones is as good as they come. Coupled with the work they're doing on Soul Eater, I'm impressed at how Bones is able to keep up their quality. Good budget management or something? The movie itself is fairly standard stuff, and the plot was banal. I was expecting something from historical Japan, but instead, they chose to go with this weird-ass Chinese immortality elixir plot that was somewhat nonsensical at times. The end was just fucking predictable. Who couldn't guess that both camps of antagonists were going to kill each other, and the entire time, I was just thinking "Dear god, if the kill have the hero die a sentimental death at the end, as they do with so many heroic action films in order to move the audience, I'm going to bash my head on the keyboard." Sure enough, the hero died, though it was done in a less intrusive manner without any coughing, last words, tears, etc.

Honestly, I heard some of the worst Chinese ever from the guy who played Rarou. It hurt my ears. And then, whenever the kid was talking to the other Chinese people, I'd always be amused, because the Chinese people would be speaking in Mandarin, and then the kid would reply in Cantonese, only to have the Chinese people keep on talking back to him in Mandarin. I've never actually seen that happen before. My mom speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese (my dad and I only speak Mandarin), and that kind of Cantonese/Mandarin back-and-forth is never done. It sounded so strange I had to chuckle. In terms of other Chinese inconsistencies, I found it puzzling that the emperor would dispatch so few people, even if the people were elite, and the inclusion of women in the Chinese military is utter unthinkable. Anyhow, this movie is for the fight scenes, and not historical accuracy obviously.

I'm going to buy it once Bandai releases it, if only for the opening sequence of the attack, which is fucking awesome.

[leongsh]

Finally saw this.

[cuts out the big chunk of spoiler]
This movie was never going to be anything much story and plot-wise. It is a celebration of animated fight sequences, especially the sword fights which are probably the best technical ones and has a certain "heft" in its feel.

Honestly, I heard some of the worst Chinese ever from the guy who played Rarou. It hurt my ears.
Definitely. It was some of the worst "Chinese" that I have heard spoken.

And then, whenever the kid was talking to the other Chinese people, I'd always be amused, because the Chinese people would be speaking in Mandarin, and then the kid would reply in Cantonese, only to have the Chinese people keep on talking back to him in Mandarin. I've never actually seen that happen before. My mom speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese (my dad and I only speak Mandarin), and that kind of Cantonese/Mandarin back-and-forth is never done. It sounded so strange I had to chuckle.
Maybe not in your experience. I have experienced it and seen a number of instances. It's usually when you understand what is being said by the other side but reply with the dialect that you are more comfortable with speaking. The other side roughly understands what you are saying and replies in their preferred dialect. Uncommon but it happens. You can usually do so with certain dialect pairings, e.g. Mandarin-Cantonese, Mandarin-Hakka, Cantonese-Hakka, Hokkien-Teochew, as there are some differences between those dialect pairings but not too different that you can't understand. Let me give you a quickie example: my maternal grandmother speaks to me in Cantonese (but she's Hokkien) and I occasionally reply in Hakka instead of Cantonese (which I can but I sometimes don't because I'm Hakka and tend to favour using Hakka amongst family and extended family), she understands Hakka but she replies in Cantonese. Heck, my late maternal grandfather is Hakka and spoke with her mainly in Hakka and some Cantonese when he was still around and I have heard her replying to him mainly in Cantonese.

In terms of other Chinese inconsistencies, I found it puzzling that the emperor would dispatch so few people, even if the people were elite, and the inclusion of women in the Chinese military is utter unthinkable. Anyhow, this movie is for the fight scenes, and not historical accuracy obviously.
What you read in grand histories are about Emperors sending forth a large number garrisons to battle, etc. However, what is not often recorded is that the Emperors of China also have elite units which they do dispatch in much smaller numbers - example: assassins - to do jobs that do not need the bludgeoning power of large armies. Not every Emperor of China behaves like the grand megalomaniac, Qin Shih Huang, the first Emperor of Unified China.

With regards to inclusion of women warriors being unthinkable, it's also because women warriors are rare in old China but there are. We may not know much about them and they may be even used as smiling courtesan-assassins.

I'm going to buy it once Bandai releases it, if only for the opening sequence of the attack, which is fucking awesome.
The fight sequences are really the core reason of buying it. I already have the R2J Special Edition DVD and will pass on the R1 release.

[kndy]

I enjoyed the film a lot. I just recently interviewed (http://www.j-entonline.com/INTERVIEWS/masahiro-ando/masahiro-ando.pdf) the director Masahiro Ando.

The film will be shown in several theaters on February 5th for one night only. So, for those who are wanting to check it out, tickets are available (http://stranger.bandai-ent.com/) now.

Definitely looking forward to a Blu-ray or DVD release of the film.

[untoldsorrow]

Definitely looking forward to a Blu-ray release of the film.

Any word that that release yet?

[kndy]

Unfortunately, nothing solid yet on a release. But with the theatrical premiere on Feb. 5th in the US, hopefully not too long afterwards.

[WTK]

Definitely looking forward to a Blu-ray release of the film.

Any word that that release yet?
This was revealed back in NYAF '08. I'm sure this information is subjected to change.

14:00:51 <bay|NYAF|Bandai> Sword of the stranger...
14:01:24 <bay|NYAF|Bandai> (Trailer)
14:03:19 <bay|NYAF|Bandai> FOUR skus
14:03:28 <bay|NYAF|Bandai> blu-ray regular release 39.98 and LE box with OST (price TBD)
14:03:45 <bay|NYAF|Bandai> as well as DVD regular and limited edition box with OST (29.98/TBD MSRP resp)

[chronoclast]

On the latest Anime Today podcast, the guy from Bandai they talked to said that they are planning on releasing Sword of the Stranger on dvd and Blu-ray in June.